Japan… The Beginning.

Sorry for the long delay in posts, I am sure some of you were desperately looking for an update, okay… maybe not. I am going to break the Japan trip into three parts. If I was to write it all together I would not be able to elaborate and be hilarious like I normally am, and let’s be honest, that’s why you read these things. Hope ya’ll (yes, I am an English teacher, and I believe that “ya’ll” is a legitimate conjunction) enjoy.

The trip started off great, I got drilled with a $150.00 charge from Delta due to the weight of my bag, thanks for that! I thought I would be smart and pull an all-nighter so that I could sleep on the plane, bad idea. I do this every time I fly internationally, and every time I immediately regret the decision. I was a mixture of nervous, sad and anxious, but mainly excited.

I made into first class without a problem (thank you Kelly), but Talbot was a different story. There was one available seat left in first class and Talbot was second on the list. However, the other person had not shown up to the gate yet, and the plane was leaving (we thought) in ten minutes. Talbot took it upon himself to go to the counter and lobby his position. He asked if she could find him a seat with plenty of leg room, she took one look at him and started searching the plane for available seats. In the long run, he was able to talk himself into first class and jump the other lady in line, and she did finally show up….sucks to be her.

So I'm sitting in my seat, and dinner time rolls around. I thought “hey, I am starting a new adventure…I’ll try the traditional Japanese meal”. Well, the sushi appetizer was awesome, but the main course was all-over-the-place. I liked the “beef”, but the cooked snail with a stick through its protruding head was not my cup of tea. I realized then that Asian cuisine would be hit or miss for me. However, I did feel very authentic with my little bowl of white rice and chop-sticks. Plus, they like to eat certain things cold, but make it appear to be warm so you get a nice little surprise when you bite into it… weird.

The flight over was painless, but LONG! I started to watch the “Bourne Ultimatum” twice and fell asleep both times, this is not to say it is a boring film, far from it… but I was tried, remember? I woke up from my naps and thought “awesome, I have been out for a while, we may not have that long left”. Well actually, I had slept on and off for about four hours and including meal time we had been in the air for about six hours. I quickly did the math and realized… “oh supper, only eight more hours to go! I guess I’ll watch some more movies…Beowulf(sucks), Supper bad(funny), Rush Hour 3(marginal)” This of course is after an hour delay sitting in the plane on the tarmac. Plus, the guy next to me reeked of smoke, and was having a nicotine educed bout of rocking and cursing… it was most entertaining.

There was a little excitement on the plane towards the end of the flight. It was something out of a movie. We were about two hours out of Tokyo and this voice comes over the intercom “is there a doctor or anyone with medical training on board, one of your fellow passengers is having a problem.” I like how she used “fellow passengers” like we are in some club because we are on the same plane, that’s just foolish… So, I immediately start rooting for my teammate to pull through. All in all, turns out to be pretty uneventful, a heavy-set man from first class, of course, goes into the rear of the plane…does whatever it is he does… and the team leaves the plane intact and victorious.

Next time… my first few days in Japan.

Hope all is well.

A Quick Update...

Don't have much time right now, sitting in an Internet cafe in Taiwan. Just wanted to let everyone know that I am safe and everything is okay. Japan was incredible! I will write more about it when I get the chance to wrap my head around my journal. We are in Taipei and just signed our contracts. When we get set-up and have our own Internet hook-up I will write all about our adventures, trust me, there are some good ones.