The plane ride was long, as you might expect, but I slept through the first half and woke up at 9 am Japan time as if it were morning. I got off the plane and rode the bus (where I took the good coffee smile pic) to the train station. Then we rode the train to Nabari. There was a lot to look at on the train- Osaka was HUGE and things were crowded together for a long time. We got to Nabari to meet a large crowd waiting to greet us. Everybody was very excited, but most of "the gang" from Oregon was too tired to be excited. I was actually feeling quite well at this point. Somehow, the jet lag actually put me into the best sleeping habit I've ever had. I went to bed at about 10:30 local time which would be 5:30 am Pacific time, and woke up at 7:30 feeling less tired than I ever had all year.
I sat down for dinner with my host family, and this was a very interesting experience for me. We sat at one of those small tables with mats around it, no more than a foot and a half from the ground. I wasn't hungry because of some bad airplane food before but I sat down with them anyway. The first thing they asked was if I liked baseball and if I would like to watch it on TV. My host sister's friend was there and he likes baseball a lot. He observed that I was sitting with my back facing to the TV so he wanted to switch places so I could see the TV. How extremely polite! I can't believe that! They are being much nicer to me than I deserve.
Everyone says things are not big in Japan.. well this home must be an exception. The house is bigger than the apartment I live in- the room in which I sleep, "tatami" or all-purpose room, is bigger than my bedroom at home. The shower is a whole ROOM! There's also a bathtub for relaxation- one must be fully cleansed before entering.
The toilets- yes, they have the "japanese style" in ground toilets in public places like the school, but in men's bathrooms there are urinals, and I try to avoid the other type of bathroom use in public toilets anyway (if ya know what I mean). The houses have western-style toilets, and one of the toilets here has all the nifty gadgets like the fountain for cleansing, and the seat warmer. When you flush, the attatched faucet for washing hands automatically turns on with the same switch- I couldn't figure out quite how to turn it off for the first time, so I'll try again later.
Tune in for DAY TWO- loaded with fun, going to the bank, the mall, the book store, the 100 yen store, and my first time actually eating sushi for lunch.
