The Arrival
After a 15 hour flight, I'm finally here! As I haven't slept properly in over 24 hours and have to get up for orientation tomorrow, I'm making this short.
I didn't get to see Japan when we touched down because I was in a middle seat (I shared a row with a Japanese family of three). So my first impression? Kansai International (KIX) is the most empty airport I've ever seen! Probably because we were international and separated from other terminals, but it was like a ghost town! But even when I got out of the airport to wait for the shuttle there were only handfuls of people walking around. In comparison, Honolulu Airport was jammed packed with Japanese tourists, so maybe that's where everyone is?
Oh, and I totally bubbled my way through customs and baggage delivery to my apartment. My brain was either too tired or just simply failing at communicating with anyone in any language.
And then I almost missed meeting my EAP contact in Kyoto because I had to wait for the next shuttle. But I found her and apparently I was the ONLY student whose flight was delayed due to the accident. >-<
She rode with me on the subway (which was waaaay more crowded than the airport) and we stopped at a Circle K for me to pick up some food and sundries. I got my access card to the building and keys to the apartment, and then she showed me all the paperwork and instructions for everything in this cute little room.
I'll be posting pictures later, when I figure out how all this stuff works. I can't get the heater to turn on, and no hot water is coming out. I'm really afraid of having to take an ice cold shower tomorrow...
Also, a canister of spray-on sunscreen that I brought for summer time got uncapped and sprayed/leaked all over my towel and my clothes for tomorrow. I won't have anything else to wear until tomorrow afternoon when the rest of my luggage gets here, and even then those clothes absolutely REEK of dried fish. The smell was strong enough to fill up Ake's car overnight.
So no matter what, I have to do laundry. After wandering around I finally found the laundry room, but then realized I have no laundry detergent.
And then the fire alarm from next door starting going off and a fire truck came down the road. And then it started to rain. And I don't have an umbrella. Ergh.
But when I got back inside, I turned on the TV and KAT-TUN Cartoon was on. And that made me laugh even though I don't really like KAT-TUN. Instead of downloading variety shows, I can watch them on TV!
Japan Time: 3/26, 1:30AM
CA Time: 3/25, 9:30AM