Arrival

Land ho! I wasn't planning on writing about the trip itself, mostly because I expected it to be 10 hours of leg aches and recycled air. Well, it was, for the first five hours. But something interesting happened. I was seated at the window, with a mother and daughter sitting next to me. I had actually sat with them in the San Francisco terminal too. I noticed that the girl was carrying a violin case, and was hoping to strike up a conversation, if only to warm up for Japan. Interestingly enough, just as I began practicing music theory on my iPad, the girl turned to her mother and said something, which I couldn't hear because of my awesome headphones. Soon, the three of us were conversing in a mixture of Japanese and English. And to my surprise, the girl was a huge Pokemon fan - we talked about that too, and we even battled a few times. She showed me her collection of Pokemon figures, and even gave me a couple she had doubles of (I plan on decorating my room with them). I was thrilled when they asked me if I would email with them, and invited me to visit them in Shikoku. But most surprisingly, they waited for me in getting off the plane, waited as I did immigration and customs, and helped me find my bus terminal and even spotted me part of the fare (I still don't have yen). The gratitude I feel for them is hard to express, but I want to repay their kindness when we next meet.

So after an uneventful bus ride, on which I drafted this post, I found a pay phone, and called up Haruhi's mom, who came right over to pick me up. Strangely enough, my Japanese got better as we talked more; I also got on well with her father and brother. It seems the whole Fujiwara family is welcoming and friendly. I felt right at home chatting with them, and I'm excited to spend tomorrow hanging out with Hidehiro. All in all, we're off to a good start.