Arrived

I've arrived safely in Japan. The plane flight was good. I'll give it to American Airlines for having great staff. We were given meals every few hours, I think I had three, or four? I'm not sure because I was trying to sleep and eating instead. Someone on the crew should get their thyroid checked; that was easily the coldest flight I've ever been on. It became something of a running joke among all of the passengers, trying to figure out why the plane was so cold.

Customs and immigration proceeded smoothly. I learned that whatever your visa says is what you put on the immigration form for length of stay, even if that isn't necessarily true. So, according to the immigration office, I'll be here for 1 year before I renew my visa.

I made it to the house safely as well. Tai's family is so generous to me and allowing me to stay here while I search for an apartment. The only requirement is that I make gumbo in return. His mother and I made it here in the nick of time. The typhoon arrived just as we were pulling up to his house. The wind is fairly strong right now, but no worse than Arkansas' thunderstorms. The rain is pleasant.

I watched a really interesting detective movie on the plane called Kirin no Tsubasa (The Wings of the Kirin). Unfortunately, I only slept an hour on the plane, but it's okay because I got to rest for 13 hours straight. I'm not counting the one hour though in my list of time awake, which means that I've been awake for 24 hours now. Amazingly, it's fine. I've learned that if I drink tons of water over the course of my trip that the jetlag on the first day is manageable.

I'll write a better post once my head doesn't feel fuzzy from sleep deprivation.
I'm off to see if I can catch a quick nap before everyone comes home.

I wish everyone all the best.