We (Chris, Huck and I) got here on March 22nd, safe and sound after a very, very, very long trip of about 40 hours from Dayton, Ohio to Misawa, Japan. We were exhausted, disorganized and in bad need of a shower.
Luckily, we were paired up a with a sponsor (Laura) who was in charge of making sure we had everything we needed, including transportation, food, housing, etc. She and the entire squadron met us at the airport terminal to welcome us and help get us and all our things to the hotel on base. She even stocked our room with snacks and laundry detergent.
Ever since then, we have had no shortage of people willing to help us get settled and feel at home here. I couldn't ask for a better introduction to Japan!
When we first got here and got off the plane, I was initially struck by the thought that I could have just as easily been in Chicago or Denver or any other cold, snowy city in the states. Things didn't look all that different. Of course, that was probably because I landed on an American military base. When we ventured off base a few hours later, that was when I started realizing that I was most definitely on the other side of the world. They drive on the left, all their signs are in Kanji, or Hiragana, or Katakana (yes, they have three distinct forms of writing), the roads are scarily narrow, the cars are laughably miniscule, the people are impossibly polite, the food is often unrecognizable (and often it's just better not knowing what it is), the trees and shrubs are impeccably pruned (often into bizarre and complicated shapes), and the architecture is, well, very Japanese. And I love it all! I love when the cashier at a Japanese grocery store politely indicates the total and then respectfully and patiently turns away as you fumble through the yen coins trying to figure out the value of each one and place the appropriate amount in the money tray. And I love the feeling of success when I remember how to bow and say "thank you" in Japanese after paying for the groceries. I love how the construction workers usher you through a work zone, bowing politely as you drive through. I love the simplicity and beauty of Japanese food. I've even signed up for a Japanese cooking class offered on base... this month we're learning to make Japanese curry. I love how the Japanese say "McDonalds." It has about 5 syllables once they get done with it.
I'm definitely looking forward to the next few years. I have a feeling it will go by really fast.
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