Life Post: Being in Japan

In the two weeks since I last posted, quite a lot has happened, not the least of which is finally moving to Japan.

I left the U.S. on July 5th and, after layovers in New York and Shanghai, landed in Kansai airport on July 8th. It was a long trip. My last two of three flights were delayed. One (from New York to Shanghai) was delayed for several hours, and instead of taking off at 1:45 a.m. like it was meant to, left the airport at 4 a.m.

That long flight to Shanghai was also unlike anything I've ever experienced in that it was like entering an alternate reality that you become convinced you're never going to escape from. All of the blinds on the plane were kept closed the entire flight until landing, so it was a bit strange to sit in New York through most of the night, then a 15 hour flight, and then arrive in Shanghai having skipped a day. I tried sleeping for most of it, but I was only slightly successful. The first time I woke up, I thought I'd slept a lot longer than I actually had. By the end of the flight, time felt like it had no meaning anymore.

Japan has been really great so far. Right now I'm still in training, so I'm not yet in the city I'll be living in.

I was pretty nervous to begin training because I knew that it was going to be intense, and while it's been busy, I'm having a lot more fun during it than I had expected to. Everyone here has been really great, and I think I'm going to go into the job feeling more prepared than I actually thought I would feel.

Plus, I've gotten to visit a Japanese castle, go grocery shopping, and eat conveyor belt sushi (among other things) over the past week. It's been hectic in a really great way.

In just a few days, I'll be making the trip to the school I'll be working at and will see my apartment and the rest of the city. I'm really excited for it. I've already spoken to a couple of people from there both online and in person, and I'm really excited to see everything for myself.