Well, I made it folks and boy what an ordeal! The flight was long but highly entertaining. I flew in what felt like the Rolls Royce of airplanes. Super comfy seats with personal televisions, movies, music, and video games galore. They even had TETRIS (and I definitely got my butt kicked while playing against the boy sitting next to me). After landing I met up with all of my co-counselors who are all awesome and very outgoing; I can't believe how well we all hit it off! Then came the tumultuous train rides through Tokyo. I've never in my life seen so many people cram into one train! Everyone here is very busy looking, always on their way to somewhere and dressed to kill. The population here is 98% Japanese so it is very obvious we are foreigners but everyone is very pleasant nonetheless.
I can't understand a word anyone is saying and have butchered my few attempts at simple words like "yes", "no", and "please" (i'm not even going to attempt to spell things in Japanese). Last night our camp director JR and official translator Taka took us out to Tokyo's version of a pub- where we consumed massive amounts of incredible sushi and a few yummy dishes of a slightly questionable nature. We even had pizza, which was kind of like a tortilla with cheese and fish on it.
The weather in the city feels like being in Alabama on a muggy summer day and here in the mountains i'm having flashbacks of Hawaii (rain, fog, and a slight breeze). Its so beautifully green here, very mountainous, with small rice fields anywhere there is flat open space -including right in the middle of cities! Despite the less than awesome weather, i've already decided this is going to be the beginning of the coolest experience of my life!
More updates coming soon! Love you all!
- Ashley
Interesting fact: there are not overweight people in Japan. I'm not kidding. Almost everyone (including most of the men) are my size or smaller!
