Departure and Arrival

I left on Friday at 10AM from Providence, RI. I landed in DC and flew out to Tokyo and then to Fukuoka. I was terrified of flying at first, but by the second flight it wasn`t a problem. During my flight to Tokyo, I sat next to a guy from the State Department who was very friendly. He was headed to Indonesia with his family. It was a long flight.

When I arrived in Fukuoka I had to run around a lot because I had forgotten to get Yen when I was in the International Terminal at Narita. I was exhausted. I called my host family and they came to pick me up. After some unpacking, they took me out to dinner. I couldn`t eat much because I was feeling a little airsick.

On SUnday they took me sightseeing. FIrst to the park, then the beach, and then to the library. I took a few pictures at the park and beach. FOr dinner we had some octopus pancake balls. I couldn`t figure out how to eat them, so my host family gave me a fork. I couldn`t eat much because my stomach was still upset from all the flying.

Monday was my first day of classes and my host family made me breakfast. I couldn`t eat much of that either, and I felt really bad about not being able to. I didn`t want them to think I was avoiding the food because I didn`t like it. When I got to school we had a placement exam. I didn`t do too well. At the exam was my TA from Japanese class back at UNH. He`s only staying for a month though.

Because my class was at 2PM, I went exploring a little. I saw a McDonald`s and tried to see if familiar food would settle my stomach. It helped a little, but I couldn`t finish it. Class wan`t hard because we mostly practiced vocabulary. After class my host-mother picked me up and took me to the grocery store. I bought Juice and crackers. At dinner I was able to eat a lot more than the other nights. My host family is very nice.

Future posts I`ll try and do the Japanese translations and pictures.