Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

I don't even know where to even begin in writing about everything I've done in Himeji since landing on Saturday. This will be a rather lengthy blog post, just since I have so much catching up to do! Fortunately, I'm borrowing unlimited internet from a fellow Shirasagi resident until my modem arrives! The Flight and Saturday, 8/24 The flight was a ton of fun! I think everyone, except me, took sleeping pills. And you could tell who had: they were fast asleep before take off even started! I, at least, was amused with the way they'd flop about everywhere. I don't think I slept much at all, but I didn't mind, since there was such a nice selection of in-flight movies. I ended up watching five movies through the entire flight: Iron Man 3, Monsters Inc, The Avengers, The Hobbit, and one more which I'm afraid that I can no longer remember. The turbulence was pretty much constant--I think for at least two-thirds of the flight the seat belt light was on.   The pla...

Just a quick update while I borrow a fellow Shirasagi resident's internet. I landed successfully, everything's awesome, I can't wait to begin going into detail about everything I've done so far, the pictures I've taken, and the people I've met. I'll be getting a phone and internet contract tomorrow (hopefully), so I'll be able to write more then. Until then, I'll be staying genki (full of good energy) here in Himeji!

Hey! Writing this from San Francisco's airport! Camped out at the terminal, have access to Wi-Fi (for free) for only 45 minutes. But thought I'd say hello, before the 11 hour flight to Osaka. We're scheduled to land at about 2:00pm Saturday, Japanese time. And from there, it'll be about an hour and a half drive to Himeji and the Shirasagi Residence. The weather is currently cloudy, foggy, and a brisk 59 degree Fahrenheit here, but it was a lot of fun to fly into the clouds. The public art in the terminals ranges from painfully unoriginal to semi-inspiring. Everything is finally starting to feel real. But we'll see how real it feels after we land in Japan!

Time has really flown by! My flight leaves Sky Harbor at 5:30am on Friday, which means I probably won't be sleeping on Thursday. That'll make it easier to sleep on the flight though, so I suppose that's a good thing. We'll be heading to San Francisco first, and then will connect to a flight to Japan. I'll be landing in Japan sometime Saturday evening (you lose a day due to the time zone shifts). I'm pretty much all packed and ready to go! Somehow, at any rate... I've been doing what I can to relax here at home, spend time with my family and pets and whatnot; recharge my batteries for what will more than likely be a very hectic first month in Himeji. So not too much else to post about right now. I promise this will change once I actually arrive in Japan!

Time is in a rather odd state for me right now: it is going by both quickly and slowly at the same time. At least, every day feels like time is going by so slowly, and then before I realize it, it's over, and I'm one day closer to leaving. I've definitely been finding myself taking the time to appreciate everything around me more fully. Getting a new camera gives me an awesome excuse to spend a lot of time taking pictures of my pets; especially when I realize that, by the time I return home (assuming I do), most of them will have probably passed on (or maybe not, they are rather stubbornly healthy animals). It's the thought, though, that I may never conceivably see my pets again that makes it hardest to just pack up and leave, especially when I consider that some of these animals have been my friends for over 10 years of my life. But those are depressing thoughts, so I'll go ahead, and for lack of anything else to really write about, post cute pictures of my flu...