KONNICHIWHAT!?: Back in action

It's been a few days since I've had any kind of real internet access with my laptop, hence there not being a new post. Needless to say, it's been a pretty hectic few days. Now, I'll my best to recap in what will probably be a longer-than-usual post. My flight from LA on Friday afternoon went surprisingly well. I normally feel a bit of anxiety before a long flight like this but for whatever reason, once the plane had taken flight, my nerves were settled. Even through the occasional bout of turbulence, I really didn't seem to mind. I hope that's a sign of things to come with future flights. I told you guys that I'd let you know if the upgrade to Premium Economy on JAL would be worth the money and honestly, I'd have to say it was. It wasn't a mind-blowing amount of extra space, but it was certainly significant enough if you want to be as comfortable as possible on a really long flight. I had a window seat and luckily the guy next to me was a really nice Japanese fellow that kept to himself. I will say that while JAL excels at customer service, they still lack in the same area as all airlines; the food. I had a couple of Japanese meals, but I can't say it was that satisfying. On the flight, I was able to read a lot of, "An Idiot Abroad: the travel diaries of Karl Pilkington", which is hilarious. I also saw Kung-Fu Panda 2 and X-Men: First Class, but alas, sleep evaded me.

After landing in Narita sometime after 5pm Japan time, I had about a 45 minute window to get through immigration, grab my luggage, head through customs and then re-check my bags with JAL for my domestic flight to Nagoya. Yes, you read that right, I had to RE-CHECK my bags for the second leg of my journey. Surprisingly inefficient. As I waited to board my flight to Nagoya, the airline staff informed me that I'd be able to upgrade my flight to business-class for only ¥1000 ($13 USD)! Naturally, I had to snag this offer because I was ready to relax as much as I could after such a long flight. Even if only for a brief 45-minute flight, it was nice to see how the wealthy folks travel in style.

When I arrived in Nagoya, I grabbed my luggage and headed towards domestic arrivals. I was greeted by Jeff, one of the employees of PKC (the school I'm now working for). He was with another new-hire, a young woman from the Phillipines. Jeff is from the UK, which I knew was instantly an "in" to start talking football (soccer), and sure enough, it was. He took the other teacher and I out to the company van, loaded us and our stuff in and off we went on the one hour drive to KTC (Kenshu Training Center). It was around 9pm when I got dropped off and Jeff did his best to show us around the training center to let us know what was in the immediate area. The other teacher with us was staying at a different facility, but would be back on Monday, the 12th, to the KTC for the start of training. My accommodations were at the KTC and I was fortunate enough to have my own room. Turns out that some of the teachers were bunking up in pairs. The room was quite nice, much nice than I expected to be honest. It had a fairly large entry way that had a two-burner stove, a sink, a small refrigerator and microwave. There was a toilet room, separated from the bathtub/shower area, then two screen doors that lead to the living/tatami room which had a spacious closer, a table and a small 14" television. The bed I slept on was a traditional Japanese futon, which was my first time ever sleeping on one and it really wasn't too bad aside from the length. Even though I got to KTC so late in the evening, I was hungry and needed something to eat and I should mention that it's still incredibly hot and humid here. It's punishing on a daily basis. I put my shoes on and hoofed it over to the convenience store (konbini in Japanese), got some food, and got some much needed sleep. Thank God I had Sunday off. It's now a little past 1am here and I have to leave for training tomorrow morning at 7:45 in Ikeda, so I'm wrapping this post up, but I'll get part 2 up ASAP!