Fast Times at Koryo High: On Touching Down and the Beginning

I would like to start off by apologizing to everyone for my lack of presence upon this blog in the past days. It was a struggle to find an internet connection, which I find to be very ironic due to Japan's notoriety for it's blazing fast internet.

But anyways, my journey began on August 15th at 9 a.m. and boarded a plane for Chicago. After landing in Chicago I transferred onto a plane bound for Narita Airport located in Tokyo. It was my first international flight and it was strange due to the fact that I was always flying into the sun. A nice Singaporean couple sat to my left and whenever the wife opened the window it was always sunny, never dark. After touching down, I helped them with their luggage seeing as they were only 5 feet tall on a good day. I was initially very scared of the Tokyo airport, however, it proved to be easy to navigate. I was able to find my small chartered flight to Hiroshima and boarded and promptly fell asleep as I was dead tired. After waking up and landing, I picked up my luggage and walked out into the awaiting arms of my host dad, Hiroshi, and counselor, Genko. I then hopped into Hiroshi's Toyota Prius and began the hour long drive to my new home. We had a pleasant conversation, mainly revolving around his occupation and his sons. I dined on some fruit and went to bed when I arrived.

The next day I awoke and had breakfast and Hiroshi and went for a walk around Hiroshima. Its a beautiful city filled with many parks and green spaces. He then took me to his office and introduced me to his son, Shinji. Shinji is an Okonomiyaki chef at the restaurant Hiroshi owns. We discussed my school, as he attended it for a year when he was in high school. We then left and headed home and had lunch. After lunch I was whisked away to the shopping arcade were I was fitted for my swanky school uniform. For dinner when dined at my fathers restaurant on food prepared by my three host brothers. There, I met several members of Rotary and my host niece and nephew. The dinner was excellent, consisting of chicken throat, pig feet, and cow intestine.

The next day, in the morning I went to the Shuikken gardens with my host mother, Michiko. The gardens were absolutely gorgeous. And it was a two minute walk from my house! Its so strange to be in the middle of everything. After spending the afternoon at home, I traveled to my school with Hiroshi after dinner, to get used to the routine. The baseball team was practicing, despite it being 8:30 in the evening on a Saturday.

And that brings us to Sunday. In the morning I went with Hiroshi to the Hiroshima Castle and the nearby Shinto shrine. It was an amazing experience to see the least. I then spent the afternoon watching Japanese baseball (which I do quite frequently to kill the time) and drawing and called it a day at 10 after having dinner of fried chicken, crab, and tofu with dried immature sardines.

Its now 9 a.m. in the morning and I believe I am going back to the restaurant this evening for dinner with some Rotary members. School starts on the 30th, and I look forward to it immensely. Both for its structure and for the fact that I will finally meet kids my own age (something that has yet to happen).