The flight from NC to Detroit was on a really narrow plane and I couldn't really do anything except for listen to music and make a few cranes.
The airport in Detroit was a lot nicer than one would imagine. The section I was in must deal with a lot of traffic to Japan, as everything was also written in Japanese in addition to English.
The flight that I was on to Japan was also going to Manilla afterwards, and I think that about %70+ of the people there were Filipino, as hardly anyone exited through customs in Japan. I wonder why.
The flight itself was pretty terrible. The guy sitting next to me was damn near catatonic and slept practically the whole way there. I was stuck in a window seat, adjacent the wing, so not only could I not see anything, I had to climb over two people to get out. I ultimately just sat there, not wanting to interrupt to others' sleep and paid for it, as my stomach continued to do barrel rolls and the guys in front of me smelt as if they hadn't bathed in days and then proceeded to roll around in a mound curry. There were times that I felt like my limbs were going to atrophy off and I would become the token Dharumaさん of the flight. I couldn't get to my bag, so I all could do was read, make cranes (which I stopped as it seemed to make the feeling worse), and listen to music. I wouldn't have been able to do much else anyway, they kept the cabin in a state of perpetual night.
The one thing that I noticed most prominently upon getting here was the abduance of people wearing surgery masks. I was aware that this occurred in Japan, but was still shocked at the frequency; about one out of every eight people I saw wore masks and it wasn't restricted to just to older people.
I have to wonder if they are even worth wearing, as my understanding of it was that it was more for the benefit of patients during surgery to prevent damage to the more vulnerable interior of the human body by disease. Even if it does reduce the chance of airborn infection, there still other ways to be infected that seem at least just as likely, if not more so. Regardless of the reason, in one night, I saw more masks last night than Wakemed probably goes through in a week.
*Edit: I asked one of the Japanese students about this today and they said it was due to allergies. Although, there isn't really any noticeable amount of pollen, especially compared to North Carolina, which I'm sure is probably looking like a vast expanse of yellow.
The apartment is nice, (thank god there is an a/c!). I'll post pictures once I clean up a bit, I don't want people to realize what a slob I am.
I did manage to lose ２千円 already somehow and that really sucks. Although, I did just get back 4百円 in change after putting in 150円.
Please let me know if I'm writing too much or if there is anything in particular you want to know more about. I want this to be something that isn't tedious to read.
I already miss everyone in Raleigh and wish the best for you all!
You should've seen flu season, everyone was wearing those silly masks! Everyone at school was wearing them, and they tried to get me to wear one as well. I refused, because if all of the first graders and half of the second graders are absent from school the masks obviously aren't doing anything. However, you will find that there is often only cold water and no soap or towels in public bathrooms. And people wonder why the get sick all the time. -_-;;
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I'm looking forward to reading your blog! I wish you better luck in keeping up with it than I do with mine (that I haven't updated since August, woops!).