Our New Home

We woke up in the morning of September 11, did what we had to, and packed up the cars with our luggage. We had so much stuff packed that we had to take two cars. My parents drove one car, and Paola and I were in the other. We had decided that my parents should follow me to the airport, and that we should stay together since airports can be a bit daunting. That plan was put to shambles as soon as we got on the freeway. Almost immediately, we were separated, and I got very nervous as to how we would meet up again at LAX airport. After all, the airport is big, and I wasn’t certain that my parents would remember that our flight was on Northwest Airlines. That being the case, I couldn’t be sure that we would meet up with them, and collect our bags that were in their car. There seemed to be nothing that we could do, so I just drove.

About forty-five minutes into the drive to the airport, Paola luckily spotted my parents. Somehow, they had gotten ahead of us. It didn’t matter to me how, because we now found them, and we would be able to get our luggage before checking in. Things always just seem to work out.

The plane ride actually took less time than was planned, only 10 and a half hours. I don’t know how I did it, but it went pretty smoothly. Before getting on the plane, I thought that I would go mad before we landed. That did not happen, so all went well with that. Likewise, customs and immigration were easy to go through, and there weren’t any lines, or anything, so it went quickly (unlike my experience at JFK airport in New York).

Once through customs and immigration, someone from our company was there to meet us. He took our luggage to a delivery service, and then rounded us up with about forty other cattle who had just gotten in. We landed at about 15:30 local time, but our bus was not scheduled to leave until 18:30, so besides getting a welcome packet and its contents explained to us, we sat around for about three hours.

I thought that someone would escort us during our commute to our home, but that was not the case. We took a two hour bus ride to a Kowagoe station closer to our home in Saitama. Paola slept through most of that. After the bus dropped us off at a train station, someone was supposed to meet us there to take us to our home. We had to wait for about fifteen minutes before someone came; the waiting made us a bit nervous. I thought that if worse came to worse, based on the maps in our welcome packet, I could get us home. We were about to call the main office right when Tony showed up. He took us upstairs to the train, and we were on our way. The only thing that was a surprise was that we had to pay for our own train tickets from there. It was only about 500 Yen, but I consider ourselves lucky that Paola had such small change because I had understood (apparently wrongly) that the whole commute from the airport to our door would be taken care of. All the same, things worked out. It was only four stops or so before our stop, so all went easy from there.

However, once the train got to our stop at Tsuruse station (a good name, since I will be living there), we had to walk for about ten or fifteen minutes, which was a bit much with the stuff that we were carrying (the delivery service only took two pieces for each of us).

It was during this walking that it finally felt a little bit like I was in Japan. On the bus ride in, I could see lots of buildings and hotels and things, but so many of the neon signage was in English. One lot even said, “Used cars for sale.” But now that we were walking through the streets, I could see the more delicate details of the local community. We passed more than a few sushi places, and all of the signs I saw were in Japanese. One interesting thing is that there really aren’t sidewalks; basically we just walk on the side of the street. This made walking with a suitcase a little challenging, as I did not want to be hit by any cars. It also did not appear that it would be an environment conducive to daily jogging; we’ll see what I can do.

When we finally got to our apartment, we were relieved and ready to go to sleep. Tony showed us around the place a little bit, and showed us how things work. Now, Tony must be at least six feet tall, and he had to lower his head at every doorway in our apartment, and I can easily touch the ceiling with my hand with a short hop, so it seems a bit small. I guess it will work for Paola and me, though. I also thought that it was funny that Tony told us to take off our shoes when we walked in, which is customary in Japan, but since it is our home, shouldn’t we be able to choose which customs to adopt? (To be sure, I think that it is a custom that we will adopt.) He showed us the new futon mattress that we lie on the floor to sleep on. After figuring out how to turn on all the lights (there is still one that doesn’t work), he left.

It was nice to meet Tony. He told us that he will be the person who begins to train us for our job next Monday. Even more, Paola is going to be working at the same branch as he does, so we have already met a person whom we will see frequently. He left his phone number and told us to call if we had any questions before Monday.

We were finally alone in our new apartment. Even though it is small (about the size of an apartment in Manhattan), I really like it. I was about to tell Paola this when I turned to her and saw her crying. I was worried that she would cry because she does not adjust quickly to changes. I did what I could to comfort her, but she assured me that she just has to get used to it. I am sure that she will be fine in a couple of days. For myself, I still don’t quite yet have the feeling like we are in Japan. Of course, I haven’t gone out or done anything other than get to our apartment via a bus and train ride followed by a little walk. Actually, right now, to me it sort of feels like a little Japan neighborhood in a major American city like New York or Los Angeles. That said, I can’t wait to get out there and explore today. We have to go to a store and pick up food and other things like soap and towels, so it should be fun navigating through that. All in all, I am sure that things will find a way to work out like they always do.