Welcome to Japan!

Two hours of sleep! The alarm goes off around 4 am, as me and my mom cringe and crawl out of bed. Groggily finish placing luggage in a bag and wash our face and teeth, then grab a quick bite to eat. I go into my grandmothers room and gently wake her. She is not feeling well and won't be joining me for the car ride to the airport. I tell her we are leaving and I say my goodbye. She tells me "Just keep moving forward all will work out." I wipe a few tears away and walk to the car.

Entering the airport my mom and I both try to use our tired minds to locate the terminal that I will be departing on. 15 minutes later I am dropped off and my mom has parked the car and joined me. I get myself all checked in nervous and out of my comfort. My mind still not grasping what it is I am doing. I have spent months trying to prepare to be away from everyone although I know it won't become reality until I am there. I get checked in and meet my mom. We walk as far as we can together. I hug her tightly knowing I am going to miss her so much! She snaps a picture of me holding my passport tells me she is proud and that she loves me. I am a lone as I walk through the first security.

Security is really easy in the airport. Have your ID out, Passport, and ticket. Get to the trays place your luggage down, remove shoes, and take out any computers, phones or any electronics and place them each in a seperate tray....well at least the computers phone can go with purse. If you have any jewelry ( I would say just don't wear any that day) take it off and set it in the tray. Same with belts. Then wait to go through the scanner. It takes maybe 2 minutes to do. Then I'm off to head to my flight terminal and wait. OK text mom telling her I made it. Text Jay also telling him I made it to my first flight and that I miss him. We talk for a while and I cry a little bit then. I have not seen Jay or Shane or Lisa the kids my dogs Stephanie anyone from St. George for a month and I miss them fiercely. We talk on Skype and the phone but its not the same. On my first flight from Phoenix to Cali where i then wake for a few hours for the next plane. I get off my first plane and instantly feel lost. LA airport is a mess! I walk back and forth for 20 min then walk to security who had been sitting smiling and watching me all that time. He asks "Lost are you?" I told him where I needed to go and he told me I had to walk out of one building to go into the international flight building because they are not connected. So as I make my way in that direction I am now feeling disoriented which worries me since I am not even out of the country.  I take a deep breath and remind myself I can do this! 

Finally in the international building! I walk in and there are tons of people lined up at all the different country flights. I find the Japanese Airlines (JA) and find that they speak a little English. WHAT already?! We get me all sorted out as I look very unprepared trying to find everything they need... turned out the just needed my passport and name and a ticket number which I already had out. (Face-palm) Then they handed me my ticket and that was it. I look around me....where on earth do I go?! The ticket doesn't help much, as I'm looking around starting to get annoyed I take another breath. Then a man approaches me and asks if this was my first time flying internationally. I laugh and say pretty obvious isn't it? He helps guide me to where I need to be. As it turned out we were both on the same flight! I sit down and pull out my phone. Knowing this will be the last time I get to use it for the next two years because my phone is a dinosaur and is not able to work in Japan. I message my mom and everyone updating them on what was going on. Still unsure about how I was going to tell them when I made it to Japan since when I get there I will have no phone, no internet for at least a couple days. I start to feel anxious and scared. But distract myself with a game on my tablet and charge my phone. I talk with Stephanie and see how everyone is. Jay is traveling on the road and is tired but well. We joke around about different things then I tell him I love him and I tell everyone else I love them that I am getting ready to board. I get on the plane find my seat feeling relieved, anxious, nervous and tired, The only words I know are Konichiwa, Sayonara, ogenki desu ka?, and Toiwre wa doko desu ka? But I was not really sure if I was even saying them right. (Hello, Goodbye, how are you, where is the toilette?) Of course I already felt like the foreign minority but I was lucky another woman across the aisle sat next to me and was also part of the minority. I struck up a conversation and she was very kind. She had been to Japan a couple of times for business and said everyone is very polite and I should not worry. 

This flight was long and I did not really sleep cause every time I was about to someone would wake me with food, or bumping my chair as the tried to get out from behind me, or drinks, or the cart. So I settled down to watch a movie. At one point one of the flight attendants came around with immigration paperwork that we had to feel out in order to get past immigration. They had questions like how much money did you bring. Do you have any drugs or other dangerous items? If so please list them... Some of the questions I was not sure about how to answer like did I really need to write my prescribed medicine? I asked the woman next to me and finished feeling out the paperwork. several hours later I arrived in Tokyo, one more flight to go and I was feeling exhausted! At least I wasn't hungry because at this point I had no money. I found my last flight terminal and sat down I really only had to wait 5 minutes or so I thought. Next thing I know I hear my name over the speaker, "Aimee Peterson please come to front of terminal____" I go up to the terminal and find out I have to take a bus out to my plane. Few glad I didn't miss it! On this plane I was given a nice buisness economy seat next to a window and fell right to sleep. Unfortunately it was only a short 1 hour flight. By now I was emotional, I was excited nervous anxious scared worried and tired. I still had no money for Japan only USD. I got off the flight picked up my luggage which was the last one and met my boss and Dan (my other Boss and mentor) at the front. They showed me where I could exchange my money I only had $200 in cash.... I was supposed to have at least $1,000 on my cards I had at least $600 but I soon learned that I may have problems getting it. (A whole different story) Then we hopped in my bosses car ( I could not remember his name!!!) By now it was late in the night of Japan and all around me everything was dark and it was quiet. I felt numb. I was at a point where I could not feel anymore because I was feeling so much. I was trying to focus on what Dan was saying as he was giving me a basic small tour of where we were. What road we were on and where we were headed. He also went on to explain what may happen tomorrow. Depending on how I felt. I knew I needed to make a good impression that I was there to work for mine and Jays future. Pay bills and get a house for our small family to live. So I told him "Whatever we need to do I will be ready to go for it tomorrow." The boss that was driving spoke very little English and mostly spoke to Dan in Japanese. Dan also mentioned that I would need to learn some important key phrases the next morning. They asked me as we neared where what I would soon call home, if I was hungry? I told them no I just needed sleep. Next I knew we were stopped at a place called Circle K. Dan turns to me and says lets get you some breakfast for the morning. We head in and I see a building that looks like a gas station store. there are a variety of random things. drinks. chips, candy, and food i just don't recognize. I see pancakes and grab them with a drink. Then its time to pay. I pull out my wallet and just kind of stare. They lady at the counter is speaking really really fast Japanese (well OK it is fast to me one I am tired. Two I had no clue what she was saying) Dan shows me where the total was and together we work out the money....that part was pretty easy to figure out. It also gave me some good change for later on. Then we finished to the house. Dan hands me my "Key" which looks like the electronic hotel key.

I unlock my door and step in. Its dark, I am told that the lights are up a step, I step up and Dan gasps and touches my shoulder. Then I realize this is wear I must take off my shoes!!! I hurry and step back down and take my shoes off. But I did turn on the light. Then Dan rushes in and begins looking at everything. I smile he is like a kid checking out all the presents. I find the bed and notice the blankets and pillow on it. Dan is listing all the things I have. I am cold the house is cold, I am tired and all I want to do is have them leave so I can curl up in the bed and fall asleep. Eventually Dan looks at me and asks if I have everything I need. He and the boss head to the door and before the leave ask if I would like to take the day off or when I would like to start. I think about it, "I came here to work so let's start tomorrow. What time do you need me awake by?" This seems to impress them. They talk for a minute then Dan replies "8 o'clock OK? You will be coming to work with me then to meet the mayor and BOE office." I nod the door closes and I breathe a sigh of relief. 

I look around me, walk into the bedroom make the bed, use the toilet. Thank God its a western toilet! Change into my pajamas warm ones since I am very cold and have no clue how to warm things up. I cover myself with the blankets and lay my head on the rice pillow given to me. I shake my head, "Oh what have I done?!" Then I think, "I am trying to provide for my family and myself. I will not cry." I check to see if there is any internet. What luck there is an unsecured WiFi available and I log onto Facebook world and let everyone know that I had made it to Japan and that I no longer had a phone. Then I fall asleep. To be continued....