sechan19 | Arriving Officially.

The meet and greet at the airport was, as it ever is, long and tiring. The summer short program enrollment is way larger than any of the regular terms--although that's probably to be expected--and there were masses of us. A line of American ducklings following the leader through the airport and the subway stations of Tokyo.

Reconnecting with Suzuki, Kagisawa, and Anraku senseis and with Tanaka san was delightful. Everyone remembered me and did me the compliment of speaking only in Japanese. Anraku sensei was very happy to see me, and although I didn't have much chance to speak with her at the time, I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunity to catch up. Kagisawa sensei confided in me that Anraku had been very pleased that I was coming back, something that touched me greatly. I can't wait to see Ujige and Kato senseis, too.

I didn't get to my housing until almost 8pm. My luggage was waiting for me there. By that time I was rather winded. B. and I had breakfast after checkout at the hotel, before we proceeded to the meeting point, but that was early in the day and the quick veggie drink I snagged for a tide-me-over at the Narita convenience stand wasn't quite cutting it, ne? We (all nine of us girls--yowza) had an brief orientation that was translated for us by a student assistant. I was proud to understand almost everything before the translation came through.

Dinner was conbi (convenience store) food. A delicious fried-rice onigiri and some mugicha (barley tea). The mugicha took me by surprise as I'd never had it before and it has a muted coffee flavor it, most likely because of its roasting process. It wasn't what I'd expected, but after a few sips I warmed to it. Who knows, maybe one day I'll warm to coffee, too.

That is all.