Arrival in Osaka
I've made it to Osaka relatively intact. I discovered upon waking Sunday morning that my flight from Boston to Detroit was delayed due to maintenance by 1 1/2 hours, and was scheduled to arrive 3 minutes after the scheduled departure of my connecting flight to Osaka. My options turned out to be to risk the Boston flight and probably miss the only Osaka flight for the day, or catch a flight from Providence to Detroit that would get me there in time. So Michelle and I drove down to Providence, which took a bit longer than going around the block to Logan, but I made it in time to Detroit. The Boston flight turned out to be 2 1/2 hours late into Detroit; I know this because the Osaka flight was delayed an hour for paperwork (which they never received anyway), and then they decided to hold the plane an extra 10 minutes for 13 Boston passengers. But at least I didn't have to run for the plane.
The Osaka flight was long and rife with Will Ferrell movies, but the booze was free.
I was met at the airport by Yamada-san, the secretary in Prof. Tsunemi's lab, where I'll be working. I tried (in Japanese) to apologize for being late, but I think I said I was sorry for being large or expensive. I missed the class on adjectives. I was surprised that I was able to understand (in Japanese) that we had to take a bus to the domestic airport (right near Osaka U) and then a taxi, and I was able to carry on a conversation about how much warmer it was in Osaka than in Boston, and how long the flight had been, and how long I had studied Japanese, and other inane topics.
We got to the Osaka U. guest house at 10 pm, 23 hours after I left Eastie. We were met there by a grad student of Tsunemi-sensei, Katsuda-san (I think, although I also think that means Mr. Pork Cutlet, so I might be wrong). I saw a bit of the campus in the dark as we went to the store for some food. I also saw the building where I'll be living starting October, it's nice with a pond in front of it and trees and crickets and things around it. I'll be at the guest house until Friday, when I fly down to Kagoshima to go to the Uchinoura Space Center.
The Osaka flight was long and rife with Will Ferrell movies, but the booze was free.
I was met at the airport by Yamada-san, the secretary in Prof. Tsunemi's lab, where I'll be working. I tried (in Japanese) to apologize for being late, but I think I said I was sorry for being large or expensive. I missed the class on adjectives. I was surprised that I was able to understand (in Japanese) that we had to take a bus to the domestic airport (right near Osaka U) and then a taxi, and I was able to carry on a conversation about how much warmer it was in Osaka than in Boston, and how long the flight had been, and how long I had studied Japanese, and other inane topics.
We got to the Osaka U. guest house at 10 pm, 23 hours after I left Eastie. We were met there by a grad student of Tsunemi-sensei, Katsuda-san (I think, although I also think that means Mr. Pork Cutlet, so I might be wrong). I saw a bit of the campus in the dark as we went to the store for some food. I also saw the building where I'll be living starting October, it's nice with a pond in front of it and trees and crickets and things around it. I'll be at the guest house until Friday, when I fly down to Kagoshima to go to the Uchinoura Space Center.
posted by Eric M. at 12:58 PM
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