arrival

I'm here in Osaka, and it is 7am. (it's 6pm there, making it 13 hours ahead here in osaka) I flew over Canada and Alaska for the majority of the trip and while it was cloudy, every once in a while the clouds would separate and i could see snow and trees and tons and tons of ponds and lakes. I saw hardly any roads at all. Later in the trip, we might have been above a glacier, because all i could see was white and then cracked ice, water, then more white. It was beautiful. A lot of this created patterns (especially with the trees) that looked like ink inside a plastic bag.
After a long and otherwise uneventful flight, i arrived at Kensai International last night around 7pm, osaka time. customs was a joke. i walked right through and the only question i had to answer was "are you american?" I had no trouble with my medications at all. When i walked out of customs, a young woman named Mira, who is a Korean student from Mica, greeted me. Conveniently, she speaks Japanese (possibly fluently, but it's hard to tell when you don't understand the majority of what's going on). She was with a man named Tanaka, who took my bags for me. It took an hour to get from the airport to my apartment. It was dark and rainy, but not too cold. I couldn't see much. I did see what looked like xmass lights lining the side of the street where there was construction. Also, little spiky purple light-up balls resting on top of traffic cones. Tanaka san and Mira took me to a kyu kyu shoppu, like a $1 store, but higher quality. I bought a cup and bowl, a pack of chopsticks, a couple of noodle packages and detergent. They were suprised that i already had towels and soap and other essentials. Apparently the gentlemen came much less prepared. I met Mira's boyfriend, whose name I can't remember, but he goes by "kodomo", which means "child". His english was not very good, but he kept saying to me "america face is cool!" Tanaka san gave me some rolls of toilet paper, a box of tissues and a hand towel as welcoming gifts. They left and I made one of the noodle bowls, recommended by "kodomo" san, which was actually quite good. It had something on top that looked and tasted like inari, but felt like a sponge (i later found out that this is a kind of tofu. i'm not sure what it's called). I took a bath, which filled up 3/4 of the way is nearly up to my neck. Then i watched some TV, none of which I could follow (except the learn english show with a hot 17-year-old half japanese girl. today we learned "take".) i passed out and woke up at 3am, then 6am. I have orientation at 11am. Maybe I will go walk around a little, try to find a calling card or internet cafe so i can call home and tell them i'm alive. oh, and my apartment is perfect. i don't feel like a sardine, nor do i have too much open space. i have a huge closet and an even huger storage space under my bed. if i had visitors, they could sleep there. i need to buy some hangers, an ashtray and some more food. i have no where to put my clothes, since the closet just has a bar, no cubbies or anything.