Holy crap I'm in Japan!

Three continents down, 4 to go.

I'm now in Okinawa. Lemme tell you how I got here. My mom drove me 2 hours to the Detroit Airport so I could catch my direct flight to Tokyo. It was a sad goodbye. It's odd to think I could not see her for 2 years, but she's already talking about visiting with friends already. I'll miss her a lot.

The plane I rode to Tokyo. It had 2 decks even. I swear half of it had to be used for storing all the fuel.

I befriend a 25 year old woman named Katie Jensen. We both needed seats once we got to our gate. She was flying to Korea. She is going to be teaching her third year in Korea teaching English as a second language. Apparently, she really loves it. She’s gotten to travel and they seem to pay for a lot of her expenses. She has a masters degree in English and had wanted to become a professor but I guess she’s taking a well deserved break. She was tired of school from the sounds of it. I’d like to get into a job like that so I’ll try and keep in touch with her through E-mail.

When I found my seat I laughed. Katie had said she wouldn’t trade me seats because it looked like I had the middle seat. Turns out I had an exit seat which means endless legroom and you only have to sit next to one other person. The person who had to endure me for 13 hours was an older gentleman named Gary Johnson (also the name of my 6th grade science teacher). He is the CEO of Bluespark Technologies and previously managed a $40 million dollar company that employed hundreds. Bluespark Technologies is a small company with only 20 or so people who make paper-thin batteries that can be used in unlimited ways such as with a press of a gift card the battery could show the amount left on the card on a small display and also used in the military as a patch to show vitals in a hospital on a screen with many other patients for better patient control. He had traveled all over the world and shared with me some of his wisdom. A lot of very interesting conversations but I’m sure he was glad I did sleep some.

I also watched Kung Foo Panda on the plane. It seemed really short but I liked it. A very simple story though.

When I got off the plane I ran into another woman who happened to be a Canadian from Ontario named Crystal Cuthbert. She was another teacher teaching English as a second language. She had previously been teaching in the junior high so for the next year she’ll be in nothern Japan teaching in a Japanese junior high school for the first time. She was 23 if I remember correctly.

I got off the plane in Okinawa and a man directed me to someone who had a “DOD” (Department of Defense) sign above him.

He looked at my iternary and told me I had to catch a bus to another airport. The bus was leaving in 10 minutes. I had to fork over 3000 yen. Turned out to be like $34.

I met some airmen on the bus who were coming back from training in Las Vegas. They are air crew on F-16s. They said the pilots (officers) are really cool with them because they understand all the hard work they have to do on the ground. One did say he could never return to Las Vegas because he was sure he’d develop a gambling problem. Ha. We drove through Tokyo which was awesome. I just kept thinking of how many millions of people must be living there.

When I was exiting the bus there was a man in his fourties I’m guessing who had the traditional military haircut. He and I both were taking the same flight. He turned out to be a commander (an O-? which would be like a liuenent colonel in the Marine Corps and Army) in the Navy. His name is CDR Daniel J. Hohman who is a wing surgeon who works in aerospace medicine. That means he deals with the pilots with problems such as hitting too many Gs when flying or if they crank their necks for whatever reason. He has been in the Navy for 23 years and went to school at Harvard which was all paid by the military. He sounded very intelligent and smart with his money. He said he owned some condos in Florida. He and I stayed together until he was picked up. He even helped me out by calling Gunnery Sergeant Stare on his Blackberry cell phone. I really did appreciate his help. The airport would have been a lot more of a confusing experience if not for him. He also told me about the toliets and how in some areas you are squating over a hole and he added it was easier to take your pants all the way off. I’ll have to remember that.

There was a lance corporal (E-3, a rank I’ll pick up in November) waiting for me in his charlies. There were some other Marines with bags waiting. After talking to some of them I turned around and there was Lance

Corporal Means, a female broadcaster from my school who I’ll be working with.. I’m guessing a lot since she knows what she’s doing and I won’t have a clue. I didn’t think we would show up at the same time.

We loaded up the van and drove to Camp Foster. Once there they gave us a quick brief and told us when to wake up.We were put on the 2^nd floor and I had the last room on the left.

I went downstairs to get my 2 sheets and a blanket and when I told the Marines at the front desk I wanted to be woken up at 0530 they thought I was crazy. I wanted to go to the chow hall for breakfast.

I did want to get everything for the next day out so I had to unpack a seabag. Baaad idea. In the end I did get all my cammies and everything else all ready but I ended up just piling everything in my wall locker. The room was nice and I didn't have a roomate.

After I stuffed my locker I set my cell phone alarm and prayed I would be alright on 4 hours of sleep. Nothing bad can change the fact that I'm in Japan. 12 hours away from family and friends. I'm in another country, another continent and it's an awesome feeling.