Traveling to Japan

Here's a play-by-play of my trip to Japan.

On my flight to San Fran the lady sitting next to me smiled that "I don't speak English so please don't try to talk to me" smile. I spared her the conversation by promptly passing out. At the end of the flight I was wondering if maybe she spoke Spanish so I tried talking to her- much to her dismay. Ends up she's from the Czech Republic.  Been in the US a grand total of two weeks.  At first I was super shocked but after awhile I realized that probably meant she was a tourist. I may be slow but I catch on eventually.

So SFO airport - that's new for me. I've never flown internationally through there. It was big. And I kinda felt like I was already in Japan. A part of me hoped I would get a nice Japanese/English bilingual row-mate who would teach me some necessary phrases on the way there. Turns out I didn't get my bilingual. But my 10 hour friend was just as good; in fact- probably better.

Name: Rubish.
Pronunciation: German r, oobeesh.
Discovery of this piece of information: Hour 6.
Time it took me to realize it sounded like "rubbish" everytime I said in in my American accent: too long.
Country of origin: Marutius.
Location of this unknown country: Island off the southeast coast of Africa.
Native tongue: Creole.
Other languages spoken: French, English, some Hindi.
Ability to speak English: Better than mine.
Countries of ancestral origin: India and Marutius.
Age: 28.
Height: Approx. 6'2.
Weight: 70kg.
Features: Let's put it this way: I literally almost asked him if I could take a picture of his face simply because it was so pretty.
Lest ye ask me if I was interested, Marital Status: Girlfriend of 3 years.
First embarrassing moment with my new friend:  So, we get our first of two meals on the plane.  We both choose Teriyaki chicken.  It comes with a lovely little salad (okay, bowl of lettuce) and a packet of ranch dressing.  This dressing is in one of those little cups that you tear the lid off of- you know, like creamer?  Well, I start with my salad like a good little girl.  I start pulling off the lid.  It's half-way open, I just decide to give it one more tug.  As I grasp it firmly and begin to tug, the container collapses, which sends it flinging into the air; ranch dressing flying everywhere.  Thankfully (oh my gosh, I don't know what I would have done if it had been otherwise; probably cried and been miserable for the next 8.5 hours) everything flung toward the window rather than toward my seat-mate.  It splattered across the back of the seat in front of me and covered my window.  My hand flew to my mouth and I just stared at my seat-mate in horror.  I don't think he really knew what to say or do. I mean, how often to do you sit on a plane next to a total stranger who is apparently severely incapable (yes Katelyn, I'm trying to delete that other word out of my vocabulary...)?  Finally, as I started giggling he laughed too and wah-lah, instant friendship.  Thank you ranch dressing.
Second EM: I told him I didn't know Hindi was a language.  He later mentioned it is the prominent language in India.  India is not a small place.  Maybe I already knew that?
Third EM: Flight Hour 6. Rubish points to the window in front of us, where some ranch dressing had dried to a yellow crust.  Mortified.

After forever we get to the Tokyo Airport.  So my baggage claim ticket said "Arizona" and "Hiroshima." I figured this meant that my luggage was somehow, automatically being beamed (Star Trek style) to Hiroshima. How nice for me. As I went through customs and deciphered the broken English of the officer, he seemed to think my purse was not sufficient luggage for 2 weeks in Japan. I wandered back to find my luggage, solitary and destitute in a dark corner of the airport.  I prayed a pretty long prayer of gratitude that it didn't get lost/I didn't leave it in Tokyo.

Holly, Scotty and Maddie met me at the airport. Weirdly, they weren't allowed in the baggage claim area and I wasn't allowed out until I'd gotten my luggage. So we had to stare at each other awkwardly through a glass door for awhile til the bags came.  We had about an hour drive home for me to get accustomed to the fact that people were driving on the wrong side of the road... Thank goodness I wasn't driving :)