こんにちは！ 今飛行機にいます。成田から五時間ぐらいかかります。とても興奮しています。東京に二日間住んでいます。それで、金曜日に大使や大使館に行きます。飛行機の食べ物はとて目良くありませんでした。たったおいしくないやさいとご飯がありました。でも、母のテェプレはいても美味しかったです。ありがとう！

Hey Guys!

I’m in the plane right now, heading to Narita. Not sure what the time is, but we are about to cross the International Date Line. The plane food was terrible. There was only plain string beans, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and rice with absolutely no flavoring. Luckily, there were Amma’s theplas, of which I had one (the one with Nani’s mirchi ka achaar in it.) It was great! Thank you!

Meanwhile, I think I am subconsciously beginning to miss Bollywood because I have had Dhoom Again and Salaam-e-Isqh (a song I never listen to) playing in my head. Oh well after I finish this post I will probably put my headphones on and listen to some Bollywood music while trying to fall asleep again.

Meanwhile, more details on orientation. First of all, I really like the kumi system (which apparently exists in Japanese high schools also) because you can meet certain people in kumis, others at language classes, others on you floor or your roommate(s). It really allows you to meet more people and interacting with them in much smaller groups.

Also a note on JST which I had mentioned earlier. Actually, apparently if it is some kind of formal meeting with one’s boss or such, you always come 5 minutes early. However, if it is a casual get-together, you purposely arrive 5 minutes late so as not to walk in on then preparing for you.

So, anyway we had another cultural activity yesterday (I think) which was really fun, but what I really got out of it was a practical reminder that culture is never static; there is no one tangible culture, and I will get slightly different interpretations or understandings of culture from different people.

Also yesterday we had an obento dinner. Obento is basically a style of Japanese lunchbox, kind of like a thali. There are multiple sections to place different foods. It was quite good: there was a very yummy pickled seaweed, pickled ginger and carrot, tofu with soy sauce, and tenpura. Afterwards we took kumi pictures, which again I intend to ask for on the FB group.

So yeah, we are about 2000 miles away from Narita! I am going to try to go to sleep again; goodnight!