The Journey Home(ish)

A car came to pick us up at 3:00AM on Monday morning. This was after my dad made a quick trip to the emergency room due to a rough bout of food poisoning (or something). We got to the Taipei airport, onto our plane, and to Osaka with little difficulty. Once in Osaka, my mom and I decided to go out to see the city a bit (another stamp in my passport!) but my dad stayed in the airport for a long nap. Then my mother and I had successfully navigated immigration & customs. This is more difficult than it sounds for two main reasons 1) they photograph and fingerprint you upon entrance which made me uncomfortable because I had already been traveling for 10 hours and looked like it AND now the Japanese government has my prints, and 2) and elderly Frenchman made conversation with us while in the immigration line and had much to say on Paris, Shanghai, Minnesota and how he was taking the time to visit many places while there is still gasoline because otherwise he won't be able to fly since he is not a bird.

So we made our way outside and took the train/subway to Namba, the southern portion of downtown Osaka. The train was completely above-ground so we got to see a lot of the city, including the beautiful Osaka Bay--also known as the reason the Osaka Airport is continually sinking. Anyway, we also saw many Japanese homes in what seem to be a surburban area and the houses are completely picturesque! They have the Japanese plant hedgings and the beautiful stone-tile roofs. We walked around the city for about 20 minutes before my mother was also hit with food poisoning (I seem to have been spared due to my recent turn to vegetarianism) so we headed back to the airport. We were only out in the city for about 2 hours but I was happy to be able to see another city/country--especially one that is so different from anywhere I've been. Also, it was interesting to test my chops in a country where I don't speak the native language. Amazingly, I've never traveled to a country where that's the case. I fared pretty well!

The flight from Osaka was uneventful. Both my parents were sick and I watched "Dan in Real Life," which was fine but did not meet my expectations. I barely slept for another night in a row, so it was with utter exhaustion that--25 hours after we left my uncle's house--we arrived in HAWAII! I basically slept all day yesterday, woke up for a snack, then slept the entire night. I enjoyed some sun today and I can't wait to hit the beach tomorrow!

MUCH LOVE from HAWAII!