Finally in Japan!

Konnichiwa!
Greetings from　Japan．
Whew, what a long flight. 11 hours in the air squished between two people in coach!　　Although, I was lucky enough to be seated next to one of my team members, so we had a good time on the team members, so we had a good time on the plane. So good, in fact, that one of the passengers told us to be quiet!
We were greeted at the airport by four GSE　committee members. They took us to a bus they had rented for the day and this is where things started to get hilarious. Six Americans and all of our crazy luggage!!! We had three bags per person and only two people could fit their luggage in the compartment on the bus. The driver had to lug all of our stuff through a window on the bus and loaded up two seats with it!
We then began our three hour journey to the Tochigi prefecture. It was fun driving on the cosocudoro (ha - I knew I would find a use for that word - which means highway by the way!). We passed Tokyo Disneyland - looks just like all the others I suppose, but we will not be going there on this trip! We ended up in Sano and stopped at a restaurant for dinner - and no - I have no idea what the name of the restaurant was! Amy and I ordered a *variety* dinner. It was HUGE! We cracked up at how much food was on our plate - which in fact was a giant basket big enough for three! It was really good, although neither of us could eat it all. Sheila took some photos, so I will try to post them later on!
We arrived at the hotel a few minutes after finishing dinner. It is a nice enough place, small (which is to be expected) but we each have our own rooms. When we got off the bus, poor Terry ended up running around the corner and throwing up into a bag. He has been so sick the whole time, but he has been a trooper.
By this point, we had been up for nearly 24 hours and were exausted, so we all headed up to our rooms to crash. I was still a big jazzed, so I could not sleep right away. I ended up watching a bit of *DIRT* on my ipod. I am so glad I loaded that up with songs, shows and language courses! An interesting note about the hotel room, pretty typical, but I cannot believe how hard the beds is! It is like sleeping on the ground - okay - maybe a little better, but still... (But I realized, hard beds are probably pretty common since a lot of the japanese are used to tatami mats - a soft bed might be strange for them.) I ended up moving to the couch at about 5am. It was a bit more comfortable, but since I had been asleep for 8 hours anyway I ended up getting up and jumping on the computer anyway.
Today we have orientation from 10-12 - then off to a special lunch. I will be sure to let you know what happens...