Hello from the other side of the world! Hope you all have had a great day and are going to enjoy your evening. I had a great flight over and was very blessed. I was supposed to have a middle seat of a bulkhead row. Yay for loads of leg room, boo for middle seat. When I checked in at Chicago, the lady asked if I wanted an aisle seat. I told her no thanks, but that I would love a window seat. She made a phone call and voila! Window seat was mine! When I got on the plane, I realized I had the whole row...there were very few people on my flight. I could stretch my legs out and *barely* touch the covering of the emergency slide. If I slouched, I could prop my feet up on it, which is what I did. 
THe bad thing about that row is that the armrests don't move since that is where the TVs and lap trays are kept. So, I turned sideways and hooked my legs over the armrest with my feet in the seat next to me so I could sleep and the stewardess came and got me and took me back to a totally empty row for me to sleep. It was wonderful. I got 3 solid hours of sleep there, then one more in my normal seat. Arrival and customs was no problem--got through in 30 minutes. I validated my Japan Rail Pass, bought a bus ticket and found my way to the bus stop with only asking people at the Information Desk 4 times. I was happy. 
Phil and Kim and Christian picked me up last night and we came back to their place. Kim made an awesome dinner of french toast, scrambled eggs, bacon (which has no fat at all here and looks a lot like thinly sliced ham) and sausage. We also had blueberries (from Delware of all places!) and these super amazing champagne grapes. With champagne grapes, you don't eat the skin. So, you pop the grape in your mouth, squeeze it to get the flesh out and then discard the skin. They are probably the sweetest grapes I've ever tasted. SO YUMMY.
My shower last night made me feel human again. The airport was incredibly hot, as was the bus to the Tokorozawa station where Phil and Kim picked me up. I was pretty gross by the time I got to their house. I managed to stay awake until 9:45, which is 7:45am in Indianapolis, so I was pretty happy. Slept really well, waking up only once. I feel refreshed and not jet lagged at all. We'll see how long that lasts. I head to the train station in just over half an hour. I'll be on a 4.5 hour train to Osaka where my good friend Elisabeth will pick me up. I do have 3 transfers of trains, so please pray that I make those without any problems. I'm leaving the suitcase here and just taking my big backpack and a duffel bag so hopefully it won't be too difficult to manage. See you from Osaka!
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