8/29/2001

2pm
Only a few hours into the trip and already there are new things. I thought peanuts were universal. I know it won't be the last time I'm handed a package with absolutely no English on it- and it's just a guess about what's in it. Even the airplane smells different. It smells like the peanuts/puffed rice snacks tasted. Of course, some of the "Otsumami" tasted like shrimp. But the tastes did not seem unusual together.

Hmmm. Greg says it smells like beef. I thought vegetables. More later, I'm sure. Note to self: Chicago to Tokyo is about 6,000 miles.

8:30pm still on the airplane
There is so much new, just on the plane. I would of course like to document it all, but I know I must be selective. I could write pages about just the few samples of food I've had so far. As a snack there were tiny sandwiches. Tiny! One was egg salad- standard tasting. The other was a piece of cheese on white bread. No condiments. And, the unusual part was that the crusts were cut off. I'm not sure if an American airline would have cut the crusts off of sandwiches.

Will things like crust-less sandwiches and neon green kiwi juice become ordinary to me? I hope not. I don't want to get used to seeing new things.

Another part of the adventure I want to be aware of is how our group of Americans change over time. Right now I'm learning what it's like to be a minority: there are cartoons on, but they are not translated into English. Also, on the radio we hear Japanese talk-radio, but nothing like that in English. A little frustrating, I have to admit.