A Rough Way to Begin

Welcome to my blog everyone. It took me a few days but here I am with my first post and it is quite the doozy.  So hang on as I give you an overview of my first day here.

January 9, 2013
After a very long flight we landed in Nagoya, Japan at the Nagoya International Airport. At this point, my stomach was in absolute knots because I was finally in Japan and I had no idea what to expect. My friend Nick and I got off of the plane and proceeded to get our resident card, pick up our luggage, and go through customs. His host family was there to meet him and take him back to their home and a Japanese student named Mako was waiting for me to take me back to the dorm I would be staying in. As we made our way out of the airport I found myself looking around to see the differences between that airport and airports in America. I noticed that the Nagoya airport had smoking rooms where people could, of course, go and smoke. I was also intrigued by the efficiency with which they operate. Everything was very orderly and precise, evidence of many years of perfect rehearsal.

From the airport we were taken by taxi to my dorm, Nagoya Koryu Kaikan, on the campus of Nanzan University. As we were driving, I drifted in and out of consciousness as I was very tired from the flight. I was able to stay awake long enough to notice the differences between Japanese cars and roads when compared to those of America. First, the roads are very narrow so turns have to be very precise. There were quite a few moments when I thought we were going to hit another car. Another major difference is that Japanese people drive on the right side of the road. I knew this before seeing it, however, that didn't stop me from getting freaked out a little bit. As for the cars, the only major difference of note is that they are driven from the right passenger seat instead of on the left side. It took us about an hour to get to the university.

I made it into the dorms and was greeted very warmly by the dormitory staff as well as the other students that happened to be there, of whom were having a party. At this point, I became very overwhelmed because of the information overload from the dorm staff and the greetings from various people. My inner introvert was screaming at me to get back in that taxi and go back to the airport so that I could go home. After this initial introduction I met my roommates for the first time.First there is Joey, who had already been here the previous semester studying, then Johnathan whom we affectionately call J-kun, and last our Japanese student roommate Ryota. They welcomed me in and then showed me around the apartment before inviting me to come to the party downstairs. I decided to go down there for a little bit even though I was exhausted. I talked with a few people and then came back up to my room to try and go to sleep.

 I chatted with my wonderful wife for a little bit that night but would get no sleep that night. Most people consider what I felt that night to be homesickness, but I would call it "wifesickness" instead. I was so upset and missed my wife so much that I just started weeping. I felt like I had made a terrible decision and that I was a terrible husband for doing this. I didn't know why I was here and wanted nothing more than to just go home. I was strongly considering going back to the airport the next day and buying a ticket to come home. Jamie did an excellent job of being there for me and prayed for me to get through that night. I spent some time praying after talking with her and then I received that wonderful peace that surpasses all understanding and was able to rest a few hours. Difficult situations are so much easier to deal with when I know that the Lord Jesus Christ is there to love me and give me peace.

As you can see, today was very difficult but I made it through. I just have to walk one day at a time and try not to focus so much on how depressed I am. You will be happy to know that in my next blog post things were better. Stay tuned for my next blog entry about the following day!