Pre-Boarding

I'm sitting here at the airport.  My flight starts boarding in an hour.  #1's boards at 8pm.  She is at her gate; I'm at mine.  Why?  I'm not exactly sure why.  I guess, not being much of a flyer, I'm a bit paranoid about missing my flight.  It was quite the hike between our two gates.  I'm thinking we're probably both enjoying our alone time, and we'll have PLENTY of together time this coming week.

These were the kids in the car as we drove to the airport.  Sheer CRAZINESS!

The kids were very strange these past couple hours as we wrapped up the packing and drove to the airport.  #7 cried when we left.  She broke out in hives early this afternoon, so we put her in a warm bath with baking soda in it and gave her a bit of Benedryl.  She was doing much better when we left.  I have no doubt that the Warden'll take good care of her.  Sorry the photos are sideways.  I rotated them, but for some reason, when I uploaded them here, this is how they came up.

#3 is being very emotional.  Being left as the "only" girl with all those boys.  "Mom!  Take me with you," were her words.  

So, I switch planes in SLC.  #1 has a straight shot to L.A.

I just realized that I neglected to get a good English to Japanese dictionary for #1, so we'll definitely have to do that in Tokyo tomorrow.

So, here's how it all lays out for now....
Sit and wait for the plane to board.
   Blog
   Play sudoku
Head to Salt Lake City.
Switch planes.
Head to Los Angeles.
Meet up with the Warden's cousins--these guys need some serious nicknames.  I can't keep calling them "the cousins."  Hmm.  Well, one of them has a family blog.  On their blog, he's known as "The Student."  I'm thinking we need to come up with something better than that.  Oh, and we shall, believe me.  He's the instigator of this trip, and since the Warden is "The Warden," maybe "The Student" should become "The Instigator."  There's got to be something better.

Okay, back to the list.....
In L.A., the Instigator and his sidekick brother will meet up with me, and we'll go get #1.
In the wee hours of the morning, we catch our plane for Tokyo.  From what I've heard about the Los Angeles airport, you have to hike from the domestic section to the international, so we'll be dragging our tired bottoms to the right gate.

Our flight to Japan will take 11 hours and 35 minutes.  No joke!  I told #1 I was glad she was sitting next to me so her shoulder could catch my drool as I sleep cuz that is my plan.  I plan on doing some serious snoring.

When I arrived in Tokyo last time--back in 1989, I had jet lag SOOO bad!  We took a shuttle from the international airport to the domestic airport.  The other missionaries were sitting in the seat in front and turning around and talking to me and my companion, but I honestly kept dozing off mid-sentence.  It was TERRIBLE.

So, here I have to share one of the reasons for the jet lag....

I traveled with three other female missionaries (sisters).  They sat on one side all together.  I sat in the middle section of the plane next to two Japanese women.  Yikes!  My two-month-old language skills were put to the test.

These women happened to be from Sendai.  What?!  Here I, before I got my mission call, had never heard of Sendai and here were two women from Sendai?  Crazy!  We chatted most of the flight.  I watched them slurp their noodles as we ate our in-flight meal.  Basically, I learned quite a bit about the people I was going to be spending a lot of time with for the next sixteen months of my life.  So, in an attempt not to be rude to them, I didn't sleep much.

Now for where the story gets really weird.  I know you must think I'm lying because of all the weird coincidental stories that happen in my life, but I'm telling you the honest to goodness truth.  When my second companion came to join me in Aomori, she had transferred from Sendai, one of the first things she said to me was, "??? says hi." (Sorry, I don't remember the woman's name).  Huh?  "Who?" I replied.  My companion, Sister Tazura, said, "Oh, she said she sat next to you on the plane ride to Japan.  We were teaching her.  She wanted to make sure I told you hello."

This time, I'm sitting next to one of my favorite people for more than 11 hours.  She's a captive audience; so am I, for that matter.  I plan on teaching her some Japanese and sleeping a whole lot.

There you have it.