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Hey everybody, I'm back here in the frigid city of Nagoya.. this update will be in
two parts: One, covering my break. And two, covering my return to the land of the
rising sun and raw fish.
After finals ended, I went home and packed up all my stuff.. then I got a call from
Alex about trying to meet up with Shiga-sensei, our Japanese teacher from Notre Dame.
We met her at the Lazy Lizard. Well, actually, Paul couldn't get ahold of her, so we
ended up meeting there and just hanging out for an hour or so before heading home.
If you're reading this, Shiga-sensei, sumi masen.
Well, the next morning, my host mother drove me to the Nagoya airport three hours ahead
of boarding time, as is prescribed for international flights. I proceeded to wait for
the vast majority of that time. Note to self: an hour and a half is plenty of time.
As I was waiting, I met a guy who is teaching English in Japan through the JET program.
Actually, we went up to check-in our luggage and get our boarding passes together, and
the lady behind the counter assumed we were travelling together. So we ended up
sitting together for the entire plane ride.
Once we got to Detroit, we parted.. I went down to gate G for my five hour layover,
which was now only 4 hours due to a lunch at a bagel shop. This shop is where we
encountered our first item of reverse culture shock. When we ordered our food, which
was expensive(airport stuff always is) we got these humongous drinks and humongous
sandwiches. In Japan, you would pay the exact same amount for about half of what we
got.
As I was waiting in the G gate, I listened to a CD four times, wrote poetry, and drew
sketches of people passing by. There were a bunch of delays, cancellations, and angry
people. Eventually, I got up to get in line for boarding. My boarding time was around
2:30pm. Unfortunately, as we were waiting to go through the door, they cancelled my
flight. They followed the announcement with one mentioning a bus that would take us
home to South Bend. The bus, showing up an hour and a half later than announced, has
seating for 45 people. As we bottlenecked to get on the bus, we all got nervous. There
were definitely more people than seats, and nobody wanted to be left behind. Someone
jokingly said, "Wouldn't it be terrible if they ran out of seats and you were the next
person in line?" Yep, you guessed it. I was that person in line. With 45 seats, I was
number 46 in line. So continues the sordid tale.
The lady taking tickets told us they had no more buses, but would try to get some
carpool cars to take us. So she said wait. And we waited. Until they announced that
another 15 buses were coming, and listed the destinations. By now, 4 of the 6 flights
to South Bend that day had been cancelled. But they weren't going to send another bus
to South Bend. No, they were going to let us fend for ourselves.
I went to the ticket counter, and asked the lady what there was that they could do
for me. She told me there was a spot on the 11:05 flight, and she would even bump me
up to first class for it. (An hour of first class would have made me happy)
So I waited. I found other people who were waiting for the same flight, one of which
was a Notre Dame graduate. We all waited, and watched as they delayed the remaining
flights by more and more time. Eventually, some of the flights took off. Unfortunately,
mine was not one of them. Around two o'clock in the morning, they cancelled our flight.
So, after a 13 hour flight from Japan, the six hours before that, and the 14 hours of
waiting in the Detroit airport, I had amassed a nice 33 hours of no sleep. At 2 am,
I went to the ticket counter again, and conveyed this story very politely. Unfortunately,
it was met with "well, I've been up for twenty hours. Get over it." The kind man also
informed me that every flight to South Bend the next day was booked full, and that if
I wanted, I could be put on a flight later that evening. Eventually, it was arranged
that I could be put on a flight for Fort Wayne, Indiana and my parents could pick me
up there. They also had completely filled up their hotels, and could only offer me a
crummy pillow and a ten dollar food voucher for the airport restaurants, none of
which were open at that hour of the morning. So now, I am hungry, exhausted, have
practically no hope of getting home to my family after a semester on the other side
of the world, and am expected to sleep in a chair in the airport.
I am not happy. Countless collect calls had been made to my home that night, as
I relayed all of the information I could gather. Eventually, my dad said "Chas, get
your bag under your coat, curl up around it, and try to get a few hours of sleep.
Your mom and Chris and Mike are coming to pick you up." And they did. Around 6 am,
my mom ran up to me and hugged me for the first time in four months.
I would like to once again thank Chris and Mike Blankenbaker for driving all the
way to Detroit in the early morning hours to pick me up. It will remain forever in
the history of great Christmas presents.
For anyone who would like to know, I was flying Northwest, and the problem was due
to Mesaba Aviation, their local carrier.
As of right now, they have promised to send refund and a "goodwill gesture."
Over break, I ate steak, Christmas cookies, fettucine alfredo, soup, chili and pizza,
among other things. I also got to see many friends and relatives, all of which was
cherished greatly. I recorded a few songs with Brian, essentially finishing up a
"second album." To hear them, check out our