2/28/09
Murata Apartment, Fukuoka

The Goto family helped me ship my bags and took me to the bus station. It does not feel like it's been a whole month.

I got on a plane for Kyushu. This was the first time I've been through an air transit system without the company of the TSA. I understand it's a recent law, but apparently anything capable of producing wireless signals is verboten, even if the signals aren't being used. This includes laptops, DSs, and anything with an "airplane mode." The lady sitting next to me didn't seem to care, though, texting on her cell in the middle of the flight.

I got a window seat, but for some reason I didn't get a window. Row 15 on that plane has no windows. The plane did have, however, the little personal display with flight info on it. It even had a camera feed from under the plane you could watch. It was pretty cloudy most of the way, but it was still fun to watch.

I was met at the airport by Mr. Kaba, a Labo staffer who took me through the subway to my host family. My host dad also happens to be Labo staff, although he had some sort of appointment so he couldn't meet me at the airport. My host mom is Korean, although she's lived in Japan for ten years and speaks Japanese quite fluently. I've got a seven-year-old bilingual host sister, Mari.

Only the dad was home, and I had hardly come into the house before he pulled out a DVD copy of "Saving Private Ryan" and set it playing.

In the evening, another Labo staff, Mr. Nakahama, came over and we went out to dinner. After we returned home, we played some card games and had lots of fun. This isn't like any other host family I've had before, but I think we'll get along.

3 comments:

Jeff said...

Well, in the US the rule goes "no electronics at all until they reach cruising altitude" and then "only devices that do not transmit wireless signals OR have an airplane mode" (which really is a permissive list you have to read in the in-flight magazine). The upshot is that laptops and airplane-mode cellphones are usually okay once you get to altitude, but nothing should be on during ascent or descent. Cell phones usually get turned on right after the plane taxis off the runway.

Saving Private Ryan? What a way to wind down...

Jeanette said...

About your host sister, is she bilingual in Korean or English? Or does she actually have 3 languages?

I am amazed at how many bilingual families I meet here.

Cordell Newmiller said...

The rules were saying no cell phones were allowed to be switched on in the airplane at all, taxiing or no.

Mari is bilingual in Korean and Japanese. She might know a little english from labo songbirds or something (e.g. "hello," "goodbye"), but she doesn't use it.

~Cordell