Going Back Home

the flight path from Tokyo to Chicago

So the time has come for me to return to America.  It was a wonderful three weeks and I am sad that I had to leave.  This morning everyone went to the Nagoya airport.  I am glad that I got to say a final goodbye to all of my host families.  We took a lot of pictures.  The Shirakawa family gave me a gift today which had an amulet which is supposed to guarantee safe travels.  At the gate for our flight out of Nagoya, I saw a troop of Japanese Girl Scouts.  I introduced myself and said that I am a Girl Scout in America.  They all thought that was really cool.  We took many pictures together and they gave me a paper whistle.  I'm really glad I met some Japanese Girl Scouts on my trip.  I am typing this on the twelve-hour flight from Narita (Tokyo) to Chicago.  Nick and Scout both took sleeping pills, so they slept for most of the flight.  I was awake for the majority of the flight, so I watched four episodes of television shows (2 of The Big Bang Theory” and two of “The Office”) and three movies (Epic, At Any Price, and Trance).  I slept for maybe a couple hours.  Even though I slept for a lot of the flight to Tokyo but only a little on today’s flight, it felt a lot longer on the way there- more than the actual one hour difference.  We have a four-hour layover in Chicago and then one last flight from Chicago to Flint.  We will be home soon!

me with all three of my host families

all three exchange students and all the host families

me with a troop of Japanese Girl Scouts
they were on their way to a ten-day stay in Vancouver, Canada

the paper whistle I got from the Girl Scouts (the GSJ stands for "Girl Scouts of Japan")