The Beginning Part 3

After waiting around some more and watching other people go about to their destination, I thought it was a good time to board the plane. I proceeded into Gate A4 and to the carry-on check out. I had a hard time here since I didn’t know I was supposed to take my shoes off and I had trouble putting the handle back into the sp-ed bag. Water isn’t permitted on board (I decided to bring a couple of bottles because of what I’ve read about airplane water which isn't true anymore since they serve bottled water now) so she made me throw it out. I kept walking
until I saw the tunnel that led to the plane. My hands started to get sweaty, something that doesn’t happen too often for me. I guess I was really nervous and excited at the same time. I was seated (18A) and luckily, it was a window seat! I was sitting next to a lady who was heading to Taipei. I saw her ticket when she pulled it out. Either she was really tired or she was meditating because she had her eyes closed the majority of the time. When she was awake, however, she was counting beads. In her seat pocket was a pamphlet with a picture of a monk.

It took a while for the plane to take off (there were some other planes that haven’t taken off yet/incoming planes etc.) so we waited for a good 20 minutes or so. When we did finally lift off, it was such an odd feeling. My heart started to race and the world beneath me started to shrink. The view was amazing… Long Island looked so small. The cars and people were even smaller. I can’t even begin to describe how I felt. It was a mixture of awe and fear. I took a few pictures of the view but it’s not as amazing as the real thing. For others it might be “just a plane ride” but for me, it was an incredible experience.

Because of the delay, there wasn’t much time to get to Gate 30, the gate to Narita, Tokyo. I saw people running but I took my time. I still had a good 10 minutes to walk there. The Detroit airport was amazing. It had a tram running along the upper side of the building. It looked like a life-size toy train! I couldn’t see much but besides that, it looked like any other airport.

I got to the gate and walked in. There was an escalator heading downstairs on the right hand side and a sign saying Couch Entrance leading to the left side. I didn’t see anyone else coming in so I got confused. Was I supposed to go downstairs? I took a left into the entrance and I asked the stewardess, “Am I on the right plane?” Well, DUH, I was but remind you, this is my first time taking an airplane by myself. My seat, 36G, was in the middle of the aisle. It was 2 rows behind the T.V. screen…meaning no window ;_;!! Next to me was an Asian guy, looked around my age and next to him was a buff looking white male who looks a bit older. I put my stuff in the overhead compartment and tried to make myself comfortable. On my seat was a pillow, a blanket, menu and magazines. I took my seat and waited. The announcements were in English, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin?). At one point, they made an announcement saying that the Air Force One was arriving at the airport. Since I wasn’t near a window, I missed it ;_;. I got tired so I took a nap. I woke up and they served a light snack of pretzels and a drink. I knitted for a while then got bored halfway. Stomp was playing on the big screen but I didn’t watch since I’ve already watched it before. Has anyone seen it? It’s very well made.

Later on, the crew began to serve dinner. The menu offered a beef or chicken entrée. I took the chicken. The food wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great either. It kind of tasted like cheap microwavable food…which it probably was. The cookies were so good though~ It was a Pepperidge Farm cookie. I reminded myself to buy a bag when I return to New York. At this point, I decided to start small talk with the guy next to me. Earlier, I overheard him talking to the white guy about how he had to take a plane to Detroit and then this one to Tokyo and then another plane to Korea. Sounded like the route I was taking. So I asked him if he was headed to Korea. He said yes. Turns out he lived in Florida for 2 years as an intern at Disneyworld. He only had complains about it though…He worked as a lifeguard getting paid minimum wage ($6 something in Florida) and was forced to live in Disneyworld “territory” for $75 a week, which was deducted from his salary. He had to live with 5 other people sharing one refrigerator. Although his English wasn’t great, I still understood what he was telling me. He was a very traditional Korean so he said a lot of stuff about how the workers at Disneyland were racist, Disneyland itself was exploiting foreign-exchange students and how Americans are lazy and greedy. We also talked about the mandatory military service Korean men have to go through. He explained that men can start around the age of 19. He also pointed out that America is more “young” because they don’t have this mandatory service. He’s studying ocean engineering, which I found interesting. “A lot of physics and math,” he said which is something I can’t handle xD. It involves architecture so he knows a few things about it. He criticized the architecture of the Disneyland water park, saying how unsafe it is.

What I found interesting about our conversation is that he told me the military service hinders the studies of students. Since it’s a 2 year commitment, young men tend to forget everything they learned in school. There’s a lot of rigorous work involved (or depending on where you get placed) but in the end, there’s no time for studies. I’ve known that Koreans are very studious but now I see that it’s really serious. We talked a bit more, but I did more listening than talking, which I didn’t mind at all; it was fun. After we ate, we all had to go to the bathroom but the lines were incredibly long. Man, I can’t get tired of the airplane toilet. The suction is so interesting >_>….Anyway, it’s 8:28 pm now. I think we’re still in the North American continent. When we were eating, we were in Canada so I’m assuming we are a bit further in. My laptop is running out of batteries so I’ll stop typing here.