Coming to America

I Have been behind on updating the blog entries, but I will begin by summarizing our 9-day stay in the States.

11th (Wed.):
The flight arrived JFK on time, 15 minutes before the departure time of the same day, and it is our first time to enter the States together through the American Citizen/Permanent Resident lane. As always, nervousness does not go away until finishing the procedure; possibly due to my previous traumatizing experience. After handing in documents, finger prints, and answers, we are escorted to the room in the back where they run further search on our background. Although this is a common procedure for me, Sahe does not seem at ease. After 15 minutes later, we were out of the room and I have become the permanent resident of the United States... well, with conditions for now.
 

12th(Thur) - 14th(Sat):
We begin preparing for our new life in a new town, and start opening various accounts in between naps and seeing old friends. Sahe has a tendency to break down and catch cold when she returns home, and it was no exception this time. Maybe it is her way of giving her mother a chance to feel motherly again.

15th(Sun) -16th(Mon):
With Sahe's brother who is in town for a few days, we drove down to DC, which for me is the first visit to the capital since in a grade school. Visits to great museums such as the Natural History, the Air and Space, and the National Gallery, ground me back memories of 23 years ago, and was once again mesmerized by their scale of collections and size of exhibition halls. After dinner we took a beautiful and warm 3-mile stroll from the Washington Monument to Lincoln Memorial. Sahe and I also spent the next day sightseeing, and left her brother with a car and took Amtrak back to New York.



 




18th(Wed):
An old friend made his way down from Boston, and we spent a full day walking around the city. It has been a year and a half, so more than 100 blocks of walking was necessary to catch up with each others lives. Whether in Boston, Amsterdam, or Yokohama, we have always exchanged thoughts during our aimless walks. The rain in Central Park added a bit more excitement. We ended up with few more guys and had a few things to drink.

We spent rest of days packing and prepping for the journey, and ended up running around everywhere. It was certainly more relaxing than when we were leaving Japan, but we were not packed until an hour before the departure...