We have arrived in Japan! Our trip began on Wednesday as the team met in Chicago. We all arrived with little drama, a good thing. We ate dinner together, highlighted by dessert at Stone Cold Creamery. The following morning our journey to Japan was underway. We spent 3 hours at the airport, then boarded our plane for a 13 hour trip to Tokyo, once in Tokyo, we had a 2 hour layover to catch our plane to Nagoya, once in Nagoya, we were met by an anxious and extremely friendly group, who showed us to our bus. We rode the bus for an hour and arrived at our host hotel. We thought it was a very long trip, as most of us did not sleep, instead watching 5 or 6 movies in flight. However, we were soon informed of the trips of some countries that started their journeys on Tuesday and arrived after our team.
We have not yet adjusted to the time change as most of us woke up around 400 am, Japan time. The good thing about that was that we were able to catche Live coverage of the US Open!
Today (Sat) was a great day. The weather was beautiful and we spent the morning at the World Expo in Nagoya. Over 130 countries had expos and exhibits. It was a great experience for the players and one I will always treasure. After the round was complete we went to get our first look at the golf course. The course is very well manicured and going to be a great test. The fairways are extremely demanding, and the greens are well bunkered.
The host hotel and the tournament staff have been very accomodating and friendly. We look forward to the Junior Amateur taking place tomorrow. One of our players is going to play with the US Ambassador.
We are still trying to adjust to the different foods, but we are making an attempt to try almost everything, almost.