The last melon

Apparently I never posted this last update from last year? SHAME anyways, here it is, a year late. So, since this will probably be my last update that I write from Japan...I'll try to make it a good one :)I'll start where I left off, which is last Wednesday. In the morning I left for my 9:30 a.m. Japanese class at the community center. I ended up staying until about 12 because I was practicing with one of my fellow students, Mei. She's from Myanmar, living here with her husband while he gets his PhD in Teeth (he's training to be a dentist). She's also a Muslim. We had an interesting time trying to communicate about our respective faiths in a language neither of us spoke very well...Japanese words that I use to explain to Japanese people what I'm doing here just weren't in her vocabulary- not even the word "kurisuchan". Eventually she understood after I drew a cross and pointed to it again and again while saying 'this religion'. Or at least, I think she understood because today she asked me about what Christians do at Christmas time, so she must have added that into her vocabulary. Woohoo! 10 points to each of us for communication skills! anywho, after that I stopped by my new favorite bakery Luchia to reward myself and grabbed some nom nom delicious cheese breads and a little bun in the shape of a teddy bear head. Totes kawaii. Then I did some work for the Guest Home until about 5. I quickly snarfed down my winnings and got on the train to Shinagawa to meet Philipa for a bible study there. Since a lot of the English speakers didn't show up and it was just Philipa and I who spoke English, we split up so that they could do the reading in Japanese without feeling bad about us not understanding. It ended up being a really great time of mentoring for me. One thing I've appreciated so much since the day I got here is the amount of people willing and ready to invest their time in talking with me and teaching me. Philipa has been such a huge blessing in that way, and in many other ways as well. I will always be thankful for her companionship these past 6 weeks. Buu, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Thursday I worked on weeding for about 3 hours, taking some breaks to apply toothpaste and more bug spray every time I got too many mosquito bites to survive. Seriously, the mosquitoes here must think my blood is the Nectar of Olympus because they just keep coming at me. Not pleasant. I cannot remember for the life of me what I did on Thursday night, so that will unfortunately remain shrouded in mystery. What is not a mystery however, is that I was extremely tired the next day, so I think it must have been something to do with watching a drama into the late hours....heh heh. Friday was my day off, so me and Philipa went to Ueno to meet up with Rijke (another OMFer who goes to Gospel Church Tokyo) and hit up some museums. Once again I got a sweet student discount so I paid about 3 US dollars for admission to about 5 museums. Kaching! We really came to see the mummy that was on exhibit, the sight of which caused Philipa to have an existential crisis- haha, inside joke. Sorry. Philipa had to leave early, but after can of coffee I was ready to explore the rest of the museums, so Rijke and I stayed on for about 2 more hours. For the rest of the day I got working on stuff that needs to be done for school, forms and such, and figuring finances for my room and board. Turns out things aren't quite as rosey as I thought they were, but I still should be alright, so I'm glad I checked that out. Skyped with Abby just to review plans for her visitation. I think we must have done a good job because she's in Japan now! and she'll be on her way to Tokyo this afternoon. I'm supah pumped. Anyways, I went to bed early(er) to try and recover from my bad self-control the night before. However it was not early enough, since the next morning we had to leave on the 8:45 train to Katsutadai for the Kids Gospel Concert. But it was totally worth it to see a crowd of the cutest kids singing songs about Jesus with big ole dimply smiles. Simply the best. Afterwards everyone ate together AND yet again I met someone whose native language was Spanish. Mariluis is from Peru, 1/4 Japanese and has been living in Japan for 22 years. Her daughter was part of the Kids Gospel Camp, so she came along with her sons to watch. We ended up talking for the rest of the time, and exchanged contact info. I'm hoping I can see her again next time I'm in Japan. I can't believe I've been able to use Spanish to make connections in Japan...it's been so encouraging to know that it was worth all the investment to learn Spanish and that God can use whatever skills I have- whether they're in the 'right' language or not. I can't wait to tell Penny, my Spanish teacher that all the time she spent teaching me over the years has shown its value even in Japan :D After the concert was over, I stayed at the church with the Kids Gospel Team and took a nap on a pile of futons while waiting until it was time to go to the next event of the day...which was a Youth get together at Megumi Chapel! It was super fun- They had worship and an interesting mosquito-themed game, JP did a supah cool hippin and hoppin dance, and they had a special guest singer Migiwa. She did a little concert for us and shared, which was lovely. Afterwards we had dinner together and played Bingo, which I did not win ;_; woe is me. I didn't get home until about 10, and I nearly died in the bathtub because I just about fell asleep in the water. I slept well and good, which is good cause the next day was even busier. I woke up as late as possibly could (8:45 hu hu ;_;) and was out the door at 9:30, this time to Yoyogi park for an International picnic with the JPster. The picnic was great- I met tons of neat people, ate a bunch of food, and basically became a bubble-master. I had to scram at 1:30 to catch the 1:50 train to Usui, which is past Katsutadai- basically on the other side of Tokyo. Hiromi-san from English class invited me to her church and Nanae, her daughter also invited me to their youthgroup, so I wanted to be there by 3:30. It took a little over an hour and half to get there, so I ended up arriving right on time. I met Hiromi's older son Seiko and daughter Yoshie as well as the other youthgroupers- which included 3 sisters who were from America and also were homeschooled :)We played a difficult Mafia-type winking game. I say difficult because apparently as soon as I'm not supposed to be winking all the time, my eyes decide that the only thing they ever want to do is wink. This makes me seem suspicious when truly I am innocent. Anyways, the service started as six, which the dad of the American girls in the youth group translated for me- They're originally from Alabama. Afterwards there was a goodbye meal/celebration for Cana - one of the girls- as she is going to America for college. Hiromi's son Seiko is majoring in Spanish so yet again I was able to use Spanish to communicate instead of struggling with Japanese. YUSS. I'm starting to think Spanish is all I need. Haha just kidding a little bit. He gave me a ride back to the station, and I dozed the whole way back to Ichigawa. I got home at about 9:30 so I played some Candy crush and then hit the hay. Monday morning I finished up some things that needed done for school and did some calculating and such until Ladies Lunch. We talked until around 2:30, after which I did some paper shredding and had tea with Philipa and Jackie. Tuesday was corridor cleaning day- I mopped 3 floors of dusty outdoor corridors! I felt super accomplished and awesome after that so I treated myself to watching some more J-dramas. Haha. After that I did some late night goodie grabbing at Max Value to prepare for Abby's arrival. Wednesday morning I went to Japanese class for the last time. As I mentioned before, my speaking partner Mei is a muslim, and my teacher is kind of just the typical mishmash of Japanese cultural beliefs. We had an interesting discussion about the various holidays we do or not share- like Mei doesn't celebrate Christmas, and how Christmas is a 1 day event in Japan while it takes up most of the year-end in the U.S. I also learned a bunch of Sumo vocab- like the titles of the different ranks and tickets and the current champions. Very interesting class time. Afterwards I cleaned my room for like 3 hours straight. Not even kidding. Granted I was really doing some deep cleaning- scrubbing and the like- but seriously, I have no idea how I get it so dirty every single tweek. I blame it on the gremlins. Anyways, I still had a bunch of time before I had to pick up Abby at Tokyo station, but nothing to do except to blaze my way through 10 levels of candy crush. That's right. Levels 151-161 DEFEATED. You may now be amazed. I left at around 8:30 to be there in time to get Abby at 9:15, except somehow we passed each other and she didn't see the store we were supposed to be meeting at so we didn't find each other until 9:50. We got home pretty late but that didn't stop us from staying up even later to Skype Mom and the Merce. Even though I'm feeling really sad to say goodbye to everyone here, I'm really ready to spend time at home with the fam. Especially because Mercy keeps getting cuter every day and I just want to beeka her cheekas. Anywho, on Thursday we went Asakusa and SHOPPED and we also saw the temple and stuff but mostly we SHOPPED. Let me tell you, the amount of adorable crafty items for sale in Asakusa is dangerous to the wallet. I seriously could have spent several thousand yen here quite easily. However we were going to a particularly fun place the next day which I wanted to save some moolah for....But as for Thursday, we topped it off by going to Saizerias with Philipa and then joining Rosanne to see The Emperor. Top notch movie, an absolute must see. At least in my opinion. Tears warning- I nearly cried twice, but held it back because the last thing I need is to make a blubbering fool of myself in a Japanese theater. We cycled on back and got a good night's rest because on Friday we were headed for the Studio Ghibli Museum! We left at about 11 the next morning to get to Mitaka, stopped at a Mickey D's for iced coffee and to the bus to the museum. We had bought obento and still had a little while until our 2 o'clock time slot, so we sat outside in the museum garden and munched on our lunch while mosquitos munched on us :/ The Museum itself was just absolutely amazing. The design was just so Ghibli style and there were tons of interactive activities. Definitely want to take the Merce there someday. We were able to see the whole Museum and do some shopping within our 2 hour time slot. We even had some BBQ Sweet Corn icecream which was actually not bad at all. Definitely the most unique icecream flavor I've ever had. After Ghibli we went to Harajuku and Window shopped our way up Omotesando which is probably the widest road you will find in Japan. I don't know if that's officially true but in my mind it is so we'll say that it is. After chilling at the rooftop Startbucks (btw great place to hang out if you're looking to kill time in Harajuku) we met Philipa at 6 and began the real business of shopping on Takeshita-dori. When we were all shopped out we ate dindin at slightly expensive but totally worth it American/something-not-Japanese restaurant. Aaaand that's the story of how Hope became broke in under 3 hours. Hahahaha just kidding, I had like $10 left. Which I spent the next day because we went back to Asakusa for 45 minutes. Didn't I say it was bad for the wallet? When we got back from Asakusa it was time for the Chapel of Adoration Kid's Gospel Concert. We were expecting cuteness, and the kids did not disappoint. I think Abby has 2 full songs recorded, so look for those on Facebook. After the concert we were dead tired so we took a siesta until 5:30 when it was time to meet the other OMFers and COAers to go to see the fireworks. It took us a while to get to our spot because WOW so many people! both sides of the river were covered with people on tarps. Way more people than you see out for 4th of July fireworks. Unfortunately there were probably twice as many crickets and crawly things with many legs. I spent half the time being blown away by the spectacular fireworks and the other half defending myself against malignant creatures. But let's take a break from crickets and talk about what I really want to talk about which is |THE FIREWORKS| MAN! THEY WERE SO GOOD! I'm still not over it you see. They were legitimately the BEST fireworks I have ever seen in my whole life. They went on for 75 minutes and I think there was something like 20,000 fireworks. Mind baaalown. On Sunday morning we decided instead of trying to fit in another sight-seeing time we would just make a big tasty breakfast, so we went and bought bacon, eggs, sprinkle cheese and a big ole bottle of milk tea. Definitely th here best breakfast I've had here, and that's saying something. After we were done we headed to Tokyo Station so Abby could catch her Shinkansen. I took to her gate to see her off, and then went to Minipla to meet for my last-day adventures. From the station Philipa and I walked towards the Imperial Palace and spent some time in the Fountain garden which is beeeyootful. Both of us had to restrain ourselves from taking a dip under the waterfall. After that we took a loooooong lovely walk through the park on our way to Ginza. We also walked by the Tokyo Forum, which just so happened to be hosting a big bazaar/market thing that weekend! we bought some super old money there (we're talking like 1700's which is quite impressive to an American like me) We walked to the main shopping street of Ginza, but didn't do any shopping because A) I was broke B) even if I wasn't broke, the kind of stores the have in Ginza would have made me broke in one purchase. Instead we went back towards the station to find a place to eat. And boy did we find the place! Imagine the sketchiest looking restaurant in the backstreets of Bangkok, then place that restaurant under the train tracks in the wealthiest area of Tokyo. That's the Thai restaurant we ate at. I'm so glad we decided to try it though because I don't think I've ever had a better meal. Honestly I'd give it 5 stars even if it looked like a cockroach's bum. From Ginza we took the subway to Roppongi for church and made it there right on time. However I was supes tired and nearly fell asleep during the sermon

First Update from Sapporo

Hello Prayer Partners and Otherwise Invested People, It’s time for a weekly update on what is going on here across the pond! So a quick summary and then some points you can pray for. I arrived late Tuesday night, was picked up by Karin Stoerzinger (our supervisor/host) and we two went out for dinner directly from the airport since I hadn’t eaten for a while. We were able to talk a lot about effective ministry and our expectations, and just get to know each other better since we only met briefly while I was in Sapporo last year. Karin has been in Japan for 22 years so she is an absolute treasure trove of wisdom- we’re really blessed to have her watching over us and mentoring our team. The rest of the team- Abi, Dean, and Tom- had arrived earlier but stayed up to welcome me- generous since they hadn’t slept at all on their flight. As for me, I seem to have hit to sweet spot of sleeping at the exact right moments to side-step jet lag, so I think maybe Jesus loves me or something? haha trick question, Jesus loves everyone. Anyways, we jumped right into our normal schedule on Wednesday, with team devotions and worship in the morning, orientation, and then our first English Speaking Society (ESS) meeting. We had a wonderful time there and met a huge amount of students. Felt very in my element there, so it was a nice way to ease into internship duties. Thursday we took a tour of campus which is BEAUTIFUL and also super huge. It’s like the size of Central Park. We met another one of the ESS students with whom I may be able to set up a language exchange, and then headed to the weekly OMF prayer meeting at the Language Center. Most of the under 2 year olds that I took care of last year are MKs here in Sapporo, so I got to see all my babies walking and talking. Precious. Friday we all slept in, especially me because I stayed up until 3 AM watching the USA vs. Germany game and trying to control my emotions (and volume) which was not easy. Am seriously considering naming my firstborn after Tim Howard because the man is a real life superhero. We had our weekly team meeting with Karin and Alyssa Mattox, another staff on the FMzero team, and then afterwards we had our first english bible study at Karin’s house and met two more students there. Played a fantastic game of Tank and Commander which me and my partner Yuuri won. We now go by the name of Team Champion. Yesterday was our day off and Abi and I went into center city to a garden festival and visited the botanical garden. At this location I accidentally littered into beautiful lotus pond and maybe killed a carp, so we left the scene quickly and discreetly. We found the famous Sapporo Ramen Street which is a tiny underground alley with tons of ramen shops. It kind of looks like you could be murdered there and never be found, but the food was good and cheap so fair trade-off. We also found a pet shop with wall to wall puppies and kittens of the cutest variety- those of you who know Longs and our cute attacks, you will understand me when I say the sounds I made were NOT human… Anyways, in the evening Me, Abi, Karin and Dean went to an onsen to relax and heal our muscles after 5 days of biking everywhere. Accidentally discovered the electric pool, so that was a shocking experience ha ha. Turns out you should read the kanji signs because sometimes they contain pertinent information such as “This onsen will mildly electrocute you”. Cross cultural adventures, am I right? And that sums up the first few days here! We have a lot of prayer requests though, so don’t stop reading yet: 1. Our team leader, Dean, has been struggling with severe insomnia. He’s already gone two nights without any sleep even with two doses of sleeping pills, and only got a few hours the night before. It is taking a toll on his energy levels, so please keep him in your prayers. 2. We are biking an average of 4 miles a day, as that is the primary mode of transportation. It can be extremely exhausting biking quite a bit and then having the energy to engage in activities, so pray that we all have the energy necessary to do our work. Also I’m a weakling. 3. Team relationships- right now we’re all sort of still in the “honeymoon stage” but we are living in the same apartment, spending 24/7 with each other and we are bound to get on each other’s nerves eventually, so pray for that. 4. We have several events coming up that you can pray for: Firstly, we are planning and hosting and International Party for July 8th. Secondly, Abi and I will be hanging out with a group of 60 girls from a Junior High School (9th and 10th graders) on July 4th to help them practice their English and learn a little about our cultures. Thank you for your support everyone!