And so the journey begins.
On Friday, we all met at the church and were driven to the airport by Jason, Craig, and Terri. Then we hopped a plane to Chicago only to be delayed and diverted, causing us to miss out flight to Tokyo by 10 minutes are so. After a long of waiting and sitting and begging, we got rebooked to a flight going out of JFK the next morning; to get there, we took a plane to Laguardia. All but 2 of our 12 bags were left in O'Hare. We were told that they'd be forwarded to JFK. They wern't.
And so we spent the night at a Holiday Express and got on our 13 hour flight to Narita airport. It was a long flight. We passed through so many time zones and date lines and what not that somewhere in the time-space continuum, we lost Saturday.
So now we get to Sunday.
We arrived in Narita Sunday morning and were greeted by Steve and Janet Kunnecke, and later found out that our baggage wouldn't make it until Tuesday (thankfully, that actually happened). So that day was spent driving through Tokyo and getting settled. Tokyo is a beautiful city; there's definetly more value put into cleanliness and athstetics here in Japan. Everywhere you look there's flowers, gardens, even "farmland" (patches of land, no matter how big, that are bought for cultivating veggies is called farmland). Our first Japanese dining experience? McDonalds! Everything is TINY compared to American Mickey D's fine goods. We went out shopping that evening for new clothes and toiletries, and then went out for gyoza (pot stickers). Finally, we got ourselves MUCH needed showers and sleep. :)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Isaac's Vending Machine Adventure
I had said during the commissioning that I was going by the motto "Be Brave, Not Safe." I think one of the best ways that idea has personified itself is through the drinks Isaac has drank so far:
~Calpis (carbonated milk):
~Calpis Sour (same as above, but with vodka. He didn't know until the can was empty).
~Deka Vita (Hangover cure)
~Georgia Coffee w/ nicotine (again, didn't know.)
~Dodecamin (normal soda, except it had royal jelly (secretions from bee larvae) listed as an ingredient).
~Cinnamon Ginger Grape (tasted like Welche's grape juice).
~Coke Float (coke and ice cream. In a can!)
~Iced green Tea w/ green tea jello and mollasses sweetener.
~Fanta Mellon
~Qoo (white grape soda)
~Peach nectar
~Ribbon Citron (Tasted like Sierra Mist)
~Pocari Sweat (similar to gatorade; tasted like a citronella candle smells).
~Calpis (carbonated milk):
~Calpis Sour (same as above, but with vodka. He didn't know until the can was empty).
~Deka Vita (Hangover cure)
~Georgia Coffee w/ nicotine (again, didn't know.)
~Dodecamin (normal soda, except it had royal jelly (secretions from bee larvae) listed as an ingredient).
~Cinnamon Ginger Grape (tasted like Welche's grape juice).
~Coke Float (coke and ice cream. In a can!)
~Iced green Tea w/ green tea jello and mollasses sweetener.
~Fanta Mellon
~Qoo (white grape soda)
~Peach nectar
~Ribbon Citron (Tasted like Sierra Mist)
~Pocari Sweat (similar to gatorade; tasted like a citronella candle smells).
Japan Randomness
There's a bunch of things I want to tell you all about, but not all of them are big enough for their own blog post. So, I'm listing them here:
~Milk. It's really good here. Mom, I think you'd be willing to risk drinking it. It's SO rich and creamy. As Isaac put it, "It's like going to Oberweis every morning."
~The sun rises really early and sets really early. It's a very punctual sun. The sunrise is probably around 4:40sish, and it's dark by 8:00.
~In katakana (the Japanese script used for forign words), Laura's name looks like a scoreboard that says 0-7.
~They don't card you if you want to buy an alcoholic beverage. Not if you look old enough, anyway. (I'M SOBER!)
~ Not only do they look really gross, dried sardines are really gross.
~Kids can easily run around the city by themselves without any worry. Same goes for leaving your bike unlocked.
~The Japanese do not hide their risque magazine covers.
~Japanese children are fascinated by freckles.
~Azuki (red bean paste) is delicious.
~Toilets have remote controls here!
~Futons are comfy.
I'm sure I'll think of more, but I have plenty more lists to get going :)
~Milk. It's really good here. Mom, I think you'd be willing to risk drinking it. It's SO rich and creamy. As Isaac put it, "It's like going to Oberweis every morning."
~The sun rises really early and sets really early. It's a very punctual sun. The sunrise is probably around 4:40sish, and it's dark by 8:00.
~In katakana (the Japanese script used for forign words), Laura's name looks like a scoreboard that says 0-7.
~They don't card you if you want to buy an alcoholic beverage. Not if you look old enough, anyway. (I'M SOBER!)
~ Not only do they look really gross, dried sardines are really gross.
~Kids can easily run around the city by themselves without any worry. Same goes for leaving your bike unlocked.
~The Japanese do not hide their risque magazine covers.
~Japanese children are fascinated by freckles.
~Azuki (red bean paste) is delicious.
~Toilets have remote controls here!
~Futons are comfy.
I'm sure I'll think of more, but I have plenty more lists to get going :)
AT LAST.
Sorry about the delay, everyone! it's been a crazy few days here in Japan.
As I'm sure most of you know, our arrival to Japan was delayed 1 day because of a thunderstorm over Chicago. Long story short, we ended up being rerouted into New York, then we flew out of JFK to Tokyo (my mom set up hotel reservations so we could spend our New York night comfortably. Thanks mom <3). And so finally, here we are! We spent our first two nights in Higashi-Kurume. Our days there were absolutely packed with sight-seeing and clothes shopping. (Oh yeah, I forgot to add that our luggage arrived 2 days after we did. Thanks for your help, American Airlines. Psh.) Part of our first two days was spent exploring Tokyo and attending Kurume Christ Church's Grace Coffee Hour. We're now in Okutama, about to eat dinner after our first AMAZING day at camp.
I will go into more detail soon, but the dinner schedule's pretty rigid. Just wanted to say hey :) hope all is well a home!
As I'm sure most of you know, our arrival to Japan was delayed 1 day because of a thunderstorm over Chicago. Long story short, we ended up being rerouted into New York, then we flew out of JFK to Tokyo (my mom set up hotel reservations so we could spend our New York night comfortably. Thanks mom <3). And so finally, here we are! We spent our first two nights in Higashi-Kurume. Our days there were absolutely packed with sight-seeing and clothes shopping. (Oh yeah, I forgot to add that our luggage arrived 2 days after we did. Thanks for your help, American Airlines. Psh.) Part of our first two days was spent exploring Tokyo and attending Kurume Christ Church's Grace Coffee Hour. We're now in Okutama, about to eat dinner after our first AMAZING day at camp.
I will go into more detail soon, but the dinner schedule's pretty rigid. Just wanted to say hey :) hope all is well a home!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Itinerary
For any and all interested, Dean Omori put together a complete itinerary (Japan AND Indiana times included!) for our trip:
Indiana Time | Japan Time | ||
Friday | 7/22/2011 | ||
11:55 AM | Take-off from Indianapolis | ||
Saturday | 7/23/2011 | ||
3:15 AM | 4:15 PM | Arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport & travel to Kurume Christian Church (KCC) | |
8:30 PM | Sunday 9:30 AM | Private Sunday Service for team | |
10:30 PM | 11:30 AM | Travel to Tokyo to visit religious & cultural centers | |
Sunday | 7/24/2011 | ||
5:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Team Dinner & update blog website (http://abbigoestojapan.blogspot.com/) (You Are Here :D) | |
8:00 PM | Monday 9:00 AM | Team Devotions | |
9:00 PM | 10:00 AM | Participate in the KCC's Grace Coffee Hour: - Build relationships with KCC's congregation and coffee hour guests - Sing some worship songs for the guests | |
11:00 PM | 12:00 Noon | Lunch, pack and travel to the Fukushima evacuee camp at the town of Ome | |
Monday | 7/25/2011 | ||
2:00 AM | 3:00 PM | Arrive at Ome, unpack and set-up worship chapel and classrooms | |
5:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Dinner / Finish preparations into the evening / Update blog website | |
8:00 PM | Tuesday 9:00 AM | Team Devotions | |
9:00 PM | 10:00 AM | Finish classroom set-up / Meet & coordinate with volunteers | |
Tuesday | 7/26/2011 | ||
12:00 AM | 1:00 PM | Dry run of Bible English Adventure (BEA) program: - Rehearse Skits - Rehearse Worship Music | |
4:00 AM | 5:00 PM | Dinner / Continue rehearsals and classroom preparations into the evening / Update blog website | |
7:00 PM | Wednesday 8:00 AM | - Attend the daily worship service at camp - Develop relationships with children before their morning classes at the local school - Develop relationships with the parents at camp | |
Wednesday | 7/27/2011 | ||
1:00 AM | 2:00 PM | BIBLE ENGLISH ADVENTURE BEGINS!!!!! (For you night-owls, we will send out a live stream weblink when it gets set-up) - Worship Songs - Skits - Small group classroom teachings - Jesus Feeds 5000 - Jesus Calms the Storm - Jesus Heals the Man (Mark 2) | |
3:30 AM | 4:30 PM | Large group game activities for children and families at Camp & surrounding neighborhood | |
5:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Dinner / Develop relationships with Fukushima families at the camp | |
7:00 PM | Thursday 8:00 AM | - Attend the daily worship service at camp - Develop relationships with children before their morning classes at the local school - Develop relationships with the parents at camp | |
Thursday | 7/28/2011 | ||
1:00 AM | 2:00 PM | BIBLE ENGLISH ADVENTURE -- Day 2 (Will send out a live stream weblink when it gets set-up) - Worship Songs - Skits - Small group classroom teachings - Jesus Feeds 5000 - Jesus Calms the Storm - Jesus Heals the Man (Mark 2) | |
3:30 AM | 4:30 PM | Large group game activities for children and families at Camp & surrounding neighborhood | |
5:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Dinner / Develop relationships with Fukushima families at the camp | |
7:00 PM | Friday 8:00 AM | - Attend the daily worship service at camp - Develop relationships with children before their morning classes at the local school - Develop relationships with the parents at camp | |
Friday | 7/29/2011 | ||
1:00 AM | 2:00 PM | BIBLE ENGLISH ADVENTURE -- Day 3 (Will send out a live stream weblink when it gets set-up) - Worship Songs - Skits - Small group classroom teachings - Jesus Feeds 5000 - Jesus Calms the Storm - Jesus Heals the Man (Mark 2) | |
4:00 AM | 5:00 PM | Spend afternoon cleaning up chapel, classrooms, and camp. Say good-byes to evacuees. | |
6:00 AM | 7:00 PM | Depart for KCC | |
8:00 AM | 9:00 PM | Board bus at KCC for overnight trip to Tohoku (tsunami-effected region) | |
5:00 PM | Saturday 6:00 AM | Arrive at Tohoku | |
6:00 PM | 7:00 AM | Start 12-hour workshift at Tohoku | |
Saturday | 7/30/2011 | ||
6:00 AM | 7:00 PM | Board bus at Tohoku for overnight trip back to KCC | |
7:15 PM | Sunday 8:15 AM | Team participates in KCC's 3 Sunday Worship Services starting at 8:15 AM - Perform 3-4 Worship Songs from camp - Perform Skit or Dance from camp - Testimonies from the team members | |
Sunday | 7/31/2011 | ||
12:00 AM | 1:00 PM | Participate in KCC's Summer Festival - Meet KCC church families - Meet neighborhood families and children | |
5:00 AM | 6:00 PM | Final Team Dinner with KCC's Pastor Taizo & his wife / Evening prayer walk thru the Kurume area | |
Monday | 10:00 PM | Monday 11:00 AM | Fly out of Tokyo Narita Airport |
8/1/2011 | |||
12:10 PM | Team lands in INDY!!!! |
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