The beginning of the end... of this trip

I think this might actually be the longest gap between posts that I've had all summer. I'm still averaging more than a post a week, though, so at least it's doing better than my other journal.

I've forgotten most of the specifics of what we've been doing for the past two weeks; the emotions associated with the upcoming end of the trip are much more vivid to me. It's strange how fast the summer has seemed to pass. We've said more than once that it feels like we got to Sendai just a little while ago, and in two weeks we will be leaving. It has been a full summer, though; a summer full of new friendships and new experiences. It's been a lot of fun, and it's also given me a lot to think about.

Stephanie, Samuel, Dustin, and I will spend one of our remaining two weeks on a trip to Shizuoka, a city in the south of Honshu, on the other side of Tokyo. We're leaving early Friday morning, and coming back on the 29th. While we're in Shizuoka, we're going to a fireworks display and planning to climb Mt. Fuji, in addition to hanging out with some of the American students we haven't seen since we arrived in Tokyo. It should be a lot of fun (I'm still not sure that I'm really looking forward to the hike, but I hope to take many more pictures).

By the way, this picture I've attached is of the sunset at a baseball game we went to last week. I thought it fit with this post, since I've been thinking about endings. I've also been thinking about beginnings, since I've been getting e-mails from ASU about my upcoming school semester. Thinking about school has actually been a little bit of a distraction from Japan -- it's hard to keep the two things (this trip and my plans for the fall) balanced in my mind. The bus ride to Shizuoka should be a good time for thinking through some of the things I've been putting off. I'll see about posting the results after I get back to Sendai.

Thanks for reading.

I was trying to think of a good title for this post, but since I'm planning to catch up on writing about major events in the last week or so, there really isn't a good way to put a title on that.

The only event I didn't get to last time is our Fourth of July party. We really wanted to do something to celebrate, even though it's a purely American holiday, because we'd been seeing fireworks for sale all over the place. (Also, it was a good opportunity to invite some students to share food and the fun of getting to light things on fire). We were able to go to a friend's house by the beach to grill some chicken and vegetables (also pineapple!) and enjoy some time eating and talking before heading down to the beach to light some fireworks. We ended up with a ton of really tasty food, and even though I didn't talk much with the students who came, I think everyone really enjoyed it.

This past week has been a good one, mostly normal, but with a few exciting events. First, on Monday night, Samuel missed coming to the Bible discussion at the Ogawas' because he had a minor accident in the car we were borrowing for the summer. He was totally fine, but the car's axle broke, so it's totally out of commission. We were told when we got the car that it would be junked when we were finished with it, so it's not too bad that it's wrecked, and we were able to get a replacement car that will help us out with getting around for these last three weeks or so.

On Wednesday night, the girls of the team and one of the students had a girls' night at Joe and Julie's house, which was fun. We ate dinner together, played a little bit of Wii, and talked about things like which job we would have if money didn't matter and where in the world we would most like to go. (Two weeks ago, Stephanie, Samuel, Dustin, and I went to Joe and Julie's for dinner for the first time, where we played Wii with the kids, which was also fun).

Yesterday evening, a small group of students went downtown with us for a little bit of shopping, dinner (we went to a Thai restaurant), and ice cream (at Coldstone, which is a lot like it is in the States, but with the addition of flavors like green tea and white peach ice cream). Later this afternoon, we're headed to karaoke (it will be the second time we've gone -- the first was for GUYS club, with a much larger group). I'm looking forward to it.

I don't know when I'll get a chance to post next, but I'll try to include some more thoughts about my experiences here instead of just relating the experiences themselves.

I feel bad that it's been so long since I updated last. I have so much to cover now that I'm sure I'll leave out a lot of things. Maybe some pictures will help make up for it; I'm certainly using them as a guideline for recording highlights of the trip.

Last Saturday (June 27th), Stephanie, Samuel, Dustin, and I went to a nearby park with one of the students we've met, Ogawa-san, Joe (one of our team leaders) and Joe's two young children, Anna and Paul. It was one of the hottest days we've had in Sendai while we've been here, but we wanted to take the opportunity to get outside and play some sports. We played soccer for a while and then took a walk around the park when we got tired.
The picture above is of some Japanese maples and a pond at the park. I love taking pictures of the landscaping, so I only have a few pictures of people on my camera. Also, I don't like asking for group shots when we already have five or six cameras in use. I'm hoping that I can get some of those pictures from other people later.

This is a picture of Stephanie, Samuel, and Anna wading in an artificial stream at the park. They had a lot of fun in the water, which seemed to circle almost half of the park. I had a nice walk on the shore, carrying their shoes.

I had heard that we would be wearing yukata and doing calligraphy at the GUYS club meeting last Thursday, but I had no idea exactly what it would be like. To begin with, the club leaders gave me, Stephanie, Samuel, and Dustin our own yukatas. (We got to keep the yukatas afterward, which was a wonderful surprise for me, especially because the girls had done a perfect job of picking patterns and colors to suit both me and Stephanie). We then got dressed and spent a long time taking pictures, both individually and in groups, after which we did some calligraphy, mostly of our names (the students picked kanji for us that come close to the sounds of our names, but they're not like Japanese names because we weren't paying attention to the kanji's meanings).

For brevity (and because Stephanie has most of the good group shots), I'm only including a couple of pictures of me in my yukata. My hair's a little funny because I put it up without looking in a mirror, but I love the dress. I don't know how the girls who picked this yukata for me decided on the colors and the pattern, but I love them both. Stephanie's yukata is mostly white with a pink flower pattern and a yellow obi, which I think is perfect for her, too.

This is the back of my yukata. I was trying for a good picture of the obi tie (it's kind of like a bow), but I'm not sure that this does it justice.

I'm still amazed that I get to keep this yukata -- it's a wonderful souvenir of this trip, and better than anything I could have bought for myself on my budget. I'm incredibly thankful to the students for their generosity and their willingness to welcome us and to share their culture with us.

After the club meeting, Dustin and I went with a small group of students to see the site of Sendai castle and to view the city at night from one of the tall buildings downtown. I took the picture above from the castle site, looking toward downtown Sendai. One of the things I think is unique about Sendai (but may be common to the rest of Japan) is the blending of greenery with the cityscape. There are so many trees all over the city, and many of them are very big and very old.

I took this picture from the top floor of the skyscraper we visited in downtown Sendai, looking out over part of the city. The views of the city from both the castle site and the skyscraper were really amazing, and it was neat to have some time to talk more with some of the students I still feel like I am just starting to know.

I feel like I've said this a lot about Japan, but I'm both excited and nervous about the second half of this trip: excited because of all the opportunities I know are yet to come, and nervous because I know my tendency moving forward will be to mechanically count off days until our return, and I don't want to neglect a moment of the time I've been given here.