Remembering the Beginning...

Yesterday, October 20th, one year ago: Day One in Japan. We arrived at the Narita Airport the evening of Friday the 19th and were met by our missionary host. We would spend the next few hours on a bus driving north to Sendai. It would take five hours to get to our destination. The first major thing I observed was that the driver's side of vehicles is on the right rather than the left. One person sat in the passenger seat, and whenever I looked ahead, I did a double take because it looked like she was driving the bus. It was such a strange feeling for the first week or so we were in Japan.

We drove for about three hours before stopping at a truck stop for a few hours to sleep. Yupp, a truck stop. The church we would be staying at was unable to receive us until 8:00am the following morning. So with the engine off, our attempt to sleep in small seats in upper-50's weather was quite hard. I was one of the first awake. I awoke at 2:30am. We weren't scheduled to leave the truck stop until 5:00am. One by one we all were awake before 5:00am, mostly due to the cold.

Our second observation of being in the East - eastern toilets, also known as "squatty potties." I'm sure you can imagine our reactions: "Ummm......sooooo.......how do you use these...?" Thank goodness there was an alternative 180 degrees different. There were also western toilets with extra features. Features such as having a heated seat, a "musical" button (I never tried it), the option to wash yourself, and others. I'm pretty sure all of us chose the second option. And we all LOVED the heated seat after being on the cold bus (it's the little things that make it all worth it). Oh, and don't forget to bring your own toilet paper!

Before arriving to Shiogama Bible Baptist Church (SBBC) we stopped for breakfast at McDonald's (super Japanese, I know) and a brief devotional through the use of tops. We arrived at SBBC at 8:00am and encountered another cultural difference - house slippers. Upon entering a building, you take your shoes off and place them in a shoe rack and slip into plastic "slippers." I really like the concept of this so as to not bring in any dirt from outside. We then went into a meeting where we learned a bit about the church and Hope Miyagi, the SBBC Disaster Relief Project, as well as some cultural tidbits and a 30 minute crash course on Japanese. We learned greetings, how to say our name and where we're from, as well as some words related to food (i.e. delicious and the equivalent to "bon apetite").

That evening we were going to be split into groups of two or three to have dinner in the homes of church families. We had the afternoon to practice our Japanese phrases and prepare for dinner. We were told most families wouldn't speak much English. We tried to use the little we barely knew as much as we could with each other during those few hours to really get the hang of it so as to not make fools out of ourselves later on.

In the afternoon we spent some time setting up our rooms. There were two rooms for the eighteen girls, nine girls to each room. The rooms were like a small studio apartment, with a small bathroom, kitchenette, and living area. Our beds were mats you spread out on the floor, with a sheet, thin comforter, and small pillow and pillow cover. Each night, you unfold your mat and set up your bed, and each morning you fold your mat into thirds, fold up your comforter, and line the mats along the walls to maximize floor space. With all nine beds spread out, we had maybe ten square feet of floor space total in the room, half in front of the bathroom and half in front of the kitchen sink.

I went with Maddie, Becca, John, and Tim down the hill to the supermarket that afternoon to get some food for our breakfasts. It was our first experience being along among the Japanese and we were able to put our hello's, pleases, and thank you's to the test. It was fun, though I had no idea what most of the foods were in the store. I remember buying the basics, bread and cheese, for warmed sandwiches.

Tim and I were assigned to have dinner with a couple from the church - Satoshi and Aya. We were told that since they speak nearly perfect English that we would speak only Japanese with them. Well, Sato and Aya told us they wanted to get to know us and have good conversation, so we mostly spoke English. Tim and I used the few phrases we had learned and Sato taught us a few others, but we were able to converse and get to know each other. Aya taught us how to make Gyoza (or potstickers) and we fried them up and ate them with some rice. Since I'm not very good at using chopsticks, they let me use a fork for my rice. We had a great time getting to know them, learn a little about what God was doing in their lives, and learn more about the Japanese culture.

In summary, our first day in Japan was full of culture shock, new experiences, and the beginnings of new friendships. I was excited for what was to come over the next two weeks we had in Sendai.

October 17th - Looking Back...

 

October 17th...a year ago today I said my goodbyes to family and this country to embark on a nine-week internship around the world - literally. It was a whole year ago that I got onto flight number one. Destination: Los Angeles, California. Around this time we were arriving in Los Angeles and being shuttled to our hotel, just blocks from the Right Light District. It was here we spent our first night and on our new journey in our new reality. Nineteen students, one professor, and one co-leader. Twenty-one of us beginning a new adventure together.

I remember the excitement I was feeling as we were in the Student Center of the dorms at Northwestern getting ready to depart for the airport. Saying goodbye to family and other loved ones, I wasn't really thinking about what exactly I was getting myself into. In the van heading to the airport I was too excited to think about the fact that I would soon be in Asia - in Japan.

But then we get to the airport. BOOM! Stress. Now, for those who don't know, I am not a fan of airports. I love to travel, but I do not like being in the airport. From the moment I arrive until I get to the gate, I am stressed. First, you stand in line to check in. You worry about saying the right thing and your luggage weighing below the maximum requirements. Then you must go through security. Waiting in line to take off shoes, belts, anything metal, pulling out liquids and electronics. All to watch them go through a machine and worry about whether or not they'll have to manually inspect your bags or worse - you. Then you must find the correct area in which your gate is located, and walk down a long hall to finally reach your gate. At this point I am able to relax. That is, until about thirty minutes before boarding time. Then I stress and worry again until I can make it safely to my seat with my bags properly stowed. I can enjoy the flight until the captain informs the passengers we are preparing to land.

Upon landing, I am making sure I don't leave anything behind, especially my passport. I don't know why, but I also don't like the process of exiting the airplane. And the fear that my luggage has been lost in transport doesn't disappear until my checked bag is accounted for. It is at thins point that I am able to almost fully able to enjoy the "travel" aspect of the airport experience. To give you an idea of the amount of stress I put myself through over the course of the nine weeks I was traveling, we had nine different flights, therefore I went through this whole ordeal on eleven different occasions.

All of this to say that we successfully made it to our hotel in Los Angeles that evening. We had a little time to "settle" into our room for the night. I shared my room with four other girls. We were split into three groups for dinner, each with one guy to accompany us gals - John, Tim, and Dr. Easterling (also known as Dr. E). My group went with Dr. E a few blocks from the hotel to a Taco Bell/KFC combo fast food restaurant. My favorite part about this place was the bullet proof glass and their way of getting money and food between the glass. There was a passageway with a door on each side. The employee would put the food through the door and then close his end. I would then open my side and grab the food. I was fascinated by this.

On our way back to the hotel, Dr. E pointed out to us five girls that most people on the street probably thought we were a couple of prostitutes and he was our "John." We actually got a kick out of this simply because Dr. E's first name is John. Despite being on the streets of LA just a few blocks from the Red Light District at ten o'clock at night, I wasn't fearful. I was aware of my surroundings and was cautious, but I was never afraid. Dr. E said that we had successfully made it through our first "culture shock."

I don't remember much after that about our short stay in Los Angeles. But I do remember the great excitement and anticipation we all felt as we were finally on our way west towards Japan and the official first leg of our trip.


I hope to post occasional blogs about my memories from my ICS Internship trip. It is crazy to think all of this happened a year ago. Yet I still don't feel fully debriefed. There is so much that has gone unsaid this past year about what I experienced, saw, and felt in each of the five countries I visited. I hope these blog posts I will be writing will help bring back memories from my travels. I don't want to forget and I want to be able to share as much as I can with others. I hope you enjoy what I will share!