2:30pm JST (10:30pm 24th PST)
On the train from Narita to Tokyo. This morning we had our final training sessions with the Asian Access staff and a little personal pep talk from Mappe and Denise. We also had a final Team Leader meeting where we got our train/shinkansen tickets and 5 days worth of team money.
We had some time before we had to leave for the airport (where the major train hub into Tokyo is) so we played "spoons" briefly, took group photos on the stairs of the hotel, listened to Kazuki read the Christian manga to us, and goofed around a bit, chatting with Brian and Kazu.
Finally boarded a bus to the airport with the Texas team (Brian, Margaret, Erin, Kazuki, who are all awesome!). At the airport we poked around for a bit (there's a pretty substantial mall-ish area), Mappe took our photos on the escalator, and finally said goodbye to the other team (they were like, "oh, guys!" ..we exchanged email addys and said maybe we'd call each other during the summer), and hopped on the train to Tokyo (where we would catch a connecting shinkansen [bullet train!] north to Kaminoyama).
Lord, I pray you help me do this.... preach, teach, give testimonies, be a 24/7 missionary... it's just going to be the 4 of us!
Puttin along on the train... much hillside, green weird trees, & Japanese houses going by. I'm next to Jeri and Laurel and Moe are behind us. I'm in the window seat...
So much to soak in. I've been here before but you can never see it too many times. This time will be much less "buffered" as well... no authority figure, just us.
It does feel nice to be back here.
4pm JST
On the shinkansen now - we turned the seats so we could all face each other :)
The train stewardesses keep going by..
Rippin' along now!
5PM jst
Really foggy out the windows.. must be raining. Nice and green and lush and foresty.
We're trying to decide what to do with our last 3 extra days in Japan... stay at the Narita hostel, where we have reservations? Go to Tokyo every day?
Just saw one of the other shinkansens go by at the station... man that thing ripped by!
4 more stops to Kaminoyama... it's raining outside...
