After the great hospitality of Howard Plucar at the EFree HQ, we packed, hopped in two taxis to the Higashi Kurume station, took a train to Tokorozawa and boarded the 11 AM bus to Narita. Met several missionary friends along the way, two of whom are headed back to the States today as well. Small world.
The bus from Tokorozawa (on the west side of Tokyo) out to Narita (out past the east side of Tokyo) takes 2 and a half hours, but traffic wasn't too bad, so we arrived early and then found out the flight was delayed an hour. So we had plenty of time to check in, get some lunch - yours truly enjoyed some sushi - do some final shopping, change yen back into dollars, get through security and out to the gate. I do a jet-lag recovery program on these trans-Pacific flights which includes going off caffeine and eating lighter meals for a day or two before departure, then once at the airport and especially on the plane doing what is happening in destination time. It was already midnight in Seattle, so I took a nap on the airport seats, then groggily stumbled onto the plane, found my seat with the rest of the team, and tried to sleep for the next 6 hours. Partially successful, I "woke up" around 6 AM Seattle time and enjoyed 3 cups of coffee with "breakfast", the hour-into-the-flight meal a nice flight attendant held back for me.
These flights from Japan to Seattle cross the date-line so we arrived at Sea-Tac before we left Higashi Kurume this morning. That's freaky. Our luggage all arrived in good shape, customs and immigration were a breeze. Sylvia met us and took us to Starbucks, then back to Bellevue, where the team members headed to their homes.
I'm grateful to be home again, but road-weary and heart-heavy. Life here seems so easy, comfortable, and stable. I'm not complaining at all, but when you've made friends who still live in the aftermath of disaster, I find myself feeling strangely uneasy here. Going to take a day or two to rest up, and then back to the JDRC office, preparing for another team to go in June, one in August, and then launching a longer-term partnership with a church or town in the disaster area.
Stay tuned for more as we go...
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