These are the countdown days to wrap up our time here and prepare to return to Seattle.
On Saturday 6/18, we spent the morning cleaning up the Guest House and doing laundry. After we leave on Sunday, another team is arriving for a week of work in Ishinomaki with the Gilberts. We wanted to do our part as well as prepare the place for the next group. It's been nice to stay here and a good place to be restored each evening after working in the disaster areas.
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| Guest House - we've been staying on the first floor. |
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| Shichigahama beach with shipping containers still waiting to be removed. |
That afternoon, we went to Ishinomaki to have a special meeting with Aoyama Sensei about some ongoing English outreach opportunities. The first event is next Monday 6/20, but since we won't be here, we're passing the torch to Amy Newsome. So she was at the meeting to meet Aoyama Sensei and they hit it off well. Lorna Gilbert was also there because she'll be the ongoing connection for these opportunities. Aoyama Sensei also invited his sister to attend - she's an English teacher and speaks it well. Fun to get everyone together and enjoy planning ahead.
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| Aoyama Sensei (blue shirt) telling a funny story. |
Sunday 6/19 we said farewell to Shichigahama and drove with Andy & Lorna into Sendai for a morning church service at a well-established church (a rather rare situation for Japan). Seems like that church will be a good resource and encouragement for the Gilberts in the coming months and years. They drove us into downtown Sendai where we had lunch together, did a team debrief with them, and then said farewell. They are a great couple and we think the world of them: great attitudes, well trained, 15 year veterans of Japan outreach, and strong convictions to transplant their lives from smooth-running Fukuoka to the chaos and challenges of Ishinomaki. Looking forward to continuing connections with these wonderful people!
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| In Sendai with Andy & Lorna Gilbert, Sylvia, Mark, David |
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| Sylvia waiting to board the approaching bullet-train. |
We hopped on a Bullet-train at 3:30 PM and "flew" from Sendai to Tokyo in just 2.5 hours (the van on the expressway took over 6 hours). We took a local train and then a taxi to the apartment of close friends of Sylvia who live out in the western edge of Tokyo just beyond where we used to live. We're staying with them for 2 nights - feels like coming home to be out here again.
Monday 6/20 is our final full day in Tokyo. We planned this day for decompression and debriefing, as well as a bit of sightseeing and shopping. It turns out that we remaining 3 (David, Sylvia, and me) all felt comfortable going different directions to see and do different things. Sylvia enjoyed hooking up with half a dozen friends throughout the day, David went with our host to nearby Kawagoe to see it's ancient buildings and museum, then spent the afternoon journaling, and I took advantage of a free pass to take the bullet-train up to Karuizawa (a mountain resort town where we often went for conferences and camps when we lived in Tokyo), and then back to Tokyo - actually the Ikebukuro area where our office used to be. Fun to be in all these places.
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| Looking north from Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro |
At lunch in Karuizawa, I happened to chat with the server about our work up in Ishinomaki, and how we gave away 2 bicycles. He offered to give a bunch of bikes for the same purpose! Turns out his dad owns a bike rental store and has too many bikes. So this would be an amazing opportunity, and I connected him with the Gilberts and the partnership team.
We three gathered for a final supper in Japan and talked through our trip. We've had some incredible experiences, some big challenges, and are deeply grateful to be part of the relief and recovery process here.
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