Reflections from Golden Week

I live in one of the most populous metropolitan area in the world, Tokyo.  I live in what my friends describe as the "Country side" but coming from the Mountains of Virginia, I laugh hysterically when they say that!

I do live in the suburbs, many of my neighbors are farmers and we even have a small plot of land, and the quiet and cool of the evening is extremely peaceful. The sunsets behind Fuji, and the endless blooming flowers are soothing for my soul.

Enjoying the sun at a local park

Despite the "country side" feel of the Tama area, where I live, I am only a one hour train ride from largest and busiest train station in the world, Shinjuku. That being said, I go there about once a month and from their transfer to other train lines and explore different parts of Tokyo.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to explore many new parts of Tokyo that have opened my eyes to new aspects of this culture, and has revealed some of my new favorite hang out spots.


I want to share some of these new experiences and places that I have recently enjoyed.

The first week of May was "Golden Week" which is a week long holiday, meaning that the students and working people all have about 3 or 4 days off. It was a nice rest time and travel time for me, my team, and out Tokyo BEST friends.

Every year, during Golden Week, Tokyo BEST takes a trip called "Random Trip". We all enter the name of a station that we have NEVER visited, and then using a random dice app we choose a random location and all head there! The first Saturday of Golden Week, we set out to Tsukishima and Daikanyama.

A local man going for a walk with his tortoise!
The highlight of the trip for me!

Of course, we took a selfie with the turtle

Tsukishima is known for it's famous fried pancake kind of thing, that is more like stew that you fry in a skillet. But what made it outstanding to me was the man that we found who was walking his tortoise! Yes! He was taking his tortoise for a walk! We enjoyed meeting the young guy who was only 12 years old, and we even got to touch him.

Stylish Cafe and shop area in Daikanyama

Interestingly I had enjoyed going to Daikanyama just 2 days before Random Trip with my friend Hikaru. It is the most stylish part of Tokyo that I have visited! So fun! It is one of my new favorite places. Though clothes and accessories are expensive cafes tend to be reasonably priced. With Hikaru I visited a 2 story, 3 building wide book store! It had extensive English sections and so that was a lot of fun!







On Sunday, with my teammates we took a trip to Chiyoda, in the heart of the business district, for a art museum trip and walking around the Imperial Palace. This was a very professional area of Tokyo, and different from the stylish part I had seen the day before.

Carrie at the Imperial Gardens with the skyline in the background.

Monday, I went with two friends, Sayoto and Ryoko, to Kichijoji, another stylish part of town that had a cool salad restaurant, a lovely park, with a beautiful temple, and interesting cute cafes and international shops.

Sayoto and Ryoko at the park

This earthy cafe was our mid-afternoon snack spot!

My housemates: Maina, Kanako, Carrie, and Miyo

The next day, Tuesday, I went outside of Tokyo, to the prefecture next to Tokyo, Saitama, to see a beautiful flower park/festival that was happening for Golden Week. This was a "Share House Trip" for all 5 of us who live together! It was a joy to relax and have fun together!
We saw amazingly beautiful flowers, did wine tasting, made flower crowns and laughed lots as we enjoyed being in nature.

Running in the grassy field was such a joy! 

All in all I enjoyed my Golden Week adventures and the opportunities to see many new parts of Tokyo! This city is truly endless and so diverse! I love that!

Spring Recruiting

When I say "recruiting"what comes to your mind?

Maybe the recruiting of players for a sports team. The players work extra hard to be seen by the recruiter who chooses them and calls them out. Maybe you think of sorority or fraternity recruitment, where the Greek organization holds events and interested members come. Well, we have just finished the height of our recruiting season for Tokyo BEST club at Chuo University.

Recruiting for clubs ("Circles" as they are called here), is nothing like anything I have ever experienced before. There are 2 days where the new freshman come for advising meetings, welcoming ceremonies,  and scheduling and during those brief moments on campus all the different circles prey on the freshman promoting their club by handing our fliers, laughing, walking and talking, playing their instruments, and trying not to disappear in the crowd of other circles!! There are probably about 100 clubs all handing out fliers, chatting, and chasing after frightened freshman telling them about their club! Each club is almost begging each freshman to join their circle!

Crowds of freshman and club representatives!
This wasn't even the most crowded time!
The goofy guy waving became a friend and was representing a sports circle. 

Lacrosse bros and American Football players prowl, tap dancers flash bright smiles and dance, accapella groups try to raise their voice above the mayhem. The kicker for Tokyo BEST is that we are foreigners and we speak English! This makes us stand out in a unique way!

I started by saying "Goodmorning!" and handing the freshmen a flier. The different reactions I got were amusing. Some girls giggled uncertainly, looked at their friends and kept walking, some guys did a double take, some responded right away with a  peppy "Good morning" but kept walking and others turned, engaged in conversation and some of those friends are still coming to BEST club events! 

Elsa and Yuka were a great recruiting team!
Yuka was, of course, able to explain BEST club in Japanese, which I can't do! 

Big gang hung out at our house after recruiting! We were exhausted!

It seems like it would be fruitless and that the startled new students with their wide eyes and awkward smiles would just throw away the stack of fliers that they had somehow accumulated in the first 23 minutes of being on campus, but they don't! Amazingly I met freshman after freshman who came to our English Lunch Table, or our BBQ (pictured below), or Friday discussion, who say that they came because they got a flier during the mayhem of those recruiting days! How Amazing!

We had over 58 freshman and about 100 people at our welcome BBQ! The cloudy day didn't keep people away! 

And the dust has hardly settled!! We still have new people coming to our weekly events! Please keep praying for BEST club freshman! In the next few weeks we will see who stays and becomes a committed member of our community! May 13th- 14th we will have a "Welcome Camp" to welcome new freshman, officially, to BEST club!

Snowboarding

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted, of course lots of things have been happening, but most recently we went on a BEST club trip to Nagano Japan to go Snowboarding!

はじめて! (Hajimete - My first time!)

Here are a few photos and stories from the great time that we had together on the trip!! I am so thankful for the time and so thankful that I was able to grow closer to many students during the trip!

First, we left Tokyo at 9pm and rode through the night! Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep, but we hit the slopes at 9am the next days, amazingly, with no coffee!

We took the night bus from Tokyo to Nagano!

Fun in the snow!

This was my first time snowboarding, but I enjoyed it significantly more than I expected! The best part was being with these friends and being able to get to know them better! Trips like this bring us together significantly more than our regular weekly activities in Tokyo. Everyone seemed so cheerful on the slopes. It helped that the sun shone the whole time!

Waiting for the gang at the top of the slope before we all headed down together for the last run. 

One of my favorite parts of Tokyo BEST trips is what we call "Pair Talks". We are paired with another member on the trip and we talk and get to know each other for about an hour or more! It seems like it could be awkward at first, but it actually isn't! It's truly fun to get to know what another are passionate about, worried about, and our hopes and dreams!

One of my pair talks was a walking Pair Talk with Rina!
We got ice cream and talked about travel and relationships. 

At the top of the lift we paused to take silly photos, while enjoying snowball fights, and the beautiful mountains

We stayed at a traditional hotel that had tatami mat (bamboo) floor, and a natural hot springs bath. The hotel provided a Yukata (pictured below) for us to wear after we took our baths. It was relaxing and I kept saying "I feel so Japanese"! 

Rina, Elsa, Abbie, Adam, and Carrie, relaxing after the hot springs. 

The beautiful mountains reminded me of Virginia! I was constantly in awe of them.
Photo Credit: Chiba Yohei

The consensus: I'd love to try again! I'm so thankful for my chance to get to know Tokyo BEST members better! Here's to many more adventures!

Identity

"What is your root? What doesn't waver in your life even when you experience changes?"

This was the question of our discussion on Friday night. 

At our weekly BEST club meeting we played games, students practiced English, and we had a discussion about identity. We talked about how we can know who Jesus is, and we discussed our own identity. 

My group talked about the idea that at different points in our life we have different "identities". It is like our life is a tree and each phase of life is a different branch. But there is something that remains constant in each phase of life - the root - that is our identity. What is my root? What is the thing that does not change even as my life branches out and grows? 

Mount Fuji is one of the ways that God reminds me of his love for me.
This photo was taken a few weeks ago on our way home from Shizuoka. 

One student shared that his identity is to be a hero for those around him, another shared that hers is to be a joyful person who never gives up! What inspiring friends I have! I shared that my identity is a person who is loved by God.

I've continued to think about this. The one thing that does not change in my life is that I am loved by God. As I learn to live in a new culture, and have a new job, new friends, a new language to learn, new mailing address, new mode of transportation, new everything, it is so crucial that I remember the one thing that can't change, the one thing that can't fail, even when I do! I'm loved by the creator God. That gives me stability and purpose no matter which branch I'm currently growing.  

So, friends, what is your root? What doesn't change even when you or your circumstances do?

View of Fuji from my neighborhood on a clear December afternoon. 

Aspirations for 2016

HAPPY 2016 from Tokyo! (A little late in coming, I know) It has been a joyous holiday season here, though it feels very different from the way holidays "feel" in the US. There are so many fun things that have been happening in the past few weeks, but I'd just like to share about my hopes, dreams, and aspirations for 2016. 

The past week I was spending some time praying and God brought this prayer to my mind "Jesus, please let these be 'my people'"! When ever I am in a strong community, I often feel a sense of those friends being "my people", and I really desire that BEST club feels that same way! 

In our staff meeting this week my boss asked, "What are your personal aspirations for 2016?" 

I responded, "I want Japan to feel like home!" 

I think that is already starting. 

Here are some photos of our recent activities, and friends who are starting to feel like home. 

Me and Carrie (Right) with our friend Ryoko

Ryoko took us to the Edo-Tokyo Open-air Architectural Museum.
Here we are posing to represent our favorite phrase "Oh dear!"

My Housemates (left to right: Elsa, Kanako, Maina, Miyo, and Carrie).
This picture was taken our Christmas Day trip! 

My teammates Carrie, and Adam with the Rood family: Kayla and Josiah
We were on our way to Shizuoka, city in the south of Japan. 

Shizuoka is an extremely beautiful city

Our first picture of 2016! We had a share house party to ring in the New Year!
Here (left to right): Maina, Elsa, Ryo, Carrie, Adam, Chiba, and Yushin