Good Bye, Japan

It's 7am, I've slept barely 9 hours the past three days, my bags are all packed, and I'm leaving for the airport in four hours. Katie in Japan is about to become Katie NOT in Japan. Thank you, Lord, for all the great and mighty things You have done and have shown me. Thank you for Japan, for the beautiful Japanese people, and for allowing me to serve You here in this incredible and unique place. I'm not sure what I accomplished while I was here, but I know You are here and that You had me here for Your purpose. "I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God." Isaiah 61:10 See ya on the other side of the pond.

Top Ten Favorite Memories of Japan

10. I never even knew Korea had tv dramas before I came to Japan. I've only seen one complete season of one Korean drama, but I do have a little bit of a fetish with Koreans now. They are sooo romantic and passionate but they keep their tv programs pure and clean. This here is a picture is a Bae Yong Joon who is a famous Korean actor. I totally think he is adorable. My mission is make Korean dramas popular in Tennessee. 9. Japanese girls are the most feminine girls on the planet. From the tops of their heads to their pinky toe, they are dressed to impress. And here, nail polish is not just your standard shades of reds, pinks, and purples. They use multiple colors on one nail, add stickers, add diamonds, even use paint to draw pictures on their nails. I'm addicted. I'm totally loving having blingbling on my fingernails.

8. Ed-a-ma-me! These soybeans are soooo good and soo healthy. I eat them like candy. I only hope I can find these cheap in Tennessee.

7. Favorite food ever in Japan: OKONOMIYAKI! This cabbage pancake filled with beef, pork, or shrimp is so yummy. I'm going to miss it soooo much.

6. I love my keitai, that is, my cell phone. It's pink, it's bilingual, I decorated it with flowers and Hello Kitty cell phone straps, it takes pictures and movies, it has over 100 icons to use when emailing (texting)...despite the fact I only get 25 free minutes a month, I love my keitai more than any cell phone in America.

5. When I visited Chi-chan's family in Niigata in September, we took a two-hour ferry to Sado Island. Sado Island is the creepiest place ever. There are no people anywhere, it's mountainous, for some reason the sun doesn't shine there...it's an eerie place. We went gold digging on the island, and we did find like the smallest pieces of gold possible. I'm not sure what it is, but every time Chi and I get together, if we mention Sado Island, we bust out laughing.

4. Hands down the best thing about Japan is public transportation and the use of bicycles. I rode my bike and the train almost every day. I can do various tricks on my bike now...like email on my cell phone while riding, ride while holding an umbrella, ride in a skirt and heels. And I can run in heels now to catch the train. I will definitely miss the trains and using my bike in America. It's great exercise.

3. Shiona and I became Geisha last year. It was so fun to pick out our kimono and get dressed up and then pose for pictures. We got professional picture taken, and I framed one and gave it to my grandma. When my grandma opened it, she was like "Oh, a Geisha girl". She didn't even recognize it was me. I think I'm turning Japanese. I really think so.

2. Best birthday ever...my 24th birthday on top of Mt. Fuji. How many people get to see the sunrise on their birthday from the top of Mt. Fuji? It was actually a terrible, difficult, frustrating experience, but one of my favorite memories of Japan. We almost killed each other climbing to top, but now we can laugh about it. Shiona even made a movie documenting our trek to the top...Mt. Fuji: Giver of Pain.

1. So actually this isn't Japan, but I went with two Japanese and it was a vacation from Japan...GUAM!! Guam is an American territory in the Pacific Ocean. It's nice, but it's totally ghetto. Our "mountain view" hotel room required you sticking your head out the window and looking right to see the mountain. Our rental car broke down TWICE. And then there is Talafofo Falls. Twenty dollars to see a museum made by second graders in 1950, to see the cave the Japanese WWII soldier lived in for 30 years that is actually a hole in the ground, and to see Guam's famous Talafofo Falls...it should be called Guam's famous Wet Rocks. However, the world's largest K-Mart, a Polynesian dinner show with Shiona and I dancing on stage, a jar of bread and butter pickles, and spending five days with Shiona, Kaori, and Koni on an island totally make up for the lackluster performance of Talafofo Falls.

Surprise!(?)

The other day I read my entire blog...I was getting sentimental. Blogs are like techno scrapbooks. So, as my Japan scrapbook comes to an end, I must have the mandatory Goodbye Party entry with the mandatory slew of pictures. My party was supposed to be a surprise, but Japanese are too honest to keep things a secret. Nonetheless, I was surprised and touched and sad that my sweet friends here threw me a Bye Bye Party. When I came in , the living was decorated with a banner and balloons and flowers. And the food!!! It was quite the feast. Shiona, my long lost American buddy who fled to Washington and got engaged, had secretly made a DVD of me in Japan and another DVD chronicling our climb to the top of Mt. Fuji...she is going to be a famous producer/editor someday. And then we went to karaoke, my most favorite pastime in Japan and sang songs like "Ain't to Proud to Beg", "You Raise Me Up", and "Good Riddance/Time of Your Life" (the most appropriate song ever for moments like this). I'm really sad as I write this. Only six days left.

I LOVE THE DUCKS!

And the Goodbyes have started...sniff, sniff. The English Club at Kansai University, aka The Ducks, threw me a little Bye Bye Party last night. I totally thought we were just going to go out to eat, but when I walked into their club room and turned on the lights, they jumped out with confetti and shot off those little popper things. It was totally awesome and sooo sweet. And then they gave me a going away present...a photo album with a picture and note from each club member. I'm soooo sad...

Yes, I'm a Foreigner

When you live in a place with only dark-eyed, dark haired, petite people, blond hair, blue eyes, and an American build are bound to get stares. I can understand little kids staring...kids in America stare and they see different people all the time. And I can understand the glances when I get on the train. I glance at foreigners when I see them get on the train, too. And I can understand getting stares when I show up in places where foreigners don't usually appear. Like at the hair salon. They don't see blond hair too often, much less cut it, so I can understand the commotion I cause. But every once in a while, I will get gawks. Straight-up, no holding back, mouth-open, "Yes, I'm staring and I don't care" gawks. I get them alot if I do something stupid like trip going up stairs or getting my heel caught in a manhole. But I also get them even if I am doing everything exactly like the Japanese. I can be picking out a tomato at the grocery store and a lady will be gawking. I can be riding the train by myself off in my own little world and then realize that the man across the way is gawking at me. At first, I thought I was doing something wrong when I got gawks, but now I'm not really sure why I make people gawk. One theory Liz and I have is that they are trying to figure out if I'm a foreigner or not. So, Chi-chan made me a t-shirt that says in Japanese "Yes, I'm a foreigner" on the front and back. We're hoping this will eliminate some of the gawks by just getting it out in the open that yes, I am, in fact, a foreigner.

Christmas Lights!!

Christmas is coming!! Liz, Shihoko, and I went to see the lights in Kobe. It is so strange to be in a country that has no idea what Christmas is, but, nonetheless, decorates for it. The lights (or illuminations, as Japanese say) were beautiful! I kind of felt like I was in Russia...I've never been to Russia, but I feel like Russia would have Christmas lights like these.

Two Random Pictures

This is the Christmas advertisement for a big shopping center called Hep 5 in Osaka. The sign says you can get the prefect present for anyone at Hep 5. Then it has this vampire receiving garlic as a present. So, this makes me wonder...What does a vampire have to do with Christmas? And I guess Japanese vampire legends are different, because doesn't garlic repel vampires?

And Chi-chan, who is a wonderful artist, made this little picture featuring her dozen different haircuts in the past two years. No one changes their hair as much as Chi. Her hair is her personal canvas.

Things you should know about Japan today...

• The other day I jumped out of bed and ran to take the trash out. When I opened our front door, there were four Japanese standing in front of our house. They were staring at this Nativity Scene that my supervisor, Mr. Ron, put up at like 5 in the morning. We don't have any grass in front of our house, so Mr. Ron drilled the little people into a board. And the Christmas tree twinkles.

• This week is the International Mission Board's Week of Prayer for International Missions (Dec. 3-10). This year, the IMB is focusing on West Africa. The gospel has been carried to West Africa for 150 years, but still 22 percent of the people groups there don't have access to the gospel. Disease, such as Malaria and AIDS, and ethnic violence are a way of life there. 9.3% of the population is projected to have AIDS by 2010, and 3.3 million children will be orphaned by AIDS by 2010. There are 1,100 different languages in West Africa, and most are oral learners and cannot read. With a population of 287 million, 72 percent of the people of West Africa are under 30. Pray for missionaries and local believers in West Africa and that they will have unprecedented opportunities to share their faith with friends, family, and neighbors. Pray God will reign down on this part of the world. Go before God and lift up this parched region of the world.

• Me and Adele (she's my computer...she's a Dell) have not been getting along again. She is getting a little older, and this week, I decided to get my 1400 pictures off my computer and onto CDs. It is then I realized that Adele does not have a CD burner. I'm not sure which is more sad...that my laptop is not equipped with a basic feature or that it took me 3 and a half years to realize I didn't have a CD burner. If Adele is found with anymore deficiencies, she is going to be replaced by her nemesis, Apple, pretty soon.
• I never thought I had a food weakness before I came to Japan, but now I realize that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are my total weakness. Liz's Mom sent me this package of Reese's...they were gone in 24 hours. I'm hoping I have better self-control when I get back to America.

• I officially have one suitcase completely packed. You cannot tell I moved anything in my room.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for ALL the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Life is soo busy now! With Christmas coming and preparing to go home, time is going by soooo fast. Liz and I hosted a Christmas Movie Nite this weekend. We watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (a great little evangelical movie...Linus lets go of his blanket and basically preaches it at the end), played White Elephant gift exchange, read and discussed the story of Jesus's birth, and, as usual, ate lots of food. We also have our house decorated for the season, complete with our one foot tall Christmas tree (that I paid only $1 for last year) and ornaments that Liz made when she was little that her Mom sent. Whoo-hoo, Christmas!

Gangsta Yo-Yo-ing

Barb, Liz, and I met these college guys this weekend who are Yo-yo-ers. And they are incredible at it. These four guys are in a "Yo-Yo Crew", and three of the members have been to Florida for international Yo-Yo competitions. Not only can they do amazing tricks with two yo-yo's at once, but then they perform together while yo-yo-ing (think "You Got Served" with yo-yo's). It's so awesome. This weekend they are performing at this big hip-hop event in Osaka, and when we asked them if they had a team uniform, they said they are all going to dress like Tupac. I would never have imagined a 2Pac/yo-yo-ing combo.