From Home to Home
With a rush of endless necessity, reading books and writing papers, my first semester came to an end. It was a good and stretching experience, but it also showed me quite clearly that growth is needed if I am too succeed in achieving the goal of receiving my masters degree. Just glancing at the papers for this next semester shows me that this growth must be occurring from day one.
Before this new semester started, however, I had the wonderful opportunity to return to Japan (gotta love frequent flier miles) for a little over two weeks. My busy semester e
nded at 10pm on the 16th, I drove home and began to pack and left for the airport at 2am. At 5am we reached O'Hare and by 6:45 I was in the air. I arrived in Japan and cleared customs just in time to catch a train to take me to the big BEST Club Christmas party. I caught the last half of the party and then at 12:30 on the 19th I finally had a chance to sleep in a bed.
nded at 10pm on the 16th, I drove home and began to pack and left for the airport at 2am. At 5am we reached O'Hare and by 6:45 I was in the air. I arrived in Japan and cleared customs just in time to catch a train to take me to the big BEST Club Christmas party. I caught the last half of the party and then at 12:30 on the 19th I finally had a chance to sleep in a bed.My first week in Japan was spend in Utsunomiya catching up with friends one on one and in small groups. I heard stories from friends who are also adjusting to life in grad school, others the working world, and still others busy with school or job searching. And of course they are all still finding fun refreshing moments with BEST Club. It was a simple trip, no big plans, I just wanted to hear stories about life from my friends and I did just that. It was really nice.
You can see photos of my time in Utsunomiya here and here
You can see photos of my time in Utsunomiya here and here
The flat plains of Illinois have a beauty all there own but when you've fallen in love with snowboarding those corn fields can do little to help. So I had to plan a trip with friends up into the mountains outside of town. It was a quick and simple trip but we had a lot of fun, and I had my hardest fall EVER. I just wanted to lay in the snow and call it a day... but you must press on :) We finished the day by watching some friends sing in an awesome concert that a local church holds every year to help explain who Jesus is and what Christmas is really all about. Check it outHeading back to Japan over Christmas break meant I got to spend New Years with my Japanese parents for a fourth year in a row. Grandma even gave me a hat she had knit, how sweet :)
After the train ride back to Utsunomiya I had a day and a half left back in Utsu to say goodbyes yet again. We had a delicious lunch with the Takizawa's then Indo Curry for din
ner, Karaoke and and a soak in the Sento to finish off the night.
ner, Karaoke and and a soak in the Sento to finish off the night.
posted by Keith @ 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
I just had one of my hardest falls this past weekend while snowboarding. Glad you could press on. I pretty much sat in the snow and wandered if why I wasn't wearing a helmet! Ha!!
Oh yeah, and I caught the whole thing on tape! Yes, I was filming and yes it continued to film as I flipped end over end!!
You make me miss Japan... it seems sort of surreal that we were all there together once.
I hit an ice patch then hit at speed the same ice, no soft snow landing like usual :( I had a bruise for a week and I rarely bruise.
OK you know I'm totally dying to see that video :)
I know we are all so spread out now, it was strange to be in Japan on Christmas and not see you or wake up Mary with inconsiderate lunch prep at 11:30am :). No CSI marathons, no 6ft of bubble tape...
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