Summer in Tokyo

it seems that i have a lot of catching up to do. my apologies.

in my previous post, i talked a bit about my first couple weeks back in Japan for the summer. June sped by much quicker than i anticipated, and it seemed like before we knew it, the PSW A Summer Project team was having their goodbye party and packing up. they left an awesome legacy though- i was so proud of them, not only because they were led by 3 students who had never even been to Japan before, but because they arrived in Japan in the middle of much transition within JCCC and had to muddle their way through ministry without much extra assistance. but they persevered and were rewarded- 2 Japanese girls accepted Christ at their farewell party, and the team was imperative in creating "Let's Talk Waseda" - a weekly English lunchtime with JCru staff and students at Waseda University. a few of the students are already considering STINT in Japan, and my friend Devin from Hilo is currently applying to intern at UH Hilo in the fall. they were such an encouragement to me, and i was so blessed to meet and work with every single one of them.

this summer, i celebrated my birthday in Japan for the first time. in some ways, my 24th birthday seemed not very exciting- 24 has no big milestone attached to it, other than it's one year away from 25, which just makes me feel old. but it turned out to be a day full of surprises and joys- i woke up on June 29th to my old roommate Christina fixing chocolate chip pancakes in my apartment (a tradition we began back in October). i then met two old friends, Kaori and Yuki, for lunch at Waseda, and they surprised me with a huge chocolate birthday cake. then that evening after campus time, i met Christina and my USC friend Brandon (who had come to Tokyo for the weekend) for dinner, and they surprised me by taking me to Sweets Paradise, an all you can eat sweets buffet. so basically i had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, chocolate cake for lunch, and more cake for dinner. it was kind of wonderful. the next day the Summer Project team left, and so i saw them off and moved to Tachikawa, my home for July. i stayed with a Japanese couple from Yukiko's (one of the JCCC staff) church, and when i arrived i was greeted with yet another birthday cake. all in all, it was a wonderful birthday weekend.

in my next post, i will share about July, but for now, enjoy some pictures from June:

"Let's Talk" Waseda  

PSW A Summer Project's Farewell Party 

Birthday glasses and pancakes from my former roommate Christina

surprise birthday cake from Kaori (center) and Yuki (right) 

Hanging out with Brandon after Sweets Paradise