We’re at the hotel in Leduc, just a few minutes from the airport.  We have a wake up call scheduled for 5:00 o’clock tomorrow morning and catch the airport shuttle at 5:55.  Our plane leaves at 8:15.  We have a 3 hour stopover in Vancouver where oldest son, Matt, and his wife, Robin, who live near the airport will meet us.  Our plane for Japan departs at noon and flies nonstop to Tokyo Narita, a ten and a half hour flight.

Today was a day of good byes.  We woke up in the lap of luxury this morning, having spent the last two nights in a king size bed at a Sedgewick bed and breakfast owned by church friends, Ken and Doris.  We returned to the now almost bare house to pack up the last few items then drove out to the farm of dear friends, Louis and Doris, where our vehicle will be stored for the next year.  After a delicious lunch and a visit there, Louis drove us back to town.  Minutes later, special friends, Deborah and Derek picked us up for the drive to the city.  There we were met by youngest son, Nathan, and the five of us enjoyed dinner together.  Now all the good byes have been said and we’re on our way!  How exciting!  I hope we can sleep tonight as tomorrow will be a very long day! 

We went to Camrose today for our second hepatitis shots and also got our international drivers licenses.  I don’t know if we’ll actually use them as we won’t have a vehicle while we’re in Japan but we thought it would be a good idea to have them in case we ever decide to rent a car.  The transit system in Japan is excellent and the school will reimburse us for the cost of travel to and from work.  School regulations do not actually permit us to use any type of private motorized vehicle for transportation to and from work or any school function.  I’m not sure why that is but I doubt that parking would be available if we did want to drive.

This evening a couple of friends helped Richard move the furniture that we plan to store in the basement while we’re away.  Interestingly, we discovered that a queen size box spring won’t fit down our basement stairs so it will have to spend the year leaning against a wall in the guest room.

Our internet is being cut off tomorrow and I’m not sure how long it will take to get connected once we arrive in Japan.  Fortunately, however, there are internet cafes.  In fact, “internet cafe” is one of the English terms that has been adopted by the Japanese so it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to find one!  I’ll post again as soon as I’m able.

I feel like my wheels are spinning and I have nowhere to go! There’s only so much packing that can be done in advance and I’m fast approaching the point where the rest will have to be left until closer to departure time. Since I’m the kind of person who hates leaving things to the last minute, the next few days could drive me crazy!

This morning was our last church service before heading off to Japan. As the service begins next Sunday morning we’ll be taking off from the Vancouver airport and flying out over the Pacific Ocean.

This is Family Day weekend in Alberta so the focus of this morning’s service was on being part of the family of God and more specifically, on being part of the local church family. For us, this is particularly meaningful. We’ve attended the Sedgewick Church of the Nazarene for approximately 30 years. These people have been there for us through good times and bad; through times of great joy and times of loss. Living some distance from our own families as we always have, the church really has been our family. Even our children live away from home now; one in Vancouver, one in Calgary and one in Edmonton. We’re used to saying good bye to them, though not usually for this long. The church is our everyday family, the people who are involved in our day to day lives. While we’re excited about going, saying good bye to them is not easy!

A couple of women in our church are known for their fabulous cinnamon buns. After Sunday School this morning and before the church service began, the congregation gathered over coffee and cinnamon buns to wish us farewell. The Sunday School superintendent said a few words pointing out that almost everyone there had been taught by one or the other of us. I had never thought of it that way before but I’ve been teaching a young children’s Sunday School class for the past twenty-one and a half years and the adult class has grown and flourished under Richard’s leadership for many of those years. In our church, it’s often jokingly said that when you take on a job you have it for life! We aren’t indispensable, however, and have passed on the torches that we’ve carried over the years to other very capable hands.

We don’t know what God has in mind for us during our year in Japan but we do know that we’ll have a faithful church family back here at home praying for us and awaiting our return. A whole host of them surrounded us during the service as our pastor prayed for us. We also know that finding the opportunity to worship or fellowship with other believers while we’re in Japan may be difficult. It is my understanding that less than 2% of Japan’s population is Christian so the likelihood of finding a church to attend, especially one with services in English, is not very good. We have a very big God, however, and as far as we may stray from home, we’ll never be separated from him or his love.

What are we going to be doing in Japan?  We won’t be teaching in the public school system.  MIL is a private school offering classes in English as a foreign language to students of all ages. The emphasis is on practical application and conversation skills.  MIL has 2 main schools with 4 classrooms each and 8 branch schools with 2 or 3 classrooms each.  These are housed in office buildings and are all located adjacent to train lines.   We will not teach at the same location every day nor will we necessarily both teach at the same location on any particular day.

We’ll be teaching during the afternoons and evenings.  Early afternoon classes will be made up of preschool children, housewives or retired people.  The very youngest children attend class with their mothers.  Later in the afternoon we’ll teach the older children and teens who come to MIL after their regular school day is over.  In the evenings we’ll teach adult classes.  Classes tend to be small and some high school students and business people choose to take private lessons so we will also have some of those.

We’ll be teaching 5 days a week but not necessarily Monday to Friday.  Teachers at MIL generally have Sunday and one other weekday off though we may have to work occasional Sundays.  We’ve been told to expect one common day off but the second one may not be the same for both of us.

Our first few days in Japan will be orientation and will include the opportunity to observe some classes in action.  We’ll begin teaching on approximately March 1  and will be signing a one year contract.  Depending on the school’s needs and the teacher’s performance, there is often opportunity to renew for another year but we’re not looking that far ahead just yet!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I probably won’t be posting anything new for about a week as we’re leaving tomorrow morning to spend some time visiting with family and I may not have internet access. We’ll be on the farm near Barrhead with Richard’s brother and his wife for the next few days and then out to Jasper to visit my aunt who is recovering from a broken hip.

We took our names off the substitute teaching list today. With less than three weeks left before our departure, we’re going to be very busy and we’ll be back to full time employment as soon as we arrive in Japan.

We were sent our Japanese address today. I’m not sure why but that’s really got the adrenalin flowing!  Suddenly the whole adventure seems even more real, more imminent, than it did before.

When our oldest son, Matthew, who taught in Japan for two years, received our new address, he looked it up on Google maps and sent us the following message. “I’m excited to tell you that you’ll be close to Costco! It was such a lifesaver for us…affordable cereal, bagels, pancake mix and syrup, coffee, etc, etc. Having some very familiar western food was such a comfort…I’m glad to see you’ll have that too!”

We love Japanese food and I’m looking forward to the challenge of shopping in a foreign environment and learning to cook the unfamiliar but it’s also nice to know that we’ll have access to some of the more familiar foods, especially for breakfasts.

The busy weekend is over and all three performances of Arsenic and Old Lace went very well.  As always when a play comes to an end, there are feelings of exhilaration and relief.  Then exhaustion settles in and there’s also a bit of a letdown.  The cast and crew spend a great many hours together in the weeks leading up to a production and suddenly that’s over.  Some are friends and continue seeing one another regularly but others drift apart.

Though the many hours that I’ve been putting into drama lately have come to an end, I’m definitely not at a loss for things to do.  I’m continuing to pack up the household and at this rate, we’re going to be living a very minimalist lifestyle soon!  Of course, that will be good practice for Japan where we’ll be living in a very small apartment furnished with only the basics.

As I pack up our belongings, I realize more and more that it isn’t going to be them that I miss.  It’s going to be people.  I’ve already said a few of my good-byes and there will be many more but I just keep reminding myself that I’m coming back again!