Yesterday morning started off well. After taking Eastin to school, Colin and I took Baby and left for the Imperial Palace. It was only a short train ride and walk away, and the weather was perfect for a long walk outside. It was overcast (good for picture taking), breezy (good for...something), and cool (to keep you from getting too hot walking for so long). I pushed Baby in the stroller the entire time, and we spent the whole morning just walking around the imperial gardens. It was amazing, not necessarily for the interesting landscape, but just because it was so big! There were actually huge patches with just grass and a few trees! I was continually commenting on the amount of grass! It was pure beauty! :) We took some pictures, but they are all on Colin's camera, so I don't have any to show yet... Perhaps soon. Then for lunch we ate at a little cafe type thing. It reminded me of a small corner place in London in the 1960's. The atmosphere was wonderful (not to mention the hamburger, fries, onion rings, and drink), and the music was all from the late 1940's to mid 1960's American. Perhaps the prices weren't that great compared to America, but we each got all of those things for less than 1,000 yen. I thought it was pretty good, considering that just a coke in a restaurant here can cost up to 400 yen! Then on the way back we got lost for a while in Tokyo station. But we found our way, and then I picked Eastin up from school and we spent about an hour here. Then, Colin and I went to Hinako's house for a calligraphy lesson from Hinako's grandmother! I learned to make three kanji. We each did the word for 'big', and 'mountain', and 'earth'. Hinako's grandmother even gave me my own set of calligraphy materials! I love it! I love doing it! She also presented one of her pieces to each of us. The one she gave me is 'mountain', and his is 'earth'. I love mine! :) After that we came home and had a full Japanese meal. We ate rice, yakitori (chicken on a stick), eggplant, fried lotus root, and Colin and I ate some Chinese rolls made by the mother of Eastin's friend! Everything was super delicious!!! After dinner I had pumpkin icecream. It was ok, but green tea icecream is still by far my favorite! We tried to watch an anime movie, but I fell asleep about 15 minutes into it, and didn't wake up until the end credits. :) I think Colin stayed awake for the whole thing, but I still don't have a clue what it's about... I'll have to watch it again some other time. :)
The day before that, Monday, Colin filmed me taking Eastin to school. I hope the video turned out well since he was having to film around all the other children and their mothers taking them to school. It was really cool, because the mothers kept saying good morning to us (as usual), but this time he got it on video so that I can always remember these days! My brother is amazing! After that I came back and made some bread while Colin worked on the video he's making for Grace City Church Tokyo (GCCT). I think it's going to be good! Then we went to take pictures of the outfit I bought on Saturday. I bought the dress, boots, and jacket, and let Colin take pictures of it all. Then he and Abi went to film another part of the movie while I stayed here with Coen. I don't remember what we had for dinner that night, but I'm sure it was good too. :) We also watched an anime called "Princess Mononoke". It was in Japanese but had English subtitles. I really liked it. I had seen it before, but had no idea what was going on. Seeing it that night with subtitles made all the difference!
On Sunday... Wow... Last Sunday was probably the best I remember since being here. I can't really explain what made it so different, it just was... And so totally better! I felt good all day, and everything seemed brighter and less foreign, and Coen was good during church, and the boys were good after church, and there were English words to all of the songs, and...I don't know... I just enjoyed it a lot more than usual. After church Colin, Jenna, and I went to LaLaport, the mall. That was lots of fun, too. We stayed until about 9:00. After that Jenna had to go back to Chiba and we came back here and went to bed. Saturday was lots of fun. Colin and I spent the entire day out (didn't even make it back for supper), and had loads of fun. In the morning, we went to the Meiji shrine, made when Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken died in the 1960's (I believe). It is truly huge, and took all morning to explore! This picture is one of my favorites. It is me standing beside one of the huge arches outside the shrine. Seeing me standing beside it really helps put it into proportion... and I'm over 5 and a half feet tall (about 176 cm.)! I'm the tiny thing wearing white... Then after that we went to the Oriental Bazaar. I love that store, even though it was obviously designed for tourists. It has everything in it basically, and at more decent prices than you usually find... For lunch we stopped in a little two story cafe and had Italian. We just both happened to be craving something Italian. I don't think the fact that it was after 1:00 and it was the first restaurant we came to had anything to do with our decision. ;) We stopped at a Starbucks for a green tea frappachino after that, and went clothes shopping. Then we came home and had onigiri, sushi, and popcorn for dinner. (Only Colin had sushi. I wasn't in the mood for it. I just had a small onigiri and some popcorn while we tried to watch a movie.) I fell asleep during that movie as well, and Colin was working the entire time it was playing, so he didn't see it either. :)
Now I'll skip to Wednesday, because I don't remember at the moment what we did on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday Colin and I went to Chiba for the English worship service at Honda Chapel. I was so excited, and thankful, that I was able to find it on my own. We got to the station and I led the way to the church from there. It was the first time I ever remembered walking that way before, but we made it with no problems. Colin was able to meet the Chiba team (or most of them), and we ate lunch with them. He enjoyed talking to Mr. Drews during lunch. I also loved the English service. It was a full service, with hymns, a sermon, and the Lord's Supper. It was great.
Well, I'm pretty tired now, so I'll have to fill in on more details at a later date. Perhaps tomorrow...?
Remember to pray for the safe arrival of Colin!
All my love,
Hannah
I'm praying for him...and for you (don't be too sad!). It sounds like you had a wonderful 2 weeks together. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Tokyo.
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