The past three days have been absolutely fabulous, but also bittersweet. It's August now, which means the countdown has begun. Only sixteen days before I'm back in the United States. When I think about it I get depressed so I think it's best not to worry about-- for now.
07.30 (土)
On Saturday I went to my last soccer practice. To my surprise, everyone showed up-- even if it was just to say goodbye to me. Our captain, Hinako, made practice shorter. Instead of doing drills we scrimmaged for the majority of the time. I put all of my strength and effort into everything we did because I knew it would probably be the last time I would get to play with my team. When practice ended, I was surprised again by the fact that my team had pitched in to buy me some nice gifts. They gave me an amazingly beautiful hair pin, a Japanese mirror, and each person wrote me a personal farewell note. Even our advising sensei gave me a book of sketches that he had drawn. I hadn't expected to get anything, so I was moved by everyone's kindness. I am really going to miss everyone. </3
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| The hairpin my teammates gave me |
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| My team <3 |
After soccer I decided to go to ESS so I could spend more time with Rina. After ESS was finished, the two of us went to a cafe to eat dinner and talk. I was also reminded that it was would be one of the last days that I would get to spend with her, but we were able to have a great conversation and enjoy each other's company. Once we had eaten, we went to McDonald's to hang out with some of the ESS people and then I said my goodbyes and returned.
07.31 (日)
On Sunday, Rina came to church with Yoonkyung, Hana chan, and I. It was interesting since she is technically a Bhuddist. I could tell it was a major culture shock for her! Even so, we all had a good time. It was the last Sunday that the entire worship team would be together since Yoonkyung will still be in Korea on my last Sunday in Japan, so once again I had a bittersweet feeling by the time we left.
After church was over, Rina, Yoonkyung, Hana chan and I all met up with the intention of going out to take purikura and eat dinner. Bea was also supposed to come, but we had a misunderstanding so she ended up not going with us. Purikura was fun though, and afterwards we ate at Mos Burger (which is Japan's upgraded version of McDonalds.) From there, the four of us trekked back to the game center where we first took our purikura. Yoonkyung and I tried our hand at some of the games when it started to downpour. None of us had proper umbrellas so we took our time walking back to Yoonkyung's dorm later in the evening. Because we were all exhausted, the four of us decided it would be a good idea to sleep over. The four of us squeezed into Yoonkyung's room and went to bed. It was a fun experience-- and I was glad I got to hang out with Rina all day.
08.01 (月)
Finally-- finally, I got to have my beach episode!
In the morning I quickly went to grab everything I need before meeting up with Yoonkyung and Hana chan again so we could go to church. From there, we made the long drive to Wakayama, which is outside of Osaka. It was the first time that I had been able to go to the beach all summer, so I was very excited. It was even more exciting to be able to hang out with everyone from church outside of a church setting. When we first arrived we had a short time of worship before pastor baptized seven people. It was nice to see Yoonkyung get baptized since it is an important event in a Christian's life. Her family wasn't there, so I felt like Hana chan and I got to stand in as her sisters. :) It was a nice moment for everyone.
Once everyone had been baptized, we ate a large meal together. There was so much food (as usual)! Then we got to play some fun games that Yoonkyung had thought up. One involved repeating long or difficult phrases in increasing sequence. For example, the first person would say the phrase once and then the next person twice and so on and so forth. If you messed up, the other team got to shoot you with water guns. Of course, Yoonkyung and I took full advantage of that. Haha <3 After that we all played a counting game that required you to clap whenever there was a three, six, or nine mentioned. That turned out to be pretty interesting too, and we played it a few times before we ended for the day. From then on we (the worship team, aka the young people in the church) got to go swimming in the ocean! The water was cool and the sun was out so it was a perfect day for swimming. When we had our fill of that, we played a quick game of soccer on the sand volleyball court (which I pwned at, naturally.) That tired us all out pretty quick, so we took one last dip in the ocean before convening in the parking lot to make our trip to a nearby onsen. Everyone went in the onsen (even Yoonkyung, which was surprising), so we got to relax a bit and shower. Then pastor took us to get ice cream and walk around before we all went back to Nara.
We didn't get back until 9 PM, and Yoonkyung and I ended up staying up late so we could talk with Bea and clear up our misunderstanding from the other day.
As a side note, I am sorry this blog post is so late. The day following our beach trip I traveled to Korea and was busy all week, and when I got back I immediately went to Tokyo (which is where I am now), but no worries! Expect two big updates soon, one for Korea and one for Tokyo, and more pictures will be added to this blog once I am using my own computer again.
On that note, it's time to party. Hooray vacation!
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