Sunday 25-11-07

So yesterday, I got ready to go up for our team meeting at 11:00 at about 10:50 and climbing down from the loft, I see Cecilia madly grabbing stuff and running to the shower. Honestly that girl is quite disorganised. Everyone else was relitivley on time and we just chatted until C made it.

At team time we worked through conflict resolution and what to do when we feel conflict or hurt and how to respond and stuff. Pretty standard and easy to get through. We wrapped up at about 1 and had free time until 5:00 Karaoke! Because we were going to the same place that we were at on Friday and there was a kimono place near by, Cecilia and I trained in earlier than everyone else and went to check it out.

The street we went to find Kimono in had heaps of shops and second hand kimono places. The first place we went to had a kimono that I liked for about 6800Yen (68$) but it was about the same colour as one I already have, so I was hesitant about getting it. We kept looking and eventually found a yellow one which will go nicely. It was only 6800 yen too so that’s a bargin for Kimono. ☺ hooray! I also found a Yuchikake, which is worn at a wedding ceremony and is the outer robe (worn over the white kimono) which is brightly coloured and has cranes all over it.

It was only 8500Yen ($85) which was amazing considering the work that goes into them. I love it so much and I’m so glad I got it. It weighs at least 3 kilos, so I’m going to have to squeeze it into my bags somewhere to get it home, but it’s beautiful. It’s different to a normal kimono because it has longer sleeves and a padded hem to make it fall in a certain way.

After grabbing that Cecilia and I headed back to the station and caught a train the 3 min ride to Sakae again and met everyone for Karaoke. Kahori, Yuhei and a girl called Misaki (I think) were there and later on Ibuki and Kaji joined us. The Karaoke room was pretty cool, it had black lights to make everything fluro and white and the walls were a brown/tan colour to start with, but when the lights changed, you could see they were painted in colours to have the most insane bright forest scenery on the walls.

We sang like crazy until 7:00 when we headed out before everything got too expensive, and walked down the street to Denny’s for dinner. For dinner I shared a salad with Shiho and then we had some “homuraisu” which is like rice with tomato sauce and egg. George, who found the only Ramen dish on the menu to have, also got me some giyousa, which were delicious.

On the way to the train station after dinner, Andy told me that he’d been coming round the corner on his bike on the way here, and had crashed into another guy who was coming the other way. He said he had smashed up the basket on his bike and broken his light – which I had only just put on his bike that morning! I gave him a talking to about breaking things and not deserving to get new ones and it’s funny that I did.

We left the train station on our bikes and I was trying to avoid the bumps by cutting close to the sides of the footpath when I misjudged a turn and I smashed straight into someone’s brick garden wall. Not only did I break my light – it shattered into quite a few pieces. At least Andy’s is still usable, mine is gone for good. Ops! I came out of it with only a scrape on my hand (which doesn’t even hurt (except when people shake it :P)) and aside from the chains on my bike being off their tracks (soon fixed in the light of the 7/11 Store) everything was alright.

I made it home in time to have a chat to Steve before he went to bed. I’d kept him up by not being home and he was pretty tired – sounds like Schoolies was pretty mad this year and there was a lot of work to do, but I’m really glad everyone went and it sounds like despite misgivings, things went well and everyone enjoyed being there! Yay!

This morning I slept in (I don’t know where Cecilia has stashed her phone, but oh well – maybe I need to get a cheep alarm clock from the 100Yen store) a bit and then got up and got ready for church. Ibuki was giving us a lift this morning so we didn't have to leave until 9:15, and then George was late, so we didn't leave until 9:20, even so we made good time and were ready at the station for Ibuki. We ended up being pretty early to church.

Same faces there this week, thankfully we were less of an item this week. I chatted with the same small people and made more origami during the sermon. Jody has put out his back and can’t move, so that’s not good and it meant that the English sermon was interpreted by a Japanese guy who had a lot of pauses and “Hang on, I’m lost” phrases interested. It was generally about Ephesians 3:16 – 17 which was good to get into.

One of the guys at the church said that he saw me at the Christian book store the other day getting the bible ☺ hehehe. I also talked a bit to the guitar music guys and another guy called Macenzi… is that how you spell it? He’s from Canada and is only in grade 12, his parents are Missionaries, and that’s why he’s in Japan.

Something interesting though, at Karaoke, Ibuki didn't sing at all. Didn’t put in songs, didn’t take a mike to sing along – nothing! But then, she was singing at church this morning! I was like, why? And she said that she wanted to serve at church, so she asked the pastor, and he said “we need singers – can you serve there?” and she said yes, because it was serving God.

I wonder if I would have the same reaction, or weather I would say, I think I can serve God better somewhere else.

Jody wasn’t at church because he was putting a towel away and threw his back out of joint. Lois (his wife) said he can’t move, but he’d be seeing the chiropractor tomorrow, so hopefully he will be better in no time.

After church we had lunch again – curry rice – and then Ibuki was staying for a bible study, but we decided to go home so she gave us a lift to the station.

Coming back on the train took about an hr, including the bike ride – which would have been at least 5 mins shorter with out the waiting for the slower people. Patience God – give me patience!! Then we just split up for some hanging out time until dinner!

Better get going, Cecilia forgot to put the washing on and now it looks like she’s forgotten to hang it out too :P I’m going to do that and then head up to Wai Ling’s for some chill time until Andy turns up (which I hope he does, because I’d like to work through prayer stuff with him!).