We've got updates from the last several days, to post soon as we are in one time zone for a while. In the meantime, we've uploaded a batch of unsorted pictures to preview our trip. They can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/paulandshonda . Click on the Japan Trip folder for new pics.
Paul & Shonda
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Case of the Disappearing Saturday...
Sunday, 3:22PM, we arrive at Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan. We immediately begin looking for the Saturday lost somewhere around the Bering Straight. Hmmm, well maybe we'll find it on our way back.....
Kansai Airport is a beautiful, modern, airport built on approximatley 17 sq. kilometers of man made island in the middle of Osaka Bay, and, it is sinking. Quite an interesting story, but luckily we don't think it will sink before we depart. Navigating the airport is really very easy for the average South Dakotan, as things are rather clearly marked in English and Icon-ese. We breezed through customs, retrieved our luggage, and met Shan, Roger (Dad Reed), and Joy (Mom Reed - both of whom were already in-country) in the terminal. Yes, there was some jet lag involved (e.g. see pic above....) It was also very much warmer upon deplaning that it was on departure; Osaka was a balmy 25 degrees C and humid, that's about 78 degrees to us Fahrenheiters. Boy those tomatoes would be growing here (well, not so much, more on that later...).
Kansai Airport is a beautiful, modern, airport built on approximatley 17 sq. kilometers of man made island in the middle of Osaka Bay, and, it is sinking. Quite an interesting story, but luckily we don't think it will sink before we depart. Navigating the airport is really very easy for the average South Dakotan, as things are rather clearly marked in English and Icon-ese. We breezed through customs, retrieved our luggage, and met Shan, Roger (Dad Reed), and Joy (Mom Reed - both of whom were already in-country) in the terminal. Yes, there was some jet lag involved (e.g. see pic above....) It was also very much warmer upon deplaning that it was on departure; Osaka was a balmy 25 degrees C and humid, that's about 78 degrees to us Fahrenheiters. Boy those tomatoes would be growing here (well, not so much, more on that later...).
After caffeinating at the Kansai Starbucks, we were off to Shan's apartment about 20km to the East-North East.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
And we're off..........
Izumi (city), Osaka (prefecture i.e.''state"), Japan. Our destination, well, technically the Ibukino 3-Chome neighborhood, and our visit to see Shan in Japan. That is, Shan Reed, Shonda's sister, a North American Baptist church planter serving there. Komyo (meaning bright, shining light) Church is the new church plant, now meeting in the home of the Ewing family - also close friends, well pretty much family, of ours - more on that later.....
Our trip actually began last Spring, when we found that Mom & Dad Reed had decided they wanted to give us a trip to Japan this Fall. Since we had alllllll...... that time to plan, we actually did get a one hour nap before leaving to board the plane in Sioux Falls! How Mobley-esque, right? Actually, we did get everything done before heading West into tomorrow, leaving the three kitty cats in the caring Kurban clan hands. Amazingly, we still had a garden and flowers to leave behind to Jack Frost - who would have thought we'd have tomatoes and peppers past the middle of October?
We left Sioux Falls at o'Dark:30, hopped to Denver, connected to San Fransisco, boarded a brand spankin' new Boeing 777 and settled in for eleven hours of cozy bliss. (Cozy being the key word). You'd think we'd be able to sleep, but...... cozy. The new 777s have personal video monitors, which allowed us to track our progress across fourteen time zones, AND watch a total of four movies 'of our choice'. Whew, got our movie quota out of the way for this decade. Actually the flight was great, just really long, and we arrived synchronously with our luggage - always a plus!
Our trip actually began last Spring, when we found that Mom & Dad Reed had decided they wanted to give us a trip to Japan this Fall. Since we had alllllll...... that time to plan, we actually did get a one hour nap before leaving to board the plane in Sioux Falls! How Mobley-esque, right? Actually, we did get everything done before heading West into tomorrow, leaving the three kitty cats in the caring Kurban clan hands. Amazingly, we still had a garden and flowers to leave behind to Jack Frost - who would have thought we'd have tomatoes and peppers past the middle of October?
We left Sioux Falls at o'Dark:30, hopped to Denver, connected to San Fransisco, boarded a brand spankin' new Boeing 777 and settled in for eleven hours of cozy bliss. (Cozy being the key word). You'd think we'd be able to sleep, but...... cozy. The new 777s have personal video monitors, which allowed us to track our progress across fourteen time zones, AND watch a total of four movies 'of our choice'. Whew, got our movie quota out of the way for this decade. Actually the flight was great, just really long, and we arrived synchronously with our luggage - always a plus!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Hello All
Well, that's it. Just getting started. We'll post more as we are leaving and on our trip to Osaka.
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