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Saturday, March 8, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
New Day Is Dawning
Well, after a good night's sleep, we're up at the crack of dawn. I just attempted to call Ericka at her job, but she must be consumed with the organized labor! But I did have a chance to talk with my dad and my brothers for a few minutes. And just as a plug... Skype is the coolest internet calling service on the face of the earth! If you're ever in a foreign country, and you do have internet access, I'd highly recommend using their service. The days of purchasing calling cards are over! The call that I made was only 2 cents/minute. That's not bad at all.This morning, we're going to strategize our tourism, and then make our presence known in Tokyo! It should be a lot of fun. The nearest Subway station is only about 3 blocks from our hotel, so that is very convenient.
So I'll post again later on today to let you guys know what happened today, and definitely with more photos!
God Bless!
What A Journey...
It's now 10:16 PM in Tokyo (7:16 Central Time). Two words... EXTREME EXHAUSTION! I'm definitely running on fumes right now! I've been up for over 24 hours now (not counting the few cat naps I took during the flight to Tokyo. It has definitely been a long day.
We took off from O'Hare at about 11:15 AM, and landed in Narita (about 50 miles north of Tokyo) at 2:59 PM Tokyo Time (that would be 11:59 PM central time). The flight itself was cool. It seemed as if we were trying to stay ahead of the sun! We didn't see one bit of darkness while we were flying here. There weren't too many pockets of turbulence either. The only time we experience a bit of rough flying was over Anchorage, Alaska and when we were descending to land. Other than that, the flight went really well. The plane was super-huge. Very comfortable seating also. And it definitely helps when the flight isn't filled to capacity. We were better able to stretch out and have some "elbow room."
So the flight was good,... but then we get to the laborious part... immigration, customs, and then getting from the airport to the hotel. As usual, immigration took about 1/2 to get through completely. After that, we picked up our bags that were waiting for us at baggage claim, since immigration took a long time. I then exchanged some money for Japanese Yen. We then had to go through customs. And wouldn't you know it... of all the people in the airport going through customs, whose bags would they thoroughly check? OURS!! I guess the young guy probably thought I had gotten off of Jamaican Airlines with 2 pounds of marijuana hidden in our bags or something?!! But, we took it all in stride, with a smile on our faces, laughing at the very apparent racial profiling that had just taken place. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Call Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton from Japan?! HAH!! Yeah, right.
Anyways, after that "Tom's Foolery", we looked for the limo-bus service to our hotel. Fortunately, we were able to get service to the general area of our hotel, but we then had to take a taxi to our hotel. There are a number of hotels in our area that are serviced by the limo-bus, but ours wasn't one of them. However, everything eventually worked its way out. The taxi driver was cool... though he didn't speak a lick of English! Nonetheless, we didn't get to our hotel until almost 4 hours after we had landed in Narita!
All in all, what I've noticed so far is that Tokyo is definitely a fast paced city, very similar to Chicago. It's also traffic infested... just like Chicago during rush hour. The people are beautiful and seem to be nice. Of course, we got a few stares (being two of the darkest skinned humans in Japan!) But that was cool.
Hopefully tomorrow, there will be more interaction and diving into the Japanese culture head-first... to "do as the Romans do"... to a certain extent! And hopefully, I'll be able to post some photos that you'll most likely be able to view on Thursday.
Until then... Peace, Love, and SOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (infamous words of Don Cornelius from Soul Train)
We took off from O'Hare at about 11:15 AM, and landed in Narita (about 50 miles north of Tokyo) at 2:59 PM Tokyo Time (that would be 11:59 PM central time). The flight itself was cool. It seemed as if we were trying to stay ahead of the sun! We didn't see one bit of darkness while we were flying here. There weren't too many pockets of turbulence either. The only time we experience a bit of rough flying was over Anchorage, Alaska and when we were descending to land. Other than that, the flight went really well. The plane was super-huge. Very comfortable seating also. And it definitely helps when the flight isn't filled to capacity. We were better able to stretch out and have some "elbow room."
So the flight was good,... but then we get to the laborious part... immigration, customs, and then getting from the airport to the hotel. As usual, immigration took about 1/2 to get through completely. After that, we picked up our bags that were waiting for us at baggage claim, since immigration took a long time. I then exchanged some money for Japanese Yen. We then had to go through customs. And wouldn't you know it... of all the people in the airport going through customs, whose bags would they thoroughly check? OURS!! I guess the young guy probably thought I had gotten off of Jamaican Airlines with 2 pounds of marijuana hidden in our bags or something?!! But, we took it all in stride, with a smile on our faces, laughing at the very apparent racial profiling that had just taken place. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Call Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton from Japan?! HAH!! Yeah, right.
Anyways, after that "Tom's Foolery", we looked for the limo-bus service to our hotel. Fortunately, we were able to get service to the general area of our hotel, but we then had to take a taxi to our hotel. There are a number of hotels in our area that are serviced by the limo-bus, but ours wasn't one of them. However, everything eventually worked its way out. The taxi driver was cool... though he didn't speak a lick of English! Nonetheless, we didn't get to our hotel until almost 4 hours after we had landed in Narita!
All in all, what I've noticed so far is that Tokyo is definitely a fast paced city, very similar to Chicago. It's also traffic infested... just like Chicago during rush hour. The people are beautiful and seem to be nice. Of course, we got a few stares (being two of the darkest skinned humans in Japan!) But that was cool.
Hopefully tomorrow, there will be more interaction and diving into the Japanese culture head-first... to "do as the Romans do"... to a certain extent! And hopefully, I'll be able to post some photos that you'll most likely be able to view on Thursday.
Until then... Peace, Love, and SOUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (infamous words of Don Cornelius from Soul Train)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Well, It's About That Time!!
Good morning God! Good morning Jesus! Good morning Holy Spirit! Good morning world!
Today is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it!
It's 7:16 AM Central Time right now, and I'm about to hop in the shower and get dressed. Ericka, who is so gracious enough to take my friend and I to the airport this morning, actually has two conference calls to be on this morning. So this is going to be very interesting! On our way to O'Hare, Len and I will have to "shut up" like some little kids so that she can be in on the conference call!
But I'm all packed, and ready to go. I didn't get to bed until about 1:30 in the morning. There were just a lot of little things that I had to gather and pack. And the pack rat that I am, I ended up taking two extra coats... just in case!
Anyways, just wanted to let you know what I was doing this morning. I'm finally excited and looking forward to visiting Japan. And who knows, perhaps it could become my favorite vacation destination... we'll see. Hopefully, the weather will be decent... at least mid-40's to low 50s. I think I can deal with that, especially coming from the frozen tundra of the Midwest!
I probably won't be able to type another blog until tomorrow morning (local time). So until then, God bless and have a great day!
Today is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it!
It's 7:16 AM Central Time right now, and I'm about to hop in the shower and get dressed. Ericka, who is so gracious enough to take my friend and I to the airport this morning, actually has two conference calls to be on this morning. So this is going to be very interesting! On our way to O'Hare, Len and I will have to "shut up" like some little kids so that she can be in on the conference call!
But I'm all packed, and ready to go. I didn't get to bed until about 1:30 in the morning. There were just a lot of little things that I had to gather and pack. And the pack rat that I am, I ended up taking two extra coats... just in case!
Anyways, just wanted to let you know what I was doing this morning. I'm finally excited and looking forward to visiting Japan. And who knows, perhaps it could become my favorite vacation destination... we'll see. Hopefully, the weather will be decent... at least mid-40's to low 50s. I think I can deal with that, especially coming from the frozen tundra of the Midwest!
I probably won't be able to type another blog until tomorrow morning (local time). So until then, God bless and have a great day!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Night Before Flight!
Well, in about 13 hours I'll be on my way to Japan. This will definitely be the longest flight that I've ever taken. What can a man do on a plane for 13 hours?! Of course I'll have books (The Bible, the best book in the history of mankind, and a book that I haven't started reading yet... "Maximize Your Influence" by Ken Houts. I'll also have a few Architectural Record magazines to flip through. So reading materials won't be a problem. But what can a man do for 13 hours on a plane?I guess I'll find out in a few hours!
So, why am I going to Japan?
I've found myself asking that question as well!
A friend, and former co-worker of mine, Len, shot me an email about five weeks ago asking if I was interested in going to Japan. The first thing that came to mind is, "Why in the world would I want to go to Japan?" But I thought about it some more and I told him that I would have to talk to my wonderful wife before I would make a decision. So my wife (Ericka) convinced me that it would be a good opportunity and experience. With that being said, I'm on my way to Japan!
I've received some good advice and tips from co-workers and clients over the past few days that should prepare me (a little) for what I'm about to experience. The biggest difficulty that I expect to face is the language barrier. This will be my first trip to a country where English isn't the predominant language spoken. And guess what? I don't know one ounce of Japanese! Lord, help me! This is gonna be very interesting!
Nonetheless, for the next few days, I plan on blogging to let everyone know what's going on in Japan, what I'm getting into, and how I'm coping with the cultural differences (language, food, lifestyle in general). This will be real talk! There will also be plenty of photos and a few video clips that I will share throughout the week.
But I believe, most importantly, that God will set up divine appointments and opportunities to minister the love of Christ to someone,... whether it be on the 13 hour flight there and back, on the subway in downtown Tokyo, at the church I plan on attending on Sunday, Jesus Life House, or just on the streets or in the marketplace. So until tomorrow, or the next post, God bless...and Jesus Loves You Unconditionally!
Sayonara!!
Sayonara!!
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