What an ordinary day in an unordinary world. I got to spend the morning on the phone which was a great start to the day. I then was about to walk over to the Chapel when I saw it was raining (there have been rumors about an impending typhoon, but it looks like it has turned towards Korea and is thankfully losing steam) so I called the office and someone came and got me (I am not made of sugar, I will not melt in the rain BUT wet uniform in over air conditioned office all day when I feel like I am barely on this side of healthy did not sound like a good plan)
I worked in my office on the High Holy Days. That part was not remarkable. What was remarkable was how people were just walking in and out wanting to tell me something, say hi, do a little meet-n-greet etc etc. Like, oh, let’s see if the Rabbi is in…My favorite was when one of the RPs came in to give me a bomb threat phone call report-you know, the thing you fill out if someone calls in a bomb threat. Then he came back an hour later to give me a larger print version since it was decided that the first copy was too small to read. Right. Totally normal. Bomb threat report. Sure.
Another subplot of the day was no one knows the extension in my office. So as people called for me, different secretaries, RPs and volunteers would walk back and ask me what it was. I kept saying that I did not know and then I would follow them to the front of the office to take the call.
This is ultimately reassuring because if anyone did call with a bomb threat, the call could never come to me because no one would know how to direct it to my line.
The baby naming has been cancelled…sad news, but understandable. The timing just does not work out. But, I will be getting to go up to Atsugi Naval base on Wednesday where I will be seeing Commander Doug Rosander, one of my teachers from Chaplain Candidate training school. I am excited to see someone I know from before Japan.
At 2:30, I left with Rachel and Ashley. We were getting together to talk Judaism. Both have
interest in Judaism and possibly conversion. It was a great business call-we went shopping. We actually went to a place called Livin which is the Japanese Walmart. In fact, it is OWNED by Walmart. I hate Walmart in the US, but here, it was so many kinds of fun! We went to the grocery part only and that took over an hour to
get through. It was incredible to see aisle after aisle of I have no idea what is going on.
It is like a fun game. You pick up a package and say, ok, what do I think THIS is? And you use contet clues like other items in the aisle you recognize (not always helpful) and the pictures on the back. Ashley is really good with the conji and that was helpful as she can look at the characters and say, oh, well maybe it is this based on the picture in the writing. She could be making it all up, but I believe her.
Rachel showing us Sake in a box with a straw-Ashley showing the dried squid and dried octopus from the snack aisle. YUM! Who wants dinner??
We then went to two 100 Yen stores (yen to dollar is almost one yen to one penny so the 100 yen store is the dollar store). They are such fun places. I got a rain hat which covers your eyes, but that part is clear. No more want for an umbrella in NYC where I won’t carry it anyway because it is RUDE!
We talked some Jewish, but mostly, I learned a great deal about each of them and their lives here.
We went to Ashley and Ben’s for dinner where they cooked! It was such a treat. We got to talk through dinner about the high holy days, life on base and some about my upcoming adventures for Tuesday.
We even got to have some fresh fig, persimmon, and giant peach from the store (finally, I got my giant peach!) It was great having my favorites J
I really like it here. The community is amazing. The people are wonderful. I cannot believe I will leaving in a week and this will be a memory. I miss New York and my life there so I am excited to get back to it. And, this life is really good to and I am sad to leave it…I am happy about all the parts I will be taking with me, especially the people and experiences which have changed me for forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment