Pulling a Rabbi Out of the hat

I am in Japan :) When I arrived, at Narita airport, I was greeted by Chaplain Scott and Polly Schafer with a giant sign which says "RACHAEL BREGMAN." They joked about my not asking to see their id, but I knew they were the right people since they had my first name spelled right. When Chaplain Schafer called in to say I had arrived, he got to make some joke about being busy pulling a Rabbi out of his hat. I giggled. I did tell him that I am not yet in fact an Rabbi but calling me Chaplain Candidate Bregman is too long and Chaplain is just untrue (and unsat to do) so Rabbi seems to work...or something like that....

My flight over was uneventful. Weather delays made making my flight from Chicago to Narita questionable. I made it though. I had to run through the airport to do so (but I did of course stop for some fro yo on the way...I know, it is an addiction and I should seek help-but I was SO hungry!)

My quarters in the Basic Officer Quarters (BOQ) are great. (see pictures) I have a full kitchen complete with stove top and stove as well as a rice cooker. Right a rice cooker. Because hey, I am in Japan. (the first three pics are the view from the front door. The fourth is from the living room back into the kitchen. There is a bathroom too, but who needs a picture of that?)


The Schafers took me to dinner at the Pepper Lunch individual hibachi bar where you order your food from a vending machine (see video) and get a ticket which you take to your seat. The waiter comes and asks questions (i guessed at the answers but seemed to have done ok) and then your raw meat comes out on a sizzling platter and you cook it (see video) with your chopsticks right there and eat it off the pan. It was AWESOME! So if you like your steak rare or charred-you are in charge. It was so cool!

I also go to meet Chaplain Lea who is the head chaplain here. He came to the BOQ with his wife and their two kids (4 and 1) and his Yankees hat to say hello. Even though he is a Yankees fan (die hard) and I am a Red Sox fan (die hard in my own way) I think we will still get along just fine.

All in all, basically, so far this is great! I am going to try to sleep...who knows how that will go...
And at this time of year in particular I am trying to think of my life in terms of blessing (being in military land where we said grace at the counter before digging in also brings it out in me), I feel blessed. I am in Japan. I am having an incredible adventure and will be meeting some tremendous and admirable people. I have the chance of a lifetime to serve people in a far corner of the world. I have a wonderful circle of people around me-family of all kinds-the blood related kind as well as the chosen. I am healthy (thank God) and have shelter, I even have health insurance. I have wealth beyond imagining and am just excited (ok, excited and exhausted) to be here in this time in this place right now.


PS-the website is all in Japanese so I will try to add pictures but, um, well, I can't read congi...Dad? Help??

PPS-My atm card is expired....well, that will be interesting...good thing the MacDonalds, Wendys, A and W, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Subway wtc here on base all take
American Dollars....