To Catch you up!

Hi everyone!

I am writing this from the faculty lounge at OCSI. It has been a busy, yet relaxing (however that works) first few days here on island. I'll give you a little summary of each day and then try to include some pictures for you!

Left MN - early June 5th. I flew from Minneapolis to Chicago to Tokyo to Okinawa. I arrived on Okinawa the evening of June 6th. A few of the flights left late, but I made all connections. I met up with Kathleen Rice (a former missionary - coworker) in Chicago and we made all the flights from there on together. Kathleen helped me with lifting my luggage and getting it from place to place (doctor's orders after my surgery). It all went smoothly until I got to Tokyo. It was there that we learned that one of my bags apparently needed more time in Chicago. It did NOT make the flight with us. We had to spend about 45 minutes filling out papers and figuring all of that out. Then, we took a short bus ride to the second terminal. Due to our delay we didn't have long to wait for our flight to Okinawa. Interesting note though, at that spot, we met up with Elle Mankin (former OCSI teacher and former roommate of mine.) She was also going to Okinawa for the reunion. That was fun.

At the airport Masako Migita and Hiromu Migita were there to pick up Elle (but I got hugs and greetings too) and my friends Randy and Kathy Fagan were there to pick me up. I was really tired by that time, but it was really wonderful to connect with friends (and a former student.)

At the apartments, Kathleen and I learned that both of our roommates were already asleep. It made it easier for us to just go to bed ourselves. Janice did wake up to say hello, but we saved most of our talking for later.

Thursday, June 7th:

In the morning I was able to get up and walk over to school. There I was able to reconnect with all of the office staff and people that I remembered from before. My favorite connection was with Max Cruzado who was mowing the lawn outside our apartment. It's so great to meet up with everyone again.

I surprised the seniors (my very first class) when I ran into them as they were waiting for the bus ride up to the town hall for graduation practice. A couple of the girls were so surprised that they started to cry (of course emotions were running high for everyone already.) My luggage hadn't yet arrived, so I wasn't able to take any pictures.

After that, I did some work in my apartment, and later walked up to the town hall to spend some more time talking with the kids.

Suellen Hadley gave me a ride to the grocery store after practice so I was able to have fun wandering the isles again. At the time I write this, I still haven't been to Max Value - or Primart as I still call it. I look forward to doing that soon. As it is, we are having too many school functions to worrry about having much food at our apartment.

Graduation was that evening. As a missionary apartment building most of us went to eat at the Royal Restaurant for supper. Yes, for those of you who wonder, the waitresses STILL remember me! The "Chicken Hot-o Sauce" is still as good as I remember! They have remodeled so I will have to add some pictures of the changes.

At graduation, there was an open house for former students. While it wasn't as attended as people had hoped I was able to connect with a few former students: Jammy Benter, Jessica Rhode, Takazumi Teruya, Charlie Henderson, Hadjime Kina, Sheryl Cruzado, and Hiromu Migita (again). It was great to see all of them.

Graduation itself was the special affair that it always is. The kids were honored and so was our Lord. Many of the kids presented me with flowers as a thank you for being a part of their life. That was special to me. Martha Migita and Laura Jefferson sang the special music for graduation!

Friday, June 8th: I was up early once again. I went for a walk up to the old post office road (for those of you who lived here) and enjoyed seeing the old sights. There has been quite a bit of business turn over, reconstruction, and new construction of buildings. It was fun to see the changes, but more fun still was running into Lisa Sorely on the way home. She handed me the keys to her car and said I could go anywhere I wanted that day! FUN FUN FUN! I mentioned to many that perhaps they should stay off the road as I ventured out, but wouldn't turn down the chance.

Janice Skillman and I went 100 yen store shopping! We had a blast together exploring all the bargains on those shelves. I drove on the correct side of the road all the time, and I only turned on my windsheild wipers incorrectly a couple of times! As soon as we got home, we got the news that my missing suitcase was on it's way. I waited for it at the school until 5:00. When it got there, Lisa took us down to a new salt factory down by the ocean. We had dinner at a pizza restaurant there. I found it odd that it wasn't normal Japanese pizza either. It was pretty American in nature!

Friday evening there was another school function. We had an open gym night for alumni and former teachers. Most of the atendees were older than I had worked with, so I opted to spend the night at Lisa's watching a movie. I didn't see much of the movie though - I fell asleep on her couch!

Saturday, June 9th:

I started out my morning this day by walking down to the ocean for the first time! I walked down to the marina and over to a park I used to come to as I did my devotions. It was great! Upon my arrival home, I cleaned out the little area outside where our washing machine is kept. The apartment hadn't been lived in for 4 years, so it was pretty well covered with spiders, gecko droppings, and dirt. I spent a couple of hours clearing it out so that we could use it. Now I can have clean laundry.

In the early afternoon, a whole bus load of former missionaries ran over to Plaza House shopping center. We just looked around and enjoyed an afternoon of exploration together.

That evening was the 50th Anniversary Celebration of OCSI. Over 300 people from all over the world had come for the celebration. There were former students and former teachers. This event was not what I expected from OCS. They had t-shirts printed, mugs made, books made . . . it was a big event and very professional. One of the rooms of the building had been turned into an OCSI History room. There was a very well organized program to accompany the meal. We were there from 5:30 PM until 11:30. The school webpage will have many photos and more information on that. See www.ocsi.org

Sunday, June 10th:

Randy and Kathy Fagan picked me up for church at 6:30 in the morning. I was able to play my saxophone with my formar praise team. It was nice because I still knew about half of the members (keeping in mind that there are only 6 people on the praise team.) Janet Clarke is still pianist, Randy still drummer, and Kathy still sings. It was fun to do old familiar songs with them again. After church we had a chapel picnic. It was very fun to see Randy and Kathy with their grandchildren. Puts them in a different light. :)

I spent Sunday evening at home reading and visiting. For the first time, I was able to sleep all through the night. I was in bed before 8:00 PM!!


Monday, June 11:

That's Today! I have been on the computer now from the time I got up! Today is my work day. I will be spending the day at school. We have a summer school meeting at 2:00 and I hope to spend some time in my classroom searching through materials. This evening I plan to make Yakisoba for my apartment and some friends.