Six days to go!

In two days, I leave Sacramento for Napa. Three days later, I leave for Denver, where I'll attend a pre-departure orientation. The next day, I head out to Japan! I can't believe the time has gone so quickly; I'll be in Japan in six days!

Our last few weeks in Utah, it was pretty easy to keep from stressing about Japan, since there were so many things keeping us busy (moving, etc.). Now that we're out here visiting family, and I no longer have a job in the U.S., the stress is mounting. This a pretty big change. There are also a lot of things that I want to do here in California, but not enough time to do all of them. I find myself being short with people and not having a whole lot of patience. It's frustrating, because I normally don't let things get to me.

Even with the stress, I am excited. Japan is going to be an incredible adventure that my family members and I will never forget. It's not likely that we'll ever be able to do anything like this again. I'm a little bummed about having to be away from Stef and Kelsey until they come out three weeks later. But I'll be pretty busy, and I'm sure the people on Uoshima will do their best to keep me company.

I promised I'd write more about Uoshima. Even though it's been a month, I still will.

Uoshima is a little island in the middle of the Seto inland sea, way out in the middle of nowhere. It takes about 2-2 1/2 hours by ferry (it's actually two separate one-hour ferries with an island connection) to get to the mainland. We'll be making the voyage every week for church, and it won't be cheap. It's going to cost about $100 every week just to travel to church.

Uoshima is a little fishing village (it literally means "fish island") with fewer than 200 inhabitants. We really will know everybody on the island. Ethan, the teacher I'm replacing, only teaches about 5 or 6 kids, so that's what I'll be doing as well. Ethan's also the lead singer of Uoshimax, a 60's brit-rock tribute band. Since he's leaving, I'll be taking his place as lead singer. Rock-n-roll stardom, here I come! Ha!

We'll be living in a two bedroom apartment that's mostly furnished. We'll want to buy a bed, since Ethan's been sleeping on an old futon. Anyway, I'll write more about Uoshima when I get there.

Back!

We're back from California, and it's cold! They mentioned on the plane that it was 28 degrees, and when we stepped outside, it really hit us. There was a bit of snow on the ground in some parts, but for the most part it was just cold. We went to bed on Friday, and when we woke up, the whole town was covered in snow. It's freezing!

This is Kelsey's first real experience with the snow. It was cold and snowy when she was born, but she didn't go outside for a couple of months. She seems to react fine to the cold, but she hasn't yet gotten snow in her hands.

Finals are coming up soon, so I'm going to disappear for a couple of weeks. I'm so excited for the semester to end and for Christmas to come. We had a blast spending time with family in California and look forward to seeing everybody again soon. While we were out there, Dad gave us the laptop that I'm typing this on. It has some issues with an intermittent display, but I've made a temporary fix.

Time to watch the Christmas devotional!