amidst the craziness and demands of the Christmas season, a gift

This gift happened to come in the form of 2 traveling companions by the names of Katrina Joy Brion Lao (soon to be Shaffner in a few short months) and Amy Reiko Nordaas. The location? Sendai, Japan. The time? 24 very short hours. The occasion? Do we NEED an occasion to get together?! I think not!

So, yes, needless to say I had a wonderful time with the girls! I hadn't realized exactly how much I'd missed them!! I arrived in Sendai around 9:15 Saturday night, and as I stood up from my bus seat I heard screams and laughter coming from outside. I looked out the opposite window and there were Kat and Amy jumping up and down waving their arms. What a welcome! And of course we hugged and carried on and gave all surrounding Japanese people a very good reason to talk about the crazy foreigners. ;) That night we stayed up till almost 3am talking, laying across our futons in the tatami room we were staying in (we stayed with an English teaching couple with the church at Sendai - it was actually the house Amy grew up in!).

Church at Sendai. We got to meet one of Amy's childhood friends, Maya. A shame we couldn't have had more time with her.

Carrying on the tradition...

Me and Ames... there just aren't words enough

Naughty... kind of... grins

Nice (though don't be fooled) ;)

Goodbye so soon?! The 11:10 night bus. To Tokyo, Taiwan and beyond! And thankfully (for me), Amy comes back to Japan at the end of the week. Part of me really wanted to fit into one of their suitcases...

Good things CAN happen when you miss your 12:00 bus to Akita... good things like relaxing foot onsens in the middle of Japanese gardens... deliciously hot water seeping into weary travel-worn feet while the silence of the surrounding winter wonderland echoes back crisp bird songs and falling phoofs of white stuff from snow-ladden pines branches... and the company of a new friend and sister. Maybe I should miss my bus (on accident, of course) more often. :)