Personally, this may have
been the first year ever that I was not excited for Christmas. It didn't feel
like Christmas. Seeing as I am moving in two weeks, decorating my apartment
seemed silly since I would have to pack it all to move anyway. Aunt Debby sent
me a beautiful nativity set, so my rooms were not completely devoid of cheer,
and once my wrapped gifts arrived from home it felt a little more Christmassy.
But still. No matter how much Mannheim Steamroller I played I couldn't get into
the Christmas spirit. I was homesick, and culture shock was starting to set in.
So Christmas arrived with
far less fanfare in my life than normal. No tree. No decorations apart from the
nativity set. No last minute Christmas shopping (its tradition!). No baking. No
snow. No Christmas pageant at church. No plans for big family gatherings. None
of these things heralded Christmas for me this year. Instead it crept up as a
black cloud of homesickness. I tried to stay upbeat. I looked for a cute dress
to wear for Christmas Eve (I never found one, sadly) and planned what I would
bring to the potluck at church. Upon discovering that the Christmas music
library on my computer was sadly lacking, I created a playlist of my old
favorites on YouTube (this was interspersed with ads in Japanese for Pantene or
whatever which kinda threw me off, but beggars can't be choosers). I ooohed and
aaaahed over the Christmas illuminations and tried all the Christmas deals at
coffee shops. I routinely wore the Christmas socks that mom sent me (super cute
by the way). I tried really, really hard to achieve Christmas spiritedness but
it never came.
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| Christmas Illuminations at Odiaba (We totally caught a fireworks show that night! So cool!) |
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| Pretty Christmas tree near our apartment building |
Since Christmas Day is not a
big holiday in Japan we held our Christmas Day service on the Sunday before
Christmas. We had a delicious lunch afterwards with bento boxes for each and
massive amounts of extra food in the middle of the table. There was wine and
champagne and beautiful Japanese sweets for desert. There were traditional
songs, all sung in Japanese of course, but I could jump in when I knew the
lyrics in English, though that sometimes threw off those around me! Then we
took a picture as a congregation and called it a day. I was kindly kicked out
of the kitchen when I went in to help and when I asked Tokuno-sensei how I
could help he thought for a minute and then said in halting English
"Help... yourself!" and beamed at me, before shooing me out the door.
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| Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer at church |
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| Koishikawa Lutheran |
Morgan had been invited to
the house of the host family she had stayed with when she was in high school so
we had our J-3 Christmas that evening (the 23rd). We went to Tully's Coffee a
few blocks over and had a grand time. Then we tromped back, wished each other a
Merry Christmas and that was that.
Christmas Eve day dawned
and I had a bit of a wait for the service which started at six. So I scrubbed
my apartment. Seeing as it is tiny, this didn't take long. So I watched Bend it
Like Beckham on YouTube (very Christmassy of me I know). Then I read for awhile
(I am rereading The Hobbit), but I
was too antsy to read. I was homesick and upset and trying really hard not to
be either of those. I was alone and very lonely. Finally the time came for
church, so, dressed in my best, I headed out.
One thing I can say for
the service is that when they said candlelight service, they meant it. We had
glass holders for tea lights and the whole service was done by candlelight. It
was a beautiful and moving, but it was frustrating in the extreme. I knew which
verses we were reading and could follow along, but it didn't have the power it
does when it is read aloud from the pulpit in a language I understand. Missing
was the sense of understanding I had received in earlier church services. I
tried to sing the songs in English, but I kept mixing up songs and verses.
There was a saving grace in all of this, and that was the people there that
night.
I adore Koishikawa
Lutheran. The kindness that has been shown to me there is unequaled, and I
shall be very sad to leave them for Kumamoto. I was given a gift as soon as I
walked in the door by one member of the congregation and hailed with
"Merry Christmas's" from all over. After the service I was shuttled
into the eating area, where my plate was never empty for more than five seconds
and my glass was always full. I felt so loved, and by people I had met only a
month before. I was kicked out of the kitchen again. Taka-san informed me that
they were finished. I looked from him to the large pile of dishes on the
kitchen table. He got my message clearly, but just laughed at me and said
"Finished! Finished!" I was grabbed by two church ladies and dragged
out to chat somewhere other than the kitchen. So with many a "Merry
Christmas!" I put on my coat and shoes and left church. It was still
fairly early, only about 8:30. As I was about halfway to the station the
enormity of it all hit and I nearly lost it on the sidewalk.
In Tokyo, no matter where
you are, other than, say, your own apartment, you are never alone. So there I
was fighting tears in the middle of a street that wasn't crowded by Tokyo
standards, but was very crowded by Omaha standards, and mostly with young couples
out for Christmas Date Night. I made it to the station and managed to pull
myself together. I made it home without incident and decided that a good way to
cheer up would be to have my own English church service! I made a cup of hot
tea, put on my pj's, lit a candle, pulled out my bible and started with the
prophecy in Isaiah. At least I meant to, but I got frustrated when I couldn't
find the verse I wanted and my little travel bible doesn't have a concordance.
I tried online and finally gave up and started with a song instead. YouTube is
a grand invention. I pulled up "Oh Come Oh Come Immanuel", one of my
all time Christmas favorites to start my service. I sang along and then began
with Luke 1:26 where the angel comes to Mary. After I finished reading Mary's
story (I was reading aloud to my empty room) I sang "Breath of
Heaven" as it seemed most appropriate. I was trying to recreate what we do
in church. Read part of the story aloud and sing the songs that go with that
part. I got a bit choked up during "Away in a Manger" and then I
reached the part where the angels come to the shepherds and I realized how
very, very lonely my little service was. I couldn't see the verses through my
tears. I cried through "Hark the Herald" and "The First
Noel" and positively bawled while singing "O Holy Night". I
finished the story and stopped my service without fanfare.
The next morning I got up
and dressed in my new Grandma Christmas sweater. It was Christmas Eve back home
so I Facetimed Dad. It was great to see a lot of the Keenan clan gathered at
Grandma and Grandpa's house. Then it was off to church at St. Paul's
International Lutheran Church. When we arrived the woman at the door greeted us
and asked if we were visiting or living in Tokyo. I started to explain that we
were just in Tokyo for a bit before moving to Kumamoto and no sooner was
"Kumamoto" out of my mouth before she grinned and asked "Are you
J-3's?" It turns out she was a former J-3 and had come to Japan over thirty
years ago and stayed. We've met lots of former J-3's here with similar stories.
My mom does not like these stories.
I cannot tell you how nice
it was to attend a service in English. The liturgy was so familiar I could have
done it with my eyes closed and I felt my whole being breathe a sigh of relief
to be worshipping in a language I understood again. I hadn't had a sermon in English
since the first Sunday in November and I have missed it dearly. I didn't
realize how much though till that very moment. After church Laura and I began
our Christmas Day adventures.
Neither one of us was
feeling like Christmas. For example, we greeted each other that morning like
any other day and hopped on the subway. We had probably been together for about
forty five minutes before I realized what greeting we had missed. We were
walking up the stairs from the subway and I don't remember what we were talking
about, but I turned to her and said, "By the way, Merry Christmas!"
She laughed and said, "Oh yeah! Merry Christmas!" And so our
Christmas Day began.
After church we went to
Mos Burger, basically Japan's version of McDonald's. We had "Christmas
Cheeseburgers" with "Christmas Fries" (the Christmas was added
by Laura and myself not Mos Burger). We were surrounded by office workers on
their lunch break. We left Mos Burger to head to Korea Town for hotteok (the
amazing pancake/English muffin thing I mentioned earlier) and Snow Cup (the
amazing mocha mentioned earlier). We got off at the wrong subway station and
walked around like fools following Apple Maps on my phone for a good half hour
before arriving on a happily familiar street. Laura allowed me to indulge in
some fangirling while I bought myself some drama soundtracks. Here was the
awesome thing about Korea Town. The store clerks all wished us a Merry
Christmas. We didn't get that from anyone else, but the clerks in Korea Town.
What's more, they were heartfelt "Merry Christmas's" and that in
itself brought tears to my eyes. After some shopping we decided it was time for
hotteok and this led to The Great Hotteok Incident of 2012.
I'm not really sure
exactly what happened. I don't think Laura is either. All I know is that we got
our hotteok and were doing what all the cool kids do: sitting on the sidewalk
railing in front of the hotteok stall enjoying its amazing goodness, when I hear
Laura start doing that half laugh, half wail thing that people do when in a
funny yet distressing situation. I look over to see her bent over trying to get
her hotteok out of her mouth. The dough just kept stretching. I wasn't entirely
sure why she couldn't spit the whole thing out (later she informed me she was
afraid of making a mess, but a mess was happening anyway so it was a mute
point), but she clearly needed help of some sort so I started pulling on the
hotteok too. By this point I was laughing really hard, I nearly fell off the
rail, and we were drawing lots of attention from passerby including some school
girls who were clearly not sure if they should laugh or be worried about Laura,
who, by the way, wasn't helping the situation. She was laughing, but, because
her face was hidden, she could have easily been crying. We finally got the
hotteok straightened out (or rather she did, I was laughing too hard to be of
any assistance at all). Our next problem was that she was covered in honey and
melted sugar. We set out for Tokyo Lutheran (which is located on the same
street) in hopes that Eric Roth, the new missionary pastor and friend of ours,
was still there. He was and he let us in through the back door to get cleaned
up. I can't quite figure out how she got that much honey all over. It was on
the back collar of her coat, on her sleeves of all three layers, in her hair,
all over her watch, on her collar, the drawstrings of her hood, and all over
her pants. She washed up as best she could and it was off to Snow Cup, laughing
the whole way. And that was the Great Hotteok Incident of 2012. Maybe you just
had to be there.
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| Hotteok stand: Scene of the Great Hotteok Incident of 2012 |
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| The ever fantastic Snow Cup mocha |
After Snow Cup we went back
to Shinjuku to see The Hobbit. We had already seen it once, but we were feeling
homesick and thought spending three hours in Middle Earth might help (we are
both nerdy English majors after all). It did and we exited the theater happily.
Since there will be a Hobbit movie all three years we are here, I sense a
tradition in the making. We headed into Shinjuku itself for a bit, spent some
time in a bookstore and bought crepes before walking home.
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| The Hobbit Japan style |
Once there I Skyped with
my family and we opened gifts. I feel so blessed to be able to use things like
Skype and Facetime to talk to home, especially at times like these, but there
is a down side. Eventually, you have to get off Skype and are left alone again
in your apartment knowing that there are 6,038 miles between you and your loved
ones. I cried once I said goodbye. Laura texted me then, asking if I was still
awake or something and I called her to vent. She came up to my apartment and we
talked and watched Korean dramas until about 3:30 in the morning. It was the
distraction that I needed. I don't know how I would be getting by without
Morgan and Laura. We have only known each other for a short time, but there are
some things that bind you instantly and this adventure is one of them.
Christmas is over. I am
quite happy it is because the emotional turbulence should subside. I hope. At
least for a bit. Please? Okay, I guess not. Where are my running shoes...
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