On the Downhill Stretch

Over the past few days I have said goodbye to numerous guests and washed sheets and towels and cleaned bathrooms and remade beds.  Today there remains one couple - here to next Wednesday and one Serve Japan worker who is spending one more night before he flies home, and a family of 5.  It sounds like a lot when I put it on paper, but compared to last week's mob it's really light duty.

After a couple of weeks with temperatures less than 30 degrees, Celsius it's starting to get warmer again.  I turned the air conditioning on in the office this afternoon to see if it would render me more alert and less sleepy.  The jury is still out. However, I do feel like the burden of the summer Guest Home schedule is lifting.

Tomorrow I will go lead the Free Discussion time for IVIS.  I haven't been able to do that for several months, and have heard that they have found some other people from some countries, where English is a second language, to converse with.  I plan to see what their plans are for their summer vacation or what their "dream vacation" would be. My job is to see that everyone has a chance to speak and express their ideas on the subject. 

Next week I will have a visitor from California! Yay! Visitors are good.  She is one of my Prayer Partners and has been doing some short term missions work in several places in Japan over the last month.  She'll stay with me for about 5 days and I hope to be able to show her some interesting things in and around Tokyo.

I've got some fabric and patterns waiting for me too, so it looks like it's goodbye drudgery, hello fun during the summer season at the OMF Ichikawa Guest Home.

Cold and Rainy

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox, but the weather took a turn from almost spring to more like winter today. It is a public holiday in Japan and perhaps a chance to take an even deeper breath before needing to head back to work tomorrow.

The schedule at the Guest Home is hard to keep track of as there are people canceling planned trips and others needing housing unexpectedly, but that's the point of having a place like that here. Even though I  do other kinds of jobs in Japan, taking care of people and keeping the facility ready for use is where my heart is. I'm happy to be able to step up to the challenge at this time.

You Must Be Very Strong!

This was the comment of a Japanese friend when she saw me in a short sleeved shirt on a mid-October morning several years ago. The first of October is the day everyone thinks about switching to long sleeves here in Tokyo. The school kids wearing uniforms change over on this day. I had an American friend who worked a while for IBM in Tokyo who was adamant that long sleeves were required as of October first when working there.

Of course, I didn't grow up in Japan, but in America, where everyone is supposed to read the weather forcast or stick their head outside before dressing for the day. Establishing a day to change over goes against the grain of our independent spirit.

My friend's comment really stopped me for a minute, trying to equate strength and short sleeves. I guess it still does.