Good-bye Hong Kong, ....Hello Japan

Can you see McKay in the window as the bus pulls away?

Waiting for the bus to the airport

Kim and I got up and scouted out the route to get to the right bus for the airport so that Ty and Nat could hook up with McKay and Loida who were leaving for the Philippines about the same time.  Our flight didn't leave until later in the day.  If you look you can see McKay and Loida on the bus that we didn't catch...like one minute too late.  However, Ty and Nat can smile because the buses come by often and they caught the next one and found McKay at the airport.  Wow.  The whole week seemed like hurry and catch....and somehow it all worked out.  It just isn't easy moving 11 people around a big city but we did it minus a few glitches.

 This is going from the airport to our apartment in Japan.  It is a very nice picture of Kim but it also is a reminder that we are not in Hong Kong anymore.  We felt a lot more breathing room even though Japan is pretty populated.

Across the street from our apartment--surrounded by tall buildings

From the balcony of our apartment where we would hang our laundry

We were quite jealous of all the bikes

All the man holes had beautiful scenery

Hurray for vegetables that we know what they are!

Shopping strips were scattered throughout the city

Osaka is known for the many shrines

Cemeteries were sometimes in very random places

Abbey Lane...no--just another shrine on the other side of the fence

Our first day in Osaka and we did a lot of exploring and walking.  We got groceries at a market and looked for shopping areas and shrines.










 This is the kitchen in the apartment.  It had a microwave and a great big sink but not much more than that to cook with.  I got the feeling that Japanese people don't do a lot of cooking.  I am fixing coleslaw...a staple in Sapporo but I didn't see too much of it in Osaka.

Making Asian coleslaw

Our living room/dining room

 The furniture was all much shorter than what we are used to.  However, the apartment was very nice and we had tons of room for just the four of us. 

One man diner...this is where we ate lunch and there was only the one person that took our order, fixed our food and took our money.  It was yummy. 

Pork and fried egg on rice

That evening we met up with Dallin's friends from the Sapporo Mission.  They took us to a place where they cook the food and bring it to your table where there is a grill.  It was cabbage, flour and meat in a big patty with sauces.  One of the RM's came from a 1 1/2 train ride to spend time with Dallin.  It was pretty sweet to see how happy they were to come together from different places to be together for a little while.  

 In the meantime, McKay and Loida had reception in the Philippines and continued to send pictures of text of the things they were doing.  The fellowship had ended...at least that is how I felt.  Wha.