Nagashima is...well, I suppose you could call it a dying island. The average population is growing older (which is true for most of Japan, but extremely so in Nagashima) as young people leave to attend college and find jobs that aren't farming or fishing. Yes, farming and fishing constitute the work in Nagashima. Our good friend Yuya was in the last class to graduate for Nagashima High School before they shut it down - everyone else was being sent to boarding school off of the island. Like Mana, Yuya's younger sister (we'll visit them another time). Houses and the like were a bit aged, there were only a couple gas stations, and only one Family Mart (*gasp* more on that later as well). No big stores or malls or anything like that. It doesn't have or is even near a train station, which is a big deal in Japan.

We were probably the only foreigners the people of Nagashima had ever seen in their lives apart from television. Needless to say, we were the subject of much curiosity (which is true is several parts of Japan, as it is a mostly homogeneous nation) and stares. People constantly asked us how tall we were. Or how much we weighed. Or if we had ever been in a shootout (only once - but someone did ask). And as foreigners, we stood out. Physically. Behaviorally. And spiritually (which is both a good and unfortunate thing to say, I suppose). The people of Nagashima, like most Japanese, where for the most part very cordial and willing to go out of their way to accomadate us and provide us with unique cultural experiences (most of these organized by members of the church).

Nagashima could, at times, become extremely hot. Which brings us to a unique point in Japanese culture that we will be revisiting when winter rolls around; houses do not have central heating or cooling. In fact, only businesses really tend to have them. Sure, there are wall mounted AC units and the like, but they aren't that cheap to run, so if you have them you don't really use them unless you have to. Which was really only on Sundays. I was kind of surprised about the lack of central climate control, which is not unique to just the countryside, but we learned to live with it.

Misti, Dan, Pastor Graber and myself arrived on the early end of the group...Tim had already been with Norman for a bit. Four crazy guys from Iowa showed up, along with Susan's younger sister Merilee from Korea (she had been teaching at a school there). We began with introductions from each other and a summary of what was to come; we would be staying at the second floor of the church for the duration of the summer program. I remember wondering how things were going to go; at that point I was only thinking of the summer. I don't think the fact that I was going to be in Japan for a who year had sunk in yet. Norman had a good, tough routine for us. Lots of exercise. Everyone leading devotions. The guys preach once at the English service that had been set up at the church (it was really more of a service for us; other than the pastor and his wife [more on them to come] no one really came). We had some books on mentoring and leadership that we would be going through. Japanese lessons. Visiting other churches.

Then Norman asked for group leaders for the small groups we would be splitting up into. I don't really remember why I raised my hand; maybe I was hoping to stretch myself even more, maybe I felt prompted by God, maybe I was a little bit off at the moment, maybe all of the above. I was given Dan and Merilee for my group. The oldest member and the youngest member? What kind of strangeness will this lead to? I had no clue of what I was supposed to do; I mean, come on, I'd only been following Christ for one year. What could I do?

The first week was spent getting used to the culture. Right from the airport they took Misti and myself to kaiten sushi. A normal sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt running through it. You just take what you want and eat it. Each plate is color coded for price, so when you're finished they count up your plates and give you the bill. We had some octopus, which is really really good.

On Monday we went driving around the country side, just sightseeing. I got some horribly bad cramps from a bentou (boxed lunch) and ended up going to a local clinic for a shot of pain reliever. We also tried and refused to eat tonjiru, some kind of soup with all sorts of Japanese specialties thrown in. If you weren't raised in Japan, real washoku (Japanese traditional food) is something you have to develop a taste for.

Part way through the week we picked up Pastor Graber and his son Dan from the airport. Pastor Graber would be spending the first half of the summer with us, while Dan would be participating in the entire program. Program...I don't think I've really talked about GRIT that much...