The next batch

a quick and brief overview of the first few days

Day 1 - Meeting the regional CARP leader, lunch, then off to Tsukuba Carp Centre

Day 2 - Self organised tour of the local university and town, cooked dinner, first witnessing session, world cup.

Day 3 - An Shi Il, football, rested, preparing and off to the 5 day workshop as kitchen staff.

Day 4 - First full day as kitchen staff at the 5 day ws (not as easy as it sounds)

Sophie's second post

The 5 days workshop was delicious; our cooking was surprisingly good, especially considering we'd never done any 'real' Japanese cooking before! I never really truly thanked the kitchen staff before, something I regret as I now know how difficult the job is! But the Japanese spirit kept us upbeat and happy. With each meal there was a very enthusiastic menu presentation after which some teams displayed their gratitude in the cutest way I’ve ever seen! Their imagination astounds me!

This being a first generation/guestworkshop, I was surprised at how well they blended in, so much so that I couldn’t tell who the guest were and who weren’t.

The workshop was also yet another reminder of my need to learn the language but it was fun to communicate in other ways. It’s difficult to have ‘deep’ conversation with people but I can see and feel their heart when they are so desperately trying to say something, and hopefully they could see mine too.

Without exception, everyone there was so friendly, and happy, they put maximum effort into everything they come across, so I tried to be the same.

It was SO hard core everyday was met with early mornings and late late nights. The guests had one-to-one sessions with team leaders and staff members and the kitchen staff stayed up to provide drinks and snacks so sometimes it would be 3 or 4 ‘o’ clock. So working through exhaustion was … interesting. Hopefully

can attend many more first generation workshops as they are very inspiring to be a part of, a place where you actually see a change in attitude and heart of people, it’s incredible!

Il Kook's second post

jo guys,Life has been freestyle till now and it won‘t really change in the next few days or the whole stay in Japan, so I think.

Two days ago Sophie, Kunimasa and I have been to a five day workshop and worked in the kitchen hardcore! I felt like crap because life was tough with chopping all the time, language barrier and almost no sleep. and that was only a four day workshop, so imagine

a 40 day ws!!! Well in the kitchen we three had the chance to get to know each other better and talk to many Japanese carp members who also helped out in the kitchen. Masa and me could bond with the guests and the staffies as well during an intense soccer game. During a crazy ass performance from the staffies and the guests I saw that Japanese carp culture just differs so much from western sketches. Our style is comedy; they do drama with a deep meaning to it, but not just cheese things, really good stuff!! I was impressed by the imagination Japanese have, it‘s a total different world.

Needless to say, witnessing works in Japan, carp is alive here! It was interesting to witness the approach the carp members had towards the potential first gen‘s. they made groups of two staffies plus one guest, so they made all the activities together. But they had also one on one talk which went on till the next day. The staffies also updated us on the current situation, how the guests are progressing. can‘t see me doing something similar like the Japanese do witnessing wise in europa but the experience was worth it.

After the ws we three went back to Tsukuba and chilled out for a while to gather our thoughts and to reflect on what we experienced so far. In the evening we played matanage with all the Tsukuba carpies. The next day we went shopping and straight after that we went witnessing for around 3 hours. From 4 to 6 we went from door to door and talked to the students about our circle, and if they want to join. I got more or less the questions they ask during witnessing but applying it during a conversation will be quite hard. Till now we westerners just stood there and smiled, but I want to get more involved, maybe through a question into the conversation now and then. We took a break and witnessed again after that. Witnessing is tough but I hope with time we will be able to properly assist the carpies here during witnessing. that‘s as far as my mind goes for today, cya

More pictures from the 5 day workshop

Masa's first impression

Culture shock!

After 13 hours of flying, and a couple of hours waiting for my transfer flight, I arrived in a country 6000 miles away from home. As I walked into the passport control under the “foreigner” section, I really did start to feel like a foreigner, although my blood, my appearance, my height is all very Japanese, it was a strange feeling. This will be my second time going to Japan, and this trip will be 3 times as longer as my previous one. I hope to try to learn as much as I can about “my” country, its countries, its values, and its people. This is also the first time I’ll be encountering the Japanese church members so I know it will be a eye opener in many ways.

Only on the third day did it really hit me that I really was in Japan. After arriving at the Tsukuba Carp centre, we spent the rest of the day introducing each other, and unpacking, getting comfortable with the place, and everything was going quite normal. At the end of the day when we gathered to “close the day”, that’s when I really felt welcomed by Japan CARP. The humble prayer room was filled with passionate voices, so loud that I could barely hear my whisper of a prayer. In awe I looked around, and was speechless, I was a little cynical but brushed those thoughts aside and just soaked up the moment, and did something I don’t usually do; Pray aloud, loud enough so I could hear myself.

Spending the next couple of days, living the CARP lifestyle, I have been able to learn many things. From little things while dining, the effort and dedication put in sports, how witnessing is a natural part of daily life, difference in attitudes and opinions towards certain issues.

It also has been a really interesting experience spending time with Il kook and Sophie, not knowing much about them at first I wondered what kind of 3 weeks it would be. But after spending quite a lot of time together talking, discussing and sharing about ourselves and all sorts of things on our minds, I think we’ve been able to slowly open up, and I’d say have a lot of good moments at difficult and unorganised times.

I think I’ll write something deeper, something with more detail eventually, but at the moment, I feel mentally exhausted even if we’re not constantly physically busy. So I guess I’ll take some proper time to reflect and write next time, but at least I’ve got the ball moving.