Monday, March 05, 2007

Yet Another Goodbye

This morning we sent Matthew off on the first train after breakfast. He flies out of Narita on Wednesday - his birthday.


Farewell at Ajigasawa Station - only 9 trains a day

I love our short term workers. Its kind of hard to say good-by to them - and, of course, I'm always glad to welcome them back.

The supply seems to be drying up though... sacrificed to the latest fad in missions I guess. Now we only get the special cases, like Matthew, who have just a narrow window of time or some other special consideration.

The trend is all toward teams - a subject much too volatile for me to broach today. Suffice to say that I really miss all those UK gap year students that we used to get every spring and summer!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having experienced both I think can see the merits of both...
I was going to type a bit but it is much too long for a comment!
Suffice to say I think they both serve different purposes and are useful in different situations...

Laurie Elliot said...

Actually, I don't object to teams altogether. What I object to is the move toward making teams such a primary focus that everyone possible is streamed into one.

Matthew Celestine said...

I got back safely, by the way.

I had such a wonderful time in Japan. Thanks so much for all your hospitality and kindness, Laurie.

We are having internet connection problems so my time on the online has been rather limited.

On the subject of teams, I do not think I would have had such an informative time had I been largely in the company of a lot of short-termers.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matthew

Laurie Elliot said...

Its good to hear from you that you are safely back - everyone has been asking!

Your point about an informative time is mine exactly. On a team one learns many things - but those things often have rather little to do with ordinary life in the Japan.