Maryandra had a pretty full week, and just loves her current area, Sagamihara.  

Too bad she won't be there much longer!  Here are some excerpts:

Wednesday:

So, we had a RECORD of contacts today, and all
because we deduced to do absolutely everything mission related. You got
that right. We went to the park with the intention if doing some park
dendo, and finding no one there, decided to go explore the surrounding
area. We went into a cheap mini drug store (no, not that kind of drug
store! Though they do have those too:(...) and talked to two young
mothers with adorable children! Then, at the top, we found a ¥100
(hyaku yen) shop, and on a whim bought some touchable bubbles,
badminton rackets and recorders (yes, in Japan, you can buy all sorts
of amazing things like that that are high quality and durable for the
equivalent of a dollar! It's amazing!) We also talked to an old lady who was on her way
to a swimming sports club, of all things. She was really cute! We went
back to the park after trying to check out the area and do some
housing, and in the process talking to a cute old couple who own their
own vegetable shop in what looks oddly like a garage. (You counting?
Keep going)

Anyway, we arrive at the park, and go to the swing set. I ate my ice
cream I bought, and play my recorder with tachibana Shimai. We talked
to the mom and her son sitting on the neighboring swing set in the
process (or tachibana Shimai did, anyway. I was kind of far away) then
I scored high points with five elementary school boys when I started
playing with the touchable bubbles. They seemed to come out of
nowhere, and they tried to kill the bubbles, and all that, and as they
flocked around me, one of them read my name tag, and I said "yep, that's
right! I'm a church volunteer! [have some more bubbles]!" And went on
again for another five minutes. Still counting? 

Well, after that, we

went and played with our badminton rackets at the top of the park, and
these two random old men walking with their dog came up and talked to
us. One of them could sort of speak English. Kind of funny. One had
the face of a turtle mixed with a raisin, and the other had hair that
was bald on the top but long on the sides, like one of those crazy
would-be inventors/mad scientists. After that,  I talked to a lady who
exchanged my eikaiwa flier for a random pack of tissues before
hurrying off to catch her train. What the? And I also talked to a
little girl who spoke amazing English because she is going to an
English speaking school, and her mom, who came out of the cafe where
the girl was waiting. Tachibana Shimai talked to one other person. As
we go back to our bikes, we talk to another lady who was holding an 

adorable pet poodle with a random doggy shirt that had whales on it.
After that, we had three new people show up at eikaiwa! Whoa! And
then, as we came back to the apartment, we talked to another lady as
she came home from her shopping! Whaaaaaaat!!!!! The best part about
today's whole finding thing was that it wasn't just one specific set
of finding; it was some of all, and something completely different
from all of them! 

Thursday:
Okay, is it just me, or is time trying to kill me? Am I really going
to be twenty in one week? O.o What?! Ooooooohhhhh boy, that's
scary. But... Ummmmm... Yeah. Anyway, just had to freak out for a
second. I'll see you later today!

Sunday:

I'll tell you something that just cheered me right up! Nishimura
Shimai came up to me and gave me certificates to baskin Robbins,
because she remembered my birthday is coming up soon. She asked if I
was doing anything on that day, and I said I didn't know, but it's
transfer day, so I may or may not be very busy. She said "ooh, I
really hope you don't transfer, but if you did, I would miss you!" It
almost made me cry! But I feel so happy to know her and her amazing
family! I love them so much!...

Monday:

If I had to stay the rest of my mission here, I would be okay with
that, really I would! Or, if I could somehow only go to areas where I
would cross oaths with people like the Nishimura family, or someone
that dad knew, I would be okay. In fact, that would be really really
fun! But I'm just not ready to leave yet! Ooooooohhhhh........

Oh my gosh, guess what? I'm crying so hard right now, because I'm transferring to Fussa. My new companion will be Sister Jorrocks. She will be becoming sister training leader, and we were admonished to go and talk to absolutely everyone! I'm trying to be happy, and I'm sure it will be fun, but I'm just trying to get used to the idea of not being in Sagamihara anymore. Yikes! But I am sure it will be great. Once again, completely surprised. Maaaaan!!!!!??!?!?!?!??! But I've only ever heard good about her, so this should be good. But my insides are totally deflated. Ooooooh, ooooooouuuuuuuuch!!!!!!!!!  I'll be okay someday..... Fussa is on a base, so that should be pretty interesting.

The next post will be all about Maryandra's new area and new companion. 

She will also be 20 years old by then!  She'd been afraid she'd have a busy birthday, 

and you can't get much busier than a transfer! She will really miss Sagamihara!