Whats-A-Happening-Now

The past few weeks have been semi-slow, but still busy.  I've been busy everyday, but there hasn't been too many special things going on. 

Last weekend Jared and I hosted a party to watch Spring Sing online with some friends that have been exchange students at OC.  It was a lot of fun to watch, but bittersweet having to be away from campus.  We enjoyed the morning though, and had a lot of fun watching our friends.  Afterwards, a friend and I went to the mall and took some pictures in a photobooth known as ぱりくら (pelicula).  This is very common amongst girls in Japan and a lot of fun.  Here are some of the shots.

Things are winding down for the school year, so there have been special rehearsals for graduation, end of the year field trips, and parties for the students.  I believe I mentioned before, but the school year here lasts from April to March, with a one week break between the years (spring break).  My school is an elementary school, so the sixth graders will leave at the end of March.  As a small private school (about 400 students in the school, approximately 70 per class) the students know each other well, and the majority of students attend for all six years.  This makes it very difficult for the students to say goodbye, and the rehearsals and parties have been very bittersweet as many of the students will be attending different middle schools.  Nevertheless, it is an exciting time.

Students have been rehearsing songs and programs for the graduation ceremony.  The students will perform an exchanging of dialogue, mostly in Japanese but also in English, where the sixth graders reflect on their time at the school, and the underclassmen wish them good luck and farewell.  I am helping the students with the English portion.  It is very formal and somewhat difficult, but the students are doing well.  The entire student body will also sing a song (accompanied by a very difficult piano part played by a sixth grade student) that includes difficult harmonies.  It is a beautiful song, but I'm not sure what it says.  The students are working very hard.

My head teacher wanted to have a fun lesson with the sixth graders before graduation, so last Monday we had a special cooking lesson and baked peanut butter cookies.  She had an American recipe (as peanut butter cookies aren't common here), and last Saturday we set out to gather the ingredients.  I've baked a ton in the States, but finding the correct ingredients and things here can be difficult, not only because they can be hard to find, but also because I can't read much of the labels to know what I am buying.  There are many variations of flour and butter and other things here just as in the states, but I cannot distinguish anything with my limited Japanese.  Coincidentally, my head teacher has grown up in Japan and knows next to nothing about baking, but Japanese comes naturally (literally) for her.  We decided this made us the perfect team and sat out to find what we needed.

Peanut butter is not sold in the usual grocery stores, so we started at a store in the mall that specializes in foreign foods.  There we found jars of Skippy, the size of the small jars in the US, for around $5.00.  After buying four we headed to the supermarket.  We bought brown sugar and white sugar (which is different from the sugar at home), pondered over the flour to find the correct kind, paid an outlandish amount for unsalted butter (the dairy cows are all in the northernmost part of Japan and its apparently expensive to ship it to the mainland), and called my mom for help distinguishing baking powder and baking soda.  All of the baking powders here say baking powder, and we couldn't find anything that said baking soda.  Not knowing the difference but knowing there was one, I made a call to the US to ask mommy what to do.  My teacher was very surprised when I was like, Oh, I'll just call my mom!, but it worked out just fine.  I love technology!

On Monday we took on the task of baking with groups of 25 twelve year olds who have very little experience baking.  They were afraid of the hand mixer, each trying to make a different student use it instead.  Japan also bakes by grams rather than cups, so we had to weigh all of the ingredients.  We only had one egg casualty though, which I consider a success.  The students rolled out the dough on to wax paper, and then we had to transport it across the room (on cutting boards since there was only ONE cookie sheet) and line the cookies up to be baked.  We made a total of six batches in all, two in each class.  Here is the oven we used to bake them.

Yes, that is an oven the size of a microwave, used to bake 250 cookies.  It took about five hours to bake all of them, as we could only bake about 12 at a time.  Needless to say, I spent the entire day rotating the batches of cookies. 

On Tuesday, we rearranged the schedule so that we could have class with the sixth graders again.  We ate the cookies with hot black tea.  Apparently black tea is the common drink to have with cookies, especially cookies that are sweet, and they considered these VERY sweet.  The twelve year olds were exclaiming that they were sweet -- now that's something that doesn't happen in America.  It's funny because in America peanut butter cookies are some of the least sweet, and these seemed a little bland to me; it's funny how your pallet adapts to what flavors you are used to.  As we had cookies and tea, we watched videos that were taken of the students when they were in second grade.  They said their name, age, something they liked, and something they didn't like.  The kids squealed as they saw themselves and their friends, and many were embarrassed when their video came on, putting their heads on their desk or even running to hide in the closet.  It was a lot of fun, and the videos were so cute!

This upcoming Sunday marks one year since the earthquake that devastated northeastern Japan.  It has been especially on the minds of the staff at my school today because today the sixth grade is on their annual field trip to DisneyLand in Tokyo.  It was last year on the day that the sixth graders were at DisneySea that the earthquake struck.  God worked in that, however, because the part of the campus that suffered the heaviest damage was the sixth grade classrooms and because they were at Disney, no one was in those rooms.  Additionally, after the earthquake it was no longer safe to stay in the buildings and it was a very cold day so the teachers loaded the students onto the school buses.  The buses were filled with the students at the school; if the sixth graders had been on campus there would not have been enough room for all of the students.  The teachers here consider it lucky, but it gives me chills knowing that God was watching over the students at this school.  I am extremely grateful for their safety.

Earthquakes are still pretty frequent here, much more frequent than they were before last March.  There are usually at least three each week that are strong enough to shake buildings.  None even come close to the impact of the earthquake last year, though.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to be here.  Now people hardly bat an eye at the earthquakes that occur.  There will be special events remembering the earthquake and honoring those who passed this weekend.  Although much progress has been made, there are still thousands of people in government provided temporary housing.  Many people from across the country (some Christian, most not) spend a large amount of time volunteering to help with the efforts.  Much progress has been made, but the disaster is not over yet.  Please continue to keep the people of Japan, and especially the victims and their families in your prayers.

On Thursdays since LST has been here, I have been studying the Bible with a lady.  She has been at the church a few times before, but seems to still not know much about the Bible.  We focus mainly on the English, but she is learning the Biblical material as well, and I think it is very interesting for her.  She has asked me some good questions about Christianity and my faith, and I hope she will continue to want to learn more.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  I hope all is well at home!  Please feel free to text me any time (let me know if you need my number) and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

さようなら！
Sayonara!

Cassie

February Happenings

Thank you for answering my poll last post, but unfortunately many of you failed!  Three people specified something specific they would like to hear about (none of whcih were in agreement), and four others said they want to hear about anything and/or everything.  Since this means it was a tie, here is an account of what's been going on this month (including food, school, and Chrsitianity -- the three winners)

Some things going on in February:

Superbowl
On (Monday) February 6th Jared and I hosted a Superbowl party for some American friends that are also in Japan.  The Superbowl was replayed in Japan at 6:00 Monday night, so we were able to watch it on television (unfortunately without commercials).  We enjoyed some good American company and entertainment, which was really nice.  Unfortuntately we didn't have the American Superbowl food, but I guess two out of three isn't bad!

Mexican Party
That same week Jared and I also hosted a Mexican party for some students he studies the with at Ibaraki Christian University.  Mexican food is rare in Japan, and Jared and I, as well as students who have visited OC really crave it.  Jared spent the majority of the day cooking and made enchiladas, homemade queso sauce (without velveeta), tacos/burritos, quesadillas, and sopapilla cheesecake.  Everyone ate a lot, and we definitely went over our calorie count, but we had a lot of fun!  Afterwards, we had fellowship and a Bible study, and then some aerobic dance to work off the food.  The party lasted until about 2:00 in the morning.  It was draining, but so much fun!

IC PartyA week later the long term exhange students that came to OC from IC last year invited Jared and I to a dinner reunion they were having.  We had a private room in a traditional Japanese restaurant, and the food was really good!  We had four or five courses, including a salad, two varieties of fish, and a pasta with a sauce made of fish eggs, as well as lots of time to just visit.  Some of the students I knew well, but a few I didn't and it was really good to have a chance to get to know them better, as well as to catch up with the students I was close to while at OC.  Two of the girls, Yuuki and Noriko were my little sisters in club and came to my house for a weekend, so they asked about my family and we talked about things that have happened since OC.  I was also able to practice my Japanese a little, which I really enjoyed as I am not able to use it at work.  It was a lot of fun to have a cultural experience with both old and new friends!

Starbucks class
While at the Mexican party, everyone talked about wanting to be able to study and fellowship more over the upcoming weeks as IC is on their spring break.  (Spring break here is the break between school years and for college students lasts about two months.  The school year runs from April to March.)  We decided to have a study the following Saturday at Starbucks.  With various weekend events going on there were only four people able to come, but many others mentioned they would love for us to have one again.  We spent about two hours fellowshipping and talking about the Bible, then went to lunch together and spent some time in Mito.  The two girls that came were both Japanese, one of whom is a Christian, and one of whom isn't, but who has been very involved with the church.  We had a good time and some really good discussion.  Studying with others is so encouraging!  It was a great way to refresh and prepare for the upcoming week.

LST
That evening an LST (Let's Start Talking) team arrived in Tomobe (the city where I go to church) where they will hold free individual English Bible studies with people for a month.  It's marketed as a way to practice English for free with native English speakers, which gains a lot of interest, but the material works its way through one of the gospels and teaches the reader about Jesus and his life.  It's a wonderful opportunity because few people in Japan are familiar with Christianity.  Most people are a combination of Shinto and Buddhist, but its primarily cultural rather than religious.  They often don't realize why they go to a shrine for a birth and a Buddhist temple for a death, or have shrines honoring ancestors in their houses other than that it's because they are Japanese and that's what they do.  If they are familiar with Christianity, its often associated with Jehovah's Witness members who are very persistent here, or with weddings (Japanese young people really like the grandeur of a Christian wedding).  Few people have heard much about the Bible or about Jesus and his life and sacrifice, and the forgiveness he offers.  They don't know that its possible to have a personal and loving relationship with a God who is interested in his creation.  It is very hard for Japanese people to become Christians though, because the other religions are so integrated into their lives that they don't understand committing to one religion.  Some families also will shun their children if they convert to Christianity.  It's a very complex situation, and conversion takes a very long time, but definitely something that you can see how a seed is planted and it grows over time.  The LST team consists of three people (two from Argentina and one from New Mexico) who spend their days holding Bible studies.  They also host weekly parties and will help around the church during their time here.

Karaoke
Friday nights we usually have a youth group event, which generally consists of me, Jared, and a Japanese boy who will begin attending OC in June to become a preacher.  Occasionally one or two others are able to come, but the group is rarely larger than six.  The activities alternate between renting a movie and doing an activity, such as bowling.  Last night our event was karaoke, and the LST team came along, which made our group 8. If you are unfamiliar with karaoke in Japan, it is definitely a cultural experience.  Rather than a large room (or a bar) where one individual performs a song, Japan has companies that specialize in karaoke and rent out rooms.  You can rent a room by the hour that has all of the equipment (and even tamborines and moraccas).  This way it is only you and your friends that can hear the singing, and you can sing as many songs as you like.  They also serve food and drinks.  This is a popular passtime in Japan, even though it can be fairly expensive.  They have songs in Japanese, English, and as we found last night, in Spanish.  I would like to see America start a similar version of karaoke!

Exhibition
Today is the one Saturday each month that I have to work, and my school is holding an exhibition.  For the past two or three months the students have been preparing, and today all of their work is on display, as well as various performances and presentations.  Each class presents for about 45 minutes to their parents and has a display in the gym or cafeteria.  In English, they have created both a presentation and a display.  It varies by grade, and I am very proud of the work the students have done.

1st Grade: "Teddy Bear Song" (including solos of "I am a teddy bear", "teddy bear wake up", and "teddy bear jump!" among others)

2nd Grade: "Hokey Pokey"

3rd Grade:  Each student was assigned a part of the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? that they read all together

4th Grade: Speeches about a family member, telling the family member's name, occupation, two things they like, and a character trait.  The speeches were illustrated, memorized, and presented formally.

5th Grade:  Go Dog, Go!, read as a group with individual 'solos'.  The students also created eight-page mini books that six students read and presented.

6th Grade:  Three paragraphs of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream", as well as speeches they wrote (in both English and cursive) and memorized about what they want to be when they grow up, why, and what they plan to do.

I was extremely impressed with the student's level, and all of the performances went very well. It has been an exhausting couple of weeks preparing, but the hard work paid off and they have done extremely well.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in the last two posts.  Hopefully I'll be able to get more up soon.  Several have been posted to Facebook, so you can check there to see some photos of what has been going on.  Hope you are well!

Love,
キャシー

Beginning the New Year, Japanese Style

Okay, okay.  I know that I have not posted in FOREVER.  I know that you are anxiously awaiting an update.  I apologize.  Things are back in full swing for the new year, and I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog!  I will try to catch you up, or at least touch the highlights.

 

There are several New Year's customs in Japan, and my school has accomodated most of them.  One of the first is making mochi.  Mochi is a type of food that is traditionally made and eaten at the start of the year, I believe similar to eating black eyed peas.  Mochi is made by cooking white rice and and then beating it with a mallet until it is extremely sticky and you can no longer see the grains.  At this point it doesn't even resemble rice.  It is then made into balls and cooked in a soup.  Shortly after school resumed, the students were gathered in the parking lot about an hour before lunch.  There were three groups, each group with a hollowed out stump (serving as a 'bowl'), and two large wooden mallets.  Some of the mallets were pretty heavy.  The teachers started out by beating the rice, each time to a loud cry of "Raisha!" (my best guess at translation is that its something like oomph!) until it was mostly beat.  Then the students each got a turn, as well, cheered on by the others saying Raisha.  When the mochi was completely beat, the cooks whisked it away and served it to us at lunch time, about an hour later.  The students were all eager for me to try my hand, so I took a turn in each group using the mallet.  They were quite impressed.  Who knew I could put my farm girl skills to work cooking Japanese food!?

 

The second week of January, the teachers took an evening for a New Year's party.  We met at a hotel for dinner, ceremony, and games.  It cost about $75, but the school covered half of it.  The dinner lasted for 2-3 hours, with around seven courses of very fancy Japanese food.  Most of it was pretty good!  They recognized new teachers (including me), talked about some other things that I couldn't translate, and played a trivia/guessing game, a game that combined pictionary and telephone, and of course, Bingo.  I have discovered that Bingo is very popular in Japan.  The bingo continued until every one had a Bingo, and all of the teachers received a gift.  It was a good way to experience the culture of a celebration, and I had a good time, as well!

 

The entire time I've been here, the students have been training to run a 'marathon'.  I believe it was closer to 1500 meters, but that is still far for elementary students.  The marathon was held last week, on what was probably one of the coldest days so far.  It lasted for three hours, as each class ran two heats.  First there was warm up, then a ceremony, and finally the marathon started.  There was a total of 12 heats, and then a ceremony at the end.  I believe it was around 25 degrees ferenheit.  I asked why they chose to run when it was cold instead of after things warmed up a bit, and I learned that it is traditional for marathons to be run at the first of the year.  Most students did well, but everyone was cold and some students were crying towards the end of their heats, either from pain, cold, or disappointment.  It was very competitive.  I'm not sure I could run that far!

 

The final New Year's event that takes place was February 3rd.  It is customary to throw beans inside on this day to bring in good luck, and to throw beans outside to cast out devils.  Children especially have a really fun time with it.  I was invited to participate with a second grade class, and had a lot of fun.  The children (and adults) yell "oni wa soto!" (devils out!) as they throw beans at each other as they're running around.  Sometimes one person will wear a devil mask and everyone tries to throw beans at it.  It was a lot of fun to participate.

 

Something that corresponds with the American January is that this week the sixth grade students have been performing three paragraphs of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech.  They have been studying it since before I arrived in December, but were tested over the material this year.  About half of the students memorized all three paragraphs, and the majority of students had memorized at least part of the speech.  I was very impressed, as I know of very few American students that have memorized past 'I have a dream'!

January was very cold here, one of the coldest that anyone seems to remember.  The highs were generally in the low forties at best, and it would get in the twenties or lower at night.  Although it gets this cold in America, Americans have a different way of dealing with the heat.  In Japan, there is no central heat.  You turn on a heater mounted on the wall when you enter the room and turn it off when you leave it.  It is not uncommon for there to be only one heater per floor (such as in my apartment).  The school is the same way; heaters are not left on overnight.  There is no heater in the bathroom, and now the heated toilet seats make much more sense.  In America, the toilet is at least heated to the temperature of the room, but here it is fairly common for the air in the bathroom to be below freezing!  Additionally, many people walk quite a ways in the cold.  For example, the walk to my bus stop is about ten minutes, and the walk to the train station is around twenty.  It's not uncommon for me to be walking at least an hour a day, and that makes it seem even colder.  I got in the habit of wearing 3-4 layers of clothes regularly.  Fortunately, it has started to warm up a little, and although it is still cold I can feel that spring is around the corner.

This week was Valentine's Day, and we made valentines in the first grade classes.  We explained to them about Valentine's Day in America, because although it is celebrated here it is celebrated differently.  For Japanese Valentine's Day, girls give boys chocolates. That seems to be the extent of the holiday (no other special celebration, dinner, or gifts), and my first graders were appalled when they heard that in America boys gave gifts to girls!  There is another holiday next month called White Day, that as far as I can tell is when the boys treat the girls.  The first grade students then colored four valentines cards and gave one to their family and three to teachers at the school.  We taught them to say "Happy Valentine's Day!  I love you! Thank you!" as they gave the valentines.  Some students remembered, and some didn't, but the goal was for them to say Happy Valentine's Day rather than just shoving the valentine at the teacher.  One boy came up to me and shoved the card at me, so I cupped my ear with my hand for him to say Happy Valentine's Day.  He looked confused, mumbled "I love you" and ran away.  It was so cute!!

 

Jared and I celebrated an American Valentine's Day.  I gave him chocolate (in the spirit of the culture) and other small gifts, and we took a taxi to an authentic Italian restaurant by the ocean.  He had surprised me with a purse as an early Valentine's Day present a few weeks ago because mine was about to break, and at dinner told me that he felt bad he had nothing for me, but I had already gotten my gift.  I didn't mind because I understood and didn't expect anything else.  When we were leaving the restaurant to walk (in the rain) back to the train station, he surprised me by opening the back door to a car for me, where there was a card, chocolates, and red roses.  I was so surprised!  He had arranged for one of his friends to take us to the station and to hide the gifts until then.  I was caught completely off guard and very surprised.  It was a wonderful Valentine's Day!  :)

I'd like to take a minute to thank those of you who sent me cards and gifts for Christmas.  To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement, as I didn't expect to receive anything.  You are so supportive and I really appreciate it.  It was a little difficult to have Christmas so far from home, but you sent Christmas to me and I am so grateful.  God has blessed me with the most incredible friends and family I could ask for.  You're amazing!

I'm sorry this post is so long, and that it was so long coming.  I hope to blog more regularly, but it takes a certain chunk of time to update, and I hate leaving anything out because I know you are very interested in knowing about the culture, differences, and what I am doing.  I am going to try something new for the next post and ask YOU what you want me to blog about.  Comment on this blog or my facebook with one of the options below and I will blog about the winning option next post (hopefully in the next week or two).  I hope that this way I can focus more on what you want to know about and keep the post a little shorter (and more doable).  Of course, I'll still share with you any other special things that are going on!  So, your options are:

1. Food
2. Work/School
3. Weather (including earthquakes)
4. Church

Let me know your choice by commenting here or on my Facebook post!

I hope you are well and that you have had an enjoyable new year thus far.  I've heard that the winter is fairly mild at home, and I hope that has brought some relief.  Please continue to pray for me and the people I encounter while I'm here.  I haven't been able to help with the recovery efforts from the earthquake yet, as most groups have been going for the entire weekend and Sundays are one of my busiest days.  I hope to be able to make a trip in the spring, and will let you know as soon as I know.  Thank you again for your love and encouragement!

じゃまた,
(goodbye),

キャシー
Cassie

One Month In JAPAN - Apartment and School

Wow!  This week marked my fourth week of living in Japan.  Time truly has flown!  I apologize for the lack of updates, but as you can imagine my schedule has been really crazy.  I've had to spend a lot of time doing various things to settle in to my apartment, in addition to all of the events for Christmas at the church.  I intend to update you on all of these things, but this will be a VERY long post.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I ended my last update telling you about my apartment and giving you a teaser for the next post.  Well, at that time I had NO IDEA that it would be so long between posts.  Never fear, you don't have to hold your breath any longer.  Here is some more about my apartment.

This is the shower room I showed you last time.  In Japan they have a big room for the shower and bath.  The shower head is on the wall.  They fill the bath, and shower to get clean and then soak in the bath.  The entire family will soak in the same bathwater and drain it at the end of the night, but it doesn't get dirty because everyone cleans before they get in.  I love it!

This is the other side of the bathtub.  On the wall is a control to turn on the hot water, choose the temperature, and to reheat the water in the bath.

This control is next to my sink upstairs in the kitchen.  The button on the right turns on the hot water, and the button in the middle fills the tub downstairs!  I can push the button, choose the temperature, and within five minutes when I go downstairs the bath will be ready to go.  It's great!

This sink / vanity area is next to the shower room

My washing machine.  Then I have to hang dry my clothes.

This is the inside of the door.  There is an area to take off your shoes because you can't wear shoes past the entryway.  This is the case virtually everywhere in Japan.

View through my apartment from the front door.  The vanity and shower room are to the immediate left, behind the first wall is the stairway, then the washing machine, and my bedroom in the back.

Stairs to the upstairs.  They're pretty steep, and curve once again like this.

This is my living room area.  I've since moved the table and added more furniture.  This room is to the left from the top of the stairs.

My kitchen.  This is to the right of the top of the stairs.

My stove and oven.  Yes, that small thing in the middle is my entire oven.  Japanese people don't bake much, except perhaps fish. 

The control to my heater, mounted on the wall.  I have two heaters in my house, one in my bedroom and one in my living room.  Central heat and air is uncommon in Japan.  I turn on the heater when I get cold and turn it off when I leave the house.  The remote is convenient, though -- I can keep it next to my bed in the night and turn the heater on before I get out of bed in the morning!

My entire upstairs.  I am standing against the wall in my living room.  The first door frame is my stairs, the door frame after the cabinet is my fridge, and then my kitchen.

The view outside of my back door.  I have no idea what this is, I don't think I've looked out there aside from when I took the picture.

A beautiful garden I walk past every day

Fun trinket.  Bonus points to whoever comments and knows what it is!

The week of December 5-10 I was in training for my job.  I shadowed a man from the company that hired me, so I wasn't actually at my school.  I observed his classes and did some other logistical things like completing my contract, applying for my foreign resident registration, and registering for the national health insurance.

I started work at my school, Lily Vale Primary School on Monday, December 12.  Lily Vale is a Japanese shogakko, or elementary school, but it is modeled after a British school.  The classrooms are in individual buildings, with courtyards in between.  The buildings and 'streets' have English names, such as Chelsea Lane and the Great Hall.

The school has students from grades 1-6, and three classes in each grade, for a total of 18 classes.  Each class has English twice a week.  There are two Japanese English teachers, Ms. A and Mr. M that split the classes.  There is also another AET, or Assistant English Teacher, at the school besides me, and he is from England.  He has been sick since I arrived, though, so I have not met him yet.  The past two weeks I worked with all ages of students and took over some of the other AET's classes since he was unable to attend.  It made for a really busy schedule, but I enjoyed it a lot.  I like to keep busy, and it helped me to be able to meet many students and get a feel for what the classes at different levels are like.

As an AET, I do not teach the classes, but work as an assistant to the Japanese English teacher.  I help a lot with examples and pronunciations, as well as teaching them about western culture.  There are so few foreigners in Japan (called gaijin) that non-Japanese people really stand out and are pretty uncommon in rural areas.  People, especially children are shocked to see gaijin, and it is not uncommon for them to stare.  The children are happy to get to know me, and are astonished by my height, my brown hair, and my green eyes.  They love to ask me how old I am, if I have a boyfriend, and to just interact with me in general.  This is a big part of  my job.  Between classes I go into the courtyard and interact with the students, engaging them as much as possible.  I am not allowed to use any Japanese at the school (even basic Japanese, such as good morning or excuse me), which encourages the students to practice their English.  Some times we have a difficult time communicating, but a smile and friendly demeanor truly do communicate across cultures.

In the morning, all of the teachers line up at the large wrought iron gates at the front of the school and welcome students as they come in.  The students say おはよございます！(ohayo gozaimasu - good morning) and bow to each teacher.  I great the students with a 'Good Morning', and they're expected to answer me back.  I get to school by school bus though, and it seems that my bus is always the last to arrive.  So, I get off the bus and say hello to the remaining students that come in, then go into the office, or to the weekly morning assembly, depending on the day of the week.

The schedule is divided into six periods, with home room in the morning and afternoon, and lunch after fourth period.  Since I don't have a homeroom, my break time is during the homeroom times, and I attend classes all six periods.  The teachers also eat lunch with the students.  I eat the school lunch, which includes rice and miso (soybean) soup every day, in addition to some cooked veggies and a main course.  We've had fish with some sort of fish gravy, curry, tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet), and some sort of egg.  Everyone's surprised that I don't mind eating the school lunch.

Last week the students had a Christmas Assembly (recital) for the parents.  There were three different plays, one for the 1st and 3rd graders, one for the 2nd and 4th graders, and one for the 5th and 6th graders.  There were three performances, as well, because each play only consisted of two classes.  Kind of confusing, but all in all there were 9 plays.  We spent three days of the first week I worked rehearsing for the plays (one day for each performance), so those days we only had classes after lunch.  The recital was that Saturday, and it went very well.  The students did such a great job!  The plays were entirely in Japanese, but they were fully costumed and choreographed, with mics, sets, and scene changes - even for the 1st graders!  I was blown away. 

Because the play was on a Sunday (the only day most people have off in Japan), the school was closed the following Monday.  That Friday was a national holiday for the emperor's birthday, so my second week was only three days of classes.  I was supposed to work Saturday, as well, but I twisted my ankle and was unable to work (it's mostly better now).  Since then I've been on Christmas / New Years' vacation and will start back to school on January 10.

Hope this clarified some of your questions about my apartment and work!  I've also been very busy with some activities, travels to Tokyo, football games, and of course, Christmas.  I intend to fill you in on more of that soon.  Til then, I hope all is well.  Have a happy new year!

First Days in Japan

Konnichiwa!!  Watashi wa chou genki deshou!
Hello!  I am very good!!

I'm finally in Japan!!!!!!!!  Thank you for all the prayers, support, and well-wishes you have offered me over the past several months.  After much prayer, frustration, and lessons in patience it has finally come to pass.  My flights were all on time, all of my bags arrived, and the customs went relatively smoothly.

A gorgeous view as we approached the Seattle airport

All set and ready to go for the Tokyo flight!

The menu for the flight.  I had two meals and a snack

The first meal: shrimp, salad, stewed beef and fried rice, bread, and a brownie 

I was met at the airport by Jared, Yuuki, and Noriko, my little sisters in Pi when they visited OC.  It was so great to see them again!!!!  Afterwards, we went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant for dinner.  I wasn't very hungry, but it was so good and a great welcome to Japan!

Sushi!! 

Yuuuuuuki and Norikokokoko!

Jared and me

On Wednesday, I had a very Japanese breakfast of biscuits and gravy, and then Jared and I left for Ibaraki Christian College.  The trip to the college took about an hour, consisting of a ten minute walk, two trains, and another ten minute walk.  We attended their chapel and ate curry afterwards.  I saw a few students I already knew and met some of Jared's students as well.  It was so incredible to be back where I had been three years ago.  I can't wait to continue getting to know the students better.  That afternoon we walked to the beach.  It's really amazing to be so close to the beach (even if it was really cold and the water rough).  Although where I will be isn't so close to the beach, I still hope to visit the ocean from time to time.

Waiting for the train to IC

Yummy curry

Arriving at the beach

Wednesday evening we met up with Jared's friend Allen and his wife, Laura.  Allen took us to an Indian food restaurant where we had.. more curry!  Indian curry is different from Japanese curry though, and I really enjoyed the food and fellowship.  After dinner we went to Allen and Laura's apartment and had tea and watched part of the movie The End of the Spear.  We weren't able to finish it, but we plan on having an encore soon.

Allen's North Face and Jared's South Butt

After dinner and the movie we went to Tomobe church (where Jared is a missionary) to meet a few of the students who were finishing class.  They were very excited to meet me.  So many people have been thinking and praying about me for so long.  It's incredible to me to hear of friends in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, and Japan who have all been thinking of me.  Leave it to God to bring all of us together!

Today I went to meet up with my contact at the school where I will be working.  We didn't go through a lot of contractual details, but he took me to see my apartment and I was so surprised!  Last week he gave me the option of three different apartments and I chose the largest of the three.  I'm very glad, because the apartment is new, relatively large, and high-tech.  It is about a 15 minute walk from the train station, near a grocery store, several restaurants, and other convenience stores.  The neighborhood seems nice as well.  Here's an overview of the apartment and I'll write more in detail about it soon!

Apartment building

Close up of the door and intercom system

The view when you first walk in.  The shower and bath are to the left, the stairs behind the first wall, and the bedroom straight ahead.

Bedroom

Techy toilet 

Shower room
TEASER:  Stay tuned for fun facts about this room!

I will meet with my employer again on Saturday to go over the contract and other details, and then start work on Monday.


After leaving the apartment, we went to Tomobe church where Jared had two classes.  The first was supposed to be two elementary students, but only one was able to come.  We studied english with her, focusing primarily on spelling, vocabulary, and word usage.  The second class was with a high school student who wants to be a preacher and hopes to attend OC next year to study ministry.  I helped him with an essay about why he wants to be a minister and the impact he hopes to make in Japan.  It was really nice to be able to meet him.


Tomorrow I will attend several classes with Jared, and then meet again with my employer on Saturday. I'll update when I can.  Hope all is well with you at home.  Feel free to comment or email me with any questions or anything else!  Thanks again for your prayers and support!


じゃねじゃね！ (bye!!!)

TICKET

I have a ticket.  A real, live, no-turning-back-now ticket.  I will be leaving the morning of Monday, November 28 and arriving in Tokyo the next afternoon.  I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!  Booking my flight was so surreal.. I have planned to go for so long, thought about it, worked towards it, but now..  Now it's REAL.  I have a flight number!  Whoa!!!

To get to this point, I had to worry about a criminal record that doesn't exist, the US postal service (the least helpful service thus far), and the Chicago Consulate of Japan.  It's been an eventful and frustrating past few days, but it has all come together and I HAVE A TICKET!!!!

I was also contacted about my apartment and given the choice of two - a Teeny apartment, and a Really Teeny apartment.  The the one a chose was no longer available, so I was offered a Really Small apartment instead.  I believe I will officially be living in the Really Small apartment.  Luckily, my employer will buy me a Japanese futon (mat bed) (with my money) so I'll have a place to sleep when I get there!  How thoughtful.  More on the apartment and other details later.  All that matters now is

I HAVE A TICKET!!!!!

It's Here!!!!

Here it is!!!  This is the little stinker that took months on end, and its finally in my hand!!!  It won't be in my hand long though, because tomorrow morning it'll be sent off to Chicago!  The immigration office in Chicago will take about four days to issue my visa, and then mail it back to me.  After it comes in the mail, I will (FINALLY) be able to purchase my ticket.  I'm still planning on leaving November 29th, which is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.  Keep your fingers crossed and prayers said that this government office will process things more smoothly than the last one!  I'll let you know when I have more information.  Thanks for the prayers!