weekend fun

After preaching on Sunday (it went very smoothly, by the way), my friend Sue and I went to a nearby botanical garden. It was amazingly beautiful! Right now the Rose Fesitval is wrapping up, so we could see all kinds of varieties and colors of roses. Again, I was reminded of God's creativity.

Quite possibly the biggest rose I have ever seen.

Amazing color. This one was my favorite.

Sue asked me which way I wanted to go down the hill, meaning down the steps or the ramp. This slide was really tempting...

a little bit of normal

Okay, beyond playing with snails, I have been quite busy. Tomorrow is Sunday and I am preaching. I will be speaking in English and have a church member translate in Japanese. Please pray that she is able to decipher my words. She's plugging away right now in her preparation. It's kind of ironic because my sermon is about the simple message of God's Love, but I'm not sure how simple my words will be for her to translate. Praying for God's divine wisdom for her...

My new friend Suemune (Sue) and I spent the day together last Saturday shopping for a warm comforter for my bed. Sounds easy, right? Nope. All factors combined (price, limitation on sizes available, my pickyness), we were hunting around Kobe for about 6 hours. Of course, I ended up buying the first one that I liked AFTER I went to about 4 other stores. I'm really happy with my choice. The man even gave me a generous discount because Sue asked him "She's American. Would you mind giving her a discount?"

You may think, "What's the BIG deal? It's just a blanket. As long as it's warm, that's all that matters." It's all a part of making a home. I need to feel comfortable here. I may have unpacked all of my boxes and suitcases, but I need to unpack myself emotionally. I have to do whatever it takes to make my life normal in a very un-normal place.

I do feel like things are beginning to fall into place. Praise God I am making new friends who I can have coffee with at Seattle's Best Coffee! Kendra is a new friend who is living in Kobe with her husband. They have connections with Asian Access. They also attend the Kobe Bible Fellowship church, which is the International church I've been writing about (I think...). Kendra came to Japan about 10 years ago doing the same sort of thing as me. When we met this week for coffee, she told me stories of her first couple of months of adjusting to life in Japan. I could do nothing but laugh because of how similar our stories are. It's good to find commonality in a place where I am SO different. I found peace in knowing that at least one person out there knows exactly what I'm going through.

a snails pace

I can't help it. I'm a dork. I spent about 15 minutes this morning on my back patio playing with snails. The weather has been off and on rainy, so the snails have made their debut. I remember seeing slugs in Wisconsin when I was hiking with my HoneyRock friends. We didn't really enjoy finding them in the morning. They usually left a slimy orange trail behind them. They were especially unwelcome in our hiking boots. These snails on my patio are really neat to watch. They have a beautiful spiral shaped shell that they lug around with them. I guess I've always been fascinated by nature. It's just amazing to me that God thought to make so much variety. You better count your lucky stars that I didn't put the video on here!

"Air Quotes"

For those of you who might be asking yourself "What are air quotes?"

friendships renewed and brand-new

I had a friend visit me from Tokyo today. I met Midori in Wheaton last year through Christ Community Church. She has been receiving Pastor Mary Lou Codman-Wilson's sermons every week for many years and wanted to come visit the church in person. This gave me the opportunity to talk with a Japanese person as I was preparing to come to Japan last year. I was able to drive her around town to some shopping places and we visited the Billy Graham Center Museum. She told me then that she thought I would be a very good missionary in Japan because of my natural personality. That was really uplifting to me. I felt then a special kind of friendship with her. In her words from today, it was as if we had just said goodbye yesterday and hello today. We picked up right where we had left off last year.

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

I was super excited to find this Seattle's Best Coffee in Kobe only 15 minutes by train from my town!! I thought SBC was only in Tokyo! You may remember that I was a barista at SBC in Borders book store in Clarksville, TN this year. I'm a huge fan of the Organic Sumatra here. Way better than Starbucks (sorry, but it's true!). So, if I'm not home, you know where to find me!

After I left Midori at the Kobe train station, I had time to go to church at a place I learned about from the former short term missionary that lived here in Tarumi. This church is an international type church with a service on Sunday evening in both English and Japanese. It's a great little church with a lot of spirit and really genuine people loving Jesus. A young woman named "Sue" introduced herself to me and asked me to go to Mos Burgers for dinner. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for our friendship. We had an instant connection. She knows air quotes!!! Maybe you remember me using them in conversations in the past? I'm a huge fan of air quotes but have not had the opportunity to use them in Japan. I think we'll be great friends on this point alone! :)

hai, hai, hai

Usually when I am at my computer, I'm listening to some music; tonight I am listening to the sound of my washing machine. I got a new machine because the old one sounded like an elephant got trapped inside of it. I went with one of the church members to the local store to choose which I wanted. Then, the next day I awaited the phone call to tell me when they would be coming. They gave me a time frame of between 11:15 and 3:00. My entire day was built around waiting for this phone call and the subsequent arrival of the workers. I was nervous that they would ask me questions on the phone in Japanese and I wouldn't be able to understand. A friend told me that I only needed to say "hai" (yes) three times and I would be fine. So, when the call came I answered with a hello. I started doing this a while ago because if I answer with "Moshi-moshi" people might not know that I am American. I'm not sure if this works or not, but for now it's my system. After I answered I heard "blah, blah, blah...Midori..blah, blah." I know Midori is the name of the store, so I said "Hai." Then, I heard "blah, blah, blah-blah, ikimasuka?" I know ikimasuka is a verb that means something about going and the ka makes it a question. So, I said "Hai" again. The third line was something about time because he said "ji" but I couldn't catch the numbers. I used my last "hai" then hung up the phone. I had to chuckle to myself because my friend was exactly right. 3 hais covered the entire conversation!

The man that came was very friendly and spoke Japanese using a lot of hand gestures. When they removed the old washer, there was a lot of dusty gunk left on the floor. I tried to sweep before they came, but you can only get so far with a little broom. I had resigned myself to the idea of having a dirty floor under the new machine. He asked me for a cloth to clean the floor using the wax-on, wax-off motion. I was so excited! A clean floor under the new machine!!! What service this was! I was baffled! Can you imagine an American Home Depot worker volunteering to wash your floor for you? I don't think so...

After he was finished installing the new machine, he explained to me how to use it. I'm afraid I didn't catch too many of the particulars, but I knew the basics from my old machine. Plus, I'm not too nervous about pushing buttons and experimenting. My friends from HoneyRock describe this type of experiential education as "learning the fun way."

So, now I'm listening to my machine purr as it spins out the final cycle. Oh, the simple joys of living life in a foreign country...

sittin'

on the dock of the bay...

Bernie, I ate your face...

Today I dragged my body across Osaka to my teaching assignment in Minami Sakai. Why am I tired? Because I'm not a college student anymore and I forgot this. The SAM girls came down from Tokyo this weekend for a "Welcome Millie to Japan" time. It really was great, but I'm definetly tired after 2 nights of being up past 1 am. Man am I getting old...

One of the difficulties I'm having living in another culture, especially a culture that is so reserved and polite is feeling like I am half alive. Anyone who really knows me knows my hearty belly laughs and my random bursts of song. I'm still testing out the waters here, so that part of me has been lying dormant.

A friend of my gave me a "perscription" for the weekend to laugh really hard with the girls. I followed her directions fully and am feeling like I found the other half of myself that wasn't alive. I know that there are times when I must show some decorum, but I'm happy to know that I have a family in Japan that won't be weirded out by Millie just being Millie.

Here are some photos from the madness:

The party (sans Cheryl, taking the picture) on my back patio enjoying a Japanese style BBQ

I'm proud of my food sculpting skills. Bernie's face was delicious, by the way.

It says "Traditional Chocolate and Dignity." Not sure if we displayed much dignity while we inhaled these amazing chocolates or not...Chin and Helen (some Chinese friends) brought a gift of a box of chocolates over to the BBQ. We played Jankenpon (rock, paper, scissors) to see who would get to choose the first chocolate--we had an elaborate plan. I think Helen and Chin were amazed to see how fast the 8 of us made the chocolates disappear!

We had lunch in Kobe at one of 4 Old Spaghetti Factories in Japan. Yummy Carbonera!

coffee au lait?

Well, is it or isn't it?

12-monthers

Man oh man! Missing you guys tonight as I'm looking through old pics. No, David I don't want to massage your buttocks!

Tadaima!

I remember listening to a friend of mine ask a Wheaton professor where he felt most at home. This prof had grown up in California but had spent a large amount of his life in the Chicago area. His answer was surprising to me: “I have learned that heaven is my home. I will never be truly ‘at home’ until I am with Jesus.” These words have camped out in my thoughts over the years and rise up to the surface in times of adjustment. Now is one of those adjusting times when I am trying to lay down roots and make my home in Japan. This has come out in simple ways like buying pretty couch pillows and decorating my genkan (entryway) in a fall theme. “Tadaima!” This is the Japanese greeting upon arriving home that means “I’m home.” The exact translation is “Just now,” or “I’ve just arrived.” The reply is “Okaerinasai,” or “Welcome home.” To be honest, it’s sometimes lonely coming home after a long day of teaching to an empty house. It may sound crazy, but I fight this loneliness by imagining that Jesus is welcoming me home or is sitting down to eat a bowl of noodles with me. I’ve made friends with the birds in my neighborhood as they have joined me in my quiet times on the patio in the mornings. I think they’ve enjoyed Galatians as much as I have. I may becoming that crazy bird lady you see in the park, but I don’t mind. God is providing companionship in unique ways that I’m finding refreshing. I love living in community and always will prefer to be with people more than birds, but for now I’m finding contentment in my surroundings. I’m comforted to know that no matter where I go, the Spirit of God goes with me and it is in Him that I am truly at home.