a fun day

Last Sunday, I spent the afternoon hanging out with some Japanese teenagers and my new friend Amber. She's teaching English in Tarumi too, but at a different church. She just moved here about a month ago and we are both thanking God for answering our prayers for friendship.

These girls were so much fun to be with. They both love speaking English. When we met up with Saori, she said "I'm so exciting!" This common English mistake makes me smile every time!

We went to the aquarium where I saw the biggest stingray in my entire life. At the dolphin show, I was impressed yet again with Japanese ingenuity. The first 4 rows of benches were a blue color, so we figured out those were the seats to sit in if we wanted to get splashed by the dolphins. This aquarium took it another step and offered people in those seats plastic tarps to protect themselves from the water. I think I was more entertained by watching the people duck for cover.

Another Japanese concept that would be a great idea to have in the States: Purikura. These are photos booths on crack. Seriously. Remember those old black and white strips with 4 or 5 photos? This takes that concept to the extreme. Computer technology never ceases to amaze me. After you take your pictures in the booth, you go to the computer screen and decorate your photos. It's hard to explain; maybe I'll take you on a video tour sometime. Or better yet, come to Japan and experience it with me! :)

April Adventures

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EWWWWWW!

Here's a strange picture from a strange event...when I came home this afternoon I discovered a gecko had been trapped in between the backdoor and the door frame after I opened it this morning. Poor little guy! He never even seen it coming! The toes totally look like ailen toes, don't they? Freaky. It was even more freaky when those toes starting wiggling around when I opened the door and discovered he was still alive! My friend and I screamed like the little girls we are! He dropped to the ground and scurried off after regaining his senses. I don't know if he'll make it or not, but I'm sure his spirit will be haunting me..... EWWWWW!

I felt the earth move under my feet

Last week I woke up two nights in a row to an earthquake. The first time, fear gripped every inch of my body and jerked me from my deep sleep. It was a while before I could doze off again. I remembered the stories I heard from the "Big One" that hit Kobe 13 years ago. My fear was so, so small compared to the terror that was known on that day. I felt a little foolish to be so "shaken" (excuse the pun!) when it was obvious that these earthquakes were nothing more than a normal occurrence in life in Japan. I talked with my students about the tremors and told them how strange it was for me, having never experienced something like this in the mid-west. "We never get earthquakes in Indiana."

THEN, not even 12 hours later, Indiana did in fact experience an earthquake! I chuckled as I watched the news reports on the Internet. This was BIG news. I'm not sure if I felt more justified in my astonishment of my tiny tremors in Japan or more like a country bumpkin after watching the truck stop patrons recounting their stories. I suppose I'll never stop being a small-town girl from Indiana.

baby steps

I'm feeling more adventuresome with my Japanese and actually felt some success last week. I pushed myself to speak every Japanese word I could when I went out to dinner with one of my students. Tonight at a convenience store, the clerk made eye contact with me (I'm realizing how strange it is to type this as it's not unusual in the US, but is so, so rare here) and I took this as an invitation. I read his name tag aloud and pointed to myself and said my name. (Me Tarzan, You Jane, grunt, grunt) It was awkward and so basic, but I felt a sense of triumph in moving outside my caged self. I think a lot of times, I place the blame for my atrophy on the Japanese--like it's their fault that I can't live free and vibrantly anymore. But really, it's my fear that holds me back. When I get a taste of my realness and realize how much I miss that person, I am encouraged to tear off my entanglements and run free.

just another crowded Tuesday

I really hate being in crowds of people, so I often wonder what in the world I am doing in the most crowded country in the world. For the most part, I don't feel too crazy but every once in a while, I am faced with more people than I am comfortable with. It's a challenge to keep my cool and my patience. Last night was such a night. One of my students has been really excited to take me to a night display of cherry blossoms in Osaka for 3 weeks. After our class last night, we rode the train together into the city. We walked with the mob along the path and I tried to take a few pictures. The one nice thing I can say about Japanese mobs is they are polite. In my heart, I was grumbling and whining the entire time, but for the Japanese, this is a normal part of life on this tiny island with 127 million people. It makes sense why keeping harmony and peace is such a high value in this culture. You have to do something to keep your sanity! There were 3 paths where the trees were, but for some reason everyone wanted to walk down the same one in the middle. I dragged my friend over to one of the outside paths explaining "this is easier for walking." She didn't really seemed bothered by the crowd stepping on her feet and pushing at her back. In fact, she was one of the people doing these things! Oh well. It's another lesson in cultural difference.

There was an area for food (that's the video) and an area for the cherry trees. These blossoms are different from the ones I saw a couple weeks ago. Those blossoms have five petals. These look more like pom-poms and are called Yae-Zakura. The trees look like something from Dr. Seuss. Pretty incredible.





Some notes about the video:
*Notice how LOUD it is. The food vendors yell out "irrasshaimase" which is a welcome. You hear this A LOT in Japan.
*Did you see the guys shoes next to the platform thing those people were sitting on? Guess he didn't want to get his pants dirty.
*"Takoyaki" are balls of dough with cut up pieces of octopus in them. They're pretty good.

National Chauvinist Husbands Association

The National Chauvinist Husbands Association of Japan has recruited 4,300 members and ranks them on a scale of 1 to 10.

A “1” man is a well-meaning but clueless guy who has done little more than show up at a group meeting.

A “10” husband, is one who is able to show his wife, through his daily behavior, that he truly loves her -- and even manages to spit out the words, "I love you."

So far, the husbands’ association has unearthed only one “10” husband. He is Mr. Itahashi, 66, president of a concrete company. He had to come a long way to be as high up on the scale as a number “10”!

Mr. Itahashi joined the husbands’ association five years ago, but kept it a secret from his wife for a year, as he quietly taught himself to pay more attention to her. For almost all of his 38 year marriage, he had behaved coldly and selfishly towards his wife.

“I never said I was sorry,” he said. When I came home from work, I would say, ‘I want to eat dinner; I want a bath; I want to go to bed’, and I had no time to talk to my wife.”

To her surprise one night Mr. Itahashi took his wife out for a special dinner, and for the first time in his life, confessed to her the details of his misbehavior.

Fearing divorce, some Japanese men are now learning to say, “I love you”. To help them the men of the husbands’ association chant their slogan in unison: “Say, 'thank you' without hesitating. Say, 'sorry' without being scared. Say, 'I love you' without being shy.”

“Japan is a peaceful country, but the household is at war,” Mr. Itahashi said. Two years ago, he did something new -- he bought his wife a birthday present.

“Up until my 60th birthday, he had not given me anything at all,” Mrs. Itahashi said. “But on my 60th, he sent me 60 roses.” She is heartened that her husband is trying to make amends for the decades he ignored her.

source is an unknown newspaper article

Sakura season!

Spring in Japan is magical! On my free-day, I called up my friend to see if she was up for an impromtu picnic outing. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and it was a perfect day to capture these pictures.

Guam!!

I had an AMAZING time in Guam last week! I've been home for only a day and I miss it already. I could get used to being an island girl... :)

Here are my pictures for you all to enjoy!

thoughts on I am Legend

Has anyone watched I am Legend? Wow. Zombie movies aren’t usually on my radar, but this one took me by surprise. Besides being scientifically interesting and on-the-edge-of-your-seat exciting, I found some deeper insights hidden in the folds of the story.

I could totally identify with Will Smith’s character in the aspect of loneliness. He’s the last man on earth alive (or is he?) with only his dog to keep him company. His interactions with Sam seem more on the level with a child than a pet, telling the dog to eat her vegetables. To keep himself from going crazy, he sets up a video store with mannequins with whom he “interacts” when he “rents” a DVD. He needs this type of normalcy in his life to keep him from going batty, I suppose. When he does finally get in contact with other humans, the woman observes “you’re not very good with people anymore.” I really felt for the guy, knowing that people keep me sane. The word “community” has been overused by Christians lately and that’s really too bad because the meaning of the word seems to have been lost for me. Maybe I’ve heard it a lot because of the emphasis of living with others in college.

The truth is that I need people (community) in my life or I get a little strange. Okay, I'm a little strange with people too, but at least we can all be strange together. All of the strangeness together seems to counteract and balance us all out somehow. Whatever. I guess in the end, I'm realizing how precious relationships are to me and am trying to treasure the people in my life more. Building friendships in Japan is hard, so I have to be thankful for what I can get.

Kire, desu ne? (It's beautiful, isn't it?)

The sakura (cherry blossoms) have made their debut in Japan. I caught the beginning of their arrival before I headed to Guam for my spring vacation. I watched as a little girl picked up fallen blossoms and put them in her mothers purse saying, "here's a pretty flower...and another....and another." The life span of this beauty is so short, but its magical. Even in my limited Japanese, I was able to comment on the beauty to a stranger walking by and have a short interaction.