The Most Wonderful Time

I really can't believe how close Christmas is.  It seems like I barely acknowledged that I'd been in Japan for a month, but it's already ten days later, and Christmas is less than two weeks away.  Ridiculous!

So, since Christmas is coming up, at yesterday's Inspa we had a Christmas party!  (Inspa is the returnee event held in Nagoya once a month.  You might remember reading about it last month.)  I should've taken pictures, but there was so much going on that I never got around to it!  Last time I came early with Becky, since she's on the leadership team, but this time I came with our friend Eri from church so that I didn't have to be early.  The train ride with her was really nice!  Her English is pretty good, so we were able to have a good conversation.  Anyway, when we got there, I spent some time chatting with some of the people I met last month.  The actual event started soon after, and I enjoyed it last time, but this time it was really amazing!

From what I remember, we started out with songs, some Christmas and some not.  I was again amazed by how passionately everyone in the room sang!  God's presence was just so evident.  Becky led a short quiz game, which was fun, and then there was a skit that kind of framed the rest of the event.  A guy and a girl were talking about Christmas from the perspective of nonbelievers who didn't know its true meaning.  Parts of it were funny, and it led into more Christmas/worship songs, and then into the message, which was led by Kensaku from the Chita Nozomi church, and man, I can't even explain why it was so good, but it was amazing.  Part of it was that the message was simple: it was the plan of salvation, really.  It was really moving to me, to hear the Gospel presented in Japanese for the first time.  And the way he told it, starting (as far as I remember) with the Christmas story, and then using pictures he drew that conveyed the idea that we are separated from God by sin but that Jesus died so that we can be connected to God again.  He emphasized over and over again that He did all of this because He loves us.  My explanation really isn't doing it justice.  Anyway, when he finished speaking, he sang a couple of songs that Becky told me he wrote himself.  I've heard him play guitar before, but I'd never heard him sing, and he has an amazing voice!  Apparently he's really musical.  I had no idea!

After that, we broke off into discussion groups, and I was with a girl around my age and a really neat older lady.  We had a really great conversation about the message and about Christian life and our own lives.  The girl had to leave to go to work, but the lady (Shinko was her name) and I kept talking, and she told me some things that are going on in her life, and I told her a little about myself, and we took a few minutes to pray for each other.  She's a really interesting person, and was such an encouragement to me.  I'm so glad I got to meet her!

When the discussion time ended, we had a potluck!  Everyone had brought food, so there was tons: bread, chips, cookies, a casserole-type thing, taco rice (so good!), and various other snacks.  I was talking to Shubo, who I met last time, about grammar (lol he asked me why teachers say "Let's get started" at the beginning of class when "started" sounds like past tense.  Random...).  So while I was talking to him about this, he told me to ask Jun, who he'd also been talking to.  I'd never met Jun before, but I'd heard a little about him from Becky and Carol.  So Jun and I got to talking, and he seems like a really cool guy!  Plus, even though his ethnicity is Japanese, he's Canadian, and his native language is English, so it was kind of refreshing to have a conversation with a native English speaker!  Anyway, after we all spent time eating and chatting, we took a few pictures together, had a couple of announcements and that kind of thing, and then it was more or less over.  I'd have stayed to hang out and go out to eat with everyone, but I had a class, so Nori-chan (who also had to go) and I took the train home together.  After I got off the train, I made a totally necessary detour to 7-11, because that's the convenience store that I know sells melon soda.  Yes.  So the rest of the night was pretty typical.  I had class, relaxed for a little bit, and then worked with Becky on making the power point for tonight's Crossroad.  Busy day!

...Wow, that got long.  But I had a really good time, so I wanted to recount it as best I could!

Anyway, today was of course church in the morning, then we ran a couple of errands, and then we (Carol, Becky, Alicia and I) went to lunch at Coco's.  The food I've had there before has been decently good, but the jambalaya I got today was pretty amazing!  (And the menu lied, it was totally not spicy.)

The syrup in the melon soda was running out, so it wasn't as delicious as normal.  Sad day.  :(

And then Carol got dessert, which enabled Alicia and I to do the same.  It's green tea fondant cake with ice cream and azuki (red beans).  It was yummy~

It was after 4 by the time we got back to the Center, so the rest of the day was pretty much dedicated to Crossroad.  Becky and I prepared for the games and practiced the songs while Carol got the snacks and everything set up.  The night went pretty well, and everyone stayed for maybe an hour afterwards to eat snacks and chat.  I spoke Japanese almost that whole time with Juri-chan, Nao-chan, and Alicia.  I was pretty proud of myself!

I realized I hadn't taken any pictures, so here's what things looked like in the chapel today.

Everyone hanging out afterwards!  Becky always has to hold up food in pictures...

And as an added bonus to the day, the pottery that we made in Tokoname (as you may recall) arrived in the mail while everyone was there!  Yay!

Becky digging through the box.

I wonder what it looks like...

Oh snap!  It actually looks pretty nice!  I really like the color I chose for it.  :D  Apparently it's the perfect size for dipping soba, haha.

Juri-chan with her bowl!  She was way better at pottery making than I was...

Those of us who were there tonight who got our pottery!  Yay!

...and that was today.  It's been a busy couple of days, but I (currently) have no plans for tomorrow (that I know of?), so maybe I'll have some time to relax and get caught up on some tv shows~

Otsukare-chan!

The first part of today was a pretty normal Friday: relatively chill at the beginning, and then classes in the late afternoon and evening.  But what made today exciting was the surprise party Becky and I threw for Carol!  We were afraid she'd figure it out but I guess she didn't, so yay!  We had a pretty good turnout, and there were lots of sweets and snacks and such, and it was a lot of fun.  So have some pictures!

My cake!  Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  I started with a yellow cake mix, so it wasn't quite from scratch, but I did everything else myself!

I meant to take a picture of all of the snacks (there was kind of a lot), but I forgot.  But I had to take a picture of the Rilakkuma box from Mister Donut!  Words cannot express how okay I am with the combination of adorable bears and delicious donuts.

Dessert plate!  Everyone got a plate like this with my red velvet cake, Becky's pumpkin pie, and Julia's apple crumble thing that has some long German name that I can't remember.  And now, moving on from food (it's hard for me, I know)...

A bunch of people hid behind the cough, haha.  So cute!  Aki-san decided to hide under the kotatsu, but his feet kept sticking out.  XD;;

Group shot!  Yay!  :D  The only person not in this picture is Eri, who came late.

People chatting and eating.

Nori-chan and Youko-san!

Alicia and Julia!  We talked about Greek mythology, haha.  Good times!

Rieko-san, Aki-san, Anna, and little Eva who made her way into the picture, haha.

And the birthday girl!

And me, wearing the chonmage thing Eri gave Carol.  Eri said I looked kakkoii.  Ummm sure.

A bonus picture of our Christmas tree~

And Carol had this really cool candle that her sister gave her to use on her birthday.  Here she is getting ready to light it.

And then...a gigantic flame!

And then it lights the other candles, opens, and shoots out sparks!

And then it ends up like this, playing Happy Birthday (apparently for three whole days unless you cut this wire thing).  Yeah, it's basically the most awesome candle ever.

So that's all for today!  Tomorrow's Inspa, the returnee gathering in Nagoya, so that should be fun!  :D

Guess what?

I forgot to take food pictures yesterday!  How could I!  I mean, yeah, there will still be a couple of food pictures in this post, but not as many as usual!  My blog, it will never be the same.  And before people ask me, the following is a short note to the Japanese people who told me that they, too, have been checking my blog.  This blog sure seems to be getting around!

で！日本人もこのブロッグを読んでるみたいね！ごめんね、ほとうんど全部英語を書いてて。でも、ふつに写真がたくさんあるから、ぜひ見てください。♪　それとも、いい英語の練習になるかもしれない？（笑）

So anyway!  Let me start off with the one food picture I have, which is from Monday.  It's pork ginger that Becky and I made, and it was pretty fantastic.  But the real reason I took this picture was to prove to my dad that I do not, in fact, eat out for every meal.  >_>

So yeah, Monday!  Becky and I got some more decorating done, so that we are more or less finished with decorating downstairs except for maybe putting up some lights outside and some finishing touches.  Now we just need to decorate our own apartment...  >_>  

Yesterday was a bit more eventful though!  I went to the post office to ask a question about sending packages, and I felt very accomplished that not only was I able to ask in Japanese, I more or less understood the answer!  Yay, a marginal amount of independence!  I went to do some shopping at Saty after that (for my family, I bet you guys are wondering what I got you, mwahahahaha, but sorry Ryan, no melon soda), and ended up eating at McDonald's because it was there and I was kind of starving.  I tried the new limited time sandwich: the Texas Burger.  And it was AMAZING.  I've never had such a good burger at McDonald's.  It had two beef patties, onion straws, bacon, barbecue sauce, and some other stuff I think...and it was SO GOOD.  All of you guys in America should be jealous that you can't enjoy its deliciousness.

So after that I sat in on a class with Carol, and then Becky, Carol and I met to plan for upcoming events and such.  And then?  We went to Saty, so my second time there that day, haha.  But it was for grocery shopping this time.  And then Carol and Becky got food at McDonald's, but since I had plans to eat later, I just had some AMAZING ice cream at Baskin-Robbins called Candyman, which was chocolate ice cream with caramel and little candy pieces in it...  Ahhhh writing about it makes me want to go get some again.

So from there, we dropped off our groceries and Carol went to class, and Becky and I went to gospel choir, which was a little extra interesting this week because a reporter and cameraman from a local cable channel were there taping us!  They also interviewed Becky and another guy.  So yeah, I guess we don't get that channel, but I'm fairly certain that I'm gonna be on tv, haha.  I'm also starting to get a handle on the songs, which are simple but really fun to sing (and one has some serious hand motions haha).

And after that, around 10, I met up with Alicia, who has quickly become one of my favorite people ever, and we went to eat at Gusto, a popular hangout for Mie University students (which is evident by the amount of bikes that were outside when we got there).  We ended up staying there for probably close to three hours, talking about life and God and all kinds of things and just generally getting to know each other better.  It's sad that we only get to be together until her exchange program ends in February, but we fully intend to make the most of the time we have.  <3

Which brings me to today!  Carol came over for lunch and we did some more planning for Crossroad this Sunday and for Christmas, and it seems like things are starting to come together, which is great.  I then had class with my fourth grade boy, who was super sleepy and unresponsive until I forced him to get up and sing a song with me, which he wouldn't do with any enthusiasm until I convinced him that we would play a game later if he did a good job.  After that he started getting really eager to hurry up and get to the game, and class got a lot more fun.  He wanted to play Speed but he couldn't remember the rules, haha, so we ended up playing Memory, but he started to give up and goof off when he realized he was losing.  Typical boy.  By the end of class he was almost out of control, total 180 from the beginning of class!  So that was interesting.

The rest of the day has been pretty chill.  I had class with my two sweet middle school girls, I did a little Japanese homework and lesson prep, had dinner, etc.  I have a feeling the rest of the week is going to be pretty eventful though!

Oh, I almost forgot!  Have some Engrish pictures from the hundred yen store (which seems to be the best place for this kind of thing).

I love those metaric gift ties.  Classic.

And that lame glue.  Okay, so it says "rame" in Japanese, which must mean something, but to romanize it as "lame" was probably not the best idea.

This isn't Engrish, but it was pretty delicious.  I actually bought these last week but I forgot about them until today.  I'm not too convinced that they tasted like "Mexican tacos" though.

And a bonus picture of yours truly, since my iPhone has a spiffy front facing camera.  Sorry about the not-so-great lighting, but I was too lazy to move, haha.

Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer

In case you're wondering about the title of this post, it's the title of Relient K's Christmas album.  This is what I call Christmas music.  It's the Christmas season now, so I figured it was about time.

So today was actually pretty busy.  There was church, and then brief choir practice (we're singing O Holy Night on Christmas Eve, I think.  In Japanese, of course).  After that, a few of us went to a convenience store to pick up some lunch, where I found this, which was too good not to take a picture of.

It's black melon bread.  I don't even know, you guys.  Only in Japan.

Anyway, so we went back to church and ate, and then helped out with a church work day, which mainly consisted of spreading gravel.  After that, a few of us had a Bible study (there's a young people's Bible study once a month on Sunday afternoons), and by the time that was over, it was already 4pm, so Becky and I left to get ready for Crossroad.  

The theme for Crossroad tonight was Thanksgiving, so I talked a little bit about what Thanksgiving in America is life (Becky referred to me as a "real American"), we sang some Thanksgiving-type praise songs (can anybody guess which ones?), did a couple of activities, and Aoki-sensei from Kyoto spoke, which was really great.

Afterwards we had snacks and tea, and among the snacks were some of the pies from the baking day yesterday.  I never had sweet potato pie before coming to Japan but I am definitely a fan.  I met a few new people today, including a couple of really nice ladies who live in Matsusaka, and a girl who's from California who teaches English.  People ended up staying to chat for about an hour after Crossroad was officially over.

So yeah, this post isn't quite as epic as my last one, but I'm keeping relatively busy!  Tomorrow should be fun.  :)

Oops... Time to Catch Up

It's been a week since I posted in my blog...  My bad.  lol, I was definitely right when I said that I probably wouldn't be posting every day anymore.  Actually, it's really kind of bad for me because I've done a lot this week, and I've been uploading pictures for a while now, and basically this is your warning that this is probably going to be very long and very picture-heavy.  I'll at least divide it up by day to give this unwieldy post some kind of structure?

Disclaimer: Some of these pictures were stolen borrowed from Becky's photo albums on Facebook.

Additional note: I have been working, I promise.  I currently have seven classes throughout the week.  I've actually been having a lot of fun getting to know my students (some kids, some teenagers, and one university student), but I don't really have much to say about it, which is why I don't usually mention my classes.  But for those who were wondering what I do, for the kids, we mostly do more interactive stuff, like games and songs and role-playing, and the classes with the teenagers are more discussion-based, like reading an article and talking about it, usually with a short game time at the end.  They're all really great kids.

SUNDAY

On Sunday, Carol, Becky and I spent the day with our friends Aki-san and Rieko-san.  We started out by having a curry lunch at Carol's.  Did I take a picture of my food?  Of course I took a picture of my food.

And here we all are.

And then, as we were leaving to head out to Nabana no sato, the scenery from Carol's balcony was really nice, so I took a few pictures.

From there, the five of us went to Nabana no sato to see the winter illumination there.  It was AMAZING.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Winter illumination!  Yay!

A chapel.  The colors of the lights kept changing.

The fall leaves in California do not compare to the ones in Japan.  There's a better example of this later.

This is over water.  The colors kept changing.

This may have been my favorite part.  It was just a really long tunnel of gorgeous lights.

lol obviously one of Becky's, because there I am.  Her camera takes better pictures than mine.

If only Aki-san would smile in pictures...  He's actually a really nice, funny guy.

No idea why I'm laughing in this one.

And then we approached the main attraction: Mount Fuji.

It was AMAZING.  You really can't tell how huge it was from these pictures.

Pretty changing colors.

After Mount Fuji was this rainbow tunnel.  Also amazing.

Amazing fall leaves, reflected in a mirror pool.

And that was basically it.  We got there kind of late due to intense traffic, so we didn't have much time to check out the various food places, but we did use our souvenir coupons in the various gift shops.

These were absolutely necessary items.  Especially the Rilakkuma mug.  I'm using it as we speak.

MONDAY

On Monday, I had my ~official orientation~.  Basically, some of the other missionaries went over various things I need to know, including financial stuff, culture, the history and structure of NAB and the JBC (Japan Baptist Conference), played some games, chatted, and ate sushi for lunch.

There was some debate, but I do believe this was my first time having sushi in Japan.  It was pretty fantastic.

After that, almost all of the other missionaries came, and we had Thanksgiving dinner together.  It was cool to meet and get to know everyone, hang out, talk about the cool things that God is doing around us, and, of course, eat.

See the turkey?  It was legit Thanksgiving dinner.

The Food.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, veggies, salad, pumpkin pie, apple cake...

My missionary family.  <3  Yuri wasn't able to make it, but I think everyone else was there!

It wasn't quite Becky's birthday yet, but since we were all together, we decided to celebrate a little bit.

And then we kind of spent the rest of the evening sitting around chatting and playing games.  It was really nice, especially since it was my first time meeting several of the other missionaries.

TUESDAY

Tuesday the young people from the Tsu church met up with some other people from the Chita church (the one the Stollers work with), and we went to Tokoname, a historical town known for its pottery.  The weather was gorgeous, so it was really nice just walking around.

I think these big chimneys are for the kilns.

Taking pictures of Becky is always entertaining.

After just a little bit of walking, we arrived at the highlight of our trip: a place where we made our own pottery.

Becky and Nori-chan make it look easy.

It doesn't look that hard, does it?  Alicia was doing a good job.

I...was not good at it.

The guy had to keep helping me...and Kensaku had to keep translating for me...  And in the end, I don't even know if what I made is a cup or a bowl or what, really.

But at least I could laugh at my own fail, so it was fun.

Only half of us could go at a time, so we were waiting for the others to finish~

When we were done, the place gave us free coffee.  So here's me and Nori-chan~

And across the table from us were Alicia, Becky, and...Eri, I think?

Next was lunch at a little place called Tanpopo, which, I learned, means dandelion.

I wasn't always totally sure what I was eating, but it was good.

And then we got this really interesting dandelion coffee.  It was naturally sweet.

Did I say it was small?  This wasn't all of the restaurant, but um...a decent portion.

And then we just walked around the town.  Here's a Buddhist temple we passed.

This is a gigantic kiln.  You can walk inside.

Or...frolic inside.

It was pretty interesting though.

The guys.

And the girls.  lol, so unbalanced.  I totally have the windblown look going on.

...yeah.

I really couldn't get over what a pretty place it was.

Group shots!

So that was about it.  After that, we visited a tile museum, which had lots of really old tile artwork from all over the world.  There was also...a toilet museum.  Yeah.  All Asian toilets, of course.  So overall, a really fun day!

WEDNESDAY

No pictures.  BUT.  I finally (lol it's "finally" because I would have gone to the midnight showing if I was in America!) got to see the new Harry Potter movie.  Carol and I went together because Wednesdays are apparently Ladies' Days, where women get in for 1000 yen (about 10 bucks) instead of the usual 1700 yen (about 17 bucks) or whatever it is.  Totally worth the money.  I can't wait to see the last movie!  It's going to be amazing.  Also, I had a quick lunch of onigiri (rice balls with stuff inside) and melon soda on my way to the theater.  Did I mention that I love food in Japan?  Even cheap, normal stuff like onigiri is just so good.  

After my class that night, I joined the Mie University Bible study, which is held in the Center, just down the hall from my apartment.  It's all in Japanese, but partly thanks to Becky and to the fact that I had an English Bible to follow along, I actually kind of understood the conversation and even contributed a little bit.  I was pretty proud of myself!  Afterwards, the group came over for cream stew over rice that Becky made.  And then we sat around, ate sweets and talked.  I was able to get to know my friend Alicia better, as well as Saki, who I'd met once before and is really great (and who spent the night because she lives kind of far away), and of course the other girls who were able to stay and hang out.  I honestly really enjoyed myself even though it was such a simple time.  I get so much encouragement out of the Christians here.  Being a Christian in Japan is difficult, so they don't have the luxury of being halfhearted about their faith.

Okay, I lied.  There's one picture.  Some of us who were hanging out in our apartment~

THURSDAY

I had Japanese in the morning with Ishikawa-sensei, which was really nice!  I think I'm going to like studying with her.  She's really sweet and patient, but also very helpful.  She tells me that it's okay to make mistakes, because when you make a mistake, you're embarrassed, which makes you remember it well so you won't make that mistake again.  I need to keep up with studying throughout the week so that I can really get a good grasp of this new grammar and vocabulary.

After getting back from class, Becky and I went to Saty, the department store, to, at long last, get our iPhones!  We got a great deal on them, and it's really nice to have.  It definitely makes it easier to keep in touch with everyone, plus the fact that I can actually contact other people here in Japan now.  Not to mention play games, but you know.  It took a long time to get everything set up though, so by the time we were finished we were starving, so we headed over to McDonald's, where I tried the most recent icon chicken sandwich (a promotion going on here in Japan), the carbonara.  It was actually really good, with its carbonara sauce, egg and bacon.  Good job, McDonald's.

Thursdays are our traditional going-out-to-dinner days (plus we had some planning to do), so the three of us went to dinner at Coco's, where I got a cheese hamburger plate thing with super awesome steak fries, and, my new favorite beverage ever, melon soda.  (What is it with me and green soda...?)

FRIDAY

It was Becky's birthday!  So we went out for a special lunch at a cute little French restaurant.

I love the corn soup that seems to be kind of standard here in Japan.

Hamburger with sweet potato and walnuts.  It was actually really amazing.

And for dessert, chocolate caramel noix or some kind of French name, idek.

After that I went to do some prep for class while Carol and Becky went shopping, and then I taught three classes throughout the late afternoon and evening.  Fridays are, right now, the only day I have more than two classes in one day.  Some days, like today, I only have one class.  But really, even though it's technically work, it doesn't feel like work at all.  Especially the two high school girls I had last, they're so sweet and fun and their English is so good, it makes it hard to believe I get paid to do this.

SATURDAY (oh look, that's today!)

Today was the much-anticipated Fall Baking Day that Carol put a ton of work into.  Like, really, it's incredible how many hours of work she put into this.  But I can say that it went really well!  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  And I made a new friend: Katherine, a JET who's from Ireland.  We both have iPhones, so we friended each other on Facebook before she left, haha.

Hard at work!

Ready (almost) for everyone to arrive.

Pre-made pies for people to take home.

Fun event.  :D

Afterwards, I walked over to Saty, the department store, to buy a couple of things and pretty much just to check it out.  I've been in there, but I haven't really had a chance to walk around and explore until today.  And MAN.  I totally underestimated how big it is.  I knew about the grocery store in there, but I didn't know that it had an arcade!  And there's a food court, and stationary, and music, and toys, and a ridiculous amount of clothes.  When I have more money, some serious shopping is definitely going to happen there.  

And then I had class with my university student from 7:30 to 9, and then I checked my Facebook, watched a little tv, and now, at long last, here I am, writing this ridiculously long blog post to cover my entire week.  Props to anyone who read the entire thing.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up a little better this coming week!