This life has an end, and that's why I can shine

Alright, here's post number two for today: the events of last week!  Much easier to remember since it wasn't as long ago haha.  XD;;

SUNDAY 2/6


So, as stated in my previous post, Jamie came back to Tsu with me from Nagoya to hang out for a couple of days.  But we had a lot going on on Sunday, so she came with us to the various places we went that day.  First off was church!  It was Alicia's last Sunday at church, so we had a little good-bye event with the choir members.  One of the members got up at 4am to make sushi rolls for us!  They were so good!  It was a really nice little gathering.

Group shot in front of the church.

After leaving church, we headed home just briefly before heading to Akifumi-san and Rieko-san's house for coffee and snacks.  Katherine, a girl who I met during our Fall Baking Day back in November, was there with her boyfriend, as well as our friend Anna, and a couple of Rieko-san's teacher friends.  So it was them, plus me, Becky, Carol and Jamie.  And it was a lot of fun!  I got to know Katherine and her boyfriend better, and there was just nice conversation all around.  I couldn't believe how fast the time passed!

Obligatory group shot.

After that, we went to Carol's house for our Purpose Driven Life book study, and Jamie came along for that too.  She fit right in with everyone, and the discussion was great!  Afterwards, since we hadn't eaten a proper meal since the sushi after church, Becky, Jamie and I went to Gusto (a family restaurant, like a diner-type place) to eat and chat.  It gave Becky and Jamie a chance to get to know each other a little bit, which was cool for me!

MONDAY 2/7

Since Mondays are my day off, it was a perfect chance for me to hang out with Jamie.  So we briefly took a walk to the beach, then went to Saty to shop.  For the record, everything we purchased was important and necessary.  *cough*  Yeah, I needed those Rilakkuma scented markers...  Anyway.  We were also both starving, so we ate at the curry udon place.  I got the same curry udon I got there last time: with katsu and mochi.  Seriously one of the best things I've eaten in Japan.

It was also important and necessary that we eat at Baskin-Robbins.

We'd been hoping to go see a movie, but the timing didn't work out, so we went back to my place and hung out for the rest of the afternoon, and then, in the evening, I walked Jamie to the train station so she could head back to Tokyo.  It's always kind of lonely when a fun time like that ends, but I drowned my sorrows in tv for the rest of the night, haha.  And I even cooked myself dinner!  So all was well in the end.

TUESDAY 2/8

As usual, Carol, Becky and I had our meeting in the afternoon.  However, we decided to once again meet at Mr. Donut to take advantage of their unlimited coffee.  I also had the most amazing donut of all time, which was a chocolate ring-type donut with chocolate cream in the middle...  I can't describe it well but it was fantastic.  What made everything even better was that Mr. Donut was playing Queen music the whole time we were there!  After our meeting, we did grocery shopping before heading back for the Center.

From there, Becky and I met up with our friend Saki and went to eat at Cutlet.  After that, we went to karaoke, where Alicia met up with us!  I failed to take pictures though...  But it was a lot of fun!  If I had my way, I'd go to karaoke like, more than once a week.  But I think not everyone loves karaoke quite as much as I do haha.

WEDNESDAY 2/9

In the morning, Becky and I went to the prefectural office to try to see about me possibly volunteering at the local elementary school, but unfortunately the person we needed to talk to wasn't there, so we'll have to try again another time.  And then Becky and I took my computer to get fixed, and then we took down our Christmas decorations.  Our goal was to take them down before Valentine's Day, so we were right on time, really!  We were afraid it might look kind of sad in our apartment without them, but actually I don't think that ended up being the case!  

After that I had class.  Another boy joined the class, so now I have two boys in that class, both elementary age, and I think they're really going to complement each other.  I was a little worried about how the class might go, so I was really relieved when it went well!  After that class was the Mie University Bible study, which met earlier than usual because pretty much everyone is on spring break right now.  (For some, the school year just ended; for others, it will end soon.  The new school year will start in April.  A pretty different schedule than what I'm used to!)  I had to leave the study early though, because I had another class to teach.  After that class, I rejoined the group, as they were getting ready to eat a kind of fish called sanma (which had been given to us) together.  I can safely say that I haven't eaten anything quite like it, but it was actually pretty good!  And then I spent the rest of my night studying for Japanese, which I'd kind of failed to do up until that day, what with all the other stuff I had going on...

THURSDAY 2/10

Japanese class was in the morning, as usual.  Afterwards, I cooked lunch for myself, hung out for a bit, and went to go pick up my newly fixed computer (hooray!).  Then Carol, Becky and I met briefly, and then set up tables and chairs for the soukai, the big JBC (Japan Baptist Conference) meeting that would be held the next day at the Center.  After that, we had dinner at Casa Mia, and I had my class.  After class, I watched a little tv and did a little bit of work before heading to bed.

FRIDAY 2/11

This day is National Foundation Day in Japan, so there were no classes.  There was, however, the soukai, which was pretty much an all-day meeting.  Sitting through such a long meeting wasn't the most fun experience ever, but it was nice to see my fellow missionaries!  

In the evening, Becky and I hosted a fondue party in our apartment!  Carol came to join us, as well as our friends Noriko, Miho, and Youko.  Super fun!

Since my parents sent me conversation hearts recently, I felt like it was only right to put them out to share.  Totally new to most Japanese people!

I...don't remember why I took a picture of our apartment.  Maybe to show the un-Christmas-ness?

The table, pre-food.

The food that was to be put on the table.  Quiche made by me and Becky!

And salad made by me!  I felt so accomplished!

Group shot!  Minus Youko because she hadn't arrived yet...

Everything set for fondue!  It was so good.  There are no words to describe how delicious everything was.

And then...people started roasting marshmallows over candles.  Yeah.  Apparently Japanese people don't roast marshmallows?  Youko's trying it out here.

Noriko's going for it too.  I don't know how many times she lit it on fire though...

Carol and Miho.  Becky got more candles out for the express purpose of roasting marshmallows over them.

It was such a perfect conversation heart.  <3

SATURDAY 2/12

Inspa!  Miho, Noriko and I took the train to Nagoya together to go.  One of the members, who's getting ready to move to Sendai, led the worship and gave his testimony.  Afterwards, we all ate pizza that some of the members had been working the whole time to bake.  Everything was so good!  Afterwards, a whole bunch of us went to eat at a Chinese place nearby (a different one than I've been to before).  I made a few new friends, which was pretty cool!  But I was too lame to take pictures, so all of these are blatantly stolen from Kumiko and Jun.  XD;;  Yay for Facebook!

Group shot.  I stand out so much...  XD;;

Two who didn't make it into the group picture, and two who just happened to be standing there.  XD;;

Food!

Homemade pizza!

At the restaurant: group A.

Group B.  lol we basically filled the place...

Me with Yumi, one of my new friends!  :D

So after eating, everyone headed home.  Becky stayed in Nagoya, but since Jun and I were heading the same direction, we went back together.  We also made a totally necessary stop at Starbucks in Nagoya Station.  I don't get to go to Starbucks much, so I take these opportunities as often as I can.  <3

And that's it for last week!  And now I'm more or less caught up!  Hopefully I'll update again before the end of the week so I can stay on top of things~

Better Late Than Never

I am determined to post about all of my activities in this blog...eventually lol.  Sorry that this post is so late!  But today is my day off and so I'm hoping that maybe I can finally catch up!  And then once I'm caught up, it should be easier for me to stay caught up.  In theory.  We'll see how it goes.  Also, it's snowing pretty intensely outside right now.  It never snows where I'm from in California, so I'm loving it!  But anyway, on to what I did like two weeks ago haha.

SUNDAY 1/30


We had church in the morning, and after church Becky, Carol and I went to eat with a few of the girls from church.  We went to a restaurant that I can't currently remember the name of that I'd never been to before, but I had some delicious kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) and ham pasta.

As far as I recall, I spent most of my afternoon after that sleeping, lol, and then in the evening we had our Purpose Driven Life Bible study at Carol's house, which was great.  We have a wonderful group of people, and lots of interesting discussion about the purpose of our lives.  Afterwards, Becky and I went to the onsen (public bath).  There are various kinds of baths there, and there's one that always changes.  This time, it was filled with a whole bunch of rubber duckies!  It was awesome!

MONDAY 1/31


Carol, Becky and I went to lunch at Pure-na, a restaurant that (I think?) is supposed to be all organic (or something?).  Anyway, it's all you can eat and it was really good.  :D

Round One

Round Two

Needless to say, I was really full after lunch.  That afternoon, Carol and I decorated the Center for Valentine's Day, and then Becky made nabe (hot pot) for us, so we ate dinner together.  Super good!  And for dessert, we had brownies and ice cream, which Becky decorated for us:

TUESDAY 2/1


Pretty normal Tuesday, meeting with Carol and Becky in the afternoon, and then gospel choir in the evening.  Fun times.  :)  I'm sure we went out to dinner and I remember having really awesome food, but maybe I didn't take a picture.  Oh well...

Oh!  But I did do something exciting earlier that day: In the afternoon, I got a haircut!  My first one in Japan~ :D  I only got a little bit of a trim, so my hair is pretty much the same, but the way she styled it made me look pretty different that day!  This isn't the most amazing picture of me ever (I took it myself lol), but so you can get the idea:

Also, Japanese salons are amazing!  I'd heard about them before but now I know for myself.  My hair has probably never been so thoroughly washed, and they make a lot of effort to make you comfortable.  Then I got my actual haircut, and then they washed my hair again (didn't take quite so long this time), and then offered me a drink (I got coffee), gave me a shoulder/back massage, and then styled my hair.  American salons are super lame by comparison!

WEDNESDAY 2/2


Okay, I did properly document this day with pictures!  Carol's and my Japanese teacher, Ishikawa-sensei, who has taught many NAB missionaries over the years, had her birthday the previous week, so we celebrated with her on this day.  We went to a Russian restaurant!  :D

The bread was fried and had some kind of meat and potato mixture (?) inside.  It was amazing!

The main course. It's mushroom soup underneath the bread.

And dessert, of course.

Obligatory group shot!

The rest of my day was spent teaching my classes, and I think we had the Mie University Bible study as well. :)

THURSDAY 2/3

I had Japanese in the morning, and then I spent most of my afternoon chatting with people online~  This day was a holiday called setsubun in Japan, so to celebrate, Becky bought special setsubun sushi rolls.  They're not cut, so they're pretty long, and you're supposed to eat them while facing a certain direction, without talking, for good luck or health or some such thing.  Also, I think setsubun is probably based on Chinese New Year, so many Japanese do a ritual cleansing of their homes.  How do they do this?  By...throwing beans.  Not even kidding.  You're supposed to throw beans out from your house while saying "Evil out!" and then throw them into your house while saying "Good luck in!"  Sometimes someone will even play the role of a demon by putting on a demon mask.  Not all Japanese really believe that this accomplishes anything, of course, but many still follow the practice anyway.  There are celebrations at shrines too.  All I did to celebrate was eat the sushi roll though haha.

Anyway, Becky, Carol and I went to Casa Mia for dinner that night, and I properly documented what we ate that day.

Smoked salmon penne.

Spinach and ham in tomato sauce.

And my new Casa Mia favorite, kabocha and sausage with homemade pasta.  <3

FRIDAY 2/4

Carol, Becky and I went to lunch at Tomiya, a karaage (fried chicken) place that is right in front of our building.  It was really, really good!  

And apparently being friendly with the owner in the past has its rewards: We got free coffee.  Super nice of him!  <3  After lunch, Becky and Carol went to do some shopping, so I did some stuff around the apartment, taught my usual classes, etc.  

After my last class was movie night!  We watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was a first for some of the people there.  That movie never gets old.  <3 

SATURDAY 2/5

Super exciting day, because I went to Nagoya with Jamie, Nick and Shar, three of my good friends from college!  Nick and Shar are JETs (English teachers) the next prefecture over from me, and Jamie's visiting her fiance in Tokyo, so the four of us met up in Nagoya around 11am.  Our biggest goal for the day: eating delicious food.  We definitely succeeded.

Miso katsu donburi at a restaurant called Yabaton.  And also giblets on the side.  Okay...?  Everything was delicious though!

After lunch, we went to karaoke.  The fanciest, shiniest karaoke place I've ever been to.  Which required dramatic posing in the hallway.  Jamie's pose is my favorite.

And then Nick took a picture of me.  Which ended up being kind of awkward because he didn't realize the girl bringing our drinks to our room was right behind him, waiting for him to get out of the way.  lol probably wondering why the crazy foreigners were taking pictures in the hallway...

lol this is the best picture I got of Nick and Shar...  Sorry guys!

After karaoke, we walked around, got Starbucks, and did a little shopping.  We happened to pass an ice skating rink that had lights up (actually there were a lot of lights in Nagoya, like on the trees lining the streets and stuff), so it was a perfect photo opportunity!

And then, because we are mature adults, we decided to eat dessert before dinner.  Unfortunately, Shar's phone's GPS led us astray and we kind of walked in circles for a while haha.  After I used my iPhone (which gave me different directions), and asking a random store worker for help, we finally found the place: Quil fait bon.  

I loved these decorations they had above the counter!

It was a little place on the bottom floor of a big building.

Nick is happy and Shar is sad.

And vice versa.

I don't think Jamie was expressing a proper amount of enthusiasm in this picture.

My cake!  I don't really know what it was haha, but it was good!

Everyone's dessert~

Next stop: Sekai no Yama-chan for tebasaki chicken wings.  Group shot before we got our food!  The metal urn-looking thing is for the bones.

Their appearance does not do justice to their deliciousness.

Slightly off-center group shot.  Not bad since I couldn't tell exactly what my camera was taking a picture of haha.  We also had some yakitori, fried rice, edamame, kimchi, etc.  Awesome dinner!

After that we decided to call it a day.  But there were still more adventures to be had, because Jamie came back to Tsu with me!  But, since this entry is really long (and since I'm going to go eat dinner soon), I'll end here for now.  If you guys are really lucky, maybe I'll post about this past week later tonight!