So this last Saturday and Sunday was a complete blast with the Tokyo BEST club. We started off heading to Nikko on Saturday morning. We went and visited the Toshogu shrine and saw the sleeping cat, the original hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil monkeys, the tomb of one of the strongest samurai, as well as look at and walk into some of the shrine buildings.
Every time I go and visit a temple or a shrine, it saddens my heart to see the people perform rituals or to throw money into a bin, say a prayer, and then expect the spirits to hear them and answer it. They come before things made by human hands in places made by human hands and pray before their gods. An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold. They seek out skillful craftsmen to setup an idol that will not totter or move or fall over. They use the same piece of wood to make an idol that has to be nailed down and they burn the other half of the wood for warmth and for cooking. It burdens my heart to see them expect something to happen as a result of worshiping something they have made. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!
We then returned back to Utsunomiya and camped out at the Kinugawa river. We had an American style barbecue where we grilled hot dogs and had chips with salsa. We had a fire building contest to see who could build a fire up to the rope the fastest and burn it. We also had some Japanese style s'mores where we roasted marshmallows and used Choco Digestive biscuits as our graham cracker and chocolate. We then did some late night swimming in the river where our group, thanks to Lauren, had a shampooing. She brought some shampoo with her and we cleaned up in the river with some idiotic pictures taken. We had some campfire Karaoke in Japanese and in English.
Some students stayed awake the whole night but I went to sleep about midnight and woke up at 5am as the sun comes up in Japan about 4am and sets around 7pm. We then made some hard boiled eggs and coffee over our campfire at 6am. Then we just relaxed and some people played games, a couple of us tried spear fishing but to no success, and a view funny pranks were pulled. We packed up camp and went for a Utsunomiya gyoza lunch, as almost every city in Japan is famous for something so we took the Tokyo students to a gyoza lunch in downtown Utsu. They then returned home afterwards.
One of my highlights was seeing a believer from Utsu sharing from God's Word with a nonbeliever from Tokyo at the campfire. The Tokyo student is a senior and I know that they have been praying for him to come to know Christ. It is amazing to be able to witness a Japanese believer share from his heart and from God's Word to want to see another student come to know Christ.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Freshman Party
This last Saturday we had our Freshman party. While the summer friends are here we will try to have a party for each class. The party was announced a little late so we only had 1 guy and 4 girls that could come. Either way we still had a lot of fun.
We had a gyoza party followed by some games and a little Karaoke afterwards. We most definitely had fun making gyoza from scratch. Gyoza is similar to a small dumpling with meat, green onion, cabbage, egg, and soy inside. There are different kinds of gyoza but I think this contains the average gyoza. So in a gyoza party usually there are some prank gyoza placed into the mix of the normal gyoza. We made about 120 gyoza and probably had 20 prank gyoza, which is a lot! We had some with mochi, cheese, natto (fermented soybeans, yuck), natto and chocolate, orange, kimchi (fermented cabbage), banana and chocolate. Many pranks and how could I forget the old traditional sour plums inside a gyoza.
Afterwards we went to Karaoke with two students for two hours. We had a special guest join us as Sarah is visiting for a couple weeks. She was here for two years and left in April of '06. I have most definitely missed Karaoke and I also realized how much I missed singing it with my former team members. For those of you wondering, I didn't accidentally pick any questionable songs. If you don't believe me you can email Keith, but I won't give you his email. So a little after 1am we finished our Freshman party.
This upcoming weekend some of us at Utsu will be joining Tokyo BEST and going to Nikko on Saturday and then coming back to Utsu and will camp out and barbecue on the river. Please pray that our friendships will deepen during this time as growing in common experience with students is always helpful in being able to relate to them better.
We had a gyoza party followed by some games and a little Karaoke afterwards. We most definitely had fun making gyoza from scratch. Gyoza is similar to a small dumpling with meat, green onion, cabbage, egg, and soy inside. There are different kinds of gyoza but I think this contains the average gyoza. So in a gyoza party usually there are some prank gyoza placed into the mix of the normal gyoza. We made about 120 gyoza and probably had 20 prank gyoza, which is a lot! We had some with mochi, cheese, natto (fermented soybeans, yuck), natto and chocolate, orange, kimchi (fermented cabbage), banana and chocolate. Many pranks and how could I forget the old traditional sour plums inside a gyoza.
Afterwards we went to Karaoke with two students for two hours. We had a special guest join us as Sarah is visiting for a couple weeks. She was here for two years and left in April of '06. I have most definitely missed Karaoke and I also realized how much I missed singing it with my former team members. For those of you wondering, I didn't accidentally pick any questionable songs. If you don't believe me you can email Keith, but I won't give you his email. So a little after 1am we finished our Freshman party.
This upcoming weekend some of us at Utsu will be joining Tokyo BEST and going to Nikko on Saturday and then coming back to Utsu and will camp out and barbecue on the river. Please pray that our friendships will deepen during this time as growing in common experience with students is always helpful in being able to relate to them better.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Pepsi Ice Cucumber part II
For all of you hoping to try this new wonderful drink, it doesn't seem to be going to happen or at least stay in Japan. During the After Best tonight, Keith bought the drink and said it did taste like cucumber but didn't taste very good. So he started to pass it around to students. Turns out none of them like the drink at all. Maybe it will work in America but it seems to be a failure so far in Japan, at least in the small amount of people I know in Utsu.
Profile Picture
In case you were wondering, the profile picture to the right is of Kechan and myself. I took this picture before going up to Sendai. She is officially the shortest Japanese person that I know, so I wanted to take a picture so that you could have an idea of what the 12 spies thought when they were in Canaan and saw the land of the giants. The students also think it is very funny during sports time when we play basketball. We always start our game with a jump ball and if Kechan is on the other team, they match her up with me for the jump ball. So a little fun as I come from the land of the giants.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Pepsi Ice Cucumber
Today, my Mother told me that she heard about a new promotion for Pepsi that just came out in Japan and only in Japan as a trial test. So when I was at the grocery store, I happened to see this new item and purchased a bottle. Pepsi Ice Cucumber. I am not sure why they named it Cucumber. I realize it is green in chemical color but it must be their way to try to convince Japanese that it is healthier for them to drink.
So I tried this drink and found out that it was very similar to another Pepsi product called Sierra Mist. In fact it is so close, I would like to call it Green colored Sierra Mist with a hint of, I guess cucumber to slightly change the taste.
Besides that, I am continuing to chug along through language school. I feel like I have been able to stay up with the class and keep at their pace but I definitely am still slow at listening to Japanese speech. I will often hear a word or phrase that I don't recognize in a sentence and try to think what it is and by the time I realize that I don't know it or forgot it, I have missed the next 2 sentences. So listening is extremely hard and I am still pretty slow at speaking what I want to say but I can definitely read things faster and understand things quicker. Please pray for me that I may be able to understand better in my listening and that I would be able to speak quicker the things that I have learned so far. I still have just over one month of language left before I stop attending school full time for it. My last day at school is July 23.
My hope when I finish is to be able to take the first Japanese test of 4 for fluency. The first test is so much vocabulary and 100 Kanji. Then within the next 6 months to 1 year, I would like to be able to take the second test which is more vocabulary and 300 Kanji. The final two test are probably not possible for me to even take a shot at. As the 3rd test I would have to know 1000 Kanji and the 4th test to become, I guess, completely literate is to know 2000 Kanji. Whew!
I am finally getting into the swing of things for studying a little better as my mind is adjusting to being back at school again. The one thing that has continued to encourage me while studying Japanese is realizing that I am not studying it just so I can speak Japanese. I am studying Japanese so that I can share the good news of Christ to Japanese in their own heart language. This is what gives me the energy to continue to study. That God has blessed me and chosen me to study another language so that He can use me to reach the nations and peoples with His great news!
So I tried this drink and found out that it was very similar to another Pepsi product called Sierra Mist. In fact it is so close, I would like to call it Green colored Sierra Mist with a hint of, I guess cucumber to slightly change the taste.
Besides that, I am continuing to chug along through language school. I feel like I have been able to stay up with the class and keep at their pace but I definitely am still slow at listening to Japanese speech. I will often hear a word or phrase that I don't recognize in a sentence and try to think what it is and by the time I realize that I don't know it or forgot it, I have missed the next 2 sentences. So listening is extremely hard and I am still pretty slow at speaking what I want to say but I can definitely read things faster and understand things quicker. Please pray for me that I may be able to understand better in my listening and that I would be able to speak quicker the things that I have learned so far. I still have just over one month of language left before I stop attending school full time for it. My last day at school is July 23.
My hope when I finish is to be able to take the first Japanese test of 4 for fluency. The first test is so much vocabulary and 100 Kanji. Then within the next 6 months to 1 year, I would like to be able to take the second test which is more vocabulary and 300 Kanji. The final two test are probably not possible for me to even take a shot at. As the 3rd test I would have to know 1000 Kanji and the 4th test to become, I guess, completely literate is to know 2000 Kanji. Whew!
I am finally getting into the swing of things for studying a little better as my mind is adjusting to being back at school again. The one thing that has continued to encourage me while studying Japanese is realizing that I am not studying it just so I can speak Japanese. I am studying Japanese so that I can share the good news of Christ to Japanese in their own heart language. This is what gives me the energy to continue to study. That God has blessed me and chosen me to study another language so that He can use me to reach the nations and peoples with His great news!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Sendai Camp Report
Thank you all for your prayers about Sendai Camp as it was a great time and good weather. The weather forecast was for rain the entire weekend but praise God as it only rained at night and our days were beautiful.
We arrived in Sendai at midnight on Friday. We left shortly after six, and if it were a group of Americans, we probably would have been there by 9:30pm. But as I have started to figure out, Japanese take there time in traveling. We drove about an hours distance and stopped and at dinner which was planned. About an hour and a half later we left there and drove to the interchange at Sendai and stopped to make sure all 9 of our cars were together. After about 25 minutes there we drove through Sendai for about an hour until we all reached the Seven Eleven and we then finally made it to our destination.
I have always considered myself a pretty patient person but I have definitely been stretched over the matter of patience since I have been here. Whenever I go somewhere, it has always been about getting there but to the Japanese it is much more about relationships than getting there quickly. So, for example, on Friday nights when our Bible Discussion groups try to decide where to eat it usually takes about 30 minutes before we finally leave. During this 30 minutes they are enjoying talking with each other and every once in a while someone will ask where someone else wants to go but since they are always concerned about what other people think no ever decides because that is being to outright and may appear rather selfish. Another example is that the students can't imagine being in a car for longer than an hour and a half with out taking a 20 minute stretch break. These things are completely different than the American mindset as we would call them non-decisive and slow but where they actually show more love to each other by being very unselfish and by desiring to get to know each other better.
Back to Sendai. I stayed up till 3:00am before I went to bed and got up at 7:00am. We ate breakfast and had a breakfast partner. My breakfast partner was Mariya who was a freshman interested in going on the camping trip but doesn't seem to have much interest in the Bible right now. After breakfast we started our work projects, which I was blessed to use the most amazing weed whacker ever invented. In America, the average line trimmer is exactly as it sounds. It has line trim on the end to cut the grass. In Japan, the average line trimmer has a circular saw blade on the end and can cut down small trees. By far cooler and a little more dangerous. So my group of 5 guys went and cut down and cleared out trails for the campground. We then had a Japanese barbecue out on the beach for lunch and a watermelon smashing contest as our dessert. Then as usual some swimming and throwing people into the Pacific Ocean for fun. We then had our dinner and Bible Discussion and then I went to bed exhausted at midnight while most students stayed up till 3 or 4.
On Sunday we cleaned up and drove up to Matsushima and had lunch and a little site seeing and then returned home back to Utsu. There are many pictures of our trip and they are being collected by one person and then distributed back out on a DVD. So I will have pictures probably in a couple of weeks to put in my photo album.
We arrived in Sendai at midnight on Friday. We left shortly after six, and if it were a group of Americans, we probably would have been there by 9:30pm. But as I have started to figure out, Japanese take there time in traveling. We drove about an hours distance and stopped and at dinner which was planned. About an hour and a half later we left there and drove to the interchange at Sendai and stopped to make sure all 9 of our cars were together. After about 25 minutes there we drove through Sendai for about an hour until we all reached the Seven Eleven and we then finally made it to our destination.
I have always considered myself a pretty patient person but I have definitely been stretched over the matter of patience since I have been here. Whenever I go somewhere, it has always been about getting there but to the Japanese it is much more about relationships than getting there quickly. So, for example, on Friday nights when our Bible Discussion groups try to decide where to eat it usually takes about 30 minutes before we finally leave. During this 30 minutes they are enjoying talking with each other and every once in a while someone will ask where someone else wants to go but since they are always concerned about what other people think no ever decides because that is being to outright and may appear rather selfish. Another example is that the students can't imagine being in a car for longer than an hour and a half with out taking a 20 minute stretch break. These things are completely different than the American mindset as we would call them non-decisive and slow but where they actually show more love to each other by being very unselfish and by desiring to get to know each other better.
Back to Sendai. I stayed up till 3:00am before I went to bed and got up at 7:00am. We ate breakfast and had a breakfast partner. My breakfast partner was Mariya who was a freshman interested in going on the camping trip but doesn't seem to have much interest in the Bible right now. After breakfast we started our work projects, which I was blessed to use the most amazing weed whacker ever invented. In America, the average line trimmer is exactly as it sounds. It has line trim on the end to cut the grass. In Japan, the average line trimmer has a circular saw blade on the end and can cut down small trees. By far cooler and a little more dangerous. So my group of 5 guys went and cut down and cleared out trails for the campground. We then had a Japanese barbecue out on the beach for lunch and a watermelon smashing contest as our dessert. Then as usual some swimming and throwing people into the Pacific Ocean for fun. We then had our dinner and Bible Discussion and then I went to bed exhausted at midnight while most students stayed up till 3 or 4.
On Sunday we cleaned up and drove up to Matsushima and had lunch and a little site seeing and then returned home back to Utsu. There are many pictures of our trip and they are being collected by one person and then distributed back out on a DVD. So I will have pictures probably in a couple of weeks to put in my photo album.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
On TV, sort of
So our house was on television tonight. My roommate, Yoichi, works for a remodeling company and they do one infomercial a month. So they came to our house with an actress and actor and filmed here. It aired on television tonight as the house that needed to be remodeled. It was extremely funny to us as we saw our possessions on television. For instance, in the background of one scene there is a marker board that has cleaning responsibilities for the house. Here is a commercial about a married couple and there is a board that has three guys names on it for cleaning. We also have pictures on our walls from different BEST events which were on television also.
I guess this is not the first time they have filmed in our house. I told Yoichi that his company should remodel our house as a before and after project but I can't seem to get him to present it to his boss. They keep using our house because everything is old and looks terrible so why not use that as a reverse example of how great their company can remodel by using our house. I understand why he has not asked as that is not the Japanese way to do things but that would be sweet to have a newly remodeled home.
I will give news and updates about Sendai a little later. I need to get some sleep as the weekend was busy and fun. Watashi wa choto tsukaremashita. ( I am a little tired.) and have language class in the morn.
I guess this is not the first time they have filmed in our house. I told Yoichi that his company should remodel our house as a before and after project but I can't seem to get him to present it to his boss. They keep using our house because everything is old and looks terrible so why not use that as a reverse example of how great their company can remodel by using our house. I understand why he has not asked as that is not the Japanese way to do things but that would be sweet to have a newly remodeled home.
I will give news and updates about Sendai a little later. I need to get some sleep as the weekend was busy and fun. Watashi wa choto tsukaremashita. ( I am a little tired.) and have language class in the morn.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Sendai Camp
This weekend is the Sendai Camp that we have every year. One reason for its timing is to quickly set the new summer team into the BEST Club getting to know students and building common experiences. I am not sure how many students are going but I would guess maybe 25.
What will we do while we are there? We will leave Friday night and take a three hour drive up to Sendai and stay at some campgrounds on the ocean side. On Saturday we will have a work project where some students clean up the campground while other students head down to the beach for garbage cleanup. It is amazing how much garbage ends up on the beach but the neighbors love it that we come down and clean it up for them. Afterwards, we have a barbecue on the beach and fun in the ocean. We then have a Bible discussion on Saturday night. I am not sure what we are going to do on Sunday. Before we went up to Matsushima, one of the prettiest places in Japan, but I am not part of the planning team so we will do whatever they decided.
Lauren and James arrived safely to Utsunomiya on Wednesday and are hopefully adjusting well. I have not had a chance to meet them, so I will officially meet them tomorrow. Oyasumi Nasai!
What will we do while we are there? We will leave Friday night and take a three hour drive up to Sendai and stay at some campgrounds on the ocean side. On Saturday we will have a work project where some students clean up the campground while other students head down to the beach for garbage cleanup. It is amazing how much garbage ends up on the beach but the neighbors love it that we come down and clean it up for them. Afterwards, we have a barbecue on the beach and fun in the ocean. We then have a Bible discussion on Saturday night. I am not sure what we are going to do on Sunday. Before we went up to Matsushima, one of the prettiest places in Japan, but I am not part of the planning team so we will do whatever they decided.
Lauren and James arrived safely to Utsunomiya on Wednesday and are hopefully adjusting well. I have not had a chance to meet them, so I will officially meet them tomorrow. Oyasumi Nasai!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Pictures
I finally have some pictures put up. Click on the link to the right that says Alan's Photos and you can see some of them.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Fun Pictures
I realize I still do not have any pictures up yet but in my spare time I have been working on bicycles and not pictures. So I will hopefully have some time tomorrow to work on pictures but here is a little teaser of my day in downtown Utsu, which I will describe a little more in detail later.
Here is my language school that I go to Monday through Friday. It is actually the backside of this building as you can see the second part.
Here are some delightful pigeons as I rode along the river. (This is specifically for you Monica and no I did not kill any of them and I did not try to touch them either.)
If you do not understand this sign, I will hopefully explain it in more detail tomorrow. Enjoy!
Here is my language school that I go to Monday through Friday. It is actually the backside of this building as you can see the second part.
Here are some delightful pigeons as I rode along the river. (This is specifically for you Monica and no I did not kill any of them and I did not try to touch them either.)
If you do not understand this sign, I will hopefully explain it in more detail tomorrow. Enjoy!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Bikes, Bikes, and more Bikes
I was blessed to have this last Monday through Thursday off from language school. For some reason the language school takes off one week each month and it was this last week. So in the meantime I received the two bikes for the summer team coming this year and spent sometime fixing them up. The two summer friends coming are college students from the University of Texas. Lauren and James, so I will refer to their bikes in such a manner.
Lauren's bike was in pretty good condition. I replaced the grips because they were very sticky and partially melted and I put a better front tire on her bike. We also put on a bell, because in Japan, bells are always important or at least come in handy often.
James's bike on the other hand was a whole lot worse. It was a former three speed with the three speed broken. In total on Jame's bike we replaced the grips, the brake handles, the front and back brake line, the front brake caliper, a new front tire, a new lock, and a reflector. By far I had a lot more fun on his bike being able to practically replace almost all the parts on a bike. The cost for all the repairs was only about $50. A success in my book.
I am also fixing Yoichi's bike because the first day I rode it here, it had a flat the next morning. (For some this bike is known as 'Orange') I took the back tire off and found out the tube had been patched twice in the same spot and was leaking there again. I bought a new tube and in the process of trying to put the chain back on, I realized that I pushed the pin all the way out of the chain and ruined his chain trying to fix it. Afterwards, I realized that there is a masterlink on the chain and I didn't have to push the pin out. One new chain later and hopefully I can fix his bike soon.
Lauren and James arrived in Tokyo today and they will have orientation along with 24 other college students spending two months of there summer here in Japan. They will arrive in Utsu on this upcoming Wednesday Night. It feels a little weird being on the opposite side. I have been in there shoes twice but now I am in the reverse role. Please pray for them as they adjust to Japan and that our upcoming Sendai trip will be a good time.
The Sendai Trip is this Friday through Sunday where we head 3 hours north to Sendai with students from BEST and have a work project, a Bible Discussion, and a cookout on the beach. This is a great opportunity for Freshman to get more involved and for the summer friends to get to know some of the students right away. Please pray that our relationships with students will grow deeper in this time. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Lauren's bike was in pretty good condition. I replaced the grips because they were very sticky and partially melted and I put a better front tire on her bike. We also put on a bell, because in Japan, bells are always important or at least come in handy often.
James's bike on the other hand was a whole lot worse. It was a former three speed with the three speed broken. In total on Jame's bike we replaced the grips, the brake handles, the front and back brake line, the front brake caliper, a new front tire, a new lock, and a reflector. By far I had a lot more fun on his bike being able to practically replace almost all the parts on a bike. The cost for all the repairs was only about $50. A success in my book.
I am also fixing Yoichi's bike because the first day I rode it here, it had a flat the next morning. (For some this bike is known as 'Orange') I took the back tire off and found out the tube had been patched twice in the same spot and was leaking there again. I bought a new tube and in the process of trying to put the chain back on, I realized that I pushed the pin all the way out of the chain and ruined his chain trying to fix it. Afterwards, I realized that there is a masterlink on the chain and I didn't have to push the pin out. One new chain later and hopefully I can fix his bike soon.
Lauren and James arrived in Tokyo today and they will have orientation along with 24 other college students spending two months of there summer here in Japan. They will arrive in Utsu on this upcoming Wednesday Night. It feels a little weird being on the opposite side. I have been in there shoes twice but now I am in the reverse role. Please pray for them as they adjust to Japan and that our upcoming Sendai trip will be a good time.
The Sendai Trip is this Friday through Sunday where we head 3 hours north to Sendai with students from BEST and have a work project, a Bible Discussion, and a cookout on the beach. This is a great opportunity for Freshman to get more involved and for the summer friends to get to know some of the students right away. Please pray that our relationships with students will grow deeper in this time. Thank you for your prayers and support.
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