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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.