So over the past couple of weeks, I have improved time management in preparation for classes, which is a huge time saver. Like anything else in life, perfection is still miles away. One cannot be satisfied with what they are doing because then they just limited their ability to improve. As I keep trying to improve the way I lesson plan, I have realized that English should be fun…which is something that was never easy for me when I was in school, so how will I make it fun for my students?
I am blessed to be working here, but even more blessed because I am constantly pushed and reminded to have fun. In a public school, or a more serious English school, the primary goal would be for kids to learn English. Now, I don’t want to say that we don’t think that’s important, but, my primary reason for being here is to share the love of God to my students…and how do I do that? One way is to have fun in class. This past week, my number one priority was to make sure my students laughed, be really loud, and border line rowdy. My classes are never out of control, and I understand this might be a bit of an unorthodox philosophy in teaching, but in my case, I want my students walking away looking forward to having fun next week. I don’t want them walking away with a brain crammed full of new vocab words. They already are busy enough with all the school and extra club stuff they do; the kids need to have some fun. So, as long as they learn a little bit, and have fun, then I’m satisfied.
Since I have many classes, and each class is at a different skill level, and a different age, my creativity wheels never stop turning. I can’t play the same games in my 6-year-old class and adult ladies class. So what kinds of things do I do? Well, with out getting into a lot of detail…for the elementary age classes I keep them entertained with a wide variety of matching/memmory games, and coloring different nouns we learn. I think I have become known for my weird and terrible pictures, so they always laugh at me when I pull out a new picture. In one of my classes I asked them to name the girl I drew, and one of the boys shouted out. “Ms. Scissors!” and then another girl shouted out “Mr. Magnet!” for the other person man I stuck to the board.
In my middle school, high school, young adult, and adult classes I have been finding some funny youtube videos to watch. In each class I have them write down a list of things they see in the video. I tell them to write down anything they see…including trees in the background, or the ground, etc. Then depending on the skill of the class, I will have them take a couple of the words, a clip, or a short scene from the video and write a sentence about it. It’s a good way for them to practice writing (obviously) and then I have them stand up and read their sentence. The one thing that I have found to be a struggle for every class is use of prepositions, use of past or present tense, even plurals. I have found that it is a great way to warm up all of those classes….except, the middle school class. I have yet figured out a way to reach them. I think they are scared of me, and everything I do. In the past two classes I’ve started each class with a funny video. One called “Stupid People doing Stupid Things,” and the other one was “Urban Olympics.” They did not even break a smile. I would look up at what I though were funny parts to see if their expression would change, but no. Sooooo, that is the class that I am most worried about. My plan for that class this coming week: Have class on the floor, play games, aka spoons. And my goal is to get them to laugh and or yell! They are all so quiet. I’ll keep ya posted ;)
Thanks for the prayers!
-Kris
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Stalker!
Well, as you might have noticed the past couple of days that my blog looks a little different. I am really excited about some new features that I have added and hope you will have fun exploring them.
I have created a YouTube channel, if you haven’t checked it out yet, feel free too…but don’t have high expectations. Right now there is only one video up, but it’s a good one! Over this next year I will be adding to that as well.
The newest thing that I added is a way for you to stalk me. You might be asking, how can I stalk if you if I’m on the other side of the ocean? Here is how:
-On the left sidebar, you see a map of Japan.
-Zoom in, and as you get closer you begin to see the lay of the land
-I have begun re-tracing my steps, and posting pictures, and marking various places I have visited.
I’ll walk you though an example one.
So lets say you want to see what I was doing in Matsushima
-Zoom in until you can read where Matsushima is, or zoom in towards the icon of the guy swimming
-Don’t forget you can change from a map image to a satellite image
-Click on the icon of the camera, and you should see a picture.
-If you ‘click’ the link that says Matsushima, it will take you to that album
I have a little analogy about what my vision is for this blog. You can think of it as the front door to my house. Don’ just stand in the entryway, walk up the stairs, take a seat in the living room, relax and make yourself feel at home.
Have fun, seeing second hand where I’m living, going, doing, seeing etc. This is not quite as good as coming here in person, but it’s more affordable. For those of you that may be concerned with the privacy of this map. I’ll let you know that it is a private map, and the only way to see it is right here on my blog, and who reads my blog anyway ;).
I have created a YouTube channel, if you haven’t checked it out yet, feel free too…but don’t have high expectations. Right now there is only one video up, but it’s a good one! Over this next year I will be adding to that as well.
The newest thing that I added is a way for you to stalk me. You might be asking, how can I stalk if you if I’m on the other side of the ocean? Here is how:
-On the left sidebar, you see a map of Japan.
-Zoom in, and as you get closer you begin to see the lay of the land
-I have begun re-tracing my steps, and posting pictures, and marking various places I have visited.
I’ll walk you though an example one.
So lets say you want to see what I was doing in Matsushima
-Zoom in until you can read where Matsushima is, or zoom in towards the icon of the guy swimming
-Don’t forget you can change from a map image to a satellite image
-Click on the icon of the camera, and you should see a picture.
-If you ‘click’ the link that says Matsushima, it will take you to that album
I have a little analogy about what my vision is for this blog. You can think of it as the front door to my house. Don’ just stand in the entryway, walk up the stairs, take a seat in the living room, relax and make yourself feel at home.
Have fun, seeing second hand where I’m living, going, doing, seeing etc. This is not quite as good as coming here in person, but it’s more affordable. For those of you that may be concerned with the privacy of this map. I’ll let you know that it is a private map, and the only way to see it is right here on my blog, and who reads my blog anyway ;).
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Summer Vacation: Part 1
The vacation really started on Monday when I slept for 13 hrs. But since I already talked about that, no need to talk about that day again. Something that I am very thankful for here is the willingness of the Sasaki’s to take me around and show me around the aria. Tuesday and Wednesday I saw a lot, from planetariums to nearby import stores all the way to Samurai villages and cave explorations.
On Tuesday, Junko, Hisashi, their daughter Ayumi and her husband Hiromitsu took me to the planetarium. It was nice a close, just a short 5 min drive up the hill and we were there. Since I have never been to a planetarium, I was excited. The first thing we did was go into the omni-dome where they did a show on all the stars, constolations, and where the planets were in relation to Sendai. This all of course was narrated in Japanese, so I did not really understand a word of what was said, so I guess it was a good chance to sit back and star gaze for a while.
There was a pretty good-sized space exhibit that we walked around. Again, I could just look at the stuff and guess what it was because I can’t read or understand Japanese. All that being said, I was very thankful for the experience because it was still very cool.
Following the planetarium, we went to a store called Yamaya. This store sells a handful of imported drinks like Dr. Pepper and A&W cream soda. They also sell Classico pasta sauce, Ice Cream from Oregon, and Tim Cascades chips. I was again showered with their blessing because Both families bought me a bunch of food, which I am so, so thankful for. From there we went to lunch at the bakery called “Basudei,” that translates into “Birthday.” We ate delicious breads and sandwiches and sweet treats.
Like I mentioned before, I am so blessed to be living close to people that have made me feel apart of their family. It has made the transition much easier, knowing where good places are to shop, but even more important, that there are people near by that can help if I need it.
Yoko, Junko and Hisashi’s youngest daughter, planned the Wednesday outing. The four of us drove up north about 2 hours to this place called Gaibi-kei. Here we got on these large wood flat bottom river boats. To me, the best way to describe it was like riding on the Gondolas in Venice, minus the romantic part, minus the city, plus a bunch more people on the same boat as you. There is a guy at the back with a long pole pushing us along, telling us the history of the area and then he sings a couple of local folk songs. It was very relaxing and fun. In some ways it felt like 
we were in the 
deep Jungle because the Cicadas are chirping so loud, the river winds along steep cliff and rock faces and the trees and undergrowth was very lush.
The next stop was only a 5 min drive away, Yougendo. This is the place of the oldest cave in Japan, made of lime stone. I’ve been in
a few caves in the Midwest before, but those were nothing like this one. Unlike the Midwest caves I’ve been in, this cave was very narrow and short. It also seemed to be catered towards tourists because the whole thing was lit and they had put in steel stairways in order to safely move up and down in elevation.
The last place we went was Fujiwaranasato in Iwate. This place was not only cool because it was a model of a Samurai village, but it was also the set of a Japanese TV drama. I don’t know exactly what it was about, but my guess would be something with Samurai’s. Here we could walk around the different buildings of government office, admire the adopted Chinese architecture, and try on a few of the clothes they wore back in thos
e days.
We left and made our way back towards Ayashi, but before we made it back home we stopped for dinner at this novelty restaurant called Donkey Surprise. The decorations are such that it looks like some shack of a building built out of scrap wood and scrap metal. They have an “American” menu, well a pretty good attempt. Their Burgers are served with out a bun or anything on it, just the paddy. I ate fries, a hamburger and fried chicken. I left with a very satisfied stomach.
We made it back home with a few hrs to kill before by bus left for Yokohama, where I would stay and visit my family for a few days. My bus finally pulled out of the Sendai Station terminal at midnight. Time to try and get some sleep before my 7:10am arrival in Yokohama.
On Tuesday, Junko, Hisashi, their daughter Ayumi and her husband Hiromitsu took me to the planetarium. It was nice a close, just a short 5 min drive up the hill and we were there. Since I have never been to a planetarium, I was excited. The first thing we did was go into the omni-dome where they did a show on all the stars, constolations, and where the planets were in relation to Sendai. This all of course was narrated in Japanese, so I did not really understand a word of what was said, so I guess it was a good chance to sit back and star gaze for a while.
There was a pretty good-sized space exhibit that we walked around. Again, I could just look at the stuff and guess what it was because I can’t read or understand Japanese. All that being said, I was very thankful for the experience because it was still very cool.
Following the planetarium, we went to a store called Yamaya. This store sells a handful of imported drinks like Dr. Pepper and A&W cream soda. They also sell Classico pasta sauce, Ice Cream from Oregon, and Tim Cascades chips. I was again showered with their blessing because Both families bought me a bunch of food, which I am so, so thankful for. From there we went to lunch at the bakery called “Basudei,” that translates into “Birthday.” We ate delicious breads and sandwiches and sweet treats.
Like I mentioned before, I am so blessed to be living close to people that have made me feel apart of their family. It has made the transition much easier, knowing where good places are to shop, but even more important, that there are people near by that can help if I need it.
Yoko, Junko and Hisashi’s youngest daughter, planned the Wednesday outing. The four of us drove up north about 2 hours to this place called Gaibi-kei. Here we got on these large wood flat bottom river boats. To me, the best way to describe it was like riding on the Gondolas in Venice, minus the romantic part, minus the city, plus a bunch more people on the same boat as you. There is a guy at the back with a long pole pushing us along, telling us the history of the area and then he sings a couple of local folk songs. It was very relaxing and fun. In some ways it felt like 
we were in the 
deep Jungle because the Cicadas are chirping so loud, the river winds along steep cliff and rock faces and the trees and undergrowth was very lush.The next stop was only a 5 min drive away, Yougendo. This is the place of the oldest cave in Japan, made of lime stone. I’ve been in
a few caves in the Midwest before, but those were nothing like this one. Unlike the Midwest caves I’ve been in, this cave was very narrow and short. It also seemed to be catered towards tourists because the whole thing was lit and they had put in steel stairways in order to safely move up and down in elevation.The last place we went was Fujiwaranasato in Iwate. This place was not only cool because it was a model of a Samurai village, but it was also the set of a Japanese TV drama. I don’t know exactly what it was about, but my guess would be something with Samurai’s. Here we could walk around the different buildings of government office, admire the adopted Chinese architecture, and try on a few of the clothes they wore back in thos
e days.
We left and made our way back towards Ayashi, but before we made it back home we stopped for dinner at this novelty restaurant called Donkey Surprise. The decorations are such that it looks like some shack of a building built out of scrap wood and scrap metal. They have an “American” menu, well a pretty good attempt. Their Burgers are served with out a bun or anything on it, just the paddy. I ate fries, a hamburger and fried chicken. I left with a very satisfied stomach.We made it back home with a few hrs to kill before by bus left for Yokohama, where I would stay and visit my family for a few days. My bus finally pulled out of the Sendai Station terminal at midnight. Time to try and get some sleep before my 7:10am arrival in Yokohama.
Summer Vacation: Part 2
I arrived in Yokohama about 30 min ahead of schedule, arriving at 6:40am. Luckily I had been able to catch about five to five and a half hrs of sleep on the bus. My uncle was going to meet me at the train station around 7:30, so I had a little bit of time to explore the aria. But after I walked around a bit, I didn’t want to let lost, plus my bag was pretty heavy, so I resorted to just sitting outside on a bench and play Settlers of Catan on my iPod.
When my uncle got there, we came to the conclusion that we should grab some breakfast since neither of us had eaten yet, so we went to McDonalds. It was really nice to see my uncle James. The last time I saw him was about two years ago, but it was only for half of a day. So the last time that I really got to spend time with him was almost ten years ago, when him and his daughter came out around Christmas time.
Once we ate our breakfast, we checked my bag in a locker and spent the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon walking around Yokohama. He showed me lots of cool things, like the neighborhood where all the immigrants lived when Japan opened its boarders, then Yokohama’s bay. I don’t know how many miles or kilometers we walked, but it must have been quite a few.
When we were done with our mini tour of Yokohama, we took the train back towards his house. When we got there my Aunt Sayuri and cousin Cellie welcomed me. I had not seen Sayuri since my last visit in Japan when I was seven, and the last time I saw Cellie was two years ago, when it was only for a few hrs. It was nice to spend the afternoon and evening hanging out and getting to know my family. Later that night my other cousin Ellie, came home. Last time I saw her was almost ten years ago, and the time before that was when she was I was seven and she was three and a half.
Friday we woke up and got dressed for a nice lunch. We drove into Tokyo and went to this very nice hotel that has a revolving buffet at the top on the 14th floor. Here we sat and dined for almost two hours. We filled ourselves with delicious high-end food. My favorite thing I ate was “Authentic Chicken,” which was pretty much chicken that had a middle-eastern spice. I also made quite a few trips back to the grill where I ate a good amount of sirloin steak. It was an amazing meal, and I had a great time up there.
After we came back home, my uncle took me around Hiyoshi, which is the area they live in. Hiyoshi is home to a large university, so there are lots of restaurants and stores and he says that during school, the streets are busy with students walking to and from the university. I think would be a cool place to live because there is so much diversity in cultures with international students attending the university. As we were on our walking tour of the streets we randomly ran into my other cousin, Yui and her 3-year-old daughter Hikari! But it was great to see her and meet my little cousin…once removed?
Saturday was pretty mellow from what I remember. It was another day where we sat around the house and I felt like I could really start to know my uncle and his family. One thing that I realized with family is that you can hardly know them, but at the same time since your family you feel like you know them. For example, if they were just some family where I met a couple of them a few times a long time ago; it would have felt really weird for me to stay with them. But since they were family, it did not feel weird or uncomfortable at all. It was the first time that I had all of them to myself and I could start to learn and know about my Japanese family.
Sunday we went to church, and then we out for lunch before I said goodbye to the fam. My uncle was gracious enough to come with me and make sure that I got on the right bus. Instead of leaving Yokohama, I was leaving out of Shinjuku, so a little bit farther out of town. This time my bus left at 4pm and I was able to make it back to Sendai a little after 9pm.
I am very thankful for my Japanese family and how there were so welcoming to me and made me feel at home while I stayed at their house for 3 nights. Thank you Uncle James and family!
When my uncle got there, we came to the conclusion that we should grab some breakfast since neither of us had eaten yet, so we went to McDonalds. It was really nice to see my uncle James. The last time I saw him was about two years ago, but it was only for half of a day. So the last time that I really got to spend time with him was almost ten years ago, when him and his daughter came out around Christmas time.Once we ate our breakfast, we checked my bag in a locker and spent the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon walking around Yokohama. He showed me lots of cool things, like the neighborhood where all the immigrants lived when Japan opened its boarders, then Yokohama’s bay. I don’t know how many miles or kilometers we walked, but it must have been quite a few.
When we were done with our mini tour of Yokohama, we took the train back towards his house. When we got there my Aunt Sayuri and cousin Cellie welcomed me. I had not seen Sayuri since my last visit in Japan when I was seven, and the last time I saw Cellie was two years ago, when it was only for a few hrs. It was nice to spend the afternoon and evening hanging out and getting to know my family. Later that night my other cousin Ellie, came home. Last time I saw her was almost ten years ago, and the time before that was when she was I was seven and she was three and a half.
Friday we woke up and got dressed for a nice lunch. We drove into Tokyo and went to this very nice hotel that has a revolving buffet at the top on the 14th floor. Here we sat and dined for almost two hours. We filled ourselves with delicious high-end food. My favorite thing I ate was “Authentic Chicken,” which was pretty much chicken that had a middle-eastern spice. I also made quite a few trips back to the grill where I ate a good amount of sirloin steak. It was an amazing meal, and I had a great time up there.
After we came back home, my uncle took me around Hiyoshi, which is the area they live in. Hiyoshi is home to a large university, so there are lots of restaurants and stores and he says that during school, the streets are busy with students walking to and from the university. I think would be a cool place to live because there is so much diversity in cultures with international students attending the university. As we were on our walking tour of the streets we randomly ran into my other cousin, Yui and her 3-year-old daughter Hikari! But it was great to see her and meet my little cousin…once removed?
Saturday was pretty mellow from what I remember. It was another day where we sat around the house and I felt like I could really start to know my uncle and his family. One thing that I realized with family is that you can hardly know them, but at the same time since your family you feel like you know them. For example, if they were just some family where I met a couple of them a few times a long time ago; it would have felt really weird for me to stay with them. But since they were family, it did not feel weird or uncomfortable at all. It was the first time that I had all of them to myself and I could start to learn and know about my Japanese family.
Sunday we went to church, and then we out for lunch before I said goodbye to the fam. My uncle was gracious enough to come with me and make sure that I got on the right bus. Instead of leaving Yokohama, I was leaving out of Shinjuku, so a little bit farther out of town. This time my bus left at 4pm and I was able to make it back to Sendai a little after 9pm.
I am very thankful for my Japanese family and how there were so welcoming to me and made me feel at home while I stayed at their house for 3 nights. Thank you Uncle James and family!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
2 Camps, 2 Weekends
Ok, so first off I’d like to say sorry for being a ghost on here for the past 2 weeks. Second, thank you for taking time to read this. I hope your enjoying my posts, and pictures when I post them!
CS Camp
Two weekends ago we had 30 kids from the area come to our church for a 2 day/ 1 night camp. They arrived on Saturday morning, and the camp finished after the service on Sunday afternoon at noon.
Saturday morning I woke up early and helped set up the tents that the kids would be sleeping in. Following the orientation, I got to help out in the 1st and 2nd grade class. It was awesome! I can read and write Hiragana, so I was able to follow along and do the activities…well, I didn’t understand what was reading, but I got some pretty good clues from the pictures in the workbooks.
From the class, we piled into cars and drove an hour to the “Athletic Park.” Now, I was expecting fields where we could play soccer, maybe find some basketball hoops, but no. This was much cooler! It was like a Ninja training park. When I was younger, I would have dreamed for something like this. Your essentially running through a beautiful forest, then come to a number of obstacles that you have to climb over, or swing on ropes, or climb ship nets then jump off the other side. I got soaked in sweat! I want to get back there again and make a video.
That was pretty much the highlight of the camp for me. When we got back there was some Yakisoba being grilled, and then I shared my testimony for the kids at the campfire, then we lit off fireworks. When it came time to go to bed, it kind sucked. It wasn’t because I was sleeping in a tent with some 5th and 6th graders, they were actually really good. It was the fact that it was 90 degrees F, humid, and I was sleeping on hard ground. So I did not get much rest that night.
Sunday morning we woke up at 6am, and did our morning exercise lead by Tomoari and Hiromitsu. After breakfast, and church, it was nice to have the rest of the day to rest, relax, play soccer and hang out.
Filio Camp
Filio is the name of the young adult group here. This past weekend we had our retreat. It started Friday night, and ended at noon on Sunday. I joined the activities late because I was teaching a night class, so I made it just in time for free time where we played some good games of Egyptian Rat Screw.
Instead of sleeping in tents outside, we slept a dorm room in the seminary, which you think would be better then tents. Unfortunately it was worse. The building has no air conditioning, the window in our room did not open, we were on the second floor, and again, we were sleeping on the hard ground. So by 2am I was finally able to fall sleep.
We needed to wake up at 6am to get an early start on our trip to Matsushima. This would be my second trip to that beautiful area in two weeks, so I was pretty pumped. We got there around 9am and started setting up camp. Remember how I said I was going to try and build a raft? Well, that didn’t happen, this time me and some of the other guys tried to build a shelter out of bamboo. It would have been much easier if we had something to lay across for shade other then TONS of bamboo shoots. We got the frame of it, and then some more bamboo, but then we realized we didn’t take in account the direction of the sun. We built it facing the wrong way, so we gave up, plus it looked like poo.
I was in charge of planning games and activities at the beach. I thought I would teach them how to build sand castles. We split into teams and spent 20 min building the best ones we could. After my team finished celebrating its victory, we found some bamboo and rope on the beach that would be able to hold up the volleyball net we brought. It was a pretty ghetto set up, but with the resources we had, it got the job done. Once volleyball was done, I jumped in the ocean and didn’t get out for an hour. It was the perfect temperature to cool off from the pounding sun and the water not being too cold where you felt like you were going to freeze. Although, the water was the perfect magnifying glass for the sun to burn my upper back and shoulders. Like all sun burns, they don’t really look bad until your out of the sun for a little while.
From Matsushima, we drove to another city where we went to an onsen (hot spring). One thing that I do not really understand about the Japanese people and the onsen is: Why does it seem like a good idea to go to a hot spring on a really hot day to refresh? I mean, we just came from the beach were we could cool off in the ocean. Now we are going to a hot spring? I have to admit; it was perfect way to clean off all the sand and salty water, so my speculation stopped. Plus, the baking soda pool make my skin feel amazing ;)!
Later that night, we had tons of different kind of meat. Anything ranging from steak, beef, pork to chicken. We grilled our own stuff, and it was delicious. Similar to the kids camp, we lit off some more fireworks. Once things kind of wound down for the night, hisashi, haruka, and manami and I sat around as they taught me some Japanese words younger people use. I guess to sound more hip. Then I taught them some less formal English, so that might understand me better.
Like the previous night, it was hard to fall asleep, so around 2, I was finally in some sort of slumber state, but not the one you need to feel rested when 6am rolls around. Sunday morning I made a classic American breakfast: Pancakes, eggs and bacon. As far as I know, they enjoyed it. By the end of Sunday I was wiped! I went back to my apt at 9, and immediately crashed and didn’t wake up till 10 the next morning.
I spent the day laying around listening to music. I did leave my place for an hr to shoot some hoops. But that was the fist day in a really long time where I did not see a single person. It felt like a really lame day because I did absolutely nothing. But as I laid there trying to think of something to justifying my slothfulness, I realized that everyday for over a month, I’ve been go, go, go, seeing people, saying goodbye to friends and family, packing, unpacking, meeting new faces, adjusting to a new culture, learning how to teach English and teaching. So my body needed a break.
This week is our summer vacation, so I have the week off. I’ll be in Yokohama/Tokyo area Thursday morning through Sunday afternoon where I get to visit my uncle and family! I am really excited because I have not been there since I was seven, and heven’t seen them in years.
Thank you for reading and following, I’ll try and get some pictures from the past weekends loaded up real soon, but I wanted to make sure that people know that I’m still alive and breathing. Blessings, and thank you for your continued prayers and support
CS Camp
Two weekends ago we had 30 kids from the area come to our church for a 2 day/ 1 night camp. They arrived on Saturday morning, and the camp finished after the service on Sunday afternoon at noon.
Saturday morning I woke up early and helped set up the tents that the kids would be sleeping in. Following the orientation, I got to help out in the 1st and 2nd grade class. It was awesome! I can read and write Hiragana, so I was able to follow along and do the activities…well, I didn’t understand what was reading, but I got some pretty good clues from the pictures in the workbooks.
From the class, we piled into cars and drove an hour to the “Athletic Park.” Now, I was expecting fields where we could play soccer, maybe find some basketball hoops, but no. This was much cooler! It was like a Ninja training park. When I was younger, I would have dreamed for something like this. Your essentially running through a beautiful forest, then come to a number of obstacles that you have to climb over, or swing on ropes, or climb ship nets then jump off the other side. I got soaked in sweat! I want to get back there again and make a video.
That was pretty much the highlight of the camp for me. When we got back there was some Yakisoba being grilled, and then I shared my testimony for the kids at the campfire, then we lit off fireworks. When it came time to go to bed, it kind sucked. It wasn’t because I was sleeping in a tent with some 5th and 6th graders, they were actually really good. It was the fact that it was 90 degrees F, humid, and I was sleeping on hard ground. So I did not get much rest that night.
Sunday morning we woke up at 6am, and did our morning exercise lead by Tomoari and Hiromitsu. After breakfast, and church, it was nice to have the rest of the day to rest, relax, play soccer and hang out.
Filio Camp
Filio is the name of the young adult group here. This past weekend we had our retreat. It started Friday night, and ended at noon on Sunday. I joined the activities late because I was teaching a night class, so I made it just in time for free time where we played some good games of Egyptian Rat Screw.
Instead of sleeping in tents outside, we slept a dorm room in the seminary, which you think would be better then tents. Unfortunately it was worse. The building has no air conditioning, the window in our room did not open, we were on the second floor, and again, we were sleeping on the hard ground. So by 2am I was finally able to fall sleep.
We needed to wake up at 6am to get an early start on our trip to Matsushima. This would be my second trip to that beautiful area in two weeks, so I was pretty pumped. We got there around 9am and started setting up camp. Remember how I said I was going to try and build a raft? Well, that didn’t happen, this time me and some of the other guys tried to build a shelter out of bamboo. It would have been much easier if we had something to lay across for shade other then TONS of bamboo shoots. We got the frame of it, and then some more bamboo, but then we realized we didn’t take in account the direction of the sun. We built it facing the wrong way, so we gave up, plus it looked like poo.
I was in charge of planning games and activities at the beach. I thought I would teach them how to build sand castles. We split into teams and spent 20 min building the best ones we could. After my team finished celebrating its victory, we found some bamboo and rope on the beach that would be able to hold up the volleyball net we brought. It was a pretty ghetto set up, but with the resources we had, it got the job done. Once volleyball was done, I jumped in the ocean and didn’t get out for an hour. It was the perfect temperature to cool off from the pounding sun and the water not being too cold where you felt like you were going to freeze. Although, the water was the perfect magnifying glass for the sun to burn my upper back and shoulders. Like all sun burns, they don’t really look bad until your out of the sun for a little while.
From Matsushima, we drove to another city where we went to an onsen (hot spring). One thing that I do not really understand about the Japanese people and the onsen is: Why does it seem like a good idea to go to a hot spring on a really hot day to refresh? I mean, we just came from the beach were we could cool off in the ocean. Now we are going to a hot spring? I have to admit; it was perfect way to clean off all the sand and salty water, so my speculation stopped. Plus, the baking soda pool make my skin feel amazing ;)!
Later that night, we had tons of different kind of meat. Anything ranging from steak, beef, pork to chicken. We grilled our own stuff, and it was delicious. Similar to the kids camp, we lit off some more fireworks. Once things kind of wound down for the night, hisashi, haruka, and manami and I sat around as they taught me some Japanese words younger people use. I guess to sound more hip. Then I taught them some less formal English, so that might understand me better.
Like the previous night, it was hard to fall asleep, so around 2, I was finally in some sort of slumber state, but not the one you need to feel rested when 6am rolls around. Sunday morning I made a classic American breakfast: Pancakes, eggs and bacon. As far as I know, they enjoyed it. By the end of Sunday I was wiped! I went back to my apt at 9, and immediately crashed and didn’t wake up till 10 the next morning.
I spent the day laying around listening to music. I did leave my place for an hr to shoot some hoops. But that was the fist day in a really long time where I did not see a single person. It felt like a really lame day because I did absolutely nothing. But as I laid there trying to think of something to justifying my slothfulness, I realized that everyday for over a month, I’ve been go, go, go, seeing people, saying goodbye to friends and family, packing, unpacking, meeting new faces, adjusting to a new culture, learning how to teach English and teaching. So my body needed a break.
This week is our summer vacation, so I have the week off. I’ll be in Yokohama/Tokyo area Thursday morning through Sunday afternoon where I get to visit my uncle and family! I am really excited because I have not been there since I was seven, and heven’t seen them in years.
Thank you for reading and following, I’ll try and get some pictures from the past weekends loaded up real soon, but I wanted to make sure that people know that I’m still alive and breathing. Blessings, and thank you for your continued prayers and support
Refreshing Beverage
I’m going to make a short rant on how Japanese and American people have different understandings on the idea of drinking something refreshing. Now, when you get hot, when you’ve been working hard and get really sweaty, when its 90+ degrees F, wouldn’t a class of ice cold water or Gatorade sound perfect? I would go a head and say pretty much anything smooth and cold would be perfect. right? Well, here, when you get hot and sweaty, just when water would be the perfect thing to quench your thirst, they give you cold wheat tea. Now, I like this stuff now. It has taken me a while to appreciate its kind of bitter, non sweet taste. But from my experiences, this seems like the number one choice of beverage to replenish with. Another popular drink is chilled black coffee. Not the biggest fan of that either. Or, something else that I’ve seen is serving hot coffee. This is rare, but you would think that it should be illegal due to the fact that you are adding risk to some one over heating if people are pounding piping hot coffee on a day that’s close to 100 degrees. Why not just a simple cup of ice water? I usually carry around my own 1L bottle of water so I can be polite, drink the beverage offered, and then finish replenishing with water.
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