Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time. -Band Aid "Do They Know Its Christmas?"

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. This has easily been the strangest Christmas season of my life and that's saying a lot since last year's snow/ice storm pretty much shut Tulsa down for Christmas. While the Japanese have somewhat embraced the commercial aspect of Christmas, the religious significance is simply not a big part of their culture, which isn't surprising since less than 1% of the Japanese population is Christian.

December has literally flown by, and despite attending numerous Christmas activities, it still doesn't FEEL like Christmas. The past few weeks have definitely been the hardest to get through in terms of homesickness. I can't really describe the feeling it gives you to see how easily and normally things go on without you being there. It's bizarre to say the least. But just as a wise friend predicted (if you're reading this, I'm talking about you Mr. Linden,) being this far away from home/family/friends and the normal hustle and bustle of Christmas really gives you a chance to focus on what Christmas is ACTUALLY about.

Last night was easily the coldest night we've had this winter and as I was walking to church, shivering and kicking myself for not having worn warmer clothing and grumbling because I wanted to be at home with my family instead of going to church alone on the other side of the world, I noticed another white person walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. My church is right next to a big university in Tokyo so I tend to see more Caucasian people near my church than other places around town. We exchanged what I have come to refer to as the “foreigner nod” (there seems to be an unspoken rule that foreigners will give each other a nod of recognition on the streets off Japan) and I continued on my way. Just as we were about to pass each other, he paused briefly and said “Merry Christmas.” It's a phrase you hear a thousand times this time of year, even in Japan, but he said it with more kindness, understanding, and sincerity than any other time I can recall hearing anyone say it. And it completely turned my night around. My entire frame of mind changed. I stopped moping, went to church and enjoyed a beautiful service (which I understood far more of than I expected!)

While Christmas was strange this year, it ended up being much better than I originally expected.  It included skyping with the family on Christmas Eve, yummy brunch Christmas morning, some time for personal reflection, skyping with Laramie, watching The Holiday with Ally and Christine, and then playing a few rousing games of Farkel. All in all, lots of fun!

Here are some pictures from various activities that have happened since my last blog:

 Advent/Wine and Cheese/Birthday Party

For a wonderful video of Carol Sack playing the harp during out party check out my youtube account here.  Carol has developed an amazing ministry playing for patients of the Home of Hope hospice.  To read more about it, click here.

Cooking with the McKenzies - Omurice, Japanese hotcakes, and apple pancakes.

Tokyo Disneyland!

Candlelight Service at Church

Christmas party with the youth group at church

Christmas morning brunch with Ally and Christine

For more pictures of most of these events, check out my flickr account.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

I've come to beg for forgiveness...and I'll take all that I'm given...and try to teach by my doing. -Yeasayer “Forgiveness”

This is part 2 of a 3 part update that I started last week.  I've been putting off writing this blog since getting back to Tokyo, partially because its uncomfortable to write and partially because sometimes written words just aren't good enough.  It's a little lengthy, but hopefully worth the read!

I spent November 20^th and 21^st in Hiroshima for this year's J-3 retreat. The Tokyo J-3s (Ally, Christine, Dana, Matt and myself) traveled south and met up with the Kumamoto J-3s (Carolyn, Jen, Doug, Sue, and John) to have our annual get-together and to explore the history of Hiroshima. There were more than a few concerns about being a group of Americans in a city that was utterly decimated by Americans (and others) within the lifetime of many of the city's residents. For me personally, it was awkward and uncomfortable and while I knew the visit was a necessary experience to have, I was not looking forward to going to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The first section of the museum gave an interesting history of Hiroshima up to the dropping of the A-Bomb on August 6, 1945. There were several models showing before and after views of the city, as well as first hand accounts of things people had been doing the day of. 

The second part of the museum was the most difficult to get through. Case after case displayed the remains of clothing and personal effects collected from people who survived the initial blast but died shortly thereafter from the resulting injuries. The plaques under each case told the story of the artifact's owner and all but one that I looked at ended with “he/she died several hours later” or “the body was never recovered.” Still more told of people who somehow managed to make their way home, only to die in the arms of loved ones. Far too many of the cases contained tattered bits of childrens' uniforms, book bags, etc. One case told the story of an eight-year-old boy who had been horribly injured while walking to school. His father found him and carried him home and while many people tried to help him, he died the next day. After reading the plaque I looked down to see a little boy who was visiting the museum with his family. He was no older than the boy I had just read about and it was truly chilling to realize that the remains of the uniform in the case would have fit him perfectly.

The third section of the museum focused on the history of nuclear weapons. Here are a few interesting facts I learned (and keep in mind that most of the information presented hasn't been updated since before the fall of the Soviet Union) :

• At its peak, the total destructive force of the five nuclear weapon states (U.S., Soviet Union, U.K., France and China) is thought to have been 22,000 megatons, or 1.38 million times the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Of these weapons 93% belonged to the United States and the Soviet Union.

• Other times the use of nuclear weapons has been considered:
  • 1946 - Deployment of Soviet Army in Iran
  • 1946 - Shooting down of a U.S. plane by Yugoslavia
  • 1948 - Sealing off of West Berlin by Soviet Union
  • 1950 - Breakout of the Korean War
  • 1953 - Deterioration of the Korean War
  • 1954 - Offer to supply French army with A-Bomb on the Vietnam front
  • 1954 - Guatemala's selection of pro-Soviet Policy
  • 1954 - China's liberation of Taiwan
  • 1956 - The Suez Crisis
  • 1958 - Coup d'ètat by Iraq's military and the Taiwan Strait crisis
  • 1959 - Berlin issue
  • 1961 - More Berlin issues
  • 1962 - Cuban missile crisis
  • 1968 - Seizure of USS Pueblo by North Korea
  • 1968 - Vietnam War (Battle of Quesan)
  • 1969 - Intensification of Vietnam War
  • 1970 - Invasion of Jordan by Syria
  • 1973 - Desire to end Fourth Middle East War
  • 1980 - Desire to halt Iran crisis
  • 1991 - Anticipation of the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in Persian Gulf War

Obviously the list could be updated from there, but this was the information the museum provided.

The most impressive aspect of the museum and Hiroshima in general is that, while the Japanese will never forget their history and the horrible devastation their city and country suffered, the emphasis of the museum and park is on PEACE. The Japanese have an amazing capacity to forgive and Americans could stand to learn a thing or two from it.

To end on a lighter note, after going to the Peace Museum and Park, Ally, Matt, Matt's sister Janet, and I took a ferry out to Miyajima Island to see the famous Floating Torii. (The gate itself doesn't actually float, as you can see in some of my pictures, but when the tide is high enough it definitely looks like it does.) 

Deer roam freely around the island and happily let tourists pet/feed them. 

Occasionally they will nibble on your jacket or souvenir bag and if you aren't paying attention while eating lunch, they may decide to help you out. It was fairly late in the afternoon by the time we made it to Miyajima, so we hung around long enough to see the full moon come out.

All in all, the trip to Hiroshima was a very educational one. I'm going to forgo the “Lessons Learned” section of the blog this time because if you've read this far then you already know what I learned. :-) The final chapter of this 3 part update should be posted in the next few days. For more pictures from Hiroshima, check out 

flickr. 

Live a life extraordinary. -Carbon Leaf “Life Less Ordinary”

Since it has been almost a month since my last update I broke the next one up into a series of three, so as not to be overwhelming to my scores and scores of readers (yuck yuck yuck.) Enjoy!

November 3^rd was a national holiday. Culture Day is, as you might have guessed, a day when the Japanese celebrate the rich traditions and customs that have developed over the centuries. People flock to local shrines/temples/parks by the thousands to celebrate their heritage. As per the recommendation of several friends, I went to Meiji Shrine. There were many activities and demonstration going on, but the most interesting was yabusame. The sport involves shooting arrows at two different targets from the back of a moving horse. 

 These videos and another of a sword demonstration can be found on my youtube channel.

Shichi-Go-San was also celebrated on the 3^rd so there were lots of little kids age 7 and under dressed in kimono. Very cute! For more pictures, be sure to take a look at my flickr account.

On November 6^th, I went to my first concert in Tokyo. Fellow J-3 Ally's favorite band is Owl City and it just so happened that they scheduled a show in Tokyo, so we went and its was tons of fun! It was interesting trying to figure out the admission process when all the instructions were next to impossible to understand, but with the help of a girl named Jane, Ally and I made it inside and found a pretty good spot on the floor. Since we are both a little taller (← slight exaggeration) than the typical Japanese person, we figured we would have a good view no matter where we were. Of course, the one foreigner at the concert who was taller than me decided to stand right in front of me, but we had a good time anyway. ☺

 

On November 13^th and 14^th, the J-3s in Tokyo got together for Hongo Bible Camp. The Hongo Center in Tokyo is the Lutheran student center across the street from Hongo campus of Tokyo University. Many of the students who attend English classes at the Hongo Center are either non-Christians or unbaptized Christians who have just started their exploration of Christianity. Bible Camp was a chance for them to explore a little further. The five J-3s, two pastors and seven participants spent the weekend in beautiful Okutama, about an 1 ½ hours north of Tokyo by train (although, geographically it is still considered to be part of Tokyo). We were up in the mountains and the temperature had cooled off enough for some of the momiji trees to start changing color. We spent the weekend at Okutama Bible Chalet (didn't know that Bible Chalets existed? Me either!) and discussed the various passages in the bible where Jesus says “I am X.” After a lot of fantastic conversation and some equally fantastic artwork, we walked down to the Tama River for some fishing/fire building/shenanigans.

More pictures on flickr.

For reasons that will be discussed in the next blog, the days leading up to Bible Camp were pretty stressful so it was really nice to take a break from everyday life and get out of the city for a while.

I unofficially/officially taught my first class on November 16^th. Matt, one of the J-3s at the Hongo Center, had to pick up his sister at the airport and needed a sub for the evening. Ally and I were free and eager to see what teaching at Hongo was like so we covered the advanced and beginners English classes and had a blast doing so! I quickly discovered that half of the adults in the advanced class have a better grasp of the English language than I do. We read an article about San Francisco trying to get Happy Meals removed from the McDonald’s menu and the legal repercussions of doing so. The beginners class read an article about the main terminal at Grand Central Station.

I've been SO thankful for the Hongo Center since moving to Tokyo. I feel more involved and at home there than I do at the congregation I was assigned to and have had much more of a church experience, if that makes sense. I will be very sad when the time comes to leave. But why think about that now? Happier thoughts!

Ally, Christine and I had our second cooking class with Tim and Mari McKenzie on the 17^th and learned to make gyoza. It was much easier than I thought and I look forward to making it in the future!

Stay tuned for part 2 of this update. Hopefully it will be up in the next couple of days and should have some interesting pictures from my trip to Hiroshima.

Lessons learned:

• General Admission at concerts doesn't actually mean general admission, but instead that people will be called up in groups if 10 according to a number on your ticket and then allowed to enter.
• Upon admission, most concert venues will charge a non-optional drink fee of 500円 (~$5), whether you want orange juice, beer or nothing at all.

Keep your head above water, but don’t forget to breathe. -Alexi Murdoch “Breathe”

The last several months have been an absolute whirlwind. Between the beginning of August and mid-September I visited family and friends in Ft. Worth, Dallas, Austin, Washington D.C., Keene, Boston, Lawrence, Great Bend, Wichita, and Denver. Using rough guesstimates, I figure I traveled around 6,000 miles via planes, trains and automobiles. After all that, I threw my entire life into 3 suitcases, hopped on a plane and flew another 7,000ish miles to the other side of the world. I thought things would slow down a little bit after landing in Japan and taking a few days to adjust to my new surroundings. ← Incorrect assumption. Today marks the 1 month anniversary of my arrival in Japan and, to be completely honest, I have no idea where the time went.

I've met some amazing people and experienced a culture completely different than my own. I've tried foods I'd never heard of before, eaten things I had previously not considered to be food, and consumed more coffee in the past four weeks than I have in 26 years (out of respect for others' hospitality, not an actual desire to drink coffee. Ick.) I've become the minority (both ethnically and religiously), and consequently been gawked at, laughed at, and whispered about. I've been happy, sad, bamboozled, confounded, frustrated, mystified, excited, apprehensive, elated, exhausted, overwhelmed, underwhelmed, shocked, humbled, sympathetic, empathetic, apathetic, exasperated, terrified, lonely, and content. But mostly I've been grateful, both for this program and for the people who have helped me get here. I have an amazingly supportive family and incredible friends who push and encourage me to want more from life. I hope you all know that, without you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for being in my life, even when my life is thousands of miles away!

♥

Lessons learned this week:

• Yakisoba = super yummy and easy to make.
• Ikea looks the same no matter what country you're in.

The radio reminds me of my home far away. -John Denver "Take Me Home, Country Roads"

This Wednesday, Ally invited me to a calligraphy class at Tokyo Lutheran. A member of their congregation is a professional calligrapher and gives a class once a week. He showed us how to hold the brushes and guided us through a few strokes before letting us try it out on our own for a while.

Ally was a natural and all the older ladies participating in the class oohed and ahhhed over her work. :-) Before we left, the instructor made Ally and I each a piece of artwork to take with us.

Friday was the night of the J-3 potluck dinner. (J-3 is the moniker for the program I'm in. 'J' for Japan and '3' for the number of years of service.) The past and present J-3s in the Tokyo area get together a few times a year for dinner and fellowship. Christine knew several of the people from her previous stint as a J-3 and Ally and I got to meet many of the others we've been hearing so much about since we arrived, in addition to getting to hang out with the amazing J-3s we had met already. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and friendly. And funny. I can't leave that one out. I don't remember the last time I laughed so much in one night!

Saturday, a big group of us met in Yokohama to go to Oktoberfest. It was similar to Oktoberfest in the States, minus the rides. We were there on the second to last day, so it was really busy. There were lots of picnic tables set up outside and a tent that housed many of the food/beer vendors, as well as a band. Ally and I went to explore the tent and got there just in time for the band to play “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The crowd went crazy! Picture several hundred mostly inebriated Japanese people scream-singing John Denver. If you can't picture it, check out the pictures on my flickr account. There are also a few videos on my youtube channel.  (Last week I forgot to upload my videos from Sports Day, so those have been posted now, too.)

On a much more somber note, I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my wonderful Great Aunt Rosie. She had been battling cancer for the last several years and lost that fight Friday. I am incredibly thankful that Phillip and I had time to see her and Uncle John over the summer before we both moved away. I am equally thankful for the wonderful memories from my childhood that were made in their house. While I take comfort in knowing that she is no longer suffering, her death has been a painful reminder of just how far away I am from my family. I will be thinking of you all Friday during the memorial service. Love you Aunt Rosie!

*Serendipitous side note: as I was typing out this last paragraph and uploading the photo, Susan Boyle's version of Amazing Grace started playing while iTunes was on shuffle.

I am also grateful for friends who will sit with you late into the night, make you tea, and distract you with laughter. Thanks Ally! :-)

Lessons learned this week:

• The timer on my toaster oven functions even if the device itself isn't plugged in, creating the disappointing illusion of toast.
• If my magicJack is plugged in to the computer, the sound on Skype won't work.
• Cheap chinese food is still expensive in Chinatown.

Your eyes are open wide. Let it come in. -Paloalto “Last Way Out of Here”

This past week was a week of firsts (which isn't surprising since I've only been here two weeks) and was quite eventful. Ally, Christine and I had our first week of language classes. I won't be able to take a placement test to see what level of Japanese I'm on until the first month of classes are over. Initially, I was a little irked about starting over at the very beginning, but parts of it have been very helpful. I hadn't realized how much basic everyday vocabulary/grammar I had forgotten and it's been eye opening, to say the least.

Yesterday was also my first Sunday at Ookayama, the church I will be attending for the next six months. I called the pastor last week to find out which service he wanted me to come to, but we encountered a bit of a language barrier as he spoke only a little English and my knowledge of Japanese “church language” was somewhat lacking. He was able to tell me that the church normally has 3 services: one for children at 9:30, one for middle and high school students at 10:00 and one for adults at 10:30. I was instructed to come to the middle and high school student service, but when I asked if I should also attend the adult service, he told me no. I went to the 10:00 service and after talking to a few other people, decided to stay for the adult service, which ended up being what I was supposed to do, despite being told otherwise. I was introduced to the congregation and, afterward, met some very nice parishioners.

Immediately following the service, the pastor's daughter came up to me and asked me if I had ever played hand bells. When I told her that I had, but only a few times, her face lit up and she said “Do you have time to practice right now?” !!!!!! I didn't want to be rude, but was also completely caught off guard by the question. What I was expecting to be traditional hand bells turned out to be hand chimes.

I was incredibly nervous because I had never played hand chimes before, but quickly discovered they are played the same way as bells. Most of the other women in the room had never played hand chimes either so it was a learning experience for all of us. And as it so happened, I understood more of the conversation and what was going on during the hand chime rehearsal than I did for the entire church service. Thank goodness music is a universal language!

The Summer Olympics of 1964 were held in Tokyo and in honor of the '64 Games, Japan designated the second Monday of October as Sports Day, so yesterday I experienced my first national holiday. We had the day off from school and the weather was beautiful! Ally's church, Tokyo Lutheran, was having a bazaar (also my first) and Christine and I went down to check it out. On the way over, we came across of group of Taiko drummers performing in a parking lot. There was also a parade that went down the street right in front of Tokyo Lutheran. Women in kimonos danced to the beat of another drummer who was playing from the back of a truck.

You  can check out more pictures from Sports Day on my flickr account.

I also bought my first decoration for my apartment from the bazaar. Up to this point, all the money I've spent has been on essentials: food, apartment necessities, things for class, etc. While my new candle isn't very big, it's the first personal touch I've gotten to add to my apartment and brings me one step closer to making this my home.

Lessons learned this week:

• Standing on the subway is not good for my equilibrium.
• Subways stop running a little after midnight.
• My kitchen knives here are sharper than the kitchen knives in Tulsa.
• I don't speak the way a Japanese woman “should” and need to learn to speak softly.
• It's better to do smaller, more frequent loads of laundry because there isn't enough space to hang it all to dry.

Decide what to be and go be it. - The Avett Brothers "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise"

And so it begins. After almost 13 hours on an airplane and a long car ride from the airport, I arrived at my new home Tuesday evening. Today marks the end of my first week here and, as silly and obvious as it sounds, I have discovered that Japan really is a different world. It's been almost 10 years since I was last here and it has been difficult to tell if things seem different because I've changed, the country itself has changed, the nature of my visit is different, or any combination of these.

There is no way to completely prepare yourself for moving to the other side of the world or all the changes that await you. People drive on the opposite side of the road. You can't read the labels on your food or the instructions for your washing machine. The toilet comes with an instruction panel and plugs into the wall. The shower is tiny/I am giant. Any American television is dubbed, and consequently, hilarious. For the next several weeks, adapting is the name of the game.

While most of the work I'll be doing will be in Tokyo, my apartment is located in a suburb that is clearly unaccustomed to foreigners. Small children point and chatter excitedly to their parents and neighbors peek in open windows. Grocery store employees and shop clerks often glace at you with a brief expression of panic, upon first seeing you in the check out line. What they don't realize is that the feeling is mutual. I haven't used my Japanese in over three years now and it's amazing how much I have forgotten. While I know this will only be a temporary problem, I'm still very much in “Oh, man. I don't remember the word for that” phase. Thankfully, language classes start Monday and with any luck, things will come back pretty quickly. Until then, I'll stick to short, simple, basic phrases.

I've also been absolutely amazed by the people. It's one thing to hear that the Japanese are polite, respectful, and helpful. It's another thing to experience it, repeatedly and on a daily basis. People on the subway move over so that you can sit with the your group. Subway attendants stop to pick up trash. Anywhere you go, employees greet you and thank you for coming to their establishment. Maintenance people sweep and mop the sidewalk and porch area in front of my apartment. Cindy, the woman who has been responsible for helping us acclimate to life in Japan (and is a god-send), not only spent an 1 ½ hours with us at the bank and another almost 3 hours at the cell phone company, she also then put 3 Americans she has only known for a few days on her billing plan because the phone company and the bank couldn't agree on how to bill us.If I had been in her shoes, that thought would never have even occurred to me, yet to her it seemed like the natural solution. 

This past week has been completely surreal. It's strange to think that something I worked so hard for and wanted for so long is finally happening. At the same time it feels right, like a normal progression of events. This could not have come at a better time in my life, and while I miss family, friends and relationships, I'm looking forward to the coming months and everything they have in store. Get ready Japan. Here I come!

Lessons learned this week:

• Tokyo humidity means it takes my hair 3 hours to air dry.
• Milk = whole milk; any other kind is harder to come by
• Aloe yogurt is...different.
• Getting lost is no fun, but is better when you are lost with friends
• The subway car isn't full if you can see through any part of it from the platform.