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.