I'd never thought about that before. . .

So, today in class one of my students asked me "how do you get a signature?" Hmm. . . I remember practicing when I was little, and thinking I needed a "messier signature", but "making" one?!
Guess it makes sense, though, when you come from a country that requires registered "name stamps" which are used in place of a signature on official documents. Less chance of forgery maybe, but can be dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands.
Just thought that was interesting. . . can't take our "John Henry" for granted!

"Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings." Psalm 61:1-4
"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." II Corinthians 2:14-15
I just got home from Osaka tonight. We had a missionary get-together over the weekend, and it was an incredibly encouraging time. It's also likely the last time we will be together before Doris (Goertz) -- far right -- leaves to go back to Canada in May. :_-( We spent time sharing how we've been experiencing God in our lives recently, and had a prayer concert together. It was amazing to see and feel God moving in our hearts, and awakening us to the truth of our need to PRAISE and OFFER THANKSGIVING to God. . . and how our hearts just break for those around us to know the TRUTH. I felt God saying to me "If you want them to know me, you need to know me".
My prayer is that we, that I, above any other desire in ministry or life, would desire to know God. I feel that's what He's calling us to -- to be a beautiful, intoxicating aroma to our great God, our reason for living. May that fragrance permeate the heavens, and the skies that are proclaiming His glory around us every moment of every single day. What a wonderful God we serve.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Psalm 19:1-4

Peace, Hope, Joy

There is a display board in front of the church, and I was responsible for the December display. These words were written across the top, and under the picture of baby Jesus and His parents, the verse " 'She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' -- which means 'God with us' " Mt. 1:23 Whenever I have the chance to write the words of Scripture, with a brush and some paint during my calligraphy lessons, it seems such an honour. My writing is definitely not eloquent, but the words of our God are, and that can make anything beautiful, right?
The "male chorus" on Christmas Eve during the service. They spent the months of November and December gathering around the piano, and trying to "shroud" their activities in secrecy. It was so neat to see them leading us in worship when it came time for the "unveiling".
It seemed like so long since we'd had a potluck, and it was soo good! A bunch of families that don't usually come, and husbands of women in the church also came, which was exciting.
"Talent show" -- Pastor Kurokawa got this brain wave that we should have time on the 24th in the afternoon for those in the church to share their "hidden abilities". The kids did a Christmas song, the newly married young couple in the church sang a duet, another Philipine woman sang "Amazing Grace" and, due to the fact that Chiharu informed the pastor that I had played flute in Spring :-s, I played "O Holy Night". It was a good time.
We were at church all day on the 24th -- this is the evening Candlelight service, and the 6 readers who had the parts of narrators, Mary, the angel, etc. It's a short service that is repeated every year, but it's good to hear the story, and sing the songs, and to know that God speaks to hearts. . . and will keep speaking even after the service is over.
I bought this in Shanghai at one of the markets we walked through. I thought it was cute, and interesting, and something I could wear often for teaching and stuff. . . I still think the first two are true, the last, well, after about 20 minutes working on the buttons (the one right in the armpit almost did me in), I might be reconsidering that! ;-)
This was the little "skit" that we did for the kids on Christmas Day during the "Kizzu Kurisumasu Paatei" (got that?) 4 people from church were stuck in the baptismal tank moving the characters around with disposable chopsticks attached to the back, in time with a voice recording we had made earlier. The story was interspersed with singing. Afterwards, we played games and made Christmas trees out of cake. . . :-)
So in Japan, there's apparently a saying that whatever you did at New Year's reflects on the rest of the year. Well, this is it! I hope it's true that this year will be filled with fun and friendship.

I just had to take this picture of Sara (British), Aya (Japanese Canadian) and I on the train at 3 in the morning. (I met both of them at the Osaka International Church Bible study I used to go to.) The trains usually don't run through the night, only on New Year's Eve, so it was pretty neat to experience that. (I was surprised at how many "old people" there were too -- not meant to be disrespectful -- I think a lot of them were on their way to visit a Shinto shrine -- they have a special custom and word here to designate the first visit to a shrine of the New Year. They go to "pray" or "wish" for the health of family, happiness, safety, etc.)

After I got back to Toyota on New Year's morning, I spent the week doing a lot of relaxing, a little organizing pictures, getting together with friends and students, and cleaning (it's tradition here to do the big cleaning of the year at the very end of the year, so that everything is clean and fresh for the first. I started my cleaning on the first, which is incomprehensible for most Japanese, I think. Just reaffirming my "foreign" status, in case I forgot, I guess! When I was here 4 years ago for New Year's, I was out walking around on the 31st in the evening, and saw a man out cleaning his shop windows -- gotta get it done before midnight!!). It was really great to have some "down time" to relax.
On the second, Chiaki brought me "o-sechi ryouri", special foods that are prepared for and eating during the New Year days (1st to 3rd). Her and her mom made most of these dishes, which are eaten cold to save the women from having to work during the holidays, each of which has a special meaning. For example, in the left box on the right side, the yellow is fish eggs, which are a wish for "good multiplication" in the family, above that, the green is rolled seaweed, a word that sounds like the word for "happiness" and "celebration", the black beans in the middle left on the next box represent the desire to live a hard-working and conscientious life (the word "mame" has both meanings -- bean, and conscientious). She brought this all to me in the little black decorative box, which stacks up to make two layers, along with a traditional drink that "doesn't taste good, but just drink it because it's tradition" and chopsticks wrapped in paper with a special celebratory Chinese character on it (same as the seaweed rolls). I thought it was so sweet of her. I have to admit that there are really only a very few of the New Year's foods I actually enjoy eating, but it was neat to be able to participate in this custom.
Today, as an official end to New Year's, families eat the rice cakes they have used to decorate their homes -- grill them, put them on top of red bean soup, and enjoy! And that part of New Year's is something I definitely have no problems participating in, because I love that soup!! So, anyone wanna hang out with me next year for New Year's to celebrate "Japanese-style"?!

so I promised more pictures. . .

we're back in Shanghai here. . . with the major mode of transporting goods, it seems, as being the bicycle!! I was constantly amazed at how much they seemed to be able to stack onto those things, and get around in the crazy traffic! Junko and I actually took in the Shanghai "circus", a show of Chinese flexibility (women who could bend in completely unnatural positions and form creations out of their bodies), juggling hats, balancing plates on the top of wire sticks, jumping through metal rings, up to 10 women riding on one bike at the same time, and 5 guys on motorbikes in a metal cage on stage, 4 riding horizontally, and one vertically (I almost couldn't watch. . . :-s)
One morning, while Junko was having her pictures taken at a studio where you can put on a China dress, and have your make-up and hair done, I took a walk around the neighbourhood. (briefly considered getting my picture taken too, but figured the hair pieces wouldn't blend too well, and the thought of time by myself to explore was just way too exciting!) After having spent nearly 2 days in mainly "tourist attractions" and eating at famous and/or classy places, I was ready to just see a bit of "normal China" -- the one that the real people live in. It was probably the best part of the trip for me. Just blocks away from the brand name shops and department stores is a different world, where the people live in tiny, dark and dirty dwellings along the alleyways. Felt a little like I was "prying" with my nice warm clothes, and camera in hand. . . it's different to see it in real life and not pictures in a magazine. I caught this shot of a grandpa with his prized little one. Because of the only-child law, you sure don't see many children relative to the whole population.
The Chinese garden we visited was almost too much for words -- spectacular little angled bridges running over the carp-filled ponds, roof-ends twisting up to the sky, the ruddy colours mixed with stone, tile, dragon head statues and unique round doorways and windows to peek into such a fascinating little world.
The first night we had supper in this area -- full of shops housed in buildings created in the traditional Chinese style. It was a beautiful place to be, especially at night, as we enjoyed our steamed Chinese meat buns, butter fried spinach, shrimp and pepper dish, fried rice. . .
At the end of the walk through a small market area, we were met by this pretty surprise!

Christmas over, the New Year yet to come. . .

We had our Kids' Christmas Party at the church on Christmas Day. It was a lot of work, but it was soo neat to see everyone working together. Seriously, it felt like the others from the church who were involved were making it "theirs", and not just "doing what they had to". From creating the "characters" for Mary and the wisemen, recording voices, and putting it all together with music, as well as other preparations on the day of, I felt blessed not only by the event itself, but also the fact that I sense growth in that area in our church. Growth in being a body, one body! I was getting a bit discouraged about how easy it is for divisions and misunderstandings to happen, especially between those who have been in the church a long time, and newer people, as well as between cultures. So, that made me especially excited. . . and realize that I can't help but give thanks to God for that!! Oh yeah, there were also 47 kids there, which is huge!! For the kids' club, we had up to 30 last year, nearer 20 this year, but almost all of my English kids came, and a lot from summer. A lot of them also came with their parents (mostly moms), so it was really great for them all to see the Christmas story unfold before them in words and music, and then play some games and create "Christmas tree cakes" (cut cake in cubes, cement together with whip cream into the tree shape, roughly, and cover with colourful candies -- and it tasted good too. I recommend it!) May the words of Jesus' love speak for themselves (and hopefully that includes using us!) Thanks for being so great God :-)
Today I'm in Osaka. It feels like a really loong time since I've been here. It's really good.
I can't even say how blessed I feel with the friendships that God has given me here, and the fact that after those first 10 months in Osaka, I thought I might never be back, and now here I am, with the chance to enjoy, be encouraged by, and hopefully encourage those very friends. Tonight Fusae (I call her my Japanese mom -- I've known her now for 4 1/2 years, and she truly has been a huge encouragement and support to me -- When I come here, I come "home" to visit!) said that she remembered when I was about to leave Osaka after teaching for a year, and how I cried during that last meeting. I felt like I was going to fall apart when I had to say good-bye to her. I didn't know it at the time, but she said that she had expected I would be much more "put-together" and not so emotional about the parting. When she saw those tears, it made her feel that Japan and the people really had become special to me, and that seemed to impact her deeply. I myself hadn't even realized at the time how much I had grown to love Japan and the people I had met. . . and how much I would miss everything.
I've been thinking a lot about the fact that I have a limited time left here. Well, it is still 6 months, but the way these past (almost) 2 years have gone, I have no doubt it will feel very short. Thinking about leaving is almost too much at times. Though I obviously will and can never feel completely "at home" here, I have felt such a sense of belonging here, and it's hard to think about that fading into a memory. Who knows if or when I will be back, but I pray that I will be able to cherish the memories, look forward to the hope that I know God has planned, and, most of all, to enjoy the moment. (And I have to say, there are definitely a lot of "things" -- mostly people ;-) -- that I'm looking forward to!)
After graduating from high school, I think we all realize that life is much deeper and more "raw" than we could have imagined. I think feeling deeper is harder, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

just a sneak peak!

"Nihau" -- from Shanghai! Yeah, just took a little "weekend-trip" across the Japan Sea to have a look around this city of 17 million (give or take). . . and what a trip it was!! It was absolutely fascinating to see (what little I could in that time) a tiny bit of where the culture resembles, and also how completely different it is from Japanese society. There were other places where it reminded me of home too. . .
This is a picture of the "new Shanghai" a view across the big river that runs through the city. The big tower with the bubbles (Oriental Pearl Tower) is a look-out tower that we also went up, and a very small segment of the rows of skyscrapers lining the horizon. The downtown is packed with them, and new ones being built like crazy. Glass covered concete masses reaching up into infinity, and cranes everywhere you look -- soon the tallest tower in the world will be completed here -- somewhere over the 500 metre tall one in Taipei. Amazing, eh?
A night view -- these pictures were taken from "Old Shanghai" on the opposite side of the river, an area filled with buildings of historical significance from a city with a long and colourful past. Apparently before the war, there were many more foreigners living here, especially British and French, than there are now.
The city definitely spends a lot on lighting for their buildings, driving through downtown was amazing as almost everywhere was lit up, and you could see huge advertisements flashing across the sides of buildings. You can also see the night cruise ship taking in the view. There are so many people who frequent this riverside walk that they are making the most of it, and during the afternoon we saw a ship with a HUGE plasma screen, we're talking 50 meters across, showing the latest cell phone ad. . . the cutting edge technology was amazing!
There are two very different perspectives of this city -- looking up, it is a city of the future, one in which humans almost don't even "belong", and when you look down, you are brought back to the stark reality of daily life. Life of transportation, by bike, motorbike, cars, buses, and all of those weaving their way in what at first seems to be complete chaos, but when you look close enough, you can see how everyone knows their place in the system, plays by the rules and it works, in an uncanny way. Since, according to our guide, Shanghai drivers hate stopping (well, that's probably universal, but exaggerated a bit more here), it is amazing how they will cut in between groups of people crossing the street, and wedge their way past slower cars. Lane markings, and especially turning lanes seem to have no meaning in most cases. Pretty fascinating to watch our driver -- you could tell he was experienced!
A visit to what we hear is one of the most famous sights in Shanghai. This traditional garden was filled with walls, small doorways and buildings in the traditional Chinese style with tiled roof, and spires bending upwards on the corners. The red colour, combined with the shapes, small bridges over the water, and rocks set in the garden brought out the beauty of Chinese architechture. These round doorways are so neat!
Junko and I. Junko is one of my students -- it was her first time overseas, which was really exciting! We had a really great time at this marketplace, checking out the little shops and just taking in the sights all around us. (with more to come. . .)

Emmanuel

God with us. I've been thinking about that a little bit lately. God with us. Beside us, around us, just with us. A pretty cool thought actually. One that I don't think about often enough. How easy it is to get busy, lonely, bored, feel empty and "unfulfilled". . . If I really knew that God was with me, with us, would I -- or could I -- feel that way?
God with us. . . in an encouraging word from a friend, in a smile, in our pain, in the rain, in chaos, in the faces around us, in the gifts that we give to those we love, appreciate, and sometimes even strangers. I have been overwhelmed with God showing Himself to me in the way many of my students and those from the church have given towards shoeboxes to send to those in other Asian countries that are not as materially blessed as Japan. It touches something inside of me to see their excitement, generousity, and the way I imagine it will reach out to a child, with a tangible reminder that Someone cares. . . still cares. . . has always cared.
How often do I have those reminders? How many times a day? How many moments are there when, if I was only looking, I would see God right here with me. . . and how I could share Him with others around me. Because God's not here for just a moment, He's here for all the moments. I want to spend more moments knowing and enjoying Him.
FLN (family life network) has been asking Canadians the question: "If you could ask God one question and knew He would answer, what would it be?" So, I thought I'd ask my students -- "I want to know about all the mysteries of the world" "I want to know why I'm here" "I want to know when the end of the world is" For me? I want to know when I get to meet You.
Guess that day will come, but in the meantime, why not enjoy God with me right here, right now? God with us. . . this Christmas day. . . everyday. . . every moment. Time to get together, I think.

absolutely incredible!!

This was my little trek out to Sanage Shrine near my place on Friday. . . and my view from the parking area -- I could not get over how amazing this tree was. . .


I'm not sure if it's different varieties of Japanese maple trees or what, but the colour variation from one tree to the next is amazing -- yellow, golden, and crimson red. . .
This is a shot I took looking into a small pond beside the shrine -- isn't it neat with the reflection of the pine tree branches and rooftop, maple leaves floating on the water, and if you look closely you can even see red and yellow carp fish below the surface!

a little catching up. . .

Hallowe'en in Japan is a little different than at home -- I mean, you still see some stuff in stores, with the jack-o-lantern, ghost, witch motif, but the truth is that most people here really have no idea what the "holiday" is about. . . well, I guess when you really think about it, do we? It was a lot of fun to enjoy it with my kids, though, and especially to see them trek over to the pastor's house next door, and try to remember what they needed to say to get the candy! ;-)
On November 3rd, a "bus-load" (literally, they rented a micro-bus for the 20 of them) of people came to visit from Hirano church in Osaka. That's the church where the Kurokawas used to pastor. It was really neat to see people again (recognized a lot of faces, at least!) We went to a park nearby for a while in the afternoon (this is a huge "trampoline" play area), and the two jr. high students were my elementary students when I was teaching at that church. It was so cool to see them again! (Shuhei, boy on left, and Shio, girl on right, and Moe, my sister!)
The next day, I took a day trip with some students to Nara, a city pretty close to Osaka, and about 2 1/2 hours from here. It was a really great day! Two of the students planned out the whole day for my 2 Tuesday night classes.
Nara is famous for its deer -- and if you've been here before, you'll know that the deer pretty much rule the city. Kids run away screaming sometimes because they come right up, trying to get attention, but mostly food!

In front of the "Todaiji" -- people can put incense sticks into the ashes here -- I think it is part of a "purification" process before entering the temple.
"Todaiji" is the home of the largest Buddha statue in Japan (which, I found out on this trip, has to be clarified as the largest Buddha made by pouring metal, in this case bronze, into a mould. The eyes alone are 3 1/2 feet wide each!) The building was also amazing -- almost 200 feet wide and 160 tall -- it was made without using any nails, all pieced together by wood. Lunch was at a noodle shop, a famous one apparently -- Japanese people seem to love that sort of stuff! It was really good, though, and interesting to watch how they made everything -- there was a huge pot of boiling noodles, which they took out as people ordered and drained in a big bamboo sieve. (Sorry these pictures aren't rotated. :-s)

On our walk. . . I just love these kinds of traditional sights -- this was looking into the gateway of a temple (?) area.
At another temple in Nara -- once again, famous for housing both the oldest wooden structure in Japan, and the largest, 5-storied, pagoda. This is our whole group -- in the back, L-R, Junko, Kohey, Kazuko and front, Kimie and Kenji.
A view from one of the buildings on the grounds here. . . what a different world!

It worked!

Do you see it?! (the cranberry sauce) FYI, craisins, cranberry juice, a bit of sugar and water works pretty well. (Thanks for your encouragement Elaine -- I was about to can the whole idea!) And, the great part is that most people seemed to genuinely enjoy it too (so much for "payback" for the Japanese foods I don't like, but I was happy! :-)

Everyone came around 6, and there was still a bit of "preparation" to do before supper -- make the stuffing, potatoes, apple pie and "decorations" -- ok, does anyone remember how to fold those "fan style" napkins?? I remember doing it all the time, ok a few times, with those cloth napkins at restaurants, but I seem to have forgotten -- maybe fabric napkins are the key. . .?!
So, my students and I had a lot of fun together -- especially for me, watching them eat everything, mostly for the first time. There were 7 students, and the pastor's wife also joined us.
Yesterday in the kids' class we decorated cookies -- we've been talking about body parts, so they got to make the eyes, mouth, tummy, and whatever other little decorations they wanted to put on. I told them the white stuff was "glue", and one of them looked at me a little worried, like he wouldn't be able to eat it afterwards!
Their works of art! When I told the girl on the left that they were supposed to add the body parts, she decided to make hers a girl. . . I guess they're all body parts, eh?


Pumpkin pie -- I think we were all full before this point already. . . but looks can be deceiving. They may be "smaller" (in general) than us, but everyone had both a slice of pumpkin and apple pie (complete with whip cream and ice cream).
During supper we were talking about taking pictures, and I asked about where the "peace" or "victory" sign came from (I've heard that it started after the war?!), and no-one really knew. They asked if we did it, and I said only when we were trying to imitate Japanese people -- so, this is for all of you -- the "token Japanese shot" ;-)

Autumn -- Time for Festivals

Some lanterns at the shrine~
Each of the 8 floats used for the Koromo festival belong to the communities near downtown Toyota. They are all about 200-300 years old, and pulled on long ropes by people from the community.
Young men ride on the very top, shouting, blasting a trumpet and throwing paper like confetti out over the float, and along the street. The kids have a great time playing with the confetti all over!
All of the floats gathered in front of the station, took a little tour around the area, and then returned to their neighbourhoods. A traditional festival, with a bit of modernization (mowhawks), perhaps?!
Kimie is one of my students, and she is such a sweetheart. She often invites me out to places to experience Japanese culture and does a great job of explaining what's going on. Another great part of the day was I found out about this little restaurant. . . they serve shaved ice drizzled with syrup (we had lemon milk, which was actually supposed to be in the picture! :-s), and these desserts that are like a pancake with red or white sweet bean paste inside. . . fresh and hot, they are absolutely delicious! Definitely going to be back!!

just a little exploring!

Here is the newest member of my "family" out here. . . pretty cute, eh? Yeah, we're getting to be good friends already -- still working on names (any inspirations?) So, this is where we've been to lately. . .
It's called "Hirato bashi" (Hirato bridge), and there is a really neat pathway near the river, lined with baby bamboo trees -- I love the bamboo here!
This is the scene I fell in love with when I was driving over the bridge with some students (on our way to eat the river fish that I posted about a while back). . . I love the rocks, trees, and the river winding through.


So, for one afternoon, this was my little "sanctuary", a spot on the rocks with my feet in the water, hearing it rushing past me. . .