Miho's Going Away Party

This morning we had a "Going Away"party for my student Miho. She is moving to Chiba, near Tokyo. Everyone came over to my house around 10:30 a.m. and we had a tea ceremony, given by one of my other students, whom you see in the picture. It was my first time having any kind of formal tea ceremony done in front of me. It was quite interesting! After the tea, we had some sweets and chatted. It was a really great morning and good way to send off Miho-san.

From the left: Tokuko, Junko, Masayo, Miho, Hiromi, Yoshie

Pizza party

Recently my Wednesday night high school/college age class has had some new students join, so on Wednesday night we had a pizza party instead of a formal class to welcome the new ones. We spoke lots of English and everyone enjoyed eating pizza. From the left is Manami, Kohei (the only guy), Sayaka, Rie and Kyoko.

Dan's adventure! Racial Profiling??

Nihongo de wakarimasen! That would be the easiest way to tell people in Japan that you DO NOT understand Japanese. It comes in handy!

What started out as a short bike ride to run some errands turned into quite an adventure. This afternoon I, Dan, went on a nice bike ride to the Post Office, the Bank, the Library to return movies and a short stop at the corner store to pick up some much needed groceries. Along the way, I decided that since it was such a nice day I would ride all the way to the Grocery store since the Library is half way there anyway.

On the way back is when the fun begins. We have three bikes here at the house we live in, all passed down from former missionaries and the English program. Two are Japanese bikes (one red and one blue with baskets on the front and back) and one an American mountain bike with a basket added to the back for carrying things. The Japanese bikes are a bit small for me and my legs get really sore from riding them, so I usually ride the Mountain bike, especially on longer bike rides, like to the Grocery store. So that is the bike I was riding today.

On the way back to the house I was riding on this sort of side walk and wasn't more than a block or two from the house when a Police car drives by me. Those of you who know me well will know that I am no stranger to being pulled over. In fact the Police LOVE me. I have been pulled over in every state I have lived in and a few times in the states in between. I have been given tickets for things that I have done, and some that I have not. I have been let go with a warning, i even once got in a car accident with an off duty cop... of course that one was my fault. I have been escorted home by cops, hand cuffed and even spent a fun night in a holding cell. My Grandfather was a NYC cop and so is my brother in Law...cops and I have a sort of Love-Hate relationship. Apparently this extends all the way to the FAR EAST in Japan.

When this Police car passed me I looked over and saw that there were 3 cops in the car, one driving, one in the passenger seat and one in the rear of the car. It slowed down, honked at me and two cops got out. What am I getting a biking ticket?? Was I speeding?? I stopped not knowing what I did wrong and I got off my bike. One police officer came over to speak to me with the other standing behind him with some sort of clip board and a pen. The other drove off in the car so as not to block traffic on the road. Again I have no idea what is going on. The first cop starts speaking to me a mile a minute in Japanese and before I get to tell him, he notices that confused look on my face and asks 'Nihongo de wakarimasu ka', which is him asking me if I understand Japanese and I say 'Wakarimasen' (I don't understand) and we both know we are in for a tough conversation. He tries to speak English to me managing to ask me where the Safty Number for my bike is... the SAFETY WHAT??? I have no idea what he is talking about. He manages to convey to me somehow that he is checking to make sure the bike is not stolen... STOLEN Are you kidding me? I am NOT making this up. This could only happen to me, I have all the luck with Cops. He next proceeds to ask me in broken English, "bike where buy", (otherwise known as 'where did you buy this bike') and while I am contemplating how in the wolrd I am going to tell this man that I did not buy the bike, I have no idea where the "safety Number" is, I cannot prove that it is not stolen, the bike was handed down to me from the English program and former English teachers, Please Don't send me to jail... Again... God Stepped In!

It just so happens that the spot that the police "pulled" me and my bike over, is right next to an apartment building. This building also happens to be where the Church Secretary for the church I work at lives. She is usually at the church around 3 but today she just happend to be home for some reason. She also just happened to be walking out of her home and saw me with the Cops. So from over my shoulder I here Dan-san what is it? What wrong?

Thank You God!

Though Keiko-san (the secretary) speaks very little English, the police officer was able to explain the situation to her. She could not translate to me but I had figured out enough of what was going on to answer her anyway. I told her the bike was not mine but belonged to the English program and that it was a former English teachers bike that was left here for future teachers. She understood enough that she was able to explain the situation to the Police Officer and he let me off the hook, I guess?! The Lord works in mysterious ways, but he is always there.

I guess I will not be riding that bike for awhile until I can figure out what to do about a safety number. But hey, at least I got yet another fun adventure to tell everyone.

God Bless.

Bus Tour

Yesterday was awesome! Dan, myself and five of our friends took a bus tour down to the next prefecture. The bus toured all over, to various tourist spots while driving though the mountains. We started out at 8:00 a.m. and were home at 7:30 p.m. It was a full day, but very memorable!

After a 3 hour bus ride we were dropped off at Aizu Wakamatsu train station. We took a scenic train tour that us to a famous straw roofed train station. I have never seen anything like it. On the inside there was a fire pit that continously burned to heat the station.

After seeing straw-roofed train station, we hopped back onto the bus, ate some lunch (good ole rice!), then headed to Ouuji. Ouuji is a town where all the houses have straw-roofs. It was pretty cool! The flags that you see flying in the picture are Koi fish flags that are hung every year for boys. May 5th is children's day in Japan and Koi fish are hung to encourage boys in strength and courage. In the spring koi fish swim up river and waterfalls, so parents hang koi outside to encourage boys to have strength and courage in life.

After visiting Ouuji, we went to this great place (I don't know the name) that had a suspension bridge that connected two mountain sides together. The water was aqua green and gorgeous. In the distance there was also a beautiful red bridge that you can see in the distance.

The last and MOST beautiful place we visited was Tsurugajo Castle. There were hundreds of cherry blossoms in full bloom and made this white castle look gorgeous. We walked around the grounds and looked at all cheery blossoms, we had ice cream and took our picture in kimono and samurai outfits. It was a wonderful day and is now ranked as one my most memorable trips.

Nishikoen Hanami

As you may have read in some of my recent blogs, there is such a thing called Hanami (Cherry blossom viewing party). On Friday evening we went with some of our friends to Nishikoen park to view the cherry blossoms with only the lantern lights. In my estimation, it is more beautiful than seeing them in the daytime. Vendors bring in food and drinks, while loads of people come with their friends and family to spend time sitting under the cherry blossoms. We had such a nice time!! We even tried chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles!

Picnic

Today was beautiful, so Dan and I decided to go on a picnic in between my classes. There is this really great park that is up the hill from our house that just so happens to be surrounded by cherry blossoms! We went up there with our little lunch and tea and had a great time.

Welcome to Japan party

My student, Yumiko, had a "Welcome to Japan" party for Rachel lastnight at her house. Dan and I were invited, so we went for a few hours. Rachel is from England and is touring around Asia for 10 months on her own. We got along so well. I even invited her over for dinner on Sunday night. She's got a great accent too! Here is Dan and Yumiko's husband. They really have a lot of fun talking and trying to communicate.
The man on the left is named Toru-san. We call him Otosan (father) because for the longest time we couldn't remember his name and now that's all we call him. He's our Japanese teacher's husband.
Here are some of the people that were there. Yumiko (the host) is the one in red.

Johgi-Nyorai Temple

Today instead of having our weekly Japanese class our teacher and a few others, picked us up and took us to Johgi-Nyorai Temple. It was about 30 minutes from Ayashi on the out skirts of Miyagi perfecture. Here is (from the left) Masako, Nobuko, Yumiko, Rachel and Dan standing in front of the temple. Rachel is a girl who is visiting Yumiko from England. She has taken a year off from her life in England and is traveling around Asia. What a daring girl!! Here is Dan hitting this huge gong. It was sooo loud. Lots of people were sounding it today, so he tried it out too.

This is a foundtain that you are suppose to use for taking a drink before entering the temple or for washing your hands. I thought it looked to freaky to anything with, so I didn't try anything. The next picture is of the inside of the temple. Everything was decorated with gold and wood. It was very interesting to actually be able to enter a temple, usually we can't.

This 5 story is pretty interesting. It is one 1 of 32 pagoda's that all completely made from wood in Japan. We even watched a short video on the making of it. Everything is built tongue and groove. The only sort of nails that were used were wood ones that came from the remains of larger pieces of wood. Quite interesting. Also, Yumiko, who is a famous painter in Miyagi prefecture, was one of two artist that painted the artwork on the inside of the pagoda. It was her and her mentor who painted everything. The other picture of the gardens behind the temple. They were very pretty and peaceful.

We tried some fired Tofu which turned out to be delicious, but not so great for my system! It was pretty greasy! Kinda like cheese curds. The last thing we saw as we were leaving was this huge water dam that supplies Sendai city with all of it's water. I have never seen a huge dam like this. It was so pretty. It was crazy to look at both sides of the dam and see one side full of water and other side a big empty valley.

Hanami

This afternoon my students from Minami Yoshinari Church, Dan, Pastor Zenniya and Yoko Narita had a picnic celebrating the blooming of the Sakura (cherry blossoms) trees. This event, a picnic under the sakura, is a Japanese tradition. It was about 55 today and sunny, GREAT weather for Hanami! This is my first time ever seeing cherry blossoms blooming in Japan. Last time I was here, I was in the hospital during this week.

Here we are sitting along a pathway near a small river and close to the cherry blossoms.

Alpha Team!

Tonight we had our first Alpha training session. It went really well and we are so thankful for the six other individuals that are helping with the Alpha course! From the left: Junko Sasaki, Maya Stensvaag, Manami Sato, Yoko Sasaki, Ayumi and Hiromitsu Sasaki.

Tree Trimmer

This morning I looked out my kitchen window to see my neighbor giving a MUCH needed trim to the bushes that separate our two properties. I have never met this neighbor, but after today I am going to. He started by cutting off the top of the bushes to even it out, then came around to our side, laid down tarps and started trimming the whole length of the bushes. After he was finished he picked up his tarps and put all the trimmings in bags and pulled out some of the weeds in out flower bed. Talk about a great neighbor!!! Do you have a neighbor like that? Are you that sort of neighbor? He really rocked my way of thinking when it comes to being neighborly. He ended up doing a fabulous job and the row of bushes in our backyard now look so nice.

Goodbye Stephanie, AnnMarie and Janine

Stephanie, Janine and AnnMarie left this morning at 8:30 a.m. They were up and at 'em at 6:00 a.m! They were such wonderful guests and we had a very nice time with them here. We are really looking forward to seeing them again after moving out to Long Island.

Matsushima Monday

Today we all went out to Matsushima to do some sightseeing. We took a train out from our house, then took a ferry over from Shiogama to Matsushima. This way we were able to see all the islands as we entered the bay.

We got some great pictures of the oyster farms, which was especially interesting for Janine since this is in her line of work. And here's Stephanie catching some fresh Pacific breeze!

Here is AnnMarie, Stephanie, Janine and Dan all eating raw oysters at a resturant. We stopped there around 1 p.m and had some oysters and soba noodles. After lunch we walked across this large red bridge and noticed that all four of us girls were experiencing some kind of crazy stactic electricity. It was really funny and strange!

This big red bridge led us out to one island that we could explore. It was very cool to be on one of these islands and get a better view of the trees and the water. Before we went home we finished out the day with some ice cream and shopping.