We got an apartment

So, besides all the paper work getting done, we offically have a new apartment. It's so cute and only 5 minutes by bike to the church. It's the same picture that I have in the blog from the other day. I'll have pictures of it once we move in next week.

Apartment search

The search for an apartment has begun. We were able to tag along with Dean Bengtson and see some of the options for housing. He looked at four different houses/apartments, but hasn't made a decision yet. Hopefully we will know more by the end of the week!! Here we are out for lunch at a ramen shop, enjoying our lunch after a little house searching.

Grasshoppers?

What a better way to start off June....than to eat grasshoppers. I hope you are as grossed out as I was! Today, in English class, one of my students brought in dried grasshoppers that were covered in soy sause and brown suger. No matter how good those two ingredients sound together, they sound TERRIBLE when you add grasshopper into the mixture. UGH!!! Anyway, I was dared to try one, so I did. CRUNCH! Let's just say, I won't ever eat them again.

Chinese Gyoza

Today 5 of my students came over to my house to make chinese Gyoza. I have one chinese student, Cho-san, who is taking English from me, she speaks zero English. Right now I am teaching her the ABC's. We communicate through Japanese. Well, today she taught me and 4 of my more advanced English students how to make chinese Gyoza. It was really fun! Gyoza is something like pot-stickers, but they are boiled and very healthy!
This is one of my students Masayo and her son. He came with her and was able to make gyoza also. He had fun time, even though he was with all ladies!
Not everyone could stay to eat, but after we finished making the gyoza, we sat down at about 4 p.m. and tried them out. They were awesome! They were so soft and tasted delicious! The whole process took about 3 hours.

Freaked Out!

Today I was working out in the front garden, as I was cutting away at some leaves I looked down in the soil and saw something that didn't belong. I jabbed whatever it was with my clippers and it was SOFT, not hard, meaning it was alive! I totally freaked out, screamed and ran over to Dan while he was teaching. I ran in saying,"There's a HUGE head of a snake in my flowerbed!!!!" He and his boy student ran over to the house. They were asking, "Where is it? Where is it?" I pointed it out and Dan used a hoe to try and move it around. Welllll.....he did move it around and low and behold was a TOAD!! not the head of a snake. I was so worked up, I couldn't relax for over an hour! I am petrafied of snakes and apparently toads too. ;) Here's a picture of Dan and his student laughing at me and holding the toad.

Togata

Yesterday was our day off, so one of my students and our pastor's wife took Dan and I to Togata onsen (hot spring) near Zao Mountain, one of Miyagi's largest mountains. After about an hours drive through the tree covered moutains, we stopped at a resturant for some lunch. Dan and I both had Tempura. It was delicious! After that, we visited a gorgeous place that is a ski area in the winter and a flower-covered mountain in the spring. The ski slopes were covered with thousands of daffodils. We stayed there about a 1/2 hour then moved on to a cheese factory that makes yummy cream cheese, ice cream and milk. Of course we had to taste test everything! The last thing we did was to go to the onsen (hot springs). We enjoyed about an hour of relaxation then headed for home. I was so relaxed I slept the whole way home!

Alpha Update

On Sunday we had another great turn out for Alpha. This week we started small group discussions and they went really well. Dan and another Japanese friend took care of all the kids that came along with their parents. They did a great job at keeping them entertained and fed! We heard great responses to the evening after Alpha came to a close for the evening. We are so thankful to the Lord for blessing this course so far. We are 2 weeks into it and have 10 more to go!

Small group 1
Small group 2
The kids at our house

Flying Home

We just got out tickets for flying back to the states! We will be flying on August 14th from Narita, JP to New York. We will stay for a few days, drop off all our luggage and finally meet our new nephew, Kenny. After spending 3 days in New York, we will fly to Minnesota and arrive in Good ole Fergus Falls on Saturday August 18th. We will be in Fergus Falls for about 1 week, then head back out east where will be settling. Can't WAIT to see you all soon!!
(Taken out past Jewett Lake road)

Model Homes

Not a whole lot has been happening this week, so I haven't been blogging, but today, our Japanese teacher took us to see model homes. We haven't ever done something like this in the states or here, so it was really fun. I love looking at houses and drawing house plans for fun. It must run in my blood! (All the men in my family are carpenters) This is the first house we walked though and it turned out to be an American style house. We loved it! If we ever build, this is what we are building! In my dreams, of course! This place was awesome!!

Entry and Dining Room

Kitchen and Bathroom

Family room off the kitchen and Dining into the Living Room

Alpha Evening

Alpha went GREAT! We had about 22 people that came; five people were non-church attenders. We had a nice dinner and got to know some new people. We are praying that everyone who came this week will continue to come, we are also expecting a few new faces next week. Keep praying that the Lord would work in the hearts of those that attended.

Shopping for ALPHA!

Today, May 6th, we're beginning Alpha at our church here in Japan. We are so excited! It starts tonight at 6:00 p.m. We had 15 people sign-up to attend and a few more that couldn't sign-up. Pray that it goes well! Since Alpha starts the evening off with a delicious meal, myself and two others went shopping yesterday to get the food that will be prepared. We had a fun time! Recently I was sent a "Flat Stanley" by a young girl in Jamestown, ND, so we see her in the pictures as well.

Visitors!

Today the Bengtson's, Naoko, and David and JoAnn Thompson came from Akita to visit us. The Thompson's are over here visiting Dean and Linda for a few weeks. It was so fun to meet them! We had a great afternoon altogether.
Naoko is an old friend of mine. She is also friends with Dean and Linda. I met her when I was in Japan the first time. She is moving to Orgeon state in August to go to graduate school.

Tiger Festival

This Tiger Festival was held north of Sendai in a small city called Nakanitta. I was my first time to go there and the drive up there was beautiful. I am not sure what the whole reason for having this Tiger festival was for, but whatever the reason, it was interesting. Young boys were under the costumes doing all the acting. It was quite entertaining. There were crowds of people here!

Here are some of the drummers that were entertaining the crowds. The group picture on the right is of (from the right)me, Miyako, Sara (a girl I just recently met), Yumiko (my student) and Hans (Miyako's husband).

Saturday Movie

I've been a bit behind on what's been happening in the last few days because I have had a cold and have not been on the computer much. So, to back up a little bit...last Saturday afternoon Dan and I were invited to one of our church members' house. Each month the Hatsumoto's invite people over to watch a movie that has something to do with Christianity, then they talk about it. This month they showed the movie, Jacob. It was really good, I was pleasantly surprised. It was spoken in English with Japanese subtitles, so we were able to watch and enjoy. After the movie the hosts had invited Dan, me and our pastor to stay for dinner. We enjoyed a nice meal together.

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.