I am SOO sorry I haven't blogged in a while I have been rather busy with school. It is crazy how much work it is to be a teacher in a culture that thinks you should work 60 hours a week. Thankfully being a foreigner I am not held the 12 hour work days.
So here are the last three weeks in a nut shell.
Three weeks ago:
I missed a day of school because my little headaches that I had been having all week turned into a migraine. :( I contributed it to culture shock. A day with my sister helped cure me of that.
Two weeks ago:
Thursday and Friday (the 10 & 11) our school had a sports festival. It was absolutely incredible!!! I took video with my sister's camera and when I figure out how to load video (and when I get her camera) I will load pictures and video of some of the girls events.
Saturday I went to acupuncture with my sister which was AMAZING and helped with the migraines. Then we had a FANTASIC lunch at California Pizza Kitchen for my roomates birthday. A whole lot of friends came to celebrate, and it was great getting to meet more of her friends, which are becoming our friends. (Pictures of this are on Facebook)
After lunch we went to coldstone and enjoyed some desert. Can you tell my roomate DOESN't like Japanese food??? Then most of the group left and my roomate, sister, co-worker and I went to The Sound of Music. The musical was great, except for the fact that is was ALL in Japanese. Thankfully it was a story line I knew, so I wasn't too confused. I actually think the Japanese kids were cuter than the American kids in the movie.
Sunday
Great day at church! A singing group from California Baptist College came to the church my sister goes to, which I also placed membership, so I guess now I can say our church. After church i came back and cleaned and relaxed till my sister came over for dinner and a movie. :)
It is SUCH a blessing having her here. It is great making up for all the time we were apart during college, and her first 3 years in Japan.
Last week:
The California singing group came to our school. The girls LOVED them! They also came and sang a song at the end of one of my classes, which was so great to see and hear the group in such a small little room. I also had a pretty rough week at school. The weather has been this hot humid mixture, which is worse than I have ever experienced in my life. By the time I have walked the 15 minuted to school my shirt is wet with sweat, and any make-up I was stupid enough to put on is now GONE!! Hopefully my hair and body will get used to all of it soon. Oh I also got to experience the disappointment of students NOT behaving or doing assignments. I don't feel like going into huge detail, but lets just say I had 12 students not turn in a MAJOR assignment so the got detention. Of the 12, 8 came to detention the first day. Then we told the other's if they didn't come Friday they would have detention ALL next week. Guess how many came!?!?! ONE, so 3 girls will get to be with me EVERY day after school this week. I really think it is more punishment for me than for them, but such is life as a teacher.
Saturday I cleaned and got ready for a barbeque we had for one of my classes. Apparently before I came these girls invited themselves over to our house to eat, so when I did arrive I helped plan a day Bridgette (my roomate, and co-worker) and I could have them over. It turned out to be SOOO much fun! Even though some of the girls don't speak a lot of English they all TRIED to speak English. Just the time to get together outside of school, when we are all more relaxed and able to have fun and joke around was SO nice. When I walked them to the station to head home they all gave me a big hug bye, and thanked me and told me they loved me. For those who may not know...that is HUGE in Japan. Most of the Japanese people are not affectionate, and most of them don't even tell their parents they love them. So I went to bed with a heavy and thankful heart, because I know why God has brought me here.
Well that is all I feel up to tonight. I will tell about my day today another time. Have a Happy Fathers day! Blessings and Love to all.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Sinus Infection
After a week of sniffles, coughing and sneezing I decided to go see the doctor. Turns out I am not just allergic to things in OK, and TX. I'm also allergic to things in Japan, AND I have a sinus infection to go with it. This usually happens to me around christmas and or Thanksgiving when I switch back and forth from OK allergies to TX allergies. So now I have had my welcome to Japan sinus infection. Now lets just hope I don't get another one when I come back in August after being home for summer break. It sure stinks getting bad genes. For someone who loves nature and being outdoors it is awful being allergic to so much of it. Although God's natural creation makes happy and feel closer to him, so bring on the sniffles and possible sinus infections. The nature is worth it.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
I don't know where all this is going...
This was a great weekend. It's so humbling the way God uses people to inspire, and convict us. The lesson at Church this afternoon was about dreams. What we dreamed when we were younger, and then turned it into what are God's dreams for your life. There were so many great things the guy said. THEN, on the train and on my walk home I was listening to my ipod and these are the lyrics to the song I was listening to.
You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what's been done
You hold the present and all that's to come
Until your everlasting kingdom
Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation
Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what's been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come
Lord, we don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
~ Newsboys, Lord (I don't know)
I never in my life dreamed I would be teaching and ministering in Japan. Yet, even though I have only been here a little bit, I don't feel like this is what God really has dreamed for my life. I am already blessed beyond belief to be here, and by the people I have already met. I know this is part of his plan and dream for my life. As they said this morning, God still has more chapters to my life's book.
My heart is so heavy right now. I can't really explain it. I feel so overwhelmed with blessings. I don't understand why God can so richly bless my life, when other people are struggling just to get by.
God I don't know where all this is going, or how it is going to all work out, lead us to peace that is past understanding. Thank you so much for all your blessings.
You are the author of knowledge
You can redeem what's been done
You hold the present and all that's to come
Until your everlasting kingdom
Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
You are the God of tomorrow
Turning the darkness to dawn
Lifting the hopeless with hope to go on
You are the rock of all salvation
Lord, I don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead me to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
Oh, Lord, you are the author
Redeeming what's been done
You hold us in the present
And all that is to come
Lord, we don't know where all this is going
Or how it all works out
Lead us to peace that is past understanding
A peace beyond all doubt
~ Newsboys, Lord (I don't know)
I never in my life dreamed I would be teaching and ministering in Japan. Yet, even though I have only been here a little bit, I don't feel like this is what God really has dreamed for my life. I am already blessed beyond belief to be here, and by the people I have already met. I know this is part of his plan and dream for my life. As they said this morning, God still has more chapters to my life's book.
My heart is so heavy right now. I can't really explain it. I feel so overwhelmed with blessings. I don't understand why God can so richly bless my life, when other people are struggling just to get by.
God I don't know where all this is going, or how it is going to all work out, lead us to peace that is past understanding. Thank you so much for all your blessings.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Dumb Blogger and Picture Perfect
So I tried to change my blog background, but it didn't really work. I am EXTREMELY un-educated in how to make it look better. SO if any of you reading this know how, I will gladly let you help me, or even just change it for me. ( I know I would have to give my user information).
So I just wanted to say that, not I will actually tell you something about my day in Nihon-land (Japan).
My roomate told me this morning as I was about to head out the door that she wasn't feeling well and if she began to feel better later she'd come to school. Well she didn't make it to school, but when I got home today the house smelled of pinesol, and the floors were spotless. I don't know about you, but when I'm sick i sure as heck don't get the urge to clean, much less mop the whole house! I should also tell you our ENTIRE house has to be swept and mopped, because it is all hard wood or tile.
OH and on top of that the school hired a professional photographer to come today and take pictures of the school for their yearbook, and pamphlets for the year. Guess who they wanted to take the pictures of??? Bridgette, my roomate, but she was at home "sick". So who was the lucky person who got to have their picture taken ALL over the school with students? Me! So I pretended to be talking to to students or telling them something important. They took pictures in my classroom, where we were re-doing a speaking part of the lesson, just to make it look good for the pictures. They also took pictures as I was leaving and posed students in the hall with me talking. Then I went to my desk and they had students take pictures there. Then we went outside to take more posed pictures. Needless to say I was the teacher model for the day. There have been some days in my life I have enjoyed taking pictures, but today was not one of them.
In some ways I can't wait to see the pictures, because I want to see if any of them actually turned out good, then the other part of me doesn't because I felt like I looked AWFUL today. Because it was cold and rainy. Not good weather for looking cute. Oh well, life goes on. Hopefully they will re-take pictures next year and choose a new model for their pictures.
So I just wanted to say that, not I will actually tell you something about my day in Nihon-land (Japan).
My roomate told me this morning as I was about to head out the door that she wasn't feeling well and if she began to feel better later she'd come to school. Well she didn't make it to school, but when I got home today the house smelled of pinesol, and the floors were spotless. I don't know about you, but when I'm sick i sure as heck don't get the urge to clean, much less mop the whole house! I should also tell you our ENTIRE house has to be swept and mopped, because it is all hard wood or tile.
OH and on top of that the school hired a professional photographer to come today and take pictures of the school for their yearbook, and pamphlets for the year. Guess who they wanted to take the pictures of??? Bridgette, my roomate, but she was at home "sick". So who was the lucky person who got to have their picture taken ALL over the school with students? Me! So I pretended to be talking to to students or telling them something important. They took pictures in my classroom, where we were re-doing a speaking part of the lesson, just to make it look good for the pictures. They also took pictures as I was leaving and posed students in the hall with me talking. Then I went to my desk and they had students take pictures there. Then we went outside to take more posed pictures. Needless to say I was the teacher model for the day. There have been some days in my life I have enjoyed taking pictures, but today was not one of them.
In some ways I can't wait to see the pictures, because I want to see if any of them actually turned out good, then the other part of me doesn't because I felt like I looked AWFUL today. Because it was cold and rainy. Not good weather for looking cute. Oh well, life goes on. Hopefully they will re-take pictures next year and choose a new model for their pictures.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Do I need to know this???
So today was our first teachers meeting. Need I remind you that since I'm in Japan it was ALL in Japanese. Thankfully they gave the english teachers a translator, but did she translate everything....NO!
I finally asked, what's he saying, and she would tell me one sentence for the last 5 minutes of talking. REALLY?!?!?
While the meeting was going on Bridgette, my roommate and co-worker was smart and brought papers to grade while sitting there. She was grading Dictionary quizzes that we decided to give every one of our classes. The purpose of the test was to make sure they all had dictionaries, and to make sure they knew how to use them. So for each word they had to write the Japanese word, and then write a sentence in English using the word they had to look up. One of the words was neck....want to know what the student put? My cat is necking me. When I read this I started laughing... IN the middle of the teacher's meeting. Also I should add that in Japanese culture, you have to be respectful of those talking. So I initially felt bad for laughing but I couldn't help it. To make matters worse the lady that was supposed to be translating tapped me and said shhh he's talking about how the students have been having bad behavior, you shouldn't be talking or laughing. After she said that I was a little annoyed because out of the 10 minutes this new TOP (what they call principles, and authority figures in the school) sensei (teacher) all she told me was that they had been talking about student behavior. Did they tell us how to handle it? (Not that I have really had any problems in my classes) Did they mention behaviors to be looking for? She didn't tell me a thing. I was clueless.
THEN, after an hour I was thinking surely they have been saying more important things than, keep your desk clean, and watch for girls trying to fix there hair during class and chapel. So I asked the translator, "Is he saying anything we need to know?" She told me yes...and that was it. Not yes, he's telling us ..... She just said. "Yes" So at that point I completely quit listening and started counting ceiling tiles, or looking around the room to see how many teachers had fallen asleep, because Japanese people can sleep whenever and where ever they feel tired. When I looked around I could only see 3 sleeping, and I can't remember how far I got on the ceiling tiles before it was time to go. Afterwords my rommie and I decided we didn't feel like walking home in the rain and fixing dinner so we went out for Pasta, and got a cab for the ride home.
I finally asked, what's he saying, and she would tell me one sentence for the last 5 minutes of talking. REALLY?!?!?
While the meeting was going on Bridgette, my roommate and co-worker was smart and brought papers to grade while sitting there. She was grading Dictionary quizzes that we decided to give every one of our classes. The purpose of the test was to make sure they all had dictionaries, and to make sure they knew how to use them. So for each word they had to write the Japanese word, and then write a sentence in English using the word they had to look up. One of the words was neck....want to know what the student put? My cat is necking me. When I read this I started laughing... IN the middle of the teacher's meeting. Also I should add that in Japanese culture, you have to be respectful of those talking. So I initially felt bad for laughing but I couldn't help it. To make matters worse the lady that was supposed to be translating tapped me and said shhh he's talking about how the students have been having bad behavior, you shouldn't be talking or laughing. After she said that I was a little annoyed because out of the 10 minutes this new TOP (what they call principles, and authority figures in the school) sensei (teacher) all she told me was that they had been talking about student behavior. Did they tell us how to handle it? (Not that I have really had any problems in my classes) Did they mention behaviors to be looking for? She didn't tell me a thing. I was clueless.
THEN, after an hour I was thinking surely they have been saying more important things than, keep your desk clean, and watch for girls trying to fix there hair during class and chapel. So I asked the translator, "Is he saying anything we need to know?" She told me yes...and that was it. Not yes, he's telling us ..... She just said. "Yes" So at that point I completely quit listening and started counting ceiling tiles, or looking around the room to see how many teachers had fallen asleep, because Japanese people can sleep whenever and where ever they feel tired. When I looked around I could only see 3 sleeping, and I can't remember how far I got on the ceiling tiles before it was time to go. Afterwords my rommie and I decided we didn't feel like walking home in the rain and fixing dinner so we went out for Pasta, and got a cab for the ride home.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Best and Worst of Costco
Yesterday was my first trip to Costco. It turned into quite the adventure, because you don't realize how heavy everything you buy gets. I also didn't keep in mind how far I would have to carry it home, and on and off trains.
So for the best- The food! I never thought I would enjoy hot dogs, pizza, and churro's as much as I did at Costco. part of the enjoyment could have been the fact that I hadn't had American food like that, and for that cheep in about 2 weeks. Which really doesn't seem like it's been that long.
The worst- Hands down having to carry a HUGE bag full of food on and off trains and about 2 1/2 miles home up a HUGE hill.
Also on the worst list, is a worst dress candidate. I wish I had gotten a picture because if this girl had been in America I would have thought this girl was a prostitute, but in Japan it is quite acceptable. Okay so she was wearing a mid-drif, TIGHT scoop neck pink shirt, with tight washed out jean capri's. Then to top it all off she was wearing 5 inch clear platform heels. However even though they were clear, the toe/ball of the foot platform area had flowers in it- like it was hollow almost. It was the most bazaar outfit I have ever seen. Oh I almost forgot to mention her long blond and brown spiral weave in her hair.
Anyway she looked quite interesting. At a later time I will have to share some more crazy things I have seen since being in Japan.
I did make it home safe, and the trip was well worth the block of cheese that I got for ONLY 800 yen ($8.00).
So for the best- The food! I never thought I would enjoy hot dogs, pizza, and churro's as much as I did at Costco. part of the enjoyment could have been the fact that I hadn't had American food like that, and for that cheep in about 2 weeks. Which really doesn't seem like it's been that long.
The worst- Hands down having to carry a HUGE bag full of food on and off trains and about 2 1/2 miles home up a HUGE hill.
Also on the worst list, is a worst dress candidate. I wish I had gotten a picture because if this girl had been in America I would have thought this girl was a prostitute, but in Japan it is quite acceptable. Okay so she was wearing a mid-drif, TIGHT scoop neck pink shirt, with tight washed out jean capri's. Then to top it all off she was wearing 5 inch clear platform heels. However even though they were clear, the toe/ball of the foot platform area had flowers in it- like it was hollow almost. It was the most bazaar outfit I have ever seen. Oh I almost forgot to mention her long blond and brown spiral weave in her hair.
Anyway she looked quite interesting. At a later time I will have to share some more crazy things I have seen since being in Japan.
I did make it home safe, and the trip was well worth the block of cheese that I got for ONLY 800 yen ($8.00).
Monday, May 24, 2010
Last welcome surprise!
So upon arriving to Japan my sister has had all sorts of surprises. The first night I'm home my roomate cooked me dinner and had surprise guests. The following week we went out to dinner at a Shbu Shabu restaurant which is special to Japan. Then Saturday she surprised me with a massage. This past weekend (Friday) my sister surprised me once again with tickets to the musical Dreamgirls. It was the traveling group from New York. So it was in ENGLISH and it was SOO Amazing! I have officially decided I have the best sister in the world.
I surprisingly think I can get used to living in a city and having SO many great things to go and see all the time. The only problem is eventually my funds would run out.
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