Nomad Life - The Beginning

Our last day in our apartment was a day of final packing, cleaning and more cleaning.
We got dirty from the moment we walked outside because of the heavy "superhero" winds that created dust clouds. We quickly realized our need for a second shower and soon that was all we were looking forward to...in addition to the feeling of freedom....at the end of the day.

That time came and we drove away with a car packed full of stuff. Some of it was stuff we were taking and still need to somehow condense a bit more, some of it stuff we were still giving away to friends and a few baskets of food for us to live off during the rest of our time in Japan.

That night we stayed with Sarah and Andy (and Claire and Jack) Landon, who are graciously letting us stay at their place for the time being.

Our nomad life began with a nice Sunday morning at church. We got to talk to many of our friends and reassure them that we would have one more Sunday with our Mito Church family before we leave Japan (FYI: April 15th).

After church had finished, we spent most of the lunch hour talking to people, and then we left.....to return to our "old apartment" to do that little extra cleaning I felt needed to be done to prepare it for the next AET couple to live there.

We took our last item to the recycle shop to get the little amount of money we could get for it....and while there I looked through the T-shirts, just to see.....if just maybe....I could find that Oklahoma Christian T-shirt Derrick had brought there a while back. It was a T-shirt we got for free, and then got paint on while having fun with the kids in Cambodia after our paint job at a small local school within the Angkor Watt area. A shirt we didn't realize they would favor over some of the nicer clothes in our give-away bag.

I found it!
The price they had put on it was 1,050 yen!! (The equivalent of about $15)

And by the end of day one, the feeling of being free started to sink in.

Day two we went to our dear friend Eloise's house to help her box up a LOT of clothes to send to a charity organization.

We had a ton of fun up North and are starting to get used to not having to worry about time.

That night one of our Japanese friends, Sakamoto Sensei, called and wanted to do dinner......she came late and we just went out for snacks and drinks. She is a crazy Japanese lady who is always traveling and happy! One of the best Japanese teachers we ever had! Thank you Sakamoto sensei for everything!

Life since the earthquake/tsunami 1-D

Fourth and Final part of my first report:

How church members have taken measures to do relief work

The Mito church building has some damage, but not enough to worry about now. Soon after the disaster happened, when things were just starting to cool down, Mito church was basically bombarded with questions and offers like “How can we help?”, “I want to come do relief work, what can I do?”, “Where can I send money?”, “What does Mito church plan to do now?”, etc. Mito church was not in a position to really do anything. We were still waiting in line for enough gas to drive across town, let alone gas to drive hours up North. Highways surrounding Mito were destroyed in some places and other roads were blocked or ruined. Some people in Mito were still struggling to find enough food and water. Actual relief organizations were having enough trouble getting through to the authorities and the before mentioned difficulties, let alone a small church who had never done this before.

Mito church members knew there was a need, they knew there were people willing to help, but at that time, all we could do was plan and receive funds. Currently, Mito church and other churches in the area have joined forces to put that plan into action. Although Mito church has taken on the responsibility of receiving and organizing financial funds, members from several churches are working together to organize the relief efforts. These churches have formed a committee for “Churches of Christ East Japan Aid”, made up of 10 members from 7 or 8 churches from multiple prefectures. This Committee sent a first convoy up to Sendai to help in Ishinomaki and Hachinohe the first week of May. The ministers involved in this organization hope to send a small or large convoy as often as once a week; a group of people able and willing to serve and carrying as many necessary items to give away as possible.

Recently, this committee made the decision to select three people who will be supported and commissioned to specifically focus on this job of relief efforts. These three people will lead the convoys to the North and will organize the church’s relief efforts. The members who have received this commission are Hiroaki Akahoshi, Gaku Osugi and Emiko Namae. Please pray for these three as they embark on this endeavor for God. Pray that God’s light may shine through them and pray that the people of Japan will know that He is God. Even though these three will focus solely on these relief efforts, the Church of Christ East Japan Aid committee members are still organizing, recruiting, equipping and sending many volunteers from several areas. They are managing work opportunities in four or five prefectures, sending reports and keeping up with communication with churches in Japan and communicating with international donors.

If you decide to support this work by sending funds to Mito Church, please know that your money will go to these relief effort convoys. Some money will go to buying blankets, clothes, food, etc. for the victims to help them live more comfortably. Some will go to the gas and transportation to get from Mito to the Northern area. Some will go to supporting Gaku, Hiroaki and Emiko for their work. Some may go to other efforts of relief work that are noticed as needed. Please support Japanese churches in this endeavor to spread God’s love. For more information, you can check this blog: http://eastjapanrelief.wordpress.com/ .


To help financially from the States, please send donations through the Park Avenue Church of Christ, where Dwight Albright is gathering and sending funds to Mito. For more information please go to the Park Avenue Church of Christ homepage. http://www.parkave.org/ .

To help financially from Europe (or other), you can wire funds directly to the Mito Church’s bank account, but we ask that you gather funds from multiple churches and send all of the funds from one country together.
Please ask me for the bank information and I will send you an email.



Thank you for your prayers and concern,

Miranda Brazle Logwood

Life since the earthquake/tsunami 1-C

The experience of the days of the earthquake from our perspective in Mito

It was a Friday. Most people were at work. Teachers and students were in class. My school was lucky, because of a special schedule that day the students had gone home at 2:30. I had just made crepes with my 6th graders when they all hurried out to the playground for the school goodbye, before dispersing to go home. The kids gone, teachers went back to the teachers’ room or to their class room to clean up. At 2:40, the earthquake hit. We are used to decent sized earthquakes here, so at first we just looked at each other wondering how long it would last. When we realized it wasn’t stopping right away and that the shelves were shaking harder than usual, we unanimously decided to run outside. Now, they always say, if a disaster happens, leave everything and run. I’ve always said, if a disaster happens, I’ll grab my cell phone and run. Well, I forgot my cell phone. We all just ran outside and waited. We spent the next hour or two going back inside and running back out when a new one came. We stood out on the playground for about an hour with the after-school kids until we felt it was finally safe to go back inside. Some teachers drove around to make sure students got home safely. Other teachers searched the school for damage. All in all, the earthquake was big enough to be scary, but small enough to still be exciting. I would be lying if I said I didn’t think the experience was kind of cool. Our school didn’t incur too much real damage, so it was difficult for me to be in a state of emergency.

Even after leaving school and going home my feelings were more of excitement and wondering what work will be like on Monday. I hadn’t yet realized the extent of what had happened. Traffic lights were out. Some of the roads had cracks or had simply sunk in, creating huge bumps. When we got home we realized that water and electricity were out over a large area….we had no idea how large. We also learned a whole new way of interpreting the sentence “Our home is a mess!” But that was the extent of our worries.

We decided to drive around and check on some of our friends. Phones were still not working, so no matter how much we tried to call or message, we didn’t get through to anyone. We met up with Luke and Emily first. They joined us as we drove on to look for Chelsea and Kendon. We all got together and drove back to our place to keep each other company and try to share food for dinner. We wanted to drive around more to look for other people, but it was getting late and we needed to spare gas. So we just waited, and tried our phones every once in a while. During the course of the evening, more people made it to our place and we were able to enjoy good fellowship.

It wasn’t until later that evening that we realized how big this really was! Up until this point, it was just an earthquake that knocked out water and electricity. Then someone got a phone call from their mom. “Are you Ok? I’m seeing pictures of the tsunami and I’m worried!” We all just laughed. “What tsunami? We aren’t anywhere near a tsunami! We just had a big earthquake. That’s all.” Then we started hearing more about the tsunami and seeing pictures and videos on the news. That’s when we started realizing that this was bigger than ‘just an earthquake’.

That night, none of us got much sleep. Between the shakes of the earthquakes, the readiness to jump out of bed and run outside, the sweat from sleeping in my clothes, the constant sound of helicopters and ambulances and the worries of our large bookshelf falling on top of me, my dreams were laden with all of those same sounds and feelings, waking me up as often as possible.

Throughout that week, many things happened. People lined up at grocery stores and gas stations for hours. Food and gas were being tightly rationed. Little by little different parts of the area got electricity and water back. Some areas got utilities back within a day or two; some had to wait longer than a week. We started hearing more and more about the nuclear disaster and evacuations. All the while the victims of the tsunami were adding up to more and more missing and dead people.

Mito was still coping with the electricity, water, food and gas shortages in addition to damaged property. The world was worried about the radiation and watching the tsunami disaster. AETs in Mito and Mito church members were feeling torn between getting their life back on track, fleeing because of the radiation dangers, or planning how to get gas to drive up North with help.

Mito city, our school employers and our colleagues all did their best to not let the dangers and disaster further upset their lives. The last week of classes and graduation happened as planned in the elementary schools. By the time opening ceremony started a new year at the beginning of April, things were for the most part back to normal in Mito’s schools. Many gyms are still not safe to use, some schools could not have school lunch for a few weeks because the kitchens were not usable and school earthquake drills have a new meaning, but other than a few things, life is back on track here for the average person.

Life since the earthquake/tsunami 1-B

How Christians in Mito reach out to the community and the world

The Mito family has two main ministries that have been going strong for several years and other smaller ministries daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly. As already shown, the people here are also open to new ways of showing God’s love and are more than willing to go to strange places, do hard work and serve new people.

Just like any other country, there are many people who have lost homes and the ability to take care of themselves. They live on the streets, eat what they can and just barely survive. In Japan, homeless people are not just looked down upon, but they are typically ignored even as a member of society. If you didn’t know Mito had homeless people, you just wouldn’t know. Mito church gathers clothes and food for Mito’s homeless and once a month a group of people gets together to make and serve a nice lunch and disperse necessary items. With some of these people, we have created a special relationship and we hope they are able to see God despite their troubles.

Japanese people are becoming more and more aware of the need to learn English. People pay upwards of $40 for a private English lesson with a native speaker. We offer a series of English conversation classes, much like Let’s Start Talking, with our own materials called English Bible Class (EBC) for free. Some people just come for the English conversation. Some people realize that they are learning new things about God and want to know more. Some people decide to give their lives to God because they have learned to accept Him into their hearts. Through EBC we have many activities to reach out to EBC students and their friends. We have parties, a talent show, A Christmas party and other fun activities where we can share God’s love.

Other ways Mito members reach out to people include weekly Bible studies, visiting college campuses to talk to the students, small concerts, adventures in the park, group outings, etc. The newest big ministry that the Mito members are excited about is Joel’s work with street children in Cambodia. Joel goes to Singapore and Cambodia two or three times a year. This past year, around 10 members of Mito’s church family joined him in this endeavor, more have committed to go this coming year and everyone has helped raise money. This family is becoming more and more aware of people’s needs and how we can help those needs. Many members are eager to help with the relief work for the tsunami victims through the church’s newly organized endeavor.

Life since the earthquake/Tsunami - Report 1-A

Dear friends and family,

As you know, March 11th was a dark day in Japan. Since the tsunami hit the coastal area in Northern honshu and the earthquake affected an even larger area of Japan, causing the nuclear disaster, many people have gotten their lives back on track, but many people are in a break from normal life and have been forced to pick up and change their life completely.

To help people outside of Japan better understand what's going on, the continuing need for help and the people who are involved in relief efforts, I wrote a report with my personal testimony and view of these things.

Today I am posting 1 part out of 4 of this report. This first part is to help you better understand some of the people who are helping with the Relief Efforts, ie. members of the Mito Church of Christ.

Miranda’s Testimony about

Mito Church of Christ

How I view

Who we are, how we reach out and our relief efforts

My name is Miranda Brazle Logwood. Second child of Paul and Carol Brazle, I

grew up in Belgium in the Antwerp Church of Christ. Now my husband, Derrick Logwood,

and I live in Mito, Japan as Assistant English Teachers and members of the Mito Church of

Christ.

In the aftermath of the Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear problems I have come to the

decision to put into words my testimony about my life and ministry here as it is linked to

the Mito church. In this testimony I want to share my general view of Mito Church of Christ,

explain the ways Christians in Mito reach out to the community and the world, describe the

experience of the days of the earthquake from our perspective in Mito and show how the

church members in the area have taken measures to do relief work for those who have lost

much more than us.

1. My general view of Mito Church of Christ

Three years ago, Mito Church was just the Church we decided to attend and

try to help out where we could, as a temporary place to worship God for our short stay

in Japan. Over the years, this group of people has become my Japanese family. I have

at least three or four mothers who would do anything for me. There are so many people,

American, Japanese and other, who I consider brothers and sisters and even best friends.

Mito Church of Christ is not just a group of people who get together to worship God. This

group is a family who worships God, loves one another and God, has fun with each other

and invites anyone to join in the fun and God’s joy.

Mito church has definitely changed over the years. Two years ago we had to say

goodbye to the main Japanese minster and his family (Yuki and Hiroko Obata) when they

moved to the States. Atsushi and Mari Tsuneki then decided to work with the Mito church,

along with their four kids! As former Abilene Christian University students, they have a

pretty good grasp on American culture and how to cope with the differences between

America and Japan. Through them, Mito church is getting better and better at bringing all of

the nationalities together as one family.

Last year, the American minister and his family (Mark and Mayumi Hancock)

also made the decision to move to the States. Once again, God blessed the church with

someone willing to come to Mito as a minister: Joel Osborne and his intern Sasha Ingle

came with their loving Japanese friend Gaku Osugi from Sendai. Since this change, many

of Mito’s non-Japanese members have become more and more comfortable with calling

Mito church their church home and are becoming a more active part of the family. College

students from nearby universities (mostly Ibaraki Christian University) are coming more

often and getting to know more Christians in Mito. Probably the biggest change to Mito

church since Joel, Sasha and Gaku have come is the globalization of Mito Christians’

view of God. Joel brought with him his ministry to Cambodia, alongside the churches in

Singapore. In Mito, God’s global presence is becoming more and more tangible.

Mito Church is filled with God’s presence. The family is changing and letting God

work through its members daily. Of course, the church family still experiences problems,

difficulties and challenges. We are definitely not perfect. But more and more this family is

realizing what it means to be just a small part of God’s global family, and what it means to

trust in God. I pray that God continues to bless and strengthen this group of followers so

God’s light can shine greater to the Japanese population.

The Flight Saga

From Japan to Belgium!

Everything was perfect, abeit very long, for the 11 hour flight to Amsterdam, until we got to Amsterdam...10 minutes away we were told we couldn't land because of a snowstorm. They decided to fly us to Germany instead, Dusseldorf. We landed, and waited, only to hear we were just waiting there for the storm to blow over so we could fly back to Amsterdam. Dusseldorf wouldn't let us disembark. So we waited about 2 hours, before we were told we'd return to Amsterdam. Finally on our way again, we landed in Amsterdam to hear that all the gates were occupied. So we waited. And this started a series of shorter periods of waiting. Taxiing to the gate, waiting for the airplane there to leave, waiting for them to clean off the snowy ground in front of the gate, waiting for gate officers to come and hook up the gate, waiting for them to attach the gate, and then to open the frozen door...then we waited at immigration (but that was expected). And then we waited about 45 minutes at baggage claim, only to hear (by hearsay from people around - not an intercom announcement) that NO ONE was really getting their bags and they were handing out forms to fill out for baggage claim. Got that done! Looked for mom and then we had to wait for a train to Antwerp that no one could really tell us WHEN it would come or even IF it would come. BUT we finally made it to the Antwerp station at 12:30 (instead of 6ish)!! YEY! I'm in Belgium!!!

What we've been up to!

Gomenasai!

Once again, this is the first blog in a long time. Let me try to give a quick, yet informative update since September!

Fall was a time of much excitement. We were really busy with a bunch of different things.

For a short weekend trip, Derrick and I visited the city Nikko, which is known for its many buddhist temples and waterfalls with great hiking opportunities. We went with our good friend, Kristin Creekmore. Nikko is also known for its temple with the engravings of the famous "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys.

That weekend in Nikko we met a family from Spain, living in Yokohama: Josef and Monica and their children Joan (pronounced like Johan) and Marta. They told us about a Greek restaurant in Yokohama and we decided we just had to go. So, in October, we decided to visit our new friends and try out some good Greek food. (By the way, Japan is seriously lacking in the Greek food area, so we miss it). They were very hospitable and showed us around town too! It was great!

That weekend we got to see the Blue Man Group perform in Tokyo! We went with our awesome Japanese friends from church: Norio and her parents Fumie and Chikara Namae. That evening we also saw a famous Japanese play in the Traditional Kabuki Theatre. (Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura: Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees).

Up through December 6th both of us studied Japanese harder than normal to be able to pas the level 4 Japanese Proficiency Test (easiest level). This was a very challenging time for us, but we made it through without too much stress. We received our scores this month and both passed, so we are very happy and ready to take on the next level this December. After the test, we had our second annual Logwood Christmas party (our first one was the year before). We combined forces and "hospitality" with our friends Chip and Heather Riley and renamed it the LOGLY Christmas Party. Many of our friends came and we had a great time with fun and games and prizes!

After having a Christmas party in Japan, the two of us packed up and got ready for Christmas back home in Missouri with Derrick's family there! We had a great time with everyone in Columbia and wish we had more time! We also got to go to Oklahoma for a few days to see some of my family and more! Derrick's sisters, Jordan and Hannah, went with us. (Below is a picture of us with Derrick's sisters, my granddad Bob Morris and his lovely newlywed wife Esther Marie and my little cousin Dylan).

We had so much fun! We didn't want it to end! We also got to visit with Derrick's dad, Wayne Logwood, and his girlfriend Jan while we were in St Louis!

Christmas over, vacation finished, we decided it was high time to start having weekend ski trips. SO, I taught Derrick and Chip and Heather how to Snowboard in Minakami, Gunma Ken for 2 days. Then Derrick and I went to Marunuma (also Gunma Ken), with Austin Powell and John Smith, to continue those awesome skills Derrick picked up, for two more days. As if that was not enough, we took a long weekend just last week with our friends Brett and Heather to Nagano. Many of you might know that this is where the winter olympics was held in Japan in 1998.

While in Nagano, we also visited the Matsumoto Castle. This castle is awesome because of its unique architecture, interesting history and the ability to see it in its original form.

Of course a visit to Nagano is not complete without seeing the Monkey Onsen! A hotspring bath full of soaking and relaxing monkeys. How cool is that!

We also got to witness some family drama... to see a video, watch for a link for it on a future post or on facebook.

AND in the midst of all our travel and fun and full time job, I was training for a Japanese Speech Contest which took place on February 6th. My speech was just under 5 minutes long. I talked about growing up as an American living in Belgium and obtaining both citizenships. I pointed out both some of the confusion this dual citizenship presented in my life, as well as the many benefits I have been blessed with.

To watch a video of my speech, please go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2nVImKrwpM or go to YouTube and type in "Miranda's Japanese Speech Contest".

This is by far not all we have been up to these last several months, so I am so sorry that I have neglected this blog and have not been able to post more about our exciting life!

Opening Ceremony in a Japanese Elementary School

Have you ever wondered how elementary schools in other countries start their new trimesters?? Yea, I never thought about it either. I never realized how ... uhm....interesting and different other cultures' opening ceremonies could be, even for the little ones.

Growing up in Belgium, I honestly never remember any type of ceremony except for when I graduated highschool and received my Highschool diploma...and even that wasn't very organized or strict compared to anything I see here.

Just to give you an idea about what ceremonies here are like, I want to describe step by step the opening ceremony for the 2nd trimester. Please keep in mind that this is one of the least important ceremonies....nothing compared to 1st ceremony of the year where 1st graders are new, or last ceremony of the year where 6th graders graduate.

(Also, bear in mind that other schools in Japan may vary and I am giving an account of what I have seen in the schools where I work)

Everyone meets in the gym, facing the big stage. Students sit down. The vice-vice principal (VVP) stands to the side with a microphone (and one of those pulpit like podiums with their notes). All other teachers are either standing to the side, or behind the students to make sure they behave.

VVP: "Stand up." (everyone stands up) "Bow" (everyone bows to nothing/no one in particular....perhaps to the Japanese flag to show respect, I'm not sure)
"Let's have the starting words for the ceremony" (this is a very loose translation)

Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage. On her(his) way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.

"Opening Ceremony will now begin."

She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.

VVP: "sit down" (all students sit)
"~~~student from 6th grade and ~~~~ student from 1st grade (says their names) will now read their comments"

One 1stgrade student and One 6th grade student come to the front. They bow to the principal and VP on their way to the stage. They go up the steps and stop and bow toward the stage. They walk to the podium with the mic. The 1st grader steps forward and bows to the audience who bow back. Student reads his/her comments that they had written down....comments about last semester and what they look forward to for coming semester. Student finishes comments, bows (with a return bow) and steps back. 6th grade student steps forward. Reads comments. Finishes and bows. Together the students walk back to the top of the steps, they turn and bow toward the stage. They walk down the steps walk to the principal and VP, stop and bow, and then move back to their spot.

VVP: "stand up" "Now we will sing the school song"

A teacher moves up to the stage, bows at the top of the steps and sits down at the piano. She starts playing and the kids sing the school song. (This is probably my favorite part!)

The song finishes. The teacher leaves the stage, not forgetting to bow at the top of the steps.

VVP: "Let's have the finishing words"

Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage....again. On her(his) way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.

"Opening Ceremony is now finished."

She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.

(Whats coming next doesnt happen all the time, but it happened to me last week because we had a teacher who was leaving.)

VVP: "It is time to start the goodbye ceremony for ~~~~sensei."

Vice Principal: Moves toward the stage....again. On her/his way there she stops in front of the principal and bows. She goes up the steps of the stage, stops at the top and bows toward the stage. She moves to the podium with the microphone. She bows to the audience who bow back to her.

"The Goodbye ceremony for ~~~~ sensei will now start."

She bows to the audience again, who bow back to her again. She moves to the top of the steps, stops, turns and bows toward the stage. She goes down the steps, stops in front of the principal, bows to him and then moves back to the place where she was standing.

OK, I'm not gonna go through this whole ceremony as well....I just wanted to point out how funny it is to see one ceremony has to be completely finished before a next ceremony can take place, even for something as simple as starting a new trimester and saying goodbye to a teacher in elementary school.

The return of the Logwoods

Well, March, April, May, June and July have been busy months. I am sorry for doing a horrible job of keeping people informed of our daily excitements. Please enjoy this quick update of our current situation in Japan.

The new school year started in April. Derrick and I are both teaching at the same schools as last year, so we are happy with that. In Mito the schoolboard does this funny thing where they can send a teacher to any school and any grade. The choice is never the teacher's and the teachers never know where they will teach and in what grade until the middle or end of March. Then they only have maybe two weeks to pack up and change things before having to teach in the new school and new grade.

Anyway, after a couple of changes to the staff at our schools we have gotten used to this new year. The highlight of working at the same school for me is to be able to get to know the kids better. I am learning more names and enjoying more conversations with my students.

Japanese learning. Derrick and I have stepped it up a bit. We are now going to two classes a week each being 2 hours long. One is Saturday morning, which we have been doing since January, and we have just decided to start going to the Tuesday evening class at the same place instead of continuing the volunteer class at church. We will miss the class at church, but the other class gives much better preparation for the Japanese Language Test we plan to take in December. We hope to continue to meet with our love church volunteers to teach them English.

Church. I have recently been added to the list of women who prepare the Flower Arrangement for Sunday worship. This means that once every two months I am responsible for buying and arranging a bunch of flowers that sits at the front of the auditorium. I really enjoy doing this! Also I have been taking more responsibility as an attendance counter person (don't know what the title of this responsibility is, but I sit at a desk in the back, check people's names off, meet new people who walk in and just generally make sure everyone's comfortable has a seat and song book and stuff). I enjoy this because it allows for me to meet more people and learn more names.

The people at church are wonderful. There tends to be anywhere from 60 to more than 100 people in attendance. Its a pretty big church (especially considering the one I grew up in in Antwerp). Songs are mostly in Japanese and some in English. I enjoy singing in Japanese. It definitely helps Japanese reading and pronunciation skills.

Unfortunately we had to miss the Church Camp Retreat because that same weekend was the only weekend it worked out for us to meet our friend Masashi in Tokyo while he was home for the summer. We had a great day with him in Tokyo and really enjoyed meeting his father!

AET summer training. Every summer a group of AETs plans a training session for the whole AET group to learn things about how to do our job better and to get together and retrain together as a group as English Teachers. This year I have been asked to take on the responsibility of leading this summer training. I have really enjoyed this responsibility. It has kept me busy and it has taken a lot of effort, but it has been a real blessing to be able to be a part of this. 1 week of this training is already finished. We did it in July at the very beginning of the school's summer vacation here. Then we went on a two week Thailand/Cambodia trip with some friends. The trip was awesome! I will update the blog about the trip on my next post. Tomorrow we start the last 3 days of training.

A little laugh....

Here are some phrases that I found on one of my students' lunch placemat. Wish I knew where to buy the place mat!
Just so you know, any spelling and grammar mistakes were copied from the placemat. None of these mistakes are my own. Please tell me if you think you understand the meaning of any of these phrases. I would love to hear your thoughts!
Enjoy!

Consideration

gentle to which

connects the heart.

It yearns after the family

of a warm impression.

----------

It is infatuation

at the charm.

Mama is a good cook.

And appetizing smel

come from the kitchen.

----------

Great, evev if

it make it the

from the heart

and sets by

the window or

decorates a wall.

Sumo and mountain climbing

This past week has been full of excitement! Last week, we went to Tokyo to watch sumo wrestling. It was great. We just happened to be there for the semi-finals of the competition, so it  was really exciting! We were pretty high up, so we didn't have the best view, but it was still really cool.

Here are some pictures and videos:

Here I am in front of the entrance to the Sumo building!

Let the Sumo begin! 

And now for some videos:

oooh, tricky!

Now for a fun one....Let's just fall on eachother!:

I will be putting more videos and pictures on facebook if you are interested to see more, look me up there!

Now, lets move on to our mountain climbing experience. This past Monday we went with our friends Kristin Creekmore and Kyle Lugger to climb mount Tsukuba, which is about an hour and a half away (driving). We were able to see Mt. Fuji at the earlier point of the day, so that was really awesome!

Here are some pictures from that day:

There are more pictures of this wonderful day on my facebook and maybe I will have a chance to put them on our Flickr account soon.

Random Facts about Japan

I have been meaning to post a random facts list for a while. Here it is:



1. Winter at school feels like wintercamp in Belgium. Its very cold except for in the main room, where its only warm if you are close enough to a heater. They use kerosene heaters, so the smell reminds me of the heaters and gaslamps at camp. Classrooms are cold. Hallways are cold. Toilets are cold.



2. In the summer, it gets hot and humid....so people wear a towel around their neck like a scarf to soak up the sweat.



3. Police car lights are always flashing. They use their loudspeakers when they want to pull someone over.



4. People don't pull over for ambulances....I guess unless they absolutely have to.



5. Japan has three alphabets and all three are used. Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji. The first two have more than 40 characters each and Kanji is basically a new vocabulary list, which must be drawn/written in the correct stroke order and with the exact number of strokes. THEY CAN TELL WHEN ITS WRONG!

6. Katakana is used for foreign words, but those words still need serious decoding. Some examples:
ka-n-to-ri = country
a-re-ru-gi = allergy
bu-ru = ????
hu-i-ru-taa = ????

Can you figure out the last two? In the next post we'll give you some more to figure out.

7. Rice with raw egg is a typical breakfast.

8. Fermented soybeans, some sticky, stinky, gooey brown stuff (= nato) is many children's favorite.

9. Road work seems to happen mostly in the winter and at night. At night? Yes, well, we dont know when they stop working but they tend to set up the road work stuff almost every day around 8 or 9 pm. Route 50 is the road we take straight into town....maybe about 10 km from our place. On our way in town its a perfectly clear road (except for the traffic). On our way back, after 9 pm, we can run into anywhere from 2 to 6 road work activities for which our lane takes turns with the oncoming traffic to pass the roadwork in the one usable lane.

10. Apparently green is blue.

11. I'm a big fan of inside shoes and bathroom shoes.

12. They really like mayonaise and corn here. In the store, you can buy a bun that just has mayonaise and corn on it. In almost any restaurant that sells pizza you can buy a mayo and corn pizza.

13. Crosswalks. Many crosswalk signal lights have a bird chirping sound to go along with the green light. Both directions have different sounds. Yes, I realize this is for blind people, which is awesome. I just think its funny they chose two different bird chirps. Also, you can cross an intersection diagonally (busy intersections)!! Yes, they actually stop road traffic from all 4 directions so that pedestrians have a green light from any corner to any corner.

14. It is cheaper to travel from Japan to South Korea or Thailand for vacation than to travel within Japan, considering all costs.

15. There is no real bacon and you can't buy a whole chicken anywhere.

16. One of the most popular desserts is anko. This is sweet bean paste. (sometimes its chunky!) Examples of anko dishes are 1) anko-filled mochi (remember the mochi rice stuff?), 2) anko-filled donuts and 3) anko-filled pancakes.

17. Pancake mixes are everywhere!

18. Bikers ride on the street against traffic (yes, on the side where pedestrians are supposed to walk if there is no sidewalk) on busy streets. (This is quite annoying and dangerous for us as scooter drivers because we typically kind of "hug" the curb to pass cars between the car and curb when traffic is moving slowly.)

19. Kewpies are actually not just known, but popular here. (They have a kewpie brand mayonaise!!) (If you do not know what a kewpie is, look it up....it is also Derrick's High School mascot)

20. Apparently gargling water or tea prevents illnesses, like the common cold or the flue.

Fun in Thailand!

This picture was taken on a lovely rickshaw (or "tuktuk") in Bangkok. Tuktuks might be my favorite part of Bangkok. We arrived on the evening of Saturday the 20th of December. We only stayed two nights and left on a night bus for our island adventure on Koh Tao.



Once on Koh Tao (we arrived Tuesday morning around 9:30 on the Island), we started our scubadiving classes. We had to watch some videos, listen to "lectures", "read" a book and fill out a study guide before taking a theoretical test. We also walked out from the beach with scuba gear on into the shallow water to do some underwater exercises in a safe environment....you know, where if something goes wrong all you have to do is stand up. The scariest exercise was probably taking off my mask (with the breathing regulator still in my mouth) and having to put it back on under water.



Here's a picture of our group of divers. Alain was our instructor. He is the cool guy laying at our feet. He was really an awesome instructor.....also....he's a Belgian! Hurray for Belgium.







We don't have pictures of scubadiving unfortunately. Our underwater camera cannot handle that without a casing....but we did go snorkeling as well. We went to this bay on the other side of the island with a Swedish couple who was in our Scubadiving group: Elizabeth and Andre. If you look closely at the bay you can see a big rock.....thats about where we were snorkeling (actually....that rock is just where you could actually start seeing anything because the water was not very clear).Another part of our adventure seen in this picture is our fun ride in a pick-up taxi along the hilly and completely unpaved roads throughout the island. This was really fun, especially with elizabeth and Andre in the back with us!

Here is some coral/weird and colourful sealife we saw. When you wave your hand close enough to these little colourful animals they would completely suck in. It was pretty cool.

Koh Tao was awesome! Probably the best part of the whole trip!

Next we moved on to a resort in Chumpohn city, which is in Chumpohn province. We basically just chose to stay there because it was on our way back to Bangkok. We stayed three nights to be relaxed. It was nice....ok....could have been better. It was really not that bad.....but there are many reasons why we would not stay there again. Here are some of the positive aspects though:

Our little bungalow was pretty cool. It had a nice view too, but the weather was never nice enough to get a good picture.

We went on an all day snorkeling trip. That was actually pretty cool. Unfortunately it was pretty windy and cloudy so the visibility was not so good and we never got great pictures. We did see some cool fish though. Here we are on the boat that took us, a Thai family and three Swedish women to three different islands.

Here are some of the coolest fish we saw. They were beautiful! Unfortunately this picture does not show nearly how brightly colored they were!

Here's Derrick! (sorry this picture is not clear at all.....it was the water's fault I tell you!)

And here's Miranda!

We were supposed to go on a squid fishing trip one evening.....but the weather was not good enough.....it was too windy. SO, the resort decided to take us on a random sight seeing trip instead. We tried to go to a museum.....but it was closed because it was January 1st.

So....we saw monkeys! Ha, it was actually quite fun because we got to feed them.

We loved reading the English translation of the description of the monkeys. This is only some of it....our favorite part is the first line of the second paragraph.

And we saw some caves and a nice little temple. In the cave we saw a 2,000 year old painting of Buddha. That was pretty cool...unfortunately it was not well preserved and was very difficult to make out.

The man here was our guide for the caves and the small museum there that had nothing to do with the cave, lol. He was hilarious. He spoke like 5 words of english. When he was done "explaining" one thing he moved on to the next spot and would say "you you you, come come come" until we were all standing around him ready to decode his next explanation. Usually he ended up speaking Thai to our guide from the resort (the young woman in the picture on the left) who was driving us around. She would then kind of translate in broken Egnlish with a very strong Thai accent. Fun times.

And after we spent two more nights in Bangkok, we flew back to Japan.

We arrived back on Tuesday January 6th.

We made a stop in the Nagoya airport where we were told to "watch our steps" on the travelator by the voice coming out of the machine. We enjoyed this sign.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

First day in Thailand!

Hello everyone!

Well Friday we were still teaching classes in Mito, Japan and yesterday we took a bus to the Narita airport to start our Thailand adventures. I know many of you were probably watching the news a few weeks ago when all the pfotesters were blocking the airport and making it impossible to fly in or out of the airport. We just wanted to reassure you that our flight and arrival went very smoothly and safely and we are at our guesthouse enjoying a relaxing beginning to our holiday.

Sorry this is short but there isnt much to report yet. We went to a really big market this morning and are just using the rest of today to relax. Maybe we will be able to post pictures while were here but if not we will try to as soon as we get back to Japan.

God bless you!

Merry Christmas!

Making Mochi

Mochi is a Mystery.

Mysterious Mochi.

The Mystery of Mochi lies not in how it is made or what ingredients can be found in it, or even how it is eaten.

The mystery is simply WHY.

Mochi is one of the weirdest foods, and it's not even the dried fins of a fish, or fish flakes to garnish a meal, or fish eggs, or even bird talons, which are all weird Japanese food items we have seen in stores and restaurants.

Mochi is rice. Its very simple.

There is a special type of rice, called Mochi rice. The grains are smaller than regular rice. That's the only difference I can see. There must be more to it, because this rice you do not eat the same way as we eat any other rice.

Yes, the beginning starts and looks the same. Rinse the rice (mochi rice) in water...probably a billion times....before boiling it over a stove or fire or whatever you use. But, soon after boiling, you realize there is more to it...

Step 1: Make sure you use Mochi Rice.


Step 2: Rinse the rice with water as often as you can and prepare for boiling.

Step 2a: Wrap in some sort of towel for boiling (I believe to make handling after the boiling easier).Step 3: Boil. (I am really not sure for how long....it probably depends on whether you have the luxury of having the next step or not.
Step 4: Use the towel to easily transfer boiling hot mochi rice into an electric mochi maker. (I am pretty sure they did not have these in the earlier days and just had to boil the mochi for a longer period of time and go straight from bowling to pounding.....pounding probably lasted longer without the machine....in fact, the pounding might not be necessary at all with these machines).

Step 5: Whether we needed pounding or not...we got to do it! My students just loved this part!

Step 5a: My Kyoto Sensei (vice principle) helped get the mochi out of the mochi machines and into the mochi pounding pit!

It's pretty sticky, but just use water to unstick.

Rice and water; that's all this is.

Step 5b: Then you can start pounding! So....pick up your wooden hammer and pound and pound.....

....and pound....

......and pound.....

.....and keep pounding until everyone gets a turn!

Watch some old Japanese men pounding the mochi like it was their childhood pastime:

Step 6: Dress the mochi to your liking with whatever food or sauce you want to eat it it with.

These lovely ladies made mochi balls and rolled them in soy sauce: Sjoyu Mochi.

And these marvelous women made Mochi balls and rolled them in sweet soybean powder to create Kinako Mochi.

All finished!!!
Step 7: Eat and Enjoy this mushy sticky rice.

Really it's not bad....it just has the weirdest texture and it doesn't have much of a flavor. Any flavor you try to mix with it, doesn't seem to mix, it just sticks to the outside. BUT it provides for easy dishes, because it sticks to itself so much it doesn't really stick to your bowl!

So, who's up for a bit of MOCHI???