The 12 Days of Erika

So now I'm officially an adult for the second time of my life. I've been one for 24 hours now and it feels...just like being a kid. I still laugh at the same things, and do stupid things, and am exactly the same person...just now it's in another language. Kinda.
I had four cakes. My birthday has been like the 12 Days of Christmas. Last Sunday I had my church birthday party, and had sushi cake. It was like a meal in a cake, with two layers of rice, and tuna in the middle like a filling. Then on Saturday morning Bonita made an angel food cake for me, and when I came back to the church wearing the kimono, me and all the people that had come to see me consumed it together (with tea of course). Then that night me and 5 of my friends went to this place to eat honey bread - basically like a loaf of honeyed toast with ice cream on top. They brought these ridiculously long candles and shoved them in everywhere. It resembled something like a hedgehog. A hedgehog with tall burning spikes. Quite funny. And yummy. Then today I went to Odate to have another birthday meal with 5 other friends there (one of them is the lady that was with me when I pushed the green button). We had this double layer white cake with whipped cream and huge strawberries and peaches all over it.
I have no idea why I just described all these cakes to you.
But basically I had an amazing birthday. I've had some pretty good birthdays in Canada (going to the lake with friends - swimming back to the cabin to eat Hamburger Helper and McCain's Deep and Delicious cake from the middle of the lake dragging a half sunk canoe behind me, going camping and forgetting things essential to successful camping like an ax and cooking pot) and I really didn't think it could get better. But I guess when God blesses he blesses. I have friends over here, and I can actually communicate with them. Enough to have fun and laugh with them. Be myself.
And I must tell you another thing. We are in the middle of rainy season where it's supposed to rain like all day every day. Other parts in Japan have gotten up to 20 inches of rain in one day. Here we've had blue sky every day, and sunshine. Just gorgeous weather. Very abnormal. But just another way God is bringing me joy.
Back to the 12 Days of Christmas. Or should I say the 12 Days of Erika. I'm getting to be pretty good friends with one of the couples from church; on kimono wearing day I wore the wife's kimono, and the husband took off an entire day of work just to come take pictures and hang out and eat cake. Maybe not eat cake, but just special for my birthday. He drove me home after, and he told me this on the way. I was absolutely blown away. Work in Japan is super super important, and to have someone take a whole day off just for you is crazy. I told him we should make it a new holiday, like Christmas Eve...just Erika Eve. He liked that. I told him to go home and write it on his calender.
In fact I think everyone should add it to their calender next year. June 24. We could do things like eat ice cream and go go-carting. Hang out with Jesus. Maybe have a hedgehog cake. And burn an exhorbant amount of calories from laughing. I should call the head of the Calender Association and put in for a new holiday.

The Big Green Button

I'm a curious person. I'll be the first to admit that. I don't always give into my curiosity, but when I do...oh dear. But that's what makes memories hey?
I learned a valuable lesson yesterday: don't ever push buttons if you don't know their function. Especially in the bathroom.
Japanese bathrooms are really something else. The first time I went to the bathroom on Japanese soil I had to stifle the chortles so people wouldn't wonder what was happening in my stall. They have buttons to push to make water noises so other people don't have to hear you. They have buttons you push to get hand sanitiser. They have buttons to push so the toilet sprays you with water when you're done, and buttons to air dry after that. (These toilets are particularily fun...they have quite the range if you're not sitting on the seat.) And apparently they have buttons you push if you're having a small crisis in the bathroom.
So yesterday I was in a mall food court bathroom and was looking around the stall. After pressing the hand santizer button repeatedly cuz I couldn't see what it was doing (only a small puddle developed on the floor after it slimed down the wall- in all honesty I was expecting the water noise), my eyes wandered to the big green button to the right. I'm no Japanese expert. All I could read was 'button' and 'please'. So I pleased the button and pushed it. I certainly got my noise. This super loud alarm went off, and no matter how many more times I pushed that green button, it would not go off. I could hear it echo all in the food court too; this was no small sound. After sitting there stunned for a little bit, I realized I had better move, do something. I got out and washed my hands where the lady I was with met me with this priceless expression. She's like, 'are you alright? What did you do?" And the alarm is still echoing throughout the foodcourt, not unlike a fire alarm.
So I'm laughing and trying to tell her what happened, when a mall lady came in. I was like, 'sorry, sorry, I made a mistake!' And then a male security guard showed up. And I'm still laughing and telling them, 'sorry, I can't read Kanji, and I just wanted to push the button!', the lady I'm with is laughing, the mall staff are not looking to impressed, and the alarm is still providing nice background (minor emergency) music.
I can only imagine what people were thinking of me yesterday when this huge alarm goes off from within the depths of the bathroom, mall staff come running to rescue the person that might be dying, and this white person stumbles out, just laughing. I think I'm the only person in that whole place who could've gotten away with it.
How was I to know the entire mall was wired to my bathroom stall?
And we sat down to have Baskin Robbins (to feed my second stomache, as my Japanese friends dubbed it yesterday) and killed ourselves laughing some more.
Moral of the story: In life you should push all the green buttons; they add a whole other dynamic to the mundane. (And secretly I think Jesus puts them there for his own entertainment.)

The Grocery Store Saga

Japanese grocery stores are tricky...mostly cuz they're Japanese. I like how the one I go to has samples. Kind of like Costco. But instead of tasting samples of the latest pizza or mocachino mix, I get to try things like deep fried tofu and squid baked so that it looks like an onion ring.

I think I'm one of the most indecisive people I know (I think it runs in the family) and grocery stores are where I shine my indecisiveness the best.
I hate spending money, so I price check everything. That takes exorbant amounts of time because I don't read Japanese as fast as your typical asian. So I stand there in the aisle staring at these things, trying to decide which one to purchase. Then I remember something I saw on the other side of the store, change my mind, and wander back over there. I can only wonder what the other people in the store are thinking as they see me wander back and forth from one side to the other with my empty green basket.

Especially today when I was shopping for my supper. They were baking fresh cakes in the cake shop conveniently located in the middle of the store, and that threw me off. I'd walk one way, set on getting something on the one side, then I'd get a whiff of the fresh cakes and I'd get hungry for something else and forget where I was going. So I'd wander back where I came from, still proudly carrying my empty green basket.

And then after all my indecisiveness and all my pacing, I end up leaving the store with maybe one or two things. And always just weird combinations. Like butter and soup mixes; carrots, mini Cappacino Aero bars, and seaweed; tofu and cherry blossom flavored KitKats (just to try); supper from the asian deli and enough ice cream to last a week...just to name a few.

Last week I discovered the bakery. That was a mistake. I went to the grocery store at the time when they just happened to be stocking the bakery and it smelled amazing. I wandered over with my empty green basket and to my delight discovered they had samples of just about everything. So I stood there and sampled maple bread, melon bread, chocolate bread, fruit danish, melon bread with cream, a piece of pizza (I didn't steal it, it was a sample). After about my fourth sample I started feeling guilty. I don't exactly blend in. People could look over and see that I was eating my free lunch in the bakery. They wouldn't just look over and say, "oh, there's just another hungry asian."

All in all, just another adventure of living in Japan. I'm glad I'm in a place where I can look so confused and out of place 90% of the time and not feel stupid - I can just blame it on being a gaijin (basically, white). So I hold my head up high and walk with confidence in my step...I just may be walking by again in 10 or 15 minutes because I'm lost.

Random pictures

Here's some more good Japanese advice: You must guard against overweight.

Curious George with the chopsticks has nothing to do with that...I just liked the picture.

Day of the Cookies

First I would like to say thank you to my amazing sister, Chantelle: thanks buddy!! She sent cookies in a jar to Japan with the CLBI team. I've been watching that jar for a month, with the flour and sugar and chocolate chips. It sat on top of my TV just tantalizing me. It's crazy how humid it is here; I could see the humidity sinking the flour and sugar deeper and deeper into the jar week by week. Today when I made them, I had to pry the contents out with a chopstick.
Mixing the cookies was another challenge; my apartment does not come equipped with a big spoon. So I tried mixing them with a rice scooper, then a teaspoon, a wooden spoon, and then finally my hand. Then to bake them. Let me explain my oven to you; it's 3-in-1, with a range, grill and oven all in one (it's about the size of a microwave). Once I figured out which buttons to press in their right order, and converted the temperature (properly the second time after I wondered why my cookies weren't baking), I was set. I turned on some music real loud (I may or may not have sung and danced by myself), ate dough, and made cookies. (Yes Chantelle I got more than one sheet of cookies haha.) Then I put the cookies into ziplock bags provided by the bank (when I signed up for an account). Good old Japanese gift-giving custom...who knew the bank would one day help me bake cookies.
All in all a good day, after talking to my parents for an hour, another friend for three, getting a package from Germany, listening to cd's burnt by friends, making cookies and hanging out with Jesus.
And from it all I've come to a conclusion:
I think it's crazy how people that are living 15 hours and an ocean apart can still affect each other. I spent my day physically alone, but it was like I was almost hanging out at home (except for the hour I spent in a rice field this afternoon). It's crazy how relationships can almost get stronger when you're not together, how hearts get closer the farther you are apart. It's crazy how when you give your fears to God (like losing all your friends when you're in Japan for a year), he'll reassure you and show you you have nothing to be afraid of. And it's crazy how milk tastes better when you drink it out of the carton.

My Favorite Things #1

I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite things from here in Japan:

New drivers get a big 'spring leaf' sticker to put on their car that's yellow and green; old drivers (over 70) get a orange and yellow 'fall leaf' one. (There sure are a lot of fall leaf stickers around here...)

All the students here have these vinyl sports bags that are just ridiculous - big and shiny and...vinyl.

The cars here are just tiny tiny tiny. And cubic. There's actually a vehicle called the 'Cube', though I'm not sure what it is. Everything here pretty much clumps into the category of 'car'. Or 'small moving thing on wheels'. There's also these little white trucks that are especially popular around here, and they remind me of Tinker Toys. I wonder how they'd do on the HotWheels market.

The public phones are bright neon green. I think Matrix 4 should be made in Japan.

There's an AstroBoy on my bankbook. (Everything's cartoonish here.)

I'm convinced any one of these old Japanese people could run a marathon. In North America, old people pretty much shut 'er down when they're 65 and retire. Japanese just keep going. When I got here in February there was still over a meter of snow left, and every day they would be out shoveling so it would melt faster. Now they're all planting their rice fields. And I've never seen so many old people ride bicycles before. Scratch the marathon. These folks could do a biathalon.

Umbrellas are 'cool' here.

I saw the longest rubber boots I've ever seen in my life last week. At a good one meter long, they'd be huge on any average person; on a Japanese they would probably swallow their legs. They should just attach a rubber bodysuit and a snorkel to them and they could go scuba diving.

Till next time...

Sheep Island

Here's a quote from a book I've been reading for school. Actually it's more like a section of the book, not a quote...
I'll let it speak for itself.

"In a dream I found myself on an island -Sheep Island. Across the island sheep were scattered and lost. Soon I learned that a forest fire was sweeping across from the opposite side. It seemed that all were doomed to destruction unless there were some way of escape. Although there were many unofficial maps, I had a copy of the official map and there discovered that indeed there is a bridge to the mainland, a narrow bridge, built, as was said, at incredible cost.
My job, I was told, would be to get the sheep across that bridge. I discovered many shepherds herding the sheep who were found and seeking to corral those who were within easy access to the bridge. But most of the sheep were far off and the shepherds seeking them few. The sheep near the fire knew they were in trouble and were frightened; those at a distance were peacefully grazing, enjoying life.
I noticed two shepherds near the bridge whispering to one another and laughing. I moved near them to hear the cause of joy in such a dismal setting. "Perhaps the chasm is narrow somewhere, and at least the strong sheep have opportunity to save themselves," said one. "Maybe the current is gentle and the stream shallow. Then the courageous, at least, can make it across." The other responded, "That may well be. In fact, wouldn't it be great if this proves to be no island at all? Perhaps it is just a peninsula and great multiudes of sheep are already safe. Surely the owner would have provided some alternative route." And so they relaxed and went about other business.
In my mind I began to ponder their theories: Why would the owner have gone to such great expense to build a bridge, especially since it is a narrow bridge, and many of the sheep refuse to cross it even when they find it? In fact, if there is a better way by which many will be saved more easily, building the bridge is a terrible blunder. And if this isn't an island, after all, what is to keep the fire from sweeping right across into the mainland and destroying everything? As I pondered these things I heard a quiet voice behind be saying, "There is a better reason than the logic of it, my friend. Logic alone could lead you either way, Look at your map."
There on the map, by the bridge, I saw a quotation from the first undershepherd, Peter: "For neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other way from the island to the mainland whereby a sheep may be saved." And then I discerned, carved on the old rugged bridge itself, "I am the bridge. No sheep escapes to safety but by me."
In a world in which nine of every ten people is lost, three or four have never heard the way out, and one of every two cannot hear, the church sleeps on. "How come?" Could it be we think there must be some other way? Or perhaps we don't really care that much."
-Robertson Mcquilkin

Ingrown Toenail

So I was thinking about the Acts church today. It wasn't so random that I was thinking about this; it's not like I sit around all day and ponder about if this church plant in Takanosu is operating like it should (though maybe sometimes I should...). No, I was just being a good student and doing my homework. (For those of you who didn't know I'm now finishing up CLBI by correspondence.)
I remember in Canada how it seemed to be the trend in churches that they model the so-called 'Acts church' because they seemed to do everything right. But is that really the case? Let's look at it: They shared everything with each other, met often for joint worship and fellowship and grew exponentially. Most people would call that success, and so would I... until today.
What are they missing?
That beginning church was like an ingrown toenail. They were growing and growing and growing...but all inwards. No reaching out beyond themselves as a Jewsish community. No missions. They were getting all cozy in their rapidly growing faith communities, but rarely thought of going out of their comfort zone into Gentile territory.
Eventually they did go "out into the world" as Jesus commissioned them, but look at what it took: a whole lot of hounding from God (through dreams and eye-openers), and persecution. The beginning church faced immense persecution and it got split up. Was this bad? I don't think so. The persecution forced the believers to get out of Jerusalem and actually go, to make disciples of other nations, not just the Jews.
I think the church in North America should get persecuted. Maybe that would flush out all the lukewarm believers, the people who say they believe for two hours on Sunday but blend in with the rest of the world every other hour of the week. Maybe that would open people's eyes so they see that unlike them, 95% of the world doesn't know Christ. Maybe persecution would cause people to actually go. To make a difference. To make them see there's more important things about Christianity than the weekly attendance at their own churches and what color the sanctuary carpet is.
How many churches don't have carpet? How many people don't have a church? And how many people groups don't even know the reason for a church, know Jesus?
I'm not against the Acts church, and I'm not against church; I just think that the rest of the world should know Jesus' love and power ( a responsibility that has been left up to the existing churches by Jesus himself). I think people should get out of their comfort zones and stop being the average 'Jone' that's just trying to keep up.
And I think God should get out his surgical nail clippers and start working on this North American sized ingrown toenail.