Kids' Camp

So the kids' camp is over and now I'm at home alone, watching Totoro (a popular kids' cartoon... Totoro looks like a cross between an owl and a bunny and makes bear noises, and the cat turns into a bus...) The kids' camp was from Tuesday afternoon until Thursday afternoon. We played games, learned about animals and what they can do, learned a bible verse in English and Japanese, as well as Awesome God, had a campfire, did crafts, had a waterfight, and just generally had a good time. Oh and I can't forget...we also did Silly Songs with AJ. It was hilarious to watch a couple certain people do the actions....
At first it was really weird to start playing the role of camp counsellor and friend because I am these kids' teacher, but I eventually learned how to play with these kids and still keep their respect as a teacher, I think. They're all good kids. I like them. It was also a trick getting 6 little boys excited about doing a cheer about our small group mascot, the snake.
I stayed in a tent with 5 little girls ages 6-9 and it was a lot of fun. I had to solve a lot of problems like missing toothbrushes, pajamas and sleeping bag bags (which almost always ended up being in the kid's bag...). The littlest one, the first morning, woke up and blew her nose for like 10 minutes straight, using almost 2 packages of kleenex; her older sister said that she just wanted to go to the hospital.
It's kinda funny because it was the kids' English camp, but it was like a Japanese camp for me. It was the last thing I heard at night, and I got blasted with it first thing in the morning (5:30am). It became so that even when the 7 Canadians started talking to me, I would respond to them in Japanese. They would just look at me like I started growing a third head until I realized they weren't understanding a single thing I was saying. Not that I have a second head...But my Japanese surprised me that way.
After the camp was over yesterday, I went rowboating on the lake with Kaila and Alex from Calgary...quite the adventure. When our hour was up, we rowed back to shore where the little old man pulled us back in. We wished we had stayed out just a little bit longer because he had brought a megaphone down to the shore with him (in the front basket of his bicycle) in case we didn't come back in time. Maybe the funniest thing about that whole hour was how that little man rode his bicycle the 30ft from the boat shack to the water, and how he dismounted and walked when he came to a little hill. After discovering melon spoons at a sushi bar, a few of us went and did kareoke. (We are much better at Boni Jovi than Celine Dion...)
It's been really good having these 7 Canadians here; I realize now I had started getting dull. It's good to be getting back to the side of myself that's not so serious and mature all the time. I like laughing and sharing life with them. I'm getting fond of these people and will be sad to see them go.

Conclusions from a Monkey Hunt

I am amazed at how much a person can change in five months...namely me. Seven people from Calgary came in last night and will be here in Japan with us (the Nordaas' and I) for almost three weeks. Last night we sat around and had supper together, immersed in English conversation. It was overwhelming. I kept wanting to reply in Japanese.
And you'd think that now, by hearing my own language regularily again, I'd finally be able to understand what's going on. Nope. I have become oblivious to sarcasm and don't understand humor. Other people's humor. Canadian humor. It's not that I haven't been laughing; I laugh a lot...it's just always at myself and the stupid foreigner things I do, and my ridiculous Japanese. But all these native English speakers are really quite overwhelming. It's funny because I went home last night after being with these people for about 6 hours straight, and I was craving Japanese, so I turned on the TV and just sat there, reimmersing myself in the familiar of not understanding. It's really quite weird.
And that's only after five months...think of what it'll be like after a year!!
A quick change of topic...
For those of you that were wondering, no, I never got to see a monkey in the wild. How disappointing. I saw monkey poo, but no monkey. But I did make a little asian friend. I was at this nature center on the way out into the country to go monkey hunting, and this little girl walked up to me and just stood there, staring at me. Apparently I'm rare in these parts. The two Japanese people I was with told her that it was okay to talk to me, that I understand Japanese. I told her they were lying and that I don't understand much at all. But that didn't matter to her. She took me all through this nature center, showing me these exhibits of things I don't know about even in English, chattering the whole time. I think I only got about 30% of what she was saying. So maybe I was the monkey that day.
These two Japanese people I was with are becoming pretty good friends; they're about 6 years younger than my parents. They are convinced that everywhere I go I turn famous, just because of who I am and what I do (I'm big and white, and I reguarly do things unintentionally that get attention...like accidently turning a drinking fountain into Old Faithful, shooting water 2 meters up into the sky...) They have motorcycles. I told them I would like to come to their house and ride one one day. They said sure, but were both kind of hesitant about it. They're like, 'but you turn famous wherever you go' (their way of saying I'm accident prone and it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to drive a motorcyle). I saw their point and we agreed that it would be best if I just rode on the back.
So from all this I conclude one thing: I'm not changing a whole lot, at least the parts that matter. If anything, who I am is getting stripped down so all that's left is genuine. I can't try to fit in with the crowd, because I'm the only one of my crowd. I can't hide behind language or sarcasm because no one will understand. And I can't hide what my personality is, even in another language. It's funny how you often have to have every comfort zone taken away to find out who you really are. And it's funny how you often have to go so far away from home to find out what really matters.

The Adventure Chronicles

This past week has been full of adventures of the Japanese kind. Last Sunday I went deeper into the wilderness than I've ever been in my life. There's a mountain range about an hour away from my town, the Shirakami Mountains, that are a World Heritage site, so the Nordaas', a couple from church and I decided to go. Japanese roads are quite narrow and windy to begin with (they have convex mirrors all over the place so you can see if there's anyone coming), but this was quite unlike anything I'd ever seen. We were always on the side of a mountain, with lush lush green all around (hiding what a steep dropoff it was). The road was barely big enough for one car (two-way roads like that should be illegal...and then when you add the potholes... I thought we were gonna die). We'd turn a corner, and I thought there was no way possible you could go further, but then 15 minutes later we were still driving. It was slow going on the paved roads at 40km/h, but then it turned to gravel road and we had to go 20km/h. It was not unlike bushwacking in a car.
We finally got to the top and I was very surprised; there were actualy other cars there - we weren't the last people at this end of the earth. After hiking through some meadows (more like sauntering and taking pictures of the lilies and white mushrooms that looked like flowers) we emerged back into the parking lot and there was a bus! I have no idea how that bus made it without tipping off the side of the mountain; we were all quite mystified. On the way down, the narrow paved road seemed so much wider, almost like a luxury. In the words of Bonita, "The Japanese all love nature, but not many venture THIS deep." Well put, I think.
Yesterday I went to a festival at a shrine. Takanosu has the biggest drum in the world, and every year they use it at a festival to call on the harvest gods to send rain or something like that. I actually don't know how to describe this festival; this too was like nothing I've ever seen. There were different sets of dances and drumming routines, for lack of better words. It lasted an hour and a half. But there's nothing like a good festival that brings the foreigners out of the cracks of Japan. I haven't seen that many white faces I don't know for five months; actually just that many white faces. It was almost like culture shock in my own habitat. There were 6 new people I had never seen before, and I have no idea where they came from, but they're definitely not from around here.
Tonight I had more of a domestic adventure. Now that I think about it, it was probably more me just trying to live up to my past reputation. I went out for supper with three people from church and after two of us wanted ice cream. I was kind of full, but I reassured them of my seperate stomaches, and we went to Baskin Robins. This is the last week of the 'buy a double get a triple' deal, so of course I had to "Challenge the Triple" as the poster put it. So I was with three people (granted with asian size bellies) and they shared a small triple. They told me I wouldn't look too piggish if I got a triple too, and so I went to order the small size like they got. But my cup ended up being about twice the size of theirs because I ordered 'regular' (the big size) instead of 'small' (the regular size). Needless to say, I don't think I'll be eating tomorrow.
Oh and that brings me to my next adventure. Tomorrow I'm going monkey hunting. For real. (But with cameras, not guns...I'm not cruel like that).
I guess I'm living up the the motto I adoped way back when I got to Japan, as soon as I learned the word for 'adventure'. It's "Every day is an adventure". (Basically I just said it whenever I did something stupid.) Back then it stemmed more out of my ignorance than anything, but I think it still applies, no?

From the "Teacher" File

I think it's kinda funny how God puts us in places way out of our comfort zones and gets us to learn new things. I'm kinda in a weird place right now because I've had no education on how to teach, and yet I'm teaching people, and they're expecting to learn. Probably about half of my students are older than me, and until two weeks ago, I was still technically a kid in their eyes. Must be humbling for them I think.
But I would like to share with you all some things you can laugh with me with about my new job as a teacher.

-> About a month ago I was teaching a joint adult class, because Arnie was somewhere for some pastor's meeting, so for that class I used different textbooks that focus on listening. It came up in the text, something about 'finding a girlfriend'. They kinda looked confused so I asked them what they thought it meant. This one guy who is 50 but looks like he's about 30 jumped in and was like, "HUNTING!" And I just about lost it. And the funny thing is he was being serious.

-> In my beginner kid's class right now I'm teaching them, well pretty much everything, which includes how to write the alphabet and what the letters are called. They were having problems with remembering "w", so I explained that it was like a double "u" and drew it like that on the board. The kids started laughing and I didn't know why. Then one kid came up and took a marker and drew how the Japanese people draw poop. It's not my fault I draw my "w's" the way the toilet companies print people bums on the toilet buttons. I will never draw a "w" like that for a class of 7-year-olds again.

-> Mountain vegetables are very popular here. Side story: One day I was hiking on a mountain with some people and there was a whole lot of rustling in the bushes beside where we were walking. Since we were in bear country we were all quite scared...until we figured out it was just a grandma picking mountain vegetables on a nice summer day. Next time she should go to a more convenient spot where she will not be mistaken for a wild carnevorious bear.
Back to my english story. People like to translate things straight across from Japanese to English. There is a popular mountain vegetable here called takenoko, which is a baby bamboo shoot (I actually really like them). One day in English class I was talking with the HUNTING! man, and he's like, "Have you ever eaten bamboo children?" haha. I couldn't help but laugh. Poor guy. Makes sense in Japanese, but worth a laugh or two in English.

-> One day I was doing an activity with the months in a kid's class; they were in two groups with month cards, and they had to race to put them in order. We did this more than once though, because it doesn't take very long, so they had to mix them up in between. The Japanese word for 'mix' is 'mazemas'. I don't know why I said this, other than to make it fun for both me and the kids, but I started saying "mazeh-mazeh-mazemas", kinda rhythmically. (It's quite fun to say; try it yourself.) But then I heard the kids talking amongst themselves. They were like, "Why is she saying that? It's baby talk." So then I was a teacher, saying the equivalent of "goo-goo-gaa-gaa" in the middle of class. Sigh. Just another time my language skills are challenged by an eight-year old. But laughable now, in hindsight.

All in all teaching is an adventure, quite a stretching adventure. But times like these perk it up a little and add joy to my day..and my days after, when I think about these stories and laugh to myself.
If you didn't laugh, you probably had to be there...

the dark side

I've gone over to the dark side. It was a gradual slide, but now there's no going back. I now use an umbrella.
I have loathed umbrellas my entire life; I've always thought they looked goofy. Once the 2 meteres of snow melted here in Japan, it started to rain, and the umbrellas came out, I vowed never ever to use one. In fact if someone had told me two weeks ago that I would be using an umbrella in 14 days, I would have told them they were lying.
But there comes a time when necessity overtakes pride. And that day came for me.
It's so stinkin humid here; you sweat just by sitting and it doesn't evaporate. And then when it's raining and you're walking to the train station for a full day of teaching, there's no way anybody in their right mind would want to wear a rain coat and start their day all hot and gross.
It began by just carrying my umbrella when I was going places, just in case it started to downpour. Then I discovered I liked having that safety cushion against getting soaking wet, and plus it's fun to walk with a cane-like object in your hand. I think I violate every Japanese umbrella-carrying rule.
Then came the day when it started pouring when I was conveniently carrying my umbrella; I was very thankful. And I don't think I'll ever go back.
But there are definitely downsides to umbrellas; the number one reason being the restriction of necessary vision. Good thing Takanosu's streets are not teeming with traffic; I'm sure I would have been run over by now. Basically you can only see a 1 and a half meter radius around you, and if you walk at a pace of 3/4 of a meter per second, it severely limits your reaction time when foreign objects come into your range of vision. And I have not yet learned to compensate for the extra width I take up. I'm not gonna lie, I have hit a few Japanese people with my umbrella.
But I guess when you're in a country where it's cool for even guys to have umbrellas, I can suck it up and use one as well. And when it's so ingrained into a culture to have an umbrella that there are umbrella racks in every store and bathroom stall, and a special place to put them on shopping carts (not unlike a child seat) I suppose I can learn to adapt. And then when I come back home to Canada I can judge how Japanesied I have become by if I still carry an umbrella or go back to wearing a rain jacket.

A Train Full of Thoughts

I came home from Akita on the train last night. Trains make me sad. First of all, I realize that I'm probably the only person who knows Jesus on that whole train. All these people do the same thing every day, and don't even realize they are focusing on the wrong things. It's also weird to think how much of an individual everyone is. I like to look at the people, just the variety, and see their personalities through their clothing, facial expressions, and what they do on the train. Everyone is just absolutely different.
And everyone has cell phones. And on every cell phone people have different screen savers, different rings, and different little dangly things. Yesterday I was thinking about what's inside the cell phone, the pictures. No one else gets to see them, just the person who uses them. It seems like a waste of personality to me, that not everyone gets to see who everybody else is. You can't be known by everybody, and you can't know everybody. That makes me kind of sad. There's a whole lot of neat people in this world you won't get to know, a whole lot of perspectives you won't get to see, and a whole lot of personalities that won't be an influence on you.
Why are people so different if they don't get to be shared with everybody? Maybe there should be a limited number of personality groups, so that you can get to know each type of person. But that would get boring.
Maybe there should only be 6 people in the world, and they could all get to know each other quite well. But that's an empty earth if I've ever seen one...also boring as well.
There are so many personalities because it's another way God communicates with us. His character, who he is, is so diverse and all encompassing that we can't possibly understand it. And God can't fit all he is into one person. He created us in his image, and each different person reflects him differently. It seems like part of his glory would be lost if he reduced humanity to a set number of ways a person could think and act. It seems like his creativity would be downplayed if there were only 6 people in this world.
Just because I can't understand how people can be so diverse doesn't mean it should be that way. If God made everything so that we could understand, we may as well be God too.
It may seem like a waste not to get to see everybody's cell phone picture, or not get to talk to absolutely everyone on the train, but we can impact people one at a time. One by one people need to be plucked out of this ever-moving, ever-changing sea of humanity so they can be shown the only real constant in this world - Jesus. And one at a time they need to fall in love with the One who made each of them so uniquely different. And God, one person at a time, is completeing his mosaic of humanity that will forever proclaim his glory.
And at the end, we WILL get to know all these people, be provoked to thought by the way they think, laugh at the stories they tell, be intrigued with their views on life, and spend countless hours finding out what fragments of God they represent. All this from not just spending time with the people, but unlimited hours with the One who created all of them.
So this array of humanity is not a waste, as we view it with our earthly eyes. If we are able to not just see the now, but the later as well, we can see this diversity as something to look forward to, and something we will be blessed by as we spend eternity in heaven.

A Day in The Life Of...

So today I think I'll write about something mundane, like my day. Today was not an abnormal day, but just the fact that it's a normal day for me in Japan makes it something abnormal for you. So if I process mentally like that, I think maybe my day will be something worth reading about.
Today I woke up at 7:30. Maybe a little too elementary, no? Every Friday I go to a city that's 20 minutes away, Odate, to teach, so I have to catch the train; it takes me about 20 minutes to walk to the train station from my apartment. One day I missed the train by literally 10 seconds (you could set your internal clocks by Japanese trains - unless they hit a tree - so it was my fault for missing, not the train's), and I ended up having to take the expensive train and being late for a class of worrying mothers. And there just happened to have been a couple murders in the area that week, so that made them worry all that more. That whole experience was just plain inconvenient, so now I go to the train station super early.
My first class was from 10:30 until 12:00, a pretty advanced ladies class; basically I just chat with them for half, and teach for half. We're doing comparisons right now, and a few weeks ago they told me that George Bush isn't as faithful or polite as samarai, and that chickens aren't as ferocious as dragons. Who knew?
Every week after class we have a tea time, so basically it lasts until 1:00.
One of my students brought me homemade onigiri (rice balls) so I had some for lunch, then one of my friends picked me up at 2:00 and we went to the new supercenter, because it has Baskin Robins. Right now it's buy a double scoop and get a free triple, so we did that. She's the lady I was with when I pushed the green button, and we were in the same place; today she told me to go push it again. I didn't. So we chatted and ate huge cups of ice cream, and after I played mini air hockey against her 2 year old daughter. I let her win. After we went to the hundred yen shop because I needed to buy some envelopes.
Then I went back to the church, and watched Bonita's class, which I will be teaching starting next week, along with about 4 other extra classes of hers.
At 5:30 I had my class of grade 4-5's. They're fun. Right now it's just four girls because four of the (noisy) kids are busy with manditory school clubs - part of the crazy Japanese school system. We're doing a clothing unit. Next week I'm getting a new student in that class.
Then I ate supper, which the pastor's wife at Odate church makes for me and the Nordaases every Friday. Always a feast.
Then I had a class at 7:30, a junior high class that is two girls. They're a lot of fun too.
I got another birthday present today from one of Bonita's students, so it really is the 12 Days of Erika.
And we got to go home early today (9:15) because Arnie's students didn't come. Normally we leave about an hour later than that. So we drove home.
I did some laundry, kinda cleaned up a bit, made some plans for this weekend because I'm going to Akita, and now I'm waiting for the Germany/Argentina game to start.
And that is just another average day in the life of Erika.
And now I must go rescue my laundry from getting wrinkled...