a few pictures...

This is Green House, where we hold our after-school ministry for the school girls in the area, as well as my aparment on the second floor. It's a great space for me. The area I live in, Yamate-cho, was once designated as the spot for foreigners to live so the houses are bigger, ceilings higher, and the area is westernized. I could not ask for a better place to live.

Here is the lovely school that I teach at: Ferris Jr-Sr Girls' School. This is the front building, next to the main entrance.

This is the view of Yokohama from the top of one of our school buildings. It's such a pretty view. I wish the camera could do it justice.

Frollicking in the rain, experiencing the nightlife of Harajuku. Dana took the pic, so don't worry, I wasn't acting like a weirdo all by myself. I had company to entertain. :o)

new semester at school

Last week, we began a new semester at school. This was great because my first three weeks here, I was able to experiment and discover my teaching 'rhythm,' then start over with a new group of students. The English teachers all switch students halfway through the year so students experience a variety of teaching styles, speaking styles, and accents. I teach two writing classes, which are the only two classes that have the same students year-round. Otherwise, my other 12 classes all switched!

I am still experimenting with different activities to do with the girls. (Here are more teaching ideas for you, Jeff.) The other day we did a classroom bingo activity. I created a bingo sheet that had a phrase in each square. Since the lesson focused on likes, dislikes, and pets, I used phrases like, "likes volleyball," "does not like spiders," or "has a hamster." We practiced asking a few of the phrases as questions, then practiced answering the questions. After that, I had the girls get up, walk around, ask their classmates questions from the phrases on the bingo sheet. The first person to get a bingo won a prize. They finished pretty quickly, though, so I gave another prize to the first person who filled the entire bingo sheet. They enjoyed it because it was a fun conversational activity.

I am also toying with an idea that I had, which I am calling 'Conversation Stations.' Cheesy name, I know, but the concept seems really practical because in real-life, we engage in conversations in different locations with different people. So far the students are used to memorizing a pre-written conversation with their designated partner, but that is not real-life at all. I want to create an activity that uses stations for initiating conversations. There are students who are in charge of the stations, and other students travel the classroom to the stations and engage in conversation. I tried it with my S1 students (10th grade) but discovered the activity needs to be more structured. It's back to the drawing board at this point, but if anyone has suggestions, I am open to them!

We also had our first 'official' day of Green House. Our theme, to go along with autumn, was harvesting. We had two huge apple pies, which were baked homemade by Nozomi, one of the managers of Green House, and I baked two pans of apple crisp. We also had vanilla ice cream, hoping that would stretch the apple dishes. There were about 60-70 girls there, all except one from Ferris, so they wolfed down the food, especially after a long day at school. We definitely ran out of food! Liz, one of the Green House leaders and teacher at Yokohama Girls' School, gave the message. She used an apple as a visual to explain the Trinity. She compared the Father to that of the apple skin because He wraps us and protects us like an earthly father would do as well. The actual 'meat' of the apple is Jesus because he came to us as a human being--he became flesh--and he was the ultimate sacrifice. We think of the Last Supper and how bread is a symbol of Christ's body. Well the apple flesh was compared to that as well and tied into Christ's body as a sacrifice on the cross. The apple core was compared to the Holy Spirit because it contains seeds, and those seeds are spread around and planted in our hearts to help us grow in the faith as well as share the faith. It was a great, simple, and well-illustrated message that the girls could all understand. Plus, it tied in so nicely with our 'harvest' theme and apple desserts. Nozomi translated for the girls just in case some of them did not fully understand the English.

Yesterday was the official two-month anniversary for me. I am so well-adjusted that I feel like I've been here longer! Two months seems too short! At first I didn't like living alone--it's quiet and the apartment is pretty spacious for only one person. I didn't like coming home from school to . . . nothing . . . but now I don't mind it. I keep myself busy enough that I am only alone in my apartment only a couple days during the week. The rest of the time I am at school, at church, volunteering somewhere, tutoring, walking around, at Bible study, have people at Green House, etc.

The temperature dropped below 60 today! I turned my heat on for the first time after I got home from school. The windows are so old that the wind blows right through them almost, so my apartment gets pretty cold. I hope it does not get too bad during the winter. But then again, the average temperature during January and February, the coldest months of the year, is about 35-40 degrees. That's nothing compare to Michigan! We also have another typhoon on the way. It hit Okinawa yesterday, has been traveling north toward mainland Japan all day today, and will barely hit us tonight. By tomorrow, though, it'll have passed already so we will still have school. We look forward to typhoons here like snow days in Michigan! Just a side story: at Sunday School we asked the kids (ages 3-7) what they were thankful for. One boy said, 'typhoons!' No explanation necessary. We all laughed.

Tomorrow I am giving the chapel message at school. After I finish editing, I will publish a separate post that contains my chapel message. It is simple and straight-forward. I cannot get fancy for two reasons: 1) I do not have a theology degree and 2) my audience does not speak English as their first language. Unforunately, I don't have a translator, but before I begin my message, the principal will give a brief outline in Japanese, then I have the rest of the time to speak. We are also able to choose the hymn we want to sing at chapel, which is pretty exciting. I miss singing good ol' hymns in English.

Next week at school is Ferris' festival, or bunkasai in Japanese. The purpose of the festival is to show-off to parents and relatives what the students have been working on in their after-school clubs, as well as to "advertise" to prospective students. Ferris is a prestigious enough school that, other than their festival, they do little advertising. However, since they do little advertising, this makes their festival extremely important. Thursday and Friday this week are big cleaning days to prepare for festival. Thursday we have no PM casses and Friday we have no classes at all. Lucky me, huh? I still have to be at school, though. I'm not sure what I will do. I am already preppred well until their next exams.

The clubs in Japanese schools are pretty interesting. There is the drama club, art club, YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), tea ceremony club, flower arranging club, sewing club, mountain hiking club, orchestra club, choral club, popular music club, handbell club, badminton club, volleyball, running club, basketball club, and so many other clubs! Basically, instead of extra curricular activities, students join school-sponsored clubs and they meet after school and sometimes on Saturdays. Especially now that festival is just around the corner, students attend their clubs on Saturdays. These girls are so busy! I am being nice this week and not assigning any homework. I want to give them a break.

Last night the pastor next door and his family invited me out for dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant really close to where we live. I had a great time sitting around and getting to know them better. It was really relaxed, family-style, which I haven't been able to experience in a long time. We ordered a few large dishes and all shared--so much fun! It's such a nice treat for me to eat a meal with a family now.

If you think of it, pray for my chapel message. Also, please pray for the Green House ministry. We are already off to a great start, but pray that it continues throughout the year!