this new chapter of life

preview into fall...

2010-09-12T21:41:00.002+09:00

It's September.

I apologize for failing to maintain blog posts throughout the summer. It was a great summer, though, so family and friends can rest assured that I haven't dropped off the face of the internet world...I just have been staying in touch in other ways. \ (^o^) /

Let's see...

In June, I flew to MI for a weekend to surprise Nina at her graduation ceremony. Actually, everyone was surprised except Daddy and Pam. It was a whirlwind of a trip, traveling halfway across the world in a weekend, but well worth it as soon as I saw my family's surprised faces!

In July we still had school until about the 16th. Then Mom came and visited from the 30th until August 19. While she was here we went to Hakone for a day trip, then to Okinawa for a week, and ended with a three-day stay in Kyoto via shinkansen. Okinawa was fantastic. It had been almost 10 years since the last time I was there, so seeing relatives, old stomping grounds, and the ocean brought back a flood of memories. [sigh] I'm ready to go back...

Now it's back to the old routine of the school year. My schedule of classes is still the same as before break so it's nice that I don't have to adjust to anything new. In about two more weeks, we'll begin a new semester, and at that point, we switch halves of each class. I'll get a whole new set of students. That means more names to memorize, and it means starting back up from ground zero in building the girls' confidence to speak English in class. That's always rough, but by the end of the semester, I am so impressed to see how much they've improved. I want to keep going with them, but...a new semester begins and I have to start all over again.

In addition to my normal teaching at Ferris, I'm continuing with the Children's Choir at church. Our numbers have grown from three kids to FOUR kids! Keep praying...

I'm also continuing to teach the elementary Sunday school. Right now we have only two kids that come regularly because we lost lots of families that moved during the summer.

Pretty soon we are going to begin preparations for an evening Christmas program for the kids at church. This is something I will need LOTS of prayers for because as of now, it's just me putting it all together. I need helpers, or really, just another person to work with. Pray that there's also enough kids who are interested in participating. :o) That's always important.

Our Green House ministry on Thursdays has gotten off to a good start. We had a "Welcome Back to School" party for the students this past week and had about 20-30 students come. Instead of one teacher speaking, each of us gave what we called a "God-sighting" from our summer vacation. The students seemed interested to hear about our summers and at the same time, we threw in a little JESUS. Pray that this momentum and interest from the students continues this fall into the Christmas season.

I've been attending a Christian ministry called Lighthouse in Yokosuka. My first year here, I was going to the women's Bible study, but this year I am attending the service on Friday nights and playing piano during worship. It's kind of rough traveling down to Yokosuka two times a week (over an hour travel time one-way!) for rehearsal and the service, but with the Lord's strength...

Also, I now have two private English students. One student is an eight-year old girl and the other is a 25-year old female who wants to study English so she can study music in Germany. It's been fun to get to know another female vocalist.

Then aside from all this, I'm still working on my own Japanese language studies. Right now, I want to quit studying kanji, but I know I shouldn't. The speaking/conversation side of things has gotten easier, though, so that's encouraging. Especially this summer, I was able to speak a lot with Mom, and of course, relatives in Okinawa.

Well...that was just a preview into my fall festivities. I've passed the one-year mark living in Yokohama now. Time flies, but at the same time, with all that's happened, sometimes I think, "It's only been one year?!"

God is good. He continues to bless me every day in ways that are even better than what I can imagine for myself.

Love,
Katharine

the new school year in full swing

2010-05-28T20:29:00.011+09:00

Whew! And there goes another month . . .

May was great because we had three big events: Golden Week (three consecutive national holidays), Ferris' Sports Day (体育大会= taiikutaikai), and Ferris' annual excursion (遠足= ensoku).

I'll start with pictures of Sports Day. At this event, the entire school was divided into four teams (A, B, C, and D). Each team was a different color: A = red, B = white, C = blue, and D = green. Every team had all six grades represented, so the ability levels based on age/development were represented fairly. In the end, the blue team won.

Really, I should be calling this event "Relay Games Day" because they didn't play any sports. Most of the activities were running relays, ball games, or dance-style performances. In the above picture, the girls had to throw as many of their teams' color balls into the net within a certain period of time. The team to get the most balls in the net was the winner. There were also a few gold balls for each team, worth a lot more points than the regular ones.

The video below is an impressive formation they made during the S2 students' (11th graders) fan dance. It was really awesome to see their entire class (all 188 of them) doing this dance completely in sync with each other. Their lines were ruler-straight and their motions so tight and fine-tuned that it was as if they were all one person. It was so impressive.

The next picture below is from the white team's cheer/dance. Each team prepared a cheer, then the teachers and staff had to vote on which team was the best. The judging criteria included such things as neatness of formation, uniformity, enthusiasm, creativity, etc. I can't remember who won, but I thought they were all pretty entertaining. Really, they're just cute. :o)

The next two pictures are from when I was walking around, cheering on my students. They were all so surprised to see me, as if they didn't think I'd be there. I showed them -- of course I wouldn't have missed it!! They were all excited to take pictures with me. Aren't they so cute? These are of my J1 students (middle school, first year).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pictures from our "ensoku," or school excursion. I went with my S1 students (senior high, first year) to 金時山, or Mt. Kintoki. It took us a couple of hours to finally reach the summit, but when we did, the view was absolutely breathtaking. I'm so sorry I didn't take any pictures! Actually, I was designated as the photographer with the school's camera, so once the students learned that I had the yearbook camera, they kept me busy by asking me to take their pictures rather than letting me take pictures with my own camera. Bummer. That's alright. There's next year, too, right?

Anyway, on this day, we reached the top right around lunchtime, so it was planned perfectly for us to bask in a beautiful view while enjoying each other's company. The day before, I bought a TON of snacks so I could walk around to all the students and offer then some treats. It was "bonding" time . . . tee hee. I also brought some left over rice krispy treats from Green House' gathering the night before. The students loved them. Yumm. After all the excitement, it took us only about half the time to descend the mountain. Our group actually got slightly lost. The other teacher and I were having fun talking and didn't notice where the group in front of us went. Oops. We all made it back just fine, though. In the end it worked out. The poor girls were getting nervous, especially since one of the teachers leading them was a gaijin. They probably had less faith in me. At the end of the day, after the long bus ride and bathroom stops, we finally reached Landmark Tower in Yokohama around 5:00. We left that morning at 7:30. Whew...what a long day.

Well, as for the month of May, that's about it. Besides these major events, the month was all about adjusting to our new schedules and routines. I feel like the school year is off to a good start with my new students. I'm excited to see what God has in store both at school and at Green House. Thank you for your prayers~~!

a new season brings...

2010-04-28T18:52:00.007+09:00

a new school year, a new climate, a new experience . . . new life.

That's what April brings -- new life. We celebrated Easter not too long ago, and this year especially I was reminded of how precious Easter should be to us. I won't lie, but I easily get caught-up in the busyness of life and the routines of my daily schedule, so I often forget to take a step back to really remember the purpose of what I'm doing or even celebrating. It gets really hard, especially when the commercialism for holidays definitely overpowers the origin and true meaning to what we are celebrating. In Japan, Easter isn't recognized like Christmas or Valentine's Day, so I wasn't distracted by the Easter bunny, pastel candies, and chocolate eggs. Instead, this year I could focus on being with my church family by celebrating Christ's resurrection with them. The night before Easter, I felt excitement and anticipation as I lay down to sleep much like a little kid on Christmas Eve, eager for morning to come. I had never felt that before.

Then Easter morning came. I can't even describe my sense of 'completeness' as I entered the sanctuary and saw the families that I have grown to know and love all there to celebrate Christ's resurrection. He is alive and we were constantly reminded of that throughout the day. After the service, we were supposed to do お花見　(ohanami) which is "cherry blossom viewing" by having a picnic at Motomachi Park, however, the temperature was pretty cold, so we had our picnic in the sanctuary, then walked together through the park and around Yamate-cho where I live.

Beautiful.

Walking through the park for ohanami felt as if all of creation was celebrating Christ's resurrection with the rebirth of nature. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the greenery was brightening into a livelier shade. For me, this was the best way to celebrate Easter.

The following Friday we began classes for the new school year. I teach the same grade levels this year, which is great, but my class schedule has all changed. On Mondays I teach 2 classes, Tuesdays I don't teach any classes at all, but still have to be at school, then Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I teach five classes each day. The J3 (9th grade) students I had last year are now S1 (10th grade) students so I get to teach them two years in a row! I am so excited about that because these students last year were our core group to come to Green House. I am hoping that another year with them will strengthen our relationship and that hopefully I can continue to plant seeds. Along with them, I am also teaching an English composition class. Once again, I taught these students last year as S1 students, so I am hoping that the same relationship will continue with them. This class is great because there are only 15 girls, so I can really invest a lot of my time in their writing to help them develop their skills. We are working on a journaling project, and through their journals, I plan to actually write back to them to cultivate a sense of trust to develop relationships even further.

Now for the biggest change -- my new J1 students. These are the students who are fresh out of elementary school, completely new to Ferris. They are so cute! Right now they walk around all wide-eyed and fresh-faced, excited to have passed the entrance exam into Ferris, and yet completely intimidated by the next six years they will spend here. They look like little elementary school girls wearing Ferris' uniform. :o) Their first week of classes is designed as an orientation, with the other teachers basically holding their hand as they learn their new schedule and the way Ferris operates. Because they are eased into the school year, it wasn't until the third week in April that I actually taught them for a full week. At the end of that week, though, I felt my body physically drained because I was doing more acting than teaching. These girls have had very little English experience, and since I have to hold my classes in ONLY English, I found myself acting and having to use a lot more energy in order to make myself understood. Otherwise, simply explaining in plain spoken language would leave the girls completely unsure of their task. Whew...talk about an exhausting style of teaching!

Despite this fact, though, I am thoroughly enjoying this group of students. They are such eager learners! No joke, but they honestly sit with their hands folded nicely on their desks, use great posture, and lean slightly forward as they listen eagerly to anything I say. That is something you don't see in the States. Since they are just out of elementary school, I can teach them fun 'kiddie' songs. I taught one of my classes "Jesus Loves Me" along with the sign language, and we sang it for their parents one day when they were allowed to come and observe their daughter's classes for the afternoon. We even translated the song orally for their parents, so there is no way they didn't get the message. Little by little, we're planting seeds. I am so excited for this class because I get the experience of a fresh start with a brand new group of students.

So, with this spring season, comes the new, warmer climate which is such a relief after the unusually cold winter we had in Yokohama without central heat, the new experience of starting all over with Ferris' newest students, the new school year that I am so excited about, and the celebration of new life, both with the blooming of nature and the reminder of Christ's presence among us.

LUCKY ol' March . . .

2010-03-28T17:26:00.030+09:00

March was an amazing month! I'm labeling it as a LUCKY month in the title to this entry for three reasons. First, we celebrated St. Patty's Day (of course), second, Pam came to visit for TWO WEEKS during 春休み (spring vacation), and third, I was able to travel to Hungary where I visited Trazy and Jeff for about six days! Although two of those three occurances actually take planning and can't accurately be described as LUCKY because that implies a fortunate event despite a lack of planning, I still felt blessed that a friend was able to come here to visit, and that I was able to visit friends elsewhere. I'd consider that a pretty lucky month.

So let's start with Pam's visit because it was right at the beginning of the month. She was here from March 5 through March 19th. Seriously, we had so much fun together. Those two weeks were filled with lots of walking, exploring, and laughing, and I could not have asked for a more enjoyable time with my friend.

Pam arrived on a Friday afternoon. I left school at around noon in order to be at the gate at the airport early enough to greet her as she walked out. Her flight was delayed a bit, and even then, it took forever for her to finally come out. I was getting so antsy and worried that something happened, but finally, about 45 minutes after her plane landed, I saw Pam amongst all the other people, called her name, ran up to her, and gave her a big hug. Embarassingly, the waterworks started. Haha, I didn't bawl or anything, but I definitely had more than one tear from my eyes.

From the airport, we had a 1.5 hour train ride to get us back to Yokohama, then another short ride on the subway to the station near my place. Poor Pam was exhausted, though, and in a daze as we made our way to my apartment. To welcome her to Japan, I bought us a bottle of wine, cheese, and crackers, and we toasted to her safe travel and much-anticipated arrival. 　　　　　CHEERS! かんぱい！

Here's a list of the things we did and the places we went:

Friday: Japan welcomed Pam!! Despite her traveling induced delirium and fatigue (thanks, Pam, for the words) I took her to my favorite ramen restaurant where she was so exhausted that she failed to properly utilize chopsticks to eat her ramen. (Thanks, again!)
Saturday: Yokohama station area where we went to SOGO (department store) and PORTA (a series of boutiques along the station's underground walkway. I fixed curry rice for dinner and we watched Grey's Anatomy.
Sunday: Introduced Pam to my Sunday school class and church family. We went out for lunch then walked along Motomachi shopping street.
Monday: Started at Chinatown, where we had lunch, then made our way over to Minatomirai to see Landmark Tower (tallest building in Yokohama, also filled with shopping), and Queen's Square (more shopping).
Tuesday: My church next door was having an arts & crafts fair as a fundraiser for its preschool. We stopped in there to look around. From there we went to Roppongi Hills area. It was cold and rainy that day so we decided to do something indoors. This, of course, included more shopping. We ended at a 270 yen izakaya for dinner.

Wednesday: Finally the weather was nice! We walked to Yamashita Park, Omotesando Pier, World Porters, then made our way to Yokosuka for Bible study.
Thursday: Japanese Outdoor Folk Home Museum (Nihon Minka-En). Green House gathering in the PM.
Friday: Sankeien Garden. It took us 1.5 hours to walk there! Haha, but we had a few stops for snacks along the way . . .
Saturday: A busy weekend day, so I took Pam to a busy area of Tokyo! We stopped at Shibuya, Harajuku, saw Meiji Shrine, and ended with dinner at Shinagawa.
Sunday: Sunday school and church, then made our way to Shinagawa to meet friends for kaitenzushi, a sushi restaurant that serves all its sushi (and other dishes) on a rotating belt so you can simply pick whatever is in front of you! We ended the day by walking through Ginza and Yurakucho (high-end shopping street), then went out for coffee and cake.
Monday: ONSEN DAY!! We went to Odawara Castle (where there were lots of blossoming trees), saw a shrine and temple near Kozu, then made our way to Hakone where we went to an onsen called Hakone Tenzan. An onsen is a hot springs bath. The one we chose is outdoors and separates the men from the women. Basically, you strip off all your clothes, wash yourself, walk outside, then soak in the hot spring baths. They are arranged from warmest to hottest, so anyone can gradually work up to the hottest bath. I'm not an experienced onsen-goer, so I didn't make it up to the hottest temperature.
Tuesday: Kamakura area to see Daibutsu, or, Big Buddha. Kamakura is an old capital of Japan so there are many temples and lots of greenery. Pam and I started at one point in Kamakura, hoping to take the hiking trail to see Big Buddha. However, we didn't realize how much of a "hiking" trail it was. We were definitely not dressed for the journey ahead of us. We made it though!! After our journey, we walked to see Yuigahama Beach, which is pretty popular for surfing.
Wednesday: LADIES' DAY AT THE MOVIES!! Pam and I started by going to Pompadour for coffee, walked to Isezaki-cho to do more shopping, then made our way to Minatomirai to buy movie tickets to Sherlock Holmes. We had to wait until the next showing, though, so we walked around World Porters (the building with the movie theatre and more shopping), then stopped at Starbucks for our 'sakura feast.' What is 'sakura feast' you may ask? Well . . . apparently Japan has a flavor for their beloved cherry blossoms, or sakura. Starbucks has a sakura drink, cake, steamed dumpling, biscotti, and cookie. Pam and I each got a drink (I got hot, she got a frappuccino) and we split the enormous sakura cake. Delicious. That, my friends, is a sakura feast. (By the way, the movie was good, too.) We ended the day by walking along the coast to enjoy all the city lights at night.
Thursday: Another trip to kaitenzushi!! We ate a lot of food . . . then came back to pack!
Friday: We went to Narita airport together -- Pam to fly back to Michigan, and myself to fly to Budapest to visit Jeff and Trazy.

Now from here, another adventure begins . . .

My flight to Budapest included a connecting flight in Moscow. Probably not the best planning on my part because the Moscow airport is awful. I won't get into too many more details, but it wasn't the best experience. The flight from Moscow to Budapest, however, was less than three hours, and at that point I was so tired that I slept the entire flight. That was probably for the best because otherwise I don't think I would have been able to contain my excitement.

So arriving at the airport in Budapest, things went smoothly. I went through customs, got my baggage pretty quickly, then walked out of the gate expecting to see Jeff and Trazy waiting there for me, but was disappointed when I saw no one. Hmm . . . What do I do now? I have no phone numbers, no addresses, nothing. What if I am stranded at the airport?! I started to make my way over to some chairs to sit and wait, but that's when I heard, "Katharine~!" It was like music to my ears, hearing my name in English amongst this foreign language that I had never heard before. It's one thing to be confused when hearing Japanese, but it's another thing to be confused hearing a language I'm not studying! I turned and saw Jeff running up to me, gave him a hug, then met Trazy with a hug as well. Ahh...safe and sound. :o)

Apparently, Jeff and Trazy had been waiting in the wrong terminal. I dramaticized everything on my end just to give them a hard time. Honestly, I wasn't waiting long so it was no big deal.

Well, that's when my trip in Hungary began. We made our way to Trazy's flat in Budapest where I dropped all of my stuff, exhausted from traveling, and did a little catching-up with my friends. Unfortunately, though, I was so sleepy, so I didn't last in conversation very long.

The next several days were just a whirlwind of activity. I am so bad at remembering all the Hungarian names for the places we went, so we'll just deal in English. My first day there, we woke up early to catch a train in to Nyirtelek, the town that Jeff lives in. The train ride was pretty fun. It was like the train in the book, Polar Express, or the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter. There was a little cafe car and everything! Trazy and I hung out there for a bit to get my first taste of Turkish coffee. Sorry to have abandoned you, Jeff!

We arrived in Nyirtelek, then went to meet Aunt Suzie, the adorable Hungarian lady that Jeff lives with. We visited with her a while, then went to the church that Jeff is attending. There, we met the associate pastor as his wife, as well as the pastor's family. We made our way back to Aunt Suzie's place to have lunch. This is where I learned that a typical Hungarian lunch will begin with soup as the first course, then move on to something else for the second course. I think we had chicken and potatoes. It all blurs together.

After lunch we went and visited the place where Jeff works, then visited some different families that he knows. We went back to Aunt Susie's place to have dinner. From there, we went to the church to use the internet, then were invited to the pastor's house for something delicious that his wife made for us. This is when I was introduced to 'fruit soup.' Sounds weird, I know, but it was so good! Trazy told me earlier that this was her favorite food in Hungary, and now I understand why! We ended up staying at the pastor's house for several hours, playing UNO and a dice game that's similar to BS.

The next day was Sunday, so we went to Jeff's church where we met more people. Then Trazy and I were caught off guard because we were asked to come up front and talk about what we do in our different placements. Trazy, of course, was able to explain in Hungarian, but I had the luxury of a translator. ;o) After church we went to the train station to head back into Budapest to Trazy's place. Here we are at the train station.

We arrived back in Budapest sometime in the late afternoon. That evening we went to a choir concert that Jeff's pastor's daughter invited us to. It featured three Japanese choirs, as well as the choir that she sings in. Who would have thought that I'd be in Budapest in time to hear Japanese choirs? I haven't even had a chance to hear Japanese choirs in Japan . . .

After the concert, Trazy had a surprise for us! We went back to her flat to change our clothes, then went walking around the city at night. She took us to Buda Castle where we were able to overlook the Danube River onto Parliament. Everything was illuminated so beautifully! Talk about a gorgeous view. As we were enjoying the scenery in front of us, from her enormous purse, Trazy brought out a bottle of wine! So, there the three of us stood, overlooking the river at night, in a beautiful foreign city, enjoying a bottle of wine. Like Trazy said, it was oddly romantic.

Here we are at the wall of Buda Castle that overlooks the river. I'm sure the wine was gone by now.

The next day, we woke up in a timely fashion to enjoy all the hot spots of the city. We began by walking past Parliament, since Trazy lives only a short walk away! Of course, perfect picture opportunity. From there we walked along the Danube where I, of course, took many more pictures. We also went to a market where we had langos for lunch, walked across the bridge to the church that's actually a cave, explored around the Castle District some more where we went to a cute cafe called Roszwurm (spelling is definitely wrong--sorry!). This is a picture of the three of us in the cafe. The nice English-speaking girls at the table next to us took the picture! Thank you! We walked around some more and made it back to Buda Castle just as the sun was setting. I was able to get some good pictures before it became TOO dark. This is my favorite picture. The sky is the perfect shade of blue, and this section of the castle is illuminated so nicely. It's like Cinderella! Or Beauty and the Beast...or whatever other Disney castle you want it to be! That's why I like the picture so much. Here the sky has gotten darker, but I still managed to get a decent picture of Parliament across the Danube. We ended our day by visiting some of the other volunteers in Budapest, then Trazy and I headed back to her flat and called it a night.

The next day we went to Trazy's work and hung out with the other ladies there by decorating eggs with beads. Meanwhile, Jeff entertained the kids that were there. We left by about 12:30 to make it over to the hospital to have lunch because it's really cheap. Luckily, the afternoon turned out to be a really nice, with a BLUE sky! We did some more walking around the city, where we saw the Opera House, Heroe's Square, and another castle that I forgot the name of. We also made our way over to the basilica where we walked inside, then went up to the tower to see the view of the city. As we came down from the tower, the sky brightened up a bit, so that's when I took this picture of Jeff and Trazy. We were sitting on the steps to the basilica. Trazy just can't stop being silly . . .

While at the Opera House, we bought tickets to that evening's performance -- the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra playing Ferenc Erkel's opera, Dozsa Gyorgy. I was slightly confused, though, because it was performed as an oratorio, so I don't think they performed it as the real thing. Maybe just selections from the opera? Either way, it was an enjoyable evening of music.

After the opera, we went out for pizza. This was our last night together in Budapest. [tear, tear]. This last picture is of us at the restaurant. It was such a great trip! Budapest is beautiful, and seeing the relationships that Jeff has built in Nyirtelek was amazing. I'm so proud of these two, and I'm so glad I was able to visit.

All in all, do you see why March was a LUCKY month? It's not that unexpectedly good things happened, that's not the case at all, because all of these circumstances were blessings. I was simply presented with such wonderful opportunities. Pam came to visit and I visited Jeff and Trazy. To top it all off, I've been out of school since March 5th, and I don't even start teaching until April 8th! Talk about a long spring break!

Now I have something wonderful to look forward to: the beginning of a new school year at Ferris. I am so excited to welcome in a new batch of J1 students (7th grade equivalent). Most of them have had no English experience in a classroom setting, so it will be difficult for me to break them in to conversational English without overwhelming them, however, I have confidence that we'll be fine. I received some feedback from my students from last school year, and overall they thoroughly enjoyed my class. I hope this new school year goes just as well!

Well, goodbye for now. Until April . . .

February's end . . .

2010-02-26T20:41:00.003+09:00

So in Japan, Valentine's Day is backwards from in the States. On Feb. 14th the girls give the guys chocolates or whatever kind of sweet, then on March 14th (also called White Day), the guys have the chance to return the favor to the girls. It's pretty interesting, and it's also a clever way to trick consumers into buying huge amounts of chocolate on one more day out of the year. Needless to say, the girls at school were busy making chocolates or baking cookies/cakes to bring to school. Since we are at an all girls' school, the girls were freely giving their friends all sorts of sweets, despite the idea that it's a day for girls to give to guys. The poor male teachers at school were almost being bombarded with treats from their students. Some of my students gave me cookies and chocolate, which I was so excited about. I'm still unsure of what my students think of me because they're so shy and hesitant to speak in English, so I was glad to receive little treats from them. Especially since I see most of my students only one time a week, I was receiving sweets well until Thursday, when most students exchanged their treats the week before on Friday!

Sorry, I guess I got ahead of myself because I didn't really talk about January. Oops. That must mean that January was pretty uneventful, which it was. Shinny and Brittany left on January 8th, and that was my first day back at school from winter vacation. Once school started back up again, I focused on getting back into my routine with school, tutoring English, doing my own Japanese studies, going to Bible study, church, etc. The end of January into February were the coldest weeks I've experienced. Last week was pretty cold, too, with it snowing a couple times, but this week has been great with the temps being well into the 50s. I'm sure it won't last though. I just don't want it to snow again!

This week at school the students all took their final exams. Teachers are able to leave at 1:00PM everyday, which has been really nice. Monday through Thursday I proctored the first hour exam, from 9:10-10:00, then had the rest of the day to do grades, study Japanese, etc. until 1:00 when I could leave for the day. It was great. Friday, I proctored the last hour exam, from 10:20-11:10, finished all my grades, prepped for Monday's class, and was definitely out again by 1:00. I've been so thankful for the great weather this week especially since we are able to leave earlier in the day. Jo, one of the other conversation teachers, and I were able to take advantage of this week by going out to Minatomirai to see some short films, walking all along Yokohama Bay on our way to Sakuragicho Station, going out for coffee and pie, and simply enjoying the sunshine with good conversation. Next week we have our final classes, then we are basically on spring break. There are a few days when teachers have to come in to enter grades, attend graduation chapel, etc, but they aren't full days. Another great thing is that my friend, Pam, is coming to visit for two weeks -- from March 5th through the 19th. I'm so lucky to have friends visit! They're lucky, too, because Yokohama is such a great place to show off!

Now, as February ends and March begins, we are rolling into a new season. Lent has begun with the promise of Easter, winter is ending, and a new school year is beginning. I am so excited to see how God will work!

December and on . . .

2010-01-25T19:46:00.002+09:00

First of all, I'd like to apologize to everyone who has been asking me why I haven't blogged in a while. I know, I know...keeping up with this sort of thing is not my strong point. I'm usually caught up in reading a book, studying Japanese, or sending out emails, and the thought of blogging easily slips my mind. Sorry, sorry, sorry!!

Here I go...
December was fun. We had a big Green House Christmas party about halfway through December, before our winter vacation started at school -- that way students could come. We had a really good turnout, maybe a total of 70-80 girls throughout the evening. Of course, that wasn't all at one time, as Green House isn't big enough to hold that many people comfortably, but as students came and went, we had a pretty sizable turnout. It's so funny because the girls are always starving when they come after school, so as soon as we'd bring out a tray of food, it'd be gone in a few minutes. I was working in the kitchen so all I saw was a full tray go out, then three minutes later, the same tray return completely empty. Like Nozomi said, it was like a cartoon or something...go out full, come back empty, all within a couple minutes.

With Green House, though, I often wonder how many of the girls actually come because they are curious about Christianity, and how many of the girls come for the food or because their friends are coming. Even if we asked them what their motive for coming is, I'm sure they wouldn't tell us that it's only for the latter two reasons. In the end, though, I think I'm satisfied even if the girls come just to "hang out" with friends after school. After all, they still hear the message for that week, right? But then I thought again about the possibility of the girls not even paying attention to the message. Digging deeper into that, I'm still satisfied even if their brains shut down when we give our devotional/message, because they're at least interacting and SEEING Christian behavior, so I hope that speaks loudly enough to them. No matter their reason for coming, I'm always glad to welcome them in because hospitality is a huge part of Christianity. I hope the girls can see that in us at Green House.

So I was lucky enough to have friends visit for Christmas. Shinny and Brittany both came and spent three entire weeks with me! It was so fun, because not only did I have people to spend Christmas with, but I also had the opportunity to go to different places around this area that I wouldn't have gone to otherwise. We went to several areas in Tokyo, including Shinjuku (where we saw Mt. Fuji from the government building's observatory), Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya (where it was SUPER crowded as always), Asakusa where we toured the city via rickshaw, and other places. Of course, I took them around Yokohama because I think it's even better here than it is in Tokyo! We went to Chinatown, Motomachi, various parks in Yamate-cho, Yamashita Park, Osanbashi Pier, and Minatomirai where we saw Avatar in English with Japanese subtitles and were the only ones laughing in the theatre, then were bummed when the Avatar language was translated only into Japanese. On top of all that "touristy" sight-seeing, Shinny and Brittany were able to see the Christmas program that I was working on with the kids at church AND hear the trio of "O Holy Night" that I sang for the Christmas Eve service. In the end, despite all the craziness of being busy, I was so glad to have friends with me for Christmas and my 23rd birthday. Wow, is that right? I can't believe I'm already 23...!

In Japan, New Year's Day is a bigger holiday than Christmas, but the three of us girls didn't go out and do much. We actually had a fun night in my apartment, then ran out to Harbor View Park (Minato no Mieru Oka Koen) where we were hoping to see the fireworks that we were told would be shot off from the pier over Yokohama Bay. However, we were disappointed when midnight came around and all we heard was the sound of the ships blowing their foghorns--no fireworks. It was alright, though. At least the city lights were beautiful. I was also glad to see that the park wasn't very crowded. It was actually surprisingly empty! That's always good news in a city with an incredibly high population density. :o)

Ok, now on to January . . .

November past . . .

2009-12-05T19:07:00.017+09:00

Another month has gone by, and I am still enjoying my life here. Can you believe it's been over three months since I arrived? Sometimes I can't believe it has been that long, and other times I can't believe it's been that short! With everything I've been involved in, it feels like I've been here a year already, but at the same time, there are a lot of things I have yet to experience.

For Halloween, Tonya hosted a costume party at Green House. Most of the people there were associated with Lighthouse in some way. Lighthouse is an off-base Christian ministry that is geared toward Navy families in the area. Here are some of our costumes:

On the left is Tabi (with a mask on), I'm in the center (supposed to be Cruella DeVille), and Martha is on the right. Tabi is one of the missionaries from RCA who is teaching at Yokohama Eiwa. She and Tonya are both at the same school and about my same age. They're both a part of the Green House ministry as well. Martha is one of the directors of Lighthouse. She's been so great in helping me fit in there.

Aren't these great costumes? I guess it took 'Optimus Prime' a month to make his costume! Nina, who is the alien, actually made her saucer to light up!! Impressive, huh? Now, can you imagine what all the Japanese people thought as they saw these two going through the train stations to get to Yokohama? Makes me laugh . . .

From the left: Yoko, who attends Lighthouse regularly, Aki who I met that night, Risa who is in college and comes to Lighthouse regularly as well mostly to practice her English, and Yuki who lives on the 3rd floor of the Lighthouse complex. The other two ladies I don't remember. They are Risa's friends who I met for the first time that night.

November 2 and 3 were the days we set aside for Ferris Festival! Here you can see the ENORMOUS banner that the girls in the art club worked on. It's a huge net, and they weaved ribbon in and out to create the picture. Isn't that so impressive? The first night after hanging this banner, it rained. Surprisingly, it withstood the weather!! That takes talent.

Here is a picture of the front of Ferris. We had beautiful, clear skies for both days, but the second day, the temperature dropped down to about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Pretty cold for my standards. Nevertheless, Festival was a success! If you look closely enough, you can see a few students standing right above the entrance on the balcony. You can also see how big the banner was in comparison to the school.

For Festival, they usually have about 10,000 people attend between the two days, but this year, because of the swine flu scare, they decided to close Festival to the public. Only the students' immediate family and recent graduates were allowed to attend. I guess a lot of extremely disappointed people were turned away. They still had a good turnout, though. I think they said about 3-4,000? The purpose of Festival is to give the girls a chance to show off what they've been working on in their clubs, as well as a chance for the school to market to prospective students. My favorite club that I visited was by far the orchestra. They were amazing! They played several movements from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, and they played as well as a college orchestra would play! I went to their dress rehearsal and the performances both days.

Above are some of my J3 students who are in the tennis club. The girl standing in the back is beginning to attend Green House regularly. Let's pray she continues to come!

Here is a picture of me with some more of my students. This picture was taken on the Friday before their Festival days. I walked around with my camera and took lots of pictures of the girls in all their excitement as they were preparing.

Ok, now moving on from school (not that I don't love it) . . . one night I met up with Dana in Shinjuku, which is one of the prime spots in Tokyo. She showed me this GREAT book store. It's seven stories, and one floor is designated for only foreign books! There is a huge selection for me to choose from. I was so excited that she introduced me to this store because so far the only bookstores that I've been to have one shelf designated for foreign books, and that just isn't going to cut it for me. After the bookstore, we walked around to enjoy the city lights.

Shinjuku is a really fun place -- actually all of inner-city Tokyo is fun. There is so much to do, it's unbelievable! Later that night, Dana and I met with some other missionaries that she has been working with. Really, I was the tag-a-long, but we had a great time. We went to an izakaya for drinks and food.

Here is a picture of Dana and me!! I used my growing Japanese skills to ask someone to take the picture for us! :o)

One thing that I missed was Thanksgiving with the family in Paw Paw. Don't worry, though, I did get to enjoy a delicious, American-style Thanksgiving meal. Green House hosted, and we invited Ferris graduates, the Director of Global Missions for RCA, all the Green House leaders (minus one who could not make it) and their families, and others who are involved in Green House in some way. This is our conglomeration of friends here.

We really did have a turkey -- it was 17 lbs! We had to order it from the 'Foreign Buyers Club' otherwise there is no way we would have been able to buy a turkey that large here in Japan. Nozomi did an excellent job cooking the turkey! Seriously, it was delicious. The rest of the Green House leaders pitched in by making a dish as well. Some people brought two dishes, so our table was definitely overflowing onto the table in the next room. I made sweet potatoes. mmm . . . nice and easy.

Now you might be wondering why on earth did Katharine take a picture of shoes in the genkan? Well, I just wanted you to be encouraged by the number of students who showed up for Green House one night! It's a school policy that I cannot post pictures of students on the internet when they are in uniform. So, instead of posting a picture of the students, I posted a picture of their shoes! Pretty soon we are having our Christmas party at Green House and I am hoping that we have shoes overflowing to outside the door that night!!

a few pictures...

2009-10-26T19:49:00.006+09:00

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

2009-10-26T18:49:00.004+09:00

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!

a month later . . .

2009-09-28T20:40:00.007+09:00

A month later, I can honestly say that I am adjusting well to the Japanese culture and lifestyle. I feel like I have found my rhythm and teaching style at school, and I am finding my way around Yokohama. Exploring the area I live in has been ejoyable now that the weather is cooler and less humid. When I first arrived it was miserable! I cannot imagine what it will be like in the dead of summer.

School has been getting better and better. My writing classes are the best because it is an elective class so the students are truly eager to learn. Plus, they are the S2 level, which is the equivalent of a high school junior in the States. Their comprehension of English is developed enough that I can speak normally and they still understand the basic idea of what I am communicating. That makes class fun. When they try to speak to me in return, it's lots of fun. I appreciate their efforts in speaking English because I know they are shy, but still willing to try. I keep having to remind myself, though, that these girls are working in a foreign language so I cannot pack the class hour with tons of different activites. I usually end up skipping different parts of my lesson because I over-plan. I guess that is better than not planning enough.

I guess my only complaint about school (which really is not a complaint at all) is that I get bored really easily. Now you are probably thinking that I'm a slacker and not working hard enough. Ok, let me explain to you why I get bored easily . . . While student teaching and long-term subbing, I had only one class hour of prep during the day, totaling 5 prep hours a week. I taught all five classes in a row and had last hour as my prep hour. That was rough. I had a headache at the end of every day and often felt light-headed from having to talk so loudly non-stop from 7:45 AM to 1:30 PM. Since my schedule was hectic, I learned how to manage my time so I could leave as soon as possible. Even though it did not always work that way, for the most part, I got better at time management. With my current schedule here, however, I have so much prep time during the day that I get bored. I teach 18 classes per week out of a typical 40-hour work week. Each class is only 45 minutes long. We also have a 30 minute chapel every morning and get 50 minutes for lunch every day. We are required to arrive at 8:10 AM and can leave at 4:10 PM. I always leave right at 4:10, which is really nice. Basically, if I did my math correctly, I teach 13.5 actual hours during the week and have 13.5 hours of prep. All other time is lunch, chapel, and time between classes. What a cushy job, huh?

Last week I filled my time by tracing and coloring pictures of pets for my J1 level classes (7th graders). I laminated them to use in class for a team-version of tic-tac-toe. The girls had fun. Plus, it was nice to have a tangible, visual of the pets to pass around as we were learning about them. This week is mid-term exam week for the students. We have half-days all week long, which is great for us conversaional teachers because since we do not give any tests, we can leave right at 1:00. The other teachers, though, stay later because they have test grading to do, as well as lots of averaging. They calculate grades the old-fashioned way--with paper, a pencil, and a calculator. Talk about time-consuming. Then once the final grade has been calculated, teachers enter students' grades into the special grade computers at school to print out report cards, progress reports, etc. That is where the information is stored. I also have to calculate grades, but once I determine a final grade for my students, my grades get averaged with the English teachers' grades for one overall measure of the students' abilities in English. Basically once my average is calculated, I am done with grades. It's easy.

Aside from school, life is good. I will start teaching Sunday school at Yokohama Union Church, which is right next door, beginning the first week in October. Apparently the church has not had a Sunday school for kids for several years now, so another lady came forth and volunteered herself to start one. The problem was, though, that she could only commit to the 2nd and 4th Sundays of every month. The situation was mentioned to me, and I volunteered to cover the 1st and 3rd Sundays. I would love to teach every Sunday, but for now we are alternating. Apparently there are a lot of English-speaking children in this area, so if we can build a strong enough children's program here, I think that will draw in more numbers for the church!! Let's hope so!! Pray for us . . .

Green House is also going well. We do not officially open until October 22nd, though, but students have been coming anyway. We never turn them away if they come so we have been gathering together just to hang-out. Most girls at the schools that we (meaning Green House team members) teach at are not Christians, so when they come, we really try to welcome them by making it an enjoyable experience. It's time for fellowship, English-practice, snacks, and tea. :) Once we get started with Green House, I'll be able to give more information and specifics on how it is set-up or run.

The longer I am in Yokohama, the more I try to figure out what my purpose will be here. You know me, I am organized and like to have my ducks in a row, but in this situation, I am learning to let God lead. I think of it as a dance--just God and me. If I try to lead, the dance is not fluid, not beautiful, and we end up stepping on each other's toes. However, if I let God lead as it should be, the dance is smooth, enjoyable, breathtaking. There are surprises with every turn and spin, but going through the thrill of the surprise and then returning safely to the arms of your dance partner is what makes the dance so liberating.

first week of school

2009-09-04T21:36:00.006+09:00

Finally coming to Friday was such a great feeling. The only downfall is, though, that I did not teach a full week of classes because school did not officially start with students until Wednesday this week. I at least got in three days of teaching. Every class went better and better, which I am thankful for.

My very first class was kind of a flop because my pace was too quick and I'm sure the students didn't understand what I was communicating to them. Also, this class is a writing class, so comprehension is key. I am not allowed to speak in Japanese to the students, though. The native English speakers get in trouble if we do so! That really makes things difficult for writing. My next class after that went great, though. This class is the youngest grade level: J1, which would be the equivalent of 7th grade in the US. They're really cute and I felt bad because they sat there with their mouths gaping open, completely overwhelmed with all my English. I think I was speaking too fast as well. Nevertheless we played some singing games to help them practice their introductions and practice saying things like, "this is..." or "that is..." Fun stuff.

A lot of my classes are giggly and wiggly and just plain girly. They like to snicker and turn around in their seats to say little things here and there to each other. I nipped that in the butt right from the start with all the classes I have had so far. I simply explained that when I am talking, they are not. Most of them sat there with their mouths gaping open in shock, but I didn't have a peep out of them during inappropriate times for the remainder of class.

These girls are so funny. On the first day of classes, I was walking with Nathan (another conversational English teacher who is also the manager of the Green House long with his wife, Nozomi) to our first class because they were near each other. Some girls said, "atarashii sensei?" asking if I was the new teacher. Nathan nodded and the girls responded by saying, "kawaiiiiiiiiiii!!" They were calling me "cute." It's funny hearing that come from students who are younger than me. Anyway, I got that a lot during the day. Other girls would see me and, not recognizing my face, call out, "Kyasarin?" (katharine?) I would turn, smile, and wave. During class, though, I asked my students to all call me Ms. Herbert as we are instructed to be called by the English department. I thought it was cute that students were calling me by my first name and so excited to see me.

Definitely, the welcome from the students has been the greatest. They are so enthusiastic to meet me! Most of them are shy and hesitant to come up to me, but I simply smile a lot and try to be as welcoming and approachable as I possibly can be. At the same time, though, I make sure to start off strict so the students come to respect me as their teacher rather than a new foreigner. I feel confident about the year so far, so that is reassuring.

We also had our first Green House meeting on Thursday. We are hoping to use the first month as team building time so there were no students. We prayed over the ministry and shared our summer events with one another. I am hoping for an excellent year. Please pray for us.

all settled in...

2009-08-28T20:50:00.004+09:00

These past few days have been so busy! I am so lucky to have my Mom here to help me with everything. We have been going around getting "things" taken care of . . .

We flew from Detroit at 8:00 AM on Monday, Aug. 24. There were definitely tears shed at the airport, more on my end after I was out of sight, probably. Nevertheless, I had a mission. With a connecting flight in Chicago, the entire trip took way too long. We finally arrived at Narita Airport at 1:50 PM (Japan time) on Tuesday, Aug. 25. Unfortunately, I was stuck sitting next to an elderly gentleman who was quite the talker. He explained to me that he switched seats with another man so that man could sit next to his wife. That was really nice of him, but 15 minutes into the flight with non-stop chatter, I wished he hadn't switched seats.

Upon arriving at Narita Airport, Mom and I took the limousine bus into Yokohama City Air Terminal, which ended up being about an hour-and-a-half ride. That was where we were met by Kobayashi-san, an office worker from Ferris Girls' School, the school I will be working at. She greeted me with a name card and everything. :0) I felt pretty special. We took a taxi to my new apartment in the Green House, which took all of 15 minutes. Kobayashi-san called Nathan and Nozomi, the missionary couple who manages the Green House. They let us in and were able to make introductions as well. I received a set of keys, a brief explanation of the apartment and other things I need to know, and then Mom and I were on our way to the nearest grocery store.

I can't believe how helpful everyone is! Nathan and Nozomi, including their three sons, are so great! Nozomi was extremely thoughtful because she had juice, milk, and pastries in the fridge of my apartment for us to have for breakfast in the morning just in case we were too tired to go out that evening. Wow, talk about going out of your way! Nozomi walked with us to the grocery store to show us where it was. Nathan caught up to us to give me some more information about the apartment and life here in Yokohama.

Mom and I were exhausted that evening. We did go to the TINY grocery store as well as the 7-Eleven nearby to buy some things we needed, but all I really wanted to do was go to bed. Since we had to leave for the airport at 3 AM, I didn't go to bed that night. I watched movies and journaled during the plane ride to Japan. All in all, I went 48 hours without sleep. You can begin to understand how good a bed sounded.

I don't want to make this extremely long, so I will compose a "condensed version" of the next few days. We arrived on Tuesday, so on Wednesday, Mom and I met with Kobayashi-san so I could go to the city office and register as a new resident. Eventually I will receive the US's equivalent of an alien registration card. Right now I have to carry around a 8 x 11 certificate in my purse that I can't fold until I receive the other paperwork and card. Talk about annoying. I also opened a bank account at Bank of Yokohama. Eventually, Mom and I ended our day by shopping on Motomachi street, which is a tourist-attraction, shopping street that is VERY close to where I live. Unfortunately, though, this makes the grocery store on this street quite expensive.

On Thursday, I met the principal at Ferris, Tabei-sensei. What a nice man! I feel so comfortable being at this school knowing the excellent reputation it has and being able to meet the man-in-charge. I learned that I have a meeting with all the other English teachers on Monday. I'm so excited! Then school starts the very next day. After meeting Tabei-sensei, Mom and I went to Yokohama station for some more shopping. (Just a disclaimer: at this point, when I say shopping, I don't mean shopping for clothes, I mean shopping for necessities for my apartment. I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.) After another long day of walking everywhere, Mom and I crashed on the couches before finally making it to our beds.

Today (Friday), we went to Yokosuka Navy Base so I could go to Navy Federal Credit Union. Even though I'm in a foreign country and having LOTS OF FUN, I still have those nasty college tuition loans to pay. I am trying to figure out a way to bypass all the fees that are included with wiring money internationally to pay my loans. My only option is to make a friend on-base. It felt so nice to be on a military base again, and I realized how much I miss that lifestyle. Mom and I were both reminiscing.

Afterwards, we wet to AU (Japanese cellphone network) and I got a cellphone!! I may have made my first Japanese "friend" as well. Apparently I needed another person's phone number who is also subscribed to AU in order to start my own plan. Since I got here only a few days ago, I didn't have a number to give. The guy (whose name I later learned is Morita-san) looked concerned and was thinking of a way to help us. He explained that I really needed a number, otherwise I'd have to come back. I said I would wait until school started and ask some of the teachers if I could use their number as a sponsor. However, Morita-san offered his number as a sponsor. He said it's against the rules so it has to stay a secret, but he'd help me out. (By the way, this is all going on in Japanese and I understood the basic idea.) Once that was settled, he asked us to come back in an hour to program my phone and get it all set-up for me to use right away. Mom and I went to a coffee shop to sit and chit-chat, and once we got back, Morita-san helped me again. He said he programmed his cell phone number in my phone, explaining that he really wants to learn English. He offered to help me learn Japanese as well. :) What a good deal. Anyway...that's the story of my first, possible, Japanese "friend."

Tonight, Mom and I enjoyed a bottle of wine together as we sat and relaxed from another long day of walking almost everywhere. As of right now, she is asleep on the futon, and I am typing away.

And just to let everyone know, it's either the jet lag, or because Japan is know as "Land of the Rising Sun," but I've been waking up at 5:30 AM these past few days. I want to sleep in, but the sunshine in my room is way too bright. Sunrise is probably at 5AM!! Waking up early is NOT my usual self . . . perhaps its better this way?

And so it begins...

2009-07-30T01:04:00.000+09:00

Well, I've never written a blog before, nor have I ever thought blogs were a cool idea, but with all the requests I'm getting to "Keep us updated so we can pray for you," perhaps a blog is a good idea. I do appreciate and NEED the prayers. Plus, now everyone can stalk me and see what I'm doing in Yokohama, Japan.

No, don't worry, I am not actually out of the country yet. I am still in tiny, little Paw Paw until August 24th when my mom and I fly out. She is so great--she's coming with to help me get set up and adjusted to the different lifestyle over there. We better hope I make all my cultural faux pas while she's there for correction so I don't embarass myself any further.

At this point, we are at a countdown until take-off--26 more days. I just retured from our Ecumenical Mission Personnel Orientation in Chicago where the Reformed Church in America, the denomination that I am volunteering with, met with mission personnel of other denominations such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), Episcopal Church (USA), and the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps (Catholic). I met some great people, some of whom will be going to Japan [shout-outs to Dana, Lizzie, Doug & Sue, and Don & Akiko], as well as friends from RCA going to Hungary [yeah for Trazy and Jeff]. We've already discussed plans to visit one another. :)

Just in case you're wondering exactly what I'll be doing in Japan, here it is. I will be teaching Conversational English at Ferris Jr/Sr Girls' School, a prestigious private school in Yokohama. My class sizes will be relatively small in comparison to the grammatical English classes--I've been told about 25 students?? We'll see. My apartment is within a five-minute walk from the school in a building called the Greenhouse. The second floor will be my apartment, and the first floor is like a youth center where we can gather to socialize, hold Bible studies, etc. I'm still unsure as to exactly what we do there, but I will find out soon.

Well, now you know the same amount of details that I know as well, which is not very much. That has been the greatest thing about this new chapter in life: I have been taken on this rollercoaster ride in which I don't know where the turns or drops will occur, and yet I still have complete confidence that at the end, I will arrive safely. I can look back and see exactly where those turns and drops occured, and it is at that point that it all makes sense. The Lord works in wonderful ways and I love not knowing what is in store for me--the people I'll meet and the places I'll go.