Dead Tired

So, I'd really like to keep this updated for everyone, but well... I can't seem to escape from life at the moment.

Today was the last day of my work week, and the busiest. Lately, I am always tired. I've figured out it's because we've added 4 classes to my schedule (I work the same hours, just with more classes packed in.) At first I was really confused, because I was working the same 8 hour days. But today I finally realized just how much energy it takes to teach a class. I mean, I knew it took energy to teach kids and all, but adults? I mean, half the time I am sitting down! So I just assumed I wasn't using so much energy. But actually I am. Wow.

So here's what my Friday's look like:

Today, I woke up at about 7AM. I spent some time reading my Bible and praying (I've been trying to do this every morning lately, it helps a lot.) then I showered and tried to leave my house by 8:30. Didn't happen. Made it out by 8:50 probably.

Walk to train station (5min) in the rain. Climb the stairs and watch train leave as I reach the top. Wait ten mins for next train. Put on my MP3 player and listen to music. Take off my raincoat because it's hot. Go to big train station and transfer. Buy a drink and a sandwich because I have time. Get on train. Transfer. Get on really, really, really crowded train.(couldn't fall down if I tried, honestly! I didn't know you could put so many people in one space.) Keep thinking, it's only three stops!. LOL. Get off at another train station. Loose my watch. (It's ok, it was a walmart watch, $7. But it was cute, so I'm a bit sad.) Get on subway. Ride 9 mins. Get off train. Be surprised by friend getting off the same train. Exit train station. Walk to the Center (where I learn Japanese, and do other things work related) together. 10 mins.

One way travel complete! Horray.

Begin Japanese class. It's fun.

Leave first because I have to rush to get back home in time for work.

It's still raining. Walk to train station. Subway has a problem Wait 5-10 mins. Train moves, and stops, and moves and stops. Transfer at appropriate station. Wait for next train. Get on train. This time I don't have to make as many transfers. Get to "home" station. It's too late to take the small train I wanted. Grab McDonalds and eat (double mac with cheese and egg! yum!) while waiting the 15 mins for next train. Get on train 12:45. Go one stop. Get off train, exit staion. Run, walk, run, walk fast to make it to class on time.

Arrive at church! Wait, no one is there! This is strange (they went to the tax office!). I have 7 mins before class. Just barely. Hope none of my students were early. Open the door, prepare for class. Students arrive. Teach class. Well, really, just talk with students. Oh, and I taught them the Squirrel Dance song. it's cute. After class, teach Bible study.

During break, eat lunch with students (they are about to study Japanese Bible) and type up worship service for tomorrow. (Usually I go home and eat or whatever. Today was special.) 4:00, start teaching kids classes. 3 classes come and go. It's fun. I like these kids. One private, one class of kids who used to live in America, and one class of 6th graders. good kids.

Dinner break. I did more preparation for tomorrow. (there will be a prayer meeting, then English Worship, then an English event tomorrow). Last class is at 8:10. Had observers. It was good. Maybe they will join. Or, they might want to start a new class. then I will be even busier on Fridays.

Answered the phone in Japanese. That's amazing! Really, it is.

Cooked vegetable cream soup for tomorrow's lunch. (I'm making lunch for the people who are coming tomorrow, because it's kinda far to come out here, and they are really helping me out.)

Arrive home, 12:30ish. Hey, it's stopped raining! Horray!

Yeah, so I'm tired.

I have no clue why I wrote all that out, but I did, so present for you! :-D

Presents!

Wow, lately things have been really crazy. I know I'm sleeping, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it.

It's almost summer here and you can tell. There's rain, lots of flowers, birds and bugs (sometimes in your house...) Oh yeah, and weeds. I need to do something about those...

I'm trying to make an effort to manage my time correctly. As in, make time to clean, do laundry and basic maint. Somehow, it doesn't seem to be working.

But I have been able to have good quiet time with God everyday this week, and that has definitely improved my outlook on life. I feel much more at peace lately. (still tired, but it's at least peaceful.) I have also taken up drawing some again, and doing some independent Japanese study. Oh yeah, that reminds me. I start Japanese class again tomorrow. It will be a group lesson this time. With some of my friends too. I'm really looking forward to it. But it's in the morning, so that's going to make my Friday's long now too. So I'll have three long days in a row, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Fun fun fun. Good thing Monday's my day off. It's my recovery day.

All in all, I'm feeling much more positive about things. I guess it just takes me a while to get to where I'm going, but eventually I'll get there. :-D

Anyway, this week, and last, have been nice because my students have been bringing me presents! Last week I got roses (check out the pictures from my cell phone). They smelled really nice. One of my students grows them in his garden, and these were the first to bloom! This is the same guy who fixed my bike for me. He reminds me of a grandpa looking out for me. He's really cute!

This week, he brought me more roses. And then, a woman from a different class also brought me roses and flowers. (her's are a bit smaller, but just as pretty!) And then a different woman from the same class brought me matcha (powdered green tea) powder! I really love the matcha powder. And it's actually pretty expensive I think. It was ground at her mother's house. It's also really healthy, so if I drink some everyday it's really good for me. Hehe!

So yeah, presents are good. It makes me feel loved by my students. This Sunday we will probably go to a rose festival after Bible Study if the weather is good. We'll ride our bicycles there. I'm looking forward to it.

Ok, so that's the update!

Hanami

In case you don't know what the title says, it translates as "Flower Viewing." This is a special time in Japan when everyone goes out to look at the cherry blossoms and eat and drink with friends. There are usually lots of hanami parties all the time in this season. But Cherry blossom season is really short, ususally only two or three weeks. So you have to plan carefully.

Last year I totally missed hanami because I went home during my spring break. This year I was afraid the same thing would happen. But I was lucky, and the day after I came back, I was able to go hanami with my friend Jenae.

We went to one of the most famous places for hanami, Ueno park. Here are four of the pictures that I took. The rest are on my web albums.

Here is Jenae eating takoyaki (fried balls of octopus). It's really yummy.

We walked around a while looking at all the trees and eating some of the food. And then we decided to go in a boat together on a small pond. We rented a paddle boat for 30 mins. It was our first time in a paddle boat, and we found out that we were both a big bigger than was comfortable for a paddle boat. But it was fun anyway. :-D

The next two pictures are from inside the boat. We had a lot of fun just paddling around. When they tried to give us a boat, they first tried to give us a pink one. We looked at each other and said "no way." So we asked the guy for a different color. He thought we were a bit crazy I think. But in the end we got a yellow boat. We were both so happy to not be in a pink boat. We would paddle around and then say something like "this is so much better in a yellow boat." Then funny thing - you can't even see the boat color from the inside!

But we still would have known. It was a lot of fun.



After boating, we walked around more. We took lots of pictures of flowers and stuff. I really think you should check out the rest of the pictures. The link should be somewhere on this blog.

Yeah, it was a good time. :-D

Band pictures.

Ususally I see the band in the dark, so it's hard to get nice pictures. But the weekend I came back to Japan, it was raining, so they were playing inside this underground walkway. The lighting is much better, and there was a cool mosaic for a nice background. So here are some cool pictures of the band.

Year end parties.

In March I had parties in every class to celebrate the end of another school year. This means we go out to resturaunts a lot. It's fun.



Here are some pictures of me and my Friday afternoon class. We went to eat Okonomiyaki. I really like this food. So here's me and my class and my food! Enjoy.

Last trip with Bethany.

So, I came to Japan with Bethany. There was another girl in our orientation group, Lauren, but she came later than we did and left earlier. And she also had already studied Japanese, so she had separate classes than Bethany and I.

So many of the things we did in Japan, Bethany and I shared together. Getting off the plane together, eating the first meals, etc. We had a good relationship together, even though we were both really different.

So, Bethany's time in Japan has ended, and she has left the country. It's a bit strange being here without her, but that's the price you pay when you stay longer.

We decided that before she left, we should do something special together. So we went to one of her favorite places in Tokyo, an island called Odaiba. On this island there is a really fancy Onsen, or Hot Springs. It's made to look like an old fashioned village. It's really nice place. Inside everyone wears yukata , or traditional robes. It was a really nice experience. Here are some pictures from the trip.

The top one is a picture of Tokyo Tower from the island. You can also see one of the famous bridges in the picture. I think this was my first time to actually go to Odaiba and have the weather be nice.

Then you have pictures of Bethany and I out front and one of Bethany inside in her yukata.

It was a really good experience. There are more pictures on my web albums if you care to look. (yeah I finally got the pictures off my camera, so it's a big update time.)

Something for you...

Well, I know I haven't been posting much. I'm finally getting that feeling of being "normal" again, so that's a good thing. But yesterday I came down with the "community cold." So now I'm taking some medicine and trying to get better so I don't miss any work. Once again I don't have pictures; I still haven't bothered to download them off my camera. I will try to do that soon.

Anyway, the actual reason I am posting today is because I have something to share with you. I was involved in some interesting conversation about what's important in life. My views are radically different than some people. Many people think happiness is very important. Or relationships are important. etc. And in relationships. What do you look for? Handsome people? Kind people? Good people? At the time it was very difficult to explain. But I came home and thought about it some more, and this is what I came up with. So, if you've ever wondered why I love you (I've wondered why some of you love me...) here is your answer.

The Treasured Jewel
by Amber Stephens

Why do I love you?
Because you are good looking?
It’s good to look good. But it can never last. Will you look good tomorrow or the day after? When you grow old? Can you always look good all the time? So if I love you because you look good, then my love will be broken when you no longer look good.
So no, that’s not why I love you.

Why do I love you?
Because you have a good character?
It’s good to have a good character. But it can never last. Will you always be a pleasant person? Can you always be kind? Will you have bad days and make mistakes? Will you be mean? So if I love you because you have a good character, then my love will be broken when you slip.
So no, that’s not why I love you.

Why do I love you?
Because you are strong, or kind, or smart?
It’s good to be these things. But they can never last. Will you always be strong? Can you be kind to everyone all the time? Will you never make a mistake? Are you never a fool? So if I love you because of these things, then my love will be broken the first time you have a weak moment.
So no, that’s not why I love you.

Why do I love you?
I don’t want to love you for things that can’t last. That is not a true love, an eternal love. Instead, I choose to love you for who you are. When I look at you, I see a priceless treasure, unique, beautiful. You are not valuable to me because of your looks, or your personality or your abilities. You are valuable to me because you are a jewel. You are precious. I accept everything about you. When you are dirty. When you are broken. When you are not perfect. It’s ok, because you are a treasured jewel. All other things might change. But I love you because you are you. The good, the bad, everything you are.
Because you are.
That’s why I love you. You are my precious
TREASURED JEWEL

Catching up.

Well, it's been a while since my last short post. The thing is, it has been crazy busy here since I got off the plane. Yeah, the whole time. This past Monday was my first day to take it easy in a long time. It was nice. This week looks to start getting somewhat normal. Today, I ended sleeping way past the time I wanted to. It was strange. I guess I'm still catching up on sleep.

Anyway, I just wanted to put up a short post. I'll try to get some pictures up, I have some nice ones, but I have to download them on my computer first.

Anyway, I'll be in "recovery" mode for a little while. So if you don't here a lot of communication from me, that's why. Sorry!

Arrived!

Well, after a very long time traveling, over 20 something hours, I have arrived safely in Japan. I'll write more later. Now it's time to sleep.

Safe!

Well, I managed to arrive safely in Texas for the second time in two and a half years. Thanks to everyone who was worried. (Well, most of the worried people can't read this blog because of the English... LOL)

I arrived in Dallas and was welcomed by a very long immigrations line which had me considering my options if I missed my connecting flight. Just a note for the future... For peace of mind's sake, less than 2 hours of layover in Dallas is not enough time to ensure you will make it to your next flight... But the good news is... I've become a hard to stress traveler. I wasn't so much worried about missing my flight, instead just being mentally prepared if it did happen. I was more worried about loosing my bag in the process. But in the end, I managed to make it to my flight with 10 mins to spare, and myself and my bag arrived in Midland safely.

And for a note on travel hassles I could do without... Did you know, when you fly from an international starting point and then transfer flights in Dallas, you have to go through a security check point again. But I've learned the value of traveling light, so it was fairly painless.

I then arrived in Midland to not be met by my parents, who had suffered two blown tires on the way to get me (one on the real tire, then the donut blew as well...) We were rescued by a family friend, and then we proceeded to try to fix the tire. As we were driving into town the second time (to pick up the tire from Wal-Mart and then put it on the car, which was still on the highway) a nice big thunderstorm hits. Horray for thunderstorms you can see!!! This was a nice one with lots and lots of lightening strikes. It was beautiful. And short. It ended right before we went to put the tire on the car. So my dad didn't get too wet. And then I proceeded to drive home, (since there were two cars and my mom doesn't drive anymore, I had to drive one home). It was eventful.

Today I got to sleep in though. Maybe my first full nights sleep in quite a while. It was nice.

Now if only I could relax and stop thinking about work....

Travel Day.

So yeah, today I leave for America. In about 3 and 1/2 hours I'll start the process. I'll be travelling about a total of 17 hours with buses and trains and cars and planes. One of my students is going to pick me up today to take me to the bus. She's really really nice. And she's going to pick me up when I get home too.

Anyway. The time has been so full that I haven't even had time to think about this trip home, much less prepare for it. But now that the day is here, I'm thinking of what a good thing it is.

I really love living in Japan. And I'm really glad I'm staying for another year. But, sometimes you just need a break. You need to remove yourself from the situation, recover, process and rest before you go back. I think this is what needs to happen.

I knew I was tired, but I didn't realize until recently exactly how tired I am. I'm physically, mentally and spiritually exhausted.

So, this is not anything negative. (Don't freak out Marlo) It's just the reality of living in a country like Japan as a Christian.

Anyway, I hope that I can write some more in America. Probably without pictures.

That's all for now.

Next stop, America.

Full Weekends

It always seems like my weekends are fuller than my actual weeks. But lately, it's just been busy. I'm looking forward to April when things calm down for about half a year.

Let's see. This is the first day of my last week of class. I will go out everyday this week and have parties with my students. I will eat way too much, and all for free. (which is good because due to unexpected expenses, this month is really tight).

Last week was ok. There were a lot of ups and downs. If you care to pray for my spiritual protection, I would greatly appreciate it. (if you let me know you are praying, I can send you more details.)

I went out yesterday with my friend, the one I came to Japan with for one last time. It's sad because she is returning to America and I am staying in Japan. It's really weird. And I can't even figure out how it's already been 2 and 1/2 years! Crazy!

I thought I had more to say, but nothing is coming to mind now that I am actually typing. These are some old pictures. The first one is near my house. I wanted to put up some pictures from yesterday, but when we cleaned my house, I don't know where we put the cord for the camera. So I can't download pictures yet. I'll look for it eventually.

update...

So I haven't been writing too much lately. It's been difficult to find the energy to write. When I'm not busy, I have no energy at all. Anyway, here are some recent pictures from the band. Yeah, that's pretty much my entire life. Well, not really. I do do a lot of work for VYM and my church. But I don't really take pictures of a lot of those things.

But next year looks like it's going to be exciting. It looks like I'll get to do some fun events and stuff. But next year can also be hard. There will be a lot more work for me next year too. (oh yeah, Japanese school years start in April. So next week is my last week of classes. There is a short Spring Break, and then you move up a grade in April. This is also the time of year when many people start new jobs. It's also when the cherry blossoms bloom, so it's really symbolic of the fleeting beauty of life/youth etc.)
Anyway, in other news, I'll be flying back to Texas at the end of March. I'll spend two weeks with my family, probably running around all over Texas. I'll need to get a haircut, and buy some new clothes. I've lost weight, and a lot of my shirts and stuff are really big and don't look so nice anymore. Also, most of my jeans no longer stay up. It's really annoying to have my pants falling down all the time. I'll probably also have to pick up a pair of shoes. Some of this stuff I could do in Japan, but it's really expensive and it's hard to shop in a foreign language all the time. Like, I totally don't know the vocabulary for getting a hair cut. How do I even explain what I want? I definitely don't want a Japanese style hair cut. They usually don't have so much experience cutting foreign hair either.


Speaking of hair, mine has gone curly again. Horray! Spring is here, so now my hair once again has definite curls. Now if you don't know, I grew up with my hair totally straight. It wouldn't hold curls even when we tried. They always fell out. But now it's curling naturally! Very exciting. I'm going to get a layered cut so that it curls better.

I'm glad I'll be able to go home during Spring Break, but at the same time I'm kinda sad. I fee like I'll be missing out on a lot of the things that are happening here.

The Band will be having their first live house performance, and I'll have to miss it. I'm really really bummed about that. Funny story with the band though. I tried to tell one of the girls that I was visiting America for two weeks. She misunderstood me and thought that I was leaving for America in two weeks and was never coming back. She just started crying and it was all I could do to try to explain what was happening. (this is what comes from not being able to speak a language well...) Finally I had to get another girl who is fluent in English to explain it to her. Poor girl!

There's a lot more going on, but most of it is really complicated and hard to explain. Recently I've been learning more about prayer. We meet every week for a Prayer Meeting, and it's really good right now. I've also been learning about fasting, and prayer walking. Very interesting stuff.

My friend did come over on Monday and helped me clean. We got a lot done, but it's not finished yet. I don't know if I will have time to finish before I leave for America though. My schedule looks like it is filling up fast. But the good news is that from April the schedule slows down a bit. Fall/winter is always the busiest time here. We re-arranged the house a bit. It's nice.

Ok, I think that's about all that's interesting. And I have to go get ready for work and all that fun stuff now. I'll try to be more regular about posting.

Insane times.

And by insane, I mean insanely busy. So much has happened in the last month. I don't even know where to start.

Well, I got to tell all my students that I was staying another year. Good stuff. I would say 90% of the students are really happy. The rest probably don't care one way or the other. It's nice to be liked.

Then there was Spring retreat. It was good. The pictures are from then. It's hard saying goodbye though. Spring Retreat is always the hardest.

Umm, lets see... It was Mako's birthday, then we had English School Open House. I was really really tired last week. Sunday I could barely ride my bike to go see the band. It was so slow. I was wondering how I was going to make it home, when one of the girls and her boyfriend offered me a ride home. I was sad, because I had my bicycle, so it looked like I wouldn't be able to take it. But his car was huge (think van) and he offered to take me AND my bicycle home! How nice! It was really troublesome too. He had to fold up seats and everything. So nice! I was really really grateful.

Then another student, gave me an air pump for my bike. (same student that fixed the bike.) Very very nice.

Things have calmed down a little bit, but there are lots of things that still need to be done, so I still feel a bit rushed with it all. But, I'm trying really hard to get everything done.

And it looks like Monday I will have a friend come over and help me clean my house. Everyone is being so nice to me lately. Although I'm really ashamed of the state of my house. But I think it's at the point where I just can't recover on my own. *sigh* Anyway, that's a brief update. I have to run off to work now, so I'll try to post more again later.

Really Super Exciting Stuff!

So wow. I can't even begin to start to tell you what a week this has been. (it's only Wed!!!) Well, let's start with the mundane and move upwards shall we?

Well, I had another creativity boost. Must be because of the emotional gambit I've been running lately. Here's the latest creation.

And so in Japan, fur is definitely a fashion statement. I was never really into fur in Texas, because well, face it, there wasn't a need. But fur does turn out to be amazingly warm. Along the way, I seem to have acquired a few fur accessories. I actually did buy the multi-colored muffler thing. It was really cheap and it matches everything. So I wore it last week, and my students really loved it. Then this one student (think grandma) told me she had a bag that looked very similar. Well, yesterday, she brought me the bag and gave it to me! Crazy. So now I have this very expensive looking bag that matches my muffler thing. Who would have thought!

And today, I finally got my test results for the Japanese test I took in December! I passed! I can hardly believe it! I only passed by like 7 points, but it was basically a pass or fail type of test. I'm really excited.

And finally, for the most exciting news of all. I have a job. Actually for a week there I had two jobs. I passed the interview for the ALT position I tried for. But I turned it down. Mainly because I will continue to work in VYM for one more year at my current church. I will definitely write more details later. Actually it's time for me to go back to class now, so this is an end of this post. More coming later!!!!

New creation

Here is the product of my latest creativity spurt. I was having problems with the editing program crashing on me, but I finally managed to get it done. It's such a funny program too. You kinda have to figure out the rules as you go along. It will be really cool when I actually know how to work the silly program.

Coffee House

So it's been busy again lately. Last Saturday was Coffee House. Three of the new girls came. It was really great to have more foreginers come. The students really like to practice talking.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the event. It was pretty nice. I think it went well. Saturday was a long day though.

Two more bug bites...

the creativity bug...

So occasionally I get bit by the creativity bug. It usually comes at rather inconvenient times, but tonight was not so bad. Just kept me up a little later than I had planned.

Well, it looks like I am finally beginning to figure out Adobe Print Shop. I just have the basic program that came on my computer, but once you can work it, turns out it's a really neat program. Best photo editing program I've seen. Not like that's many, but still.

So the idea for this came from a picture I took at Kamakura. These birds were really cute. I liked the picture, but in the original, there was this person's legs in the background and it was starting to distract me. I really wanted to edit them out. But then I was thinking, I could just do a really cool editing and change the whole feel of the picture. The original idea was to put the ocean behind the birds, but then I opted for clouds instead.

I'm actually quite pleased with the final effect. This is the first time I've managed to finish something like this. I wrote the poem after looking at the picture long enough.

The thing I'm happiest about is that it's completely my creation. I took the picture, I edited the picture and I wrote the poem. I'm happy with this nights work. :-D

Kabuki

So today I got to go to Kabuki again. Let me say. I love Kabuki. If you don't know, Kabuki is old fashioned Japanese Theater (think Shakespearean style language and then add in Samurai). It's really wonderful.

I got to go twice in Orientation as part of our cultural studies. Today was the new group's turn to go. But since they were going on a Monday (every one's day off), it was open to other people who wanted to go. I jumped at the chance. My other friend came too. I got to meet her for breakfast at Denny's. (if you are thinking American style Denny's, think again. Same sign, different food.)

I had such a great time today. I got to hang out with a bunch of really cool people and watch possibly the best Kabuki play ever. It was over 4 hours long. But it was so worth it. There were a ton of set changes. You wouldn't believe how beautiful the sets are. Amazing.

They pulled out all the stops for this play. The theater was celebrating some milestone or something, so this was a big deal. There were giant cat monsters, magic rats, dancing cats (so cute) swords, fighting, comedy, and every possible setting. I don't think there was a trick that wasn't used in this play. It was wonderful. (have I mentioned it was wonderful? Didn't think so...)

Kabuki is different from Western Theater. Western Theater is concerned with reality and believability. Kabuki is not at all. It's all about show casing the actor and making beautiful scenes. Once you get over the fact that the plot usually doesn't make any sense (even with translation), it's really a great form of entertainment.

Anyway, the pictures are from the fliers I got at the theater. Enjoy.

After Kabuki I got to go karaoke for like 2 and 1/2 hours. It was a great shop, because it had so much music I knew. I was so happy. It's hard to find songs I know sometimes, but I couldn't sing all the songs I wanted to there. I'll have to find one similar that's close by.

Anyway, it was a good day.

This weekend was really busy. Got up early everyday and stayed out late every night. I'm tired. But it was really good too. Tomorrow I'm sleeping in!

Oyasumi! (night!)