Anna in Japan

The Last Month

2008-08-25T21:26:00.015-05:00

At the end of July, the Lutheran Brethren churches got together for a family camp out near Mount Iwate. It was short - just one night - but we had a fun time singing songs, hunting for beetles, making bread over a fire, etc.

A few days later I had some of my Mana friends over for a movie and trying out some 5-minute Japanese recipes. We made potato mochi, sesame seed pumpkin, pork & herb leaf rolls and pancakes.

The next night after my English classes two of my high school students, Rieko and Sayaka, came over and dressed me up in my yukata. Then we went downtown for the Sansa drumming festival and parade!

The next night I got dressed up and went again, this time with Keiko and her co-workers. Gotta fit in as much Sansa as possible, since I don't know when/if I'll ever experience it again!

The next day my grandma and cousins, Ashley, arrived! And... we went to the Sansa festival :-D We went with Hannah, who had just finished her year of teaching in Akita, and her brother and cousins who had come to Japan to help with some camps. We got downtown just in time to see my students Rieko and Sayaka performing in the parade.

The week with Grandma and Ashley FLEW by!

The day before they left, the three of us took the bullet train down to Tokyo to spend the day with my grandma's friend, Yayoi. We had lots of fun sight-seeing and shopping in Tokyo and even took a boat ride at the end of the day. Then we went to Yayoi's home for supper with her family. There we had AMAZING food and LOTS of laughs!

The next day I said goodbye to Grandma and Ashley as our trains went separate ways and came back to Morioka, to spend the night with some of my English students. We had a barbeque, played games and then I stayed overnight at their house :-)

Here's Ryoto the next morning, making me his specialty of rice with butter, soy sauce and dried seaweed. It was really good!

After I got home from the sleepover, I met Heather, the current teacher in Takanosu, and our friend Sachiko. It was a HOT day, so we had Morioka's specialty cold noodle for lunch - reimen. Reimen noodles are almost clear and a little tough (hard to explain, but they're not soft). They are served in cold soup with a hard-boiled egg, kimchee, a slice of fruit (watermelon, in this case), a slice of meat, pickles, etc.

And the next day was SUMO! It was amazing, and I can't even begin to describe it all here, so I won't try ;-) But ask me sometime about it!

The day after that (yes, August has been a busy month!) Keiko and I traveled to the coast of Iwate Prefecture, on the Pacific Ocean. We met a woman on the train that night and after talking with her for abotu 5 minutes, she offered to pick us up from our hotel the next morning and drive us around to see the different sights along the coast! Here I am the next morning with Hitomi-san in Ofunato city.

And on the beach with Keiko:

A meal of fresh sashimi (raw fish) and delicious seaweed in Kamaishi city the second night of the trip:

Manhole cover in Miyako city:

The third day we went to Iwaizumi to meet my high school student Satoko and her parents. She was home in Iwaizumi on her summer vacation (she lives in a dorm house in Morioka). They took us to Ryusendo, a cave with beautiful, clear blue lakes inside - one with a depth of 98 meters! The cool temperature inside was a nice relief from the heat and humidity outside.

A couple days later, we had my farewell concert at church. I was surprised to see that Satoko's dad and brother came all the way from Iwaizumi! Some of my students came and also Keiko's parents. It was their first time to come into the church. Also, Kirsten, the teacher in Akita, came for the weekend (while talking to each other on the phone Saturday night, she decided come, so she packed quickly and made it to the station just in time to catch the last bullet train to Morioka!).

After the concert, Keiko, Kirsten and I went to an okonomiyaki restaurant. Here are the ingredients of the mochi (pounded rice) one:

The next morning, Kirsten and I went to a stained glass class and made a cherry blossom night light!

It's a hard process! I gained a whole new level of respect for stained glass artists!

Later in the week I had my going away party at a restaurant with my English class of Geothermal engineers.

And the next day was my going away party at Mitake chapel. We had a watermelon-smashing contest (like a pinata, but with a stick and a watermelon on the floor) and then ate lots of watermelon :-)

I'll miss these wonderful students!

Natsu Adventures: Travels, Tastes and Turning 23

2008-07-20T05:45:00.009-05:00

At the end of June, I took a day-trip with Keiko and her mother to Omagari (her mom's hometown in Akita prefecture). We visited three homes of relatives, and I was the first foreigner to be in each house. They were all so kind and welcoming. At the home in the picture below, they served a wonderful homemade meal of rice grown in their own field and fried-tofu pockets filled with cold noodles.

The third house we visited was the house passed down in the family (through the oldest sons). Six generations have lived in this house:

Below is the barn/shed next to the house. It's made without using any nails:

On the way home, we stopped at Tazawako, the deepest lake in Japan:

To celebrate the Fourth of July, I had my high school class over to my apartment and we made s'mores over my gas stove. Some other treats were tortilla chips and salsa (they'd never had salsa and chips before), cherries - American and Japanese varieties, fresh pineapple and Kool-aid.

My birthday celebrations lasted about four days! I had to teach on my birthday (July 5th), but the night before, my friends from church threw me a "nagashi-somen" party. Somen is a type of noodle often served cold in the summertime. We rigged up a slide from the entrance of the church, with water flowing from the garden hose. Then we "served" noodles and more down the shoot. We enjoyed the challenge of catching mini-tomatoes, boiled eggs, cucumber slices, chopped up (edible) leaves, thin slices of scrambled egg, raw fish and even little single-serving fruit jello packs.

Birthday cake!

After my classes on the 5th, I took the bullet train to Akita city and met up with Hannah and Kirsten. We hung out and celebrated my birthday til I left on Monday! Here we are with our friend, Yuka, who we met when she was working at Starbucks.

Some guys were practicing for the Akita Kanto summer festival. The Kanto, candle-lit lanterns hung on a bamboo frame, can be as tall as 13 yards and weigh as much as 110 pounds! The men balance the Kanto on their shoulders, foreheads (shown here) and lower backs while walking!

On Monday I returned to Morioka to celebrate my birthday with the Miyakawa family. Mrs. Miyakawa's birthday was that day (the 7th), so we celebrated our birthdays together by going out to a nice buffet for supper.

After supper, we went to Izumi's apartment (the middle daughter) and had a variety of fruit. Check out this kiwano! It tasted like a cross between a banana, kiwi and cucumber.

Here's Mifumi "grooming" Chacha the cat with a lint roller :-)

A few birthday presents: the shirt (also with a pair of shorts - to be worn around the house), bag (goes with a kimono or summer yukata), and a delicious gift melon!

The cute sandals I bought to wear with my yukata (no pictures of the yukata yet, but I'm going to wear it to Morioka's Sansa festival in August, so you'll see pics then).

Miho, the mother of two of my English students, making a stained glass lamp. In August, I'm going to make a sakura night light :-)

Last weekend the Sorensen family came from Sendai to visit me! Here we are in my apartment - and William in my bathtub:

Kim and I enjoyed Starbucks coffee jello frappuccinos!

We went to Kenji World - an indoor water park with a beach-like wave pool, water slides, RAIN, a flowing river pool, and more! On our way there, we spotted this beetle vending machine in the middle of nowhere. 300 yen ($3) for a male and 100 yen ($1) for a female! They are a VERY popular pet here (no joke!):

And June just flew by!

2008-06-30T08:59:00.006-05:00

I can't believe I'm already changing the calendars again! This spring I resolved to do as much as possible in my last few months here, and looking ahead at my calendar for the rest of the summer, I can see that it's definitely happening! Here's a look back at June:

This month, our beloved fellow-teacher, Kaila, returned to Canada. The weekend before she left, the four of us went to Matsushima Bay and spent the day on trains, boats, islands and beaches! Between running to get to every train and boat of the day, performing a going-away dance for Kaila and using the provided rope to climb down to the beach, we got lots of exercise! Here we are on the boat:

We miss you, Kaila!!

In mid-June, my brother, Peter, and sister-in-law, Felisa, came to visit! The day after they got here, we climbed Mount Himekami (3,687 ft.) with a group of friends, including two four-year-old girls!

We had lots of interesting creatures of the sea at the sushi restaurant:

We listened to a storyteller with a cold in Tono city. She apologized to us before and after for it being in Japanese! She was very friendly and invited us to sit on the stage with her for a picture:

Peter and Felisa proved that the castle barriers at Iwate Park were no match for their invasion skills:

And we ended the week with the true test of chopstick-skills: the wankosoba noodle-eating competition. Peter had 162 bowls and Felisa had 100! Everyone was impressed - and very concerned with whether or not Peter would be okay after having that many!

On Saturday morning, 15 minutes before we were going to leave to bring Peter and Felisa to Morioka station, we had a big earthquake! The trains, highways and airports in our region were shut down for the day, so there was no way for them to get to the airport. So we had one more day together, which meant they were here for the Chagu-Chagu horse parade:

A Weekend of Akita Bliss

2008-05-28T08:44:00.010-05:00

I went to Akita city to visit Kirsten and Hannah...

I got there at 10 p.m. and was welcomed by the girls, who told me we'd be riding bikes back to Kirsten's apartment. I was concerned because I had a suitcase and was imagining myself rolling it along side me while I rode the bike, and I knew it was no short trip. But, no, we got the bikes out of the bike parking ramp and Kirsten plopped by suitcase right into the basket! But the capacity of bike baskets never ceases to amaze me. It took a little while to get the hang of it, but it turned out to be really easy to ride with my little "baby" in back.

On Sunday afternoon we took a road trip out to the coast, thanks to their friend DJ Conny (pronounced "coney"). We stopped at the grocery store before we left to get our picnic snacks, but ended up eating most of them in the car. Toward the end of the ride we were going through narrow winding roads in the mountains and regretted eating so many snacks... but once we got out and got some fresh air, we felt much better :)

At sunset, we set up a blanket on the edge of the cliff and had some strawberries with sweetened-condensed milk from a tube. Somehow Kirsten ended up in the picnic bag. Weird... ;-)
We played frisbee until it got dark, then we drove to a look-out point above the city. There were vending machines, of course, and that's where Conny introduced us to the incredible Orange Fanta Shaker. You shake it 10 times before opening it, and it becomes a perfect combination of orange soda and orange jello. Incredible! And it doesn't even explode when you open it - any chemists out there who can explain that?

On Monday we met up with Kaila (the teacher in Takanosu), her friends Brendan and Pam, visiting from Canada, and Sachiko who drove them. We also got to meet Heather, the new teacher who will be taking over for Kaila. We had a fun time at Starbucks (the new coffee jello frappuccino is AMAZING! I don't know what it is lately with jello in drinks, but it's such a good idea) and the mall. We even had Baskin-Robins - my first time since I got to Japan.

I love the rice fields in this season.

At one point Hannah, Kaila and I ended up stranded in a little train station in the middle of nowhere, but it's long story, so I'll just leave you with this image from inside the over-pass at the station. With all the vending machines in this country, there is never a lack of bottles.

Golden Week with Mom and Dad

2008-05-28T07:48:00.008-05:00

My parents were here from April 30th-May 8th, during my Golden Week vacation. We packed a lot into our schedule and were busy all day every day! I was impressed with how much Mom and Dad were willing to try: ANY food put before them, speaking Japanese a little, the public bath, meeting lots of people, etc. Here are some highlights from the visit:

When I showed the above picture to one of my high school students, she said "it suits him well."

This was the "geibikei." We sat on the floor of the boat and rode through the shallow water. The man told jokes and sang a couple of traditional-style songs for us as he pushed the boat using the pole.

^ Dad eating a whole fish. Delicious?

During the Golden Week holiday there was "Boys' Day" (now sometimes called "Children's Day). Families and businesses fly these "koinobori" to celebrate the boys (or children in general).

Mom drew and told the story of Noah's Ark at Hallelujah Nursery (with the help of a translator friend).

Here I am with my two moms. :-D

On their last full day in Morioka, Mom and Dad got to meet my cute little Wednesday-students.

A special gift for mom from the Miyakawas!

Spring in Full Bloom

2008-04-25T01:25:00.014-05:00

The beginning of spring

2008-04-10T06:10:00.008-05:00

Here in Morioka we are anxiously awaiting the "sakura" (cherry blossoms). The weather has been warmer, and it seems like people are coming out of hibernation.

The new school and fiscal year starts in April here, so at the end of March there was a "haruyasumi" (spring break) for students - but no break for English classes! Rina, the girl from the family I stayed with on my college band tour in Japan three years ago, visited Morioka with two of her friends from college. It was so fun to see her after so long! We have kept in touch through letters and emails, and I'm so glad I got the chance to see her again.

Here we are in Tsukigaoka Church (their first time in a church). Nana, Rina, me, and Nozomi:

Here we are with Morioka's rock-splitting cherry tree!

And here we are in Iwate park, next to the old castle walls, trying to be Mount Iwate :-D

On Easter Sunday our church had an Easter concert open to the public. Many of the church members performed, as well as a few students from the university and Kay, the niece of one of the church members, who was visiting on spring break from L.A. where she grew up and goes to college. I played trumpet, and Kay and Keiko played flute. About 80 people came, and we filled the sanctuary! Afterwards we had a cake buffet with lots of different desserts to try.

That night we all went out to a restaurant to celebrate and say farewell to two of the girls from church who were moving away for college. The food was served as many dishes that we all shared, beautifully arranged. Here's the dessert:

Then, at the end of March, Hannah and Kirsten visited from Akita, and we packed a lot of fun into the couple days they were here.

Sushi, puri-kura (photo booth), shopping, eating jajamen (Morioka's specialty noodles), karaoke... so many great memories!

Akita, Bowling, and Izumi's Wedding

2008-03-04T20:37:00.009-06:00

On the weekend of February 17-18 (my weekend is Sunday-Monday), I celebrated my 6-month anniversary of life in Japan by visiting Hannah and Kirsten in Akita. Sunday night, we make "kiritanpo" (an Akita specialty) with their friends, Iyoko (who just arrived back in Japan after a year in Seattle) and Yuki. It was quite a night - we didn't end up eating until about 10:30 p.m.! And we had dessert around 11:45! Wow... but it was AMAZING food.

Hannah and Iyoko demonstrate an alternative use for kiritanpo rice sticks... They take cooking very seriously. ;-)

The next weekend I went out bowling with some friends from church. Out of the group I think I got about 7th place :-o But there were about 13 of us, so that's not too bad... right??

Next to the "auto vender" with food, ice cream and drinks, was this nice machine: the "auto shoeser." Just select your shoe size, and you're ready to bowl!

Last weekend was Izumi and Toru's wedding. Izumi is the middle Miyakawa daughter. It was a beautiful wedding and so much fun to see friends all dressed up in kimonos!

Pastor Miyakawa walking Izumi down the aisle.

The rings.

Church members with the happy couple.

Izumi with her sisters, Honami and Mifumi.

The girls escorted Izumi out of the reception for her change into a kimono.

Mifumi, Nozomi, me and Honami. I love these girls!

Toru and Izumi in their traditional outfits. Her kimono has been passed down through Toru's family.

The bride and groom with their parents.

Right when they lit the candle, the flame glowed red and mini sparklers shot out from the centerpiece of each table!

It was coooold outside, but we all went out on the balcony for a little while for some fireworks!

Todd's Visit!

2008-02-04T06:00:00.000-06:00

From January 2nd to the 17th, Todd was here visiting me! He's going to grad school at the University of Minnesota, so he had a break from classes until the 22nd. I went down to Tokyo to meet him at the airport, and we spent some time in Tokyo before coming up to Morioka.

Here we are in Asakusa, an area of Tokyo.

Since it was still the New Year's holiday, Asakusa quickly became packed with people in the morning.

We went to the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Tower and got to look out over Tokyo.

We stopped to watch an outdoor taiko drumming performance in Midtown.

Seeing the "sights" in Morioka - behind us are the castle walls in Iwate Park, all that remains from the castle that was once here.

Morioka's rock-splitting cherry tree - a lesson in persevering through the seemingly impossible (according to the description on the sign). The beloved tree is wrapped up in a "sweater" for the winter season.

Sushi is usually delicious, but this natto (fermented soybeans) sushi was not so delicious. Natto smells/tastes like... feet.

We made peanut nanbu-senbei, a type of cookie/cracker, at the Hand-Made Village outside of Morioka.

We learned what indigo dye smells like and saw the process of creating the beautiful patterned cloths.

Of course, we had to let Todd experience wanko-soba while in Morioka!

Those of us who ate over a hundred bowls (don't worry, they're only a mouthful) received a little wooden sign.

Todd and I cooked an "American" meal of chili for the Miyakawa family.

We made mochi, pounded rice, with the kids at Hallelujah nursery.

Natto in all its glory... Todd and I opted not to put it on our mochi.

Todd discovers the "Men's" flavor of Pocky - bitter chocolate. I'm not sure why it's so manly... pretty sure it's a marketing scam.

Playing duets in church

We found this disintegrating USAFA (my brother's alma-mater) sweatshirt in a trendy clothing store for about $45! We also found an old Gustavus Adolphus sweatshirt for about $30. No Luther College ones though... we checked.

A few days before Todd left, I came down with a sore throat and fever and had to spend a couple days in bed. But I was better by his last day, so we went out to supper at Hamaya, a small traditional restaurant that our friend, Yoshi, recommended. The staff were so kind to us and we had a great meal!

Holidays in Japan

2008-01-27T18:20:00.000-06:00

Well, it is definitely time to update from the holidays here! I had about two weeks of vacation over Christmas and New Year's, but it flew by before I had a chance to catch up on my "to do" list... January has also flown by (Todd came for two weeks!), so it's almost February now, but here are some shots from the holiday season:

At our women's Christmas party (for my women students and women from church), Mrs. Adachi's husband performed traditional Japanese singing/movement.

For our high schoolers' party, we had tacos and played some games.

While in the middle of making fudge, I realized I didn't know how to use the can opener (on the right)... after attempting to rip a hole in the can and squeeze the condensed milk out, I looked online and found the solution. It was a little late, though. With the can already half-mangled, I couldn't get the lid fully off. The fudge turned out great though, and I now know how to use the can opener. "Trial and error" seems to be the way I learn a lot of things here :)

A view of Mt. Iwate from the bus on Christmas morning as I headed to Takanosu.

We had delicious Swedish meatballs for Christmas dinner with the Nordaases! It was the first time I'd been there since our training session in August - really made me think how much has changed in the last four months! After supper we watched "A Very Brady Christmas," complete with TV commercials from the 1980s , and went to the onsen (hot spring).

Before I came back to Morioka, Kaila and I took the train to Odate, where we shopped and found this great little coffee shop - no two coffee cups are the same!

Now onto New Year's:

Our New Year's Eve dinner was amazing - temakizushi (hand-rolled/do-it-yourself sushi), crab, oysters with three different types of dressings, abalone - raw and cooked (raw is really hard to chew, but cooked is soft), and lots more... Then we watched some crazy New Year's Eve special on TV - singing, comedy, etc. I fell asleep from about 10-11:30, but I woke up in time to count down to the New Year :D

Early on New Year's Day, I went with my sisters, Mifumi and Honami (this is the inside of Mifumi's cute red car), to the mall for some sale-shopping. Every store sells "happy bags" - a grab bag - ranging in price from $10-$100+. Can you imagine spending $100, not knowing what you're going to get? I didn't buy any happy bags...

After the shopping, we came back to the church for a New Year's Day service. Most Japanese visit temples or shrines over the New Year's holiday (which lasts for a few days), so we have a service on New Year's Day.

----

I really appreciate all of the cards, letters and packages I received over the holidays! I love hearing from you!

'Tis the Season

2007-12-15T06:30:00.000-06:00

It's almost Christmas, and there are plenty of decorations around Japan to show it (although a little different from those back home):

Japanese Santa?

The Japanese Santa was found in downtown Sendai, while I was there over Thanksgiving. Here's Kirsten and me with him in the background.

This was our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Bengtsons' house in Sendai, complete with an amazing turkey and lots of American-tasting food! We ate so much we had to wait a few hours AND go out for a walk before dessert.

After Thanksgiving, I came back to a church with lots of "Illumination" (a word I have heard used by Japanese to describe Christmas lights, decorations, and even colorful fall leaves...). Mrs. Miyakawa loves making flower arrangements, so we have lots of decorations inside the church too.

Here is an arrangement she made for my apartment with a pointsettia, pinecones and branches painted white, and my nativity scene next to it.

Here's a flower arrangement I made at an afternoon workshop at the church. We made them so that the tree-like thing in the background can be placed on top of the flowers and the large flower stick out underneath it.

Thank you to all the family, friends and L.B. churches that have been keeping my mailbox well-stocked this month! I love hearing from you, and it really brightens up my kitchen!

On December 8th, I played trumpet at the Christmas program for Hallelujah Nursery (one of the places I teach). This was one intense nursery program! Each age (1-5) had a 15+ minute demonstration of random things like gymnastics, pretending to eat lunch, singing and dancing/hopping, bunny-racing, etc. But the best part was the costumes - bunnies, bears, kittens, puppies, mice, and... pirates!

On Friday night (the 14th), our Mana group at the church had a Nabe Party. Nabe is a big pot of soup with lots of ingredients served during the cold months. Since the meal is all served from one big pot, it's seen as a type of bonding experience, too. There are many varieties of nabe, but we chose to make "mizore nabe" - "sleet storm nabe." White daikon radish is grated and dumped on top of the pot at the end, so it looks like sleet. It's been snowing/raining a lot here lately, so it was very appropriate :) Other ingredients included: salmon, chicken meatballs, another type of fish, cabbage, mushrooms, clear noodles, more mushrooms, onions, and some other vegetables.

We also made tako-yaki. Here they are adding the tako (octopus). In my opinion, everything with octopus in it tastes a little like soap, but I still like it. I enjoyed the tako-yaki, until they discovered that shrimp-powder was an ingredient in one of the ingredients, and we figured I should stop eating them.

I'm very allergic to shrimp... I search through the ingredient-lists (for 3 different 2-character combos meaning "shrimp") on everything I buy, but maybe there's a tiny bit of shrimp in everything here, so I'll build up a tolerance to it... For now, I just pray half the time that I'll live through a meal...

The nabe, ready to be served by Yoshi, our strong leader...

You can't see any of the ingredients of the nabe because the "sleet" is covering it all.

Today (Saturday the 15th) I had two different kids' Christmas parties. The first was at Tsukigaoka church, next to my home. Here's our happy "genkan" (entry-way) filled with shoes and boots:

Activities for the kids included decorating cookies, making pinecone ornaments, singing "Jingle Bells", playing games, and watching a Christmas movie. Keiko and I played some Christmas carols, trading off flute and trumpet and then playing a couple as duets.

I teach the cutest kids...

Even the sick ones came! ^

This was my favorite ornament made by one of my students
(just don't tell the kids that I had a favorite).

After that party, I went to Mitake Chapel for a party with my students there. Keiko and I played more carols, and I attempted to play a duet with Pastor Ohara playing horn. We had never played together before, though, so it was a little rough...

At Mitake Chapel, the kids watched a video, sang some carols, made ornaments/keychains, ate "hot-cakie" (pancakes), and did a 105-yen (dollar-store items) gift exchange.

I've had a hard time narrowing down my photos to put some on here... the kids are all just so cute...

Pastor Ohara played the guitar as we sang "Merry Chrismas, Merry Christmas, Happy Day! Happy Day!" to the tune of "Frere Jacques" and passed around the gifts. I won Winnie the Pooh stationery, so if you get a letter from me on it, you'll know why!

And a final photo, just for kicks. Read the last line on the bottle carefully:

a genki woman, a photo booth and a Morioka-style eating contest

2007-11-03T05:36:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I took a bus to Sendai for an English Teachers' expo. Two of the sessions were taught by Carolyn Graham, an incredibly "genki" (energetic, enthusiastic) woman who has written many songs and chants (rhythmic language patterns) in the books we use in our classes. She taught us how to write our own to fit whatever material we are teaching. Basically, it was amazing experience!

Here we are demonstrating a days-of-the-week song.

Kirsten was the happy winner of one of Carolyn Graham's books.

In another session, I won this book while playing Bingo!

On Monday evening before leaving Sendai, Kirsten, Hannah and I had a little bit of photo booth fun.

Last week, some friends took me out for my "welcome party" at a wankosoba restaurant. It's quite an experience! Each person eats as many bowls/small servings of soba noodles as he or she possibly can, while keeping a tally with matches. I had 75... a little above average for females, but I was beat by Mifumi, Keiko and Nozomi. And the guys were way above all of us... the winner had around 170!

Nozomi had 98 bowls! It got a little painful toward the end...

Here's Keiko & me after we finished (with covers on our bowls so they wouldn't fill them anymore).

Some side dishes for between rounds of eating and the tallying matches - there's my final count of 75!

The whole group afterwards (looking a little full), and the "Love Panda" calendar - one of the prizes for the winners.

This place & these people!

2007-10-25T19:10:00.000-05:00

This is downtown Morioka. In the front is Morioka Station.

Taken from downtown Morioka - you can see where I live in relation. And that's grand ol' Mount Iwate in the distance.

Here are some people in my life! (you can click on the photo to see a bigger version)
Pastor Uenuma was visiting from California just for the day as a guest pastor.

The Miyakawa family runs Tsukigaoka Church. Daughters Mifumi & Honami are in this picture, but Izumi is married, so she doesn't usually go to this church.

The Morita family runs Hallelujah Chapel/Nursery. Dr. Morita is the pastor there, and Nozomi (the daughter) works at the nursery.

Mana (Friday night "singles" group at Tsukigaoka Church) members:
Mifumi (Miyakawa)
Michiko
Nozomi
Yoshi
Nishi
Keiko
Me

Makito & Masami are students of mine at Hallelujah Nursery.

These are a few of my favorite things:

2007-10-25T08:14:00.000-05:00

Here's a glimpse into why I love Japan...

A bit more...

2007-10-24T18:36:00.000-05:00

Hello all!

This week has been going well. This afternoon I'll have my third Japanese lesson, then I'll bike to Geo-E (a geo-thermal company) to teach two businessmen classes. On Sunday I'll be traveling to Sendai for an English Teaching Expo and coming back Monday afternoon. All of the other short-term missionaries/teachers will be there except Kaila. It will be a good time - but we'll miss her!

Here's my weekly class schedule:

Monday: day off!

Tuesday:
10-11 am - women's class (at Tsukigaoka Church)
2-3 pm - "older" women's class (Tsukigaoka)
4-5 pm - 2nd graders (Tsukigaoka)
7-8 pm - High Schoolers (Tsukigaoka)

Wednesday:
2:15-3 pm - kindergarteners (Tsukigaoka)
4:30-5:30 pm - 3rd graders (Tsukigaoka)

Thursday:
5:45-6:45 pm - Geo-E employees (at the Geo-E office)
7-8 pm - Geo-E employees

Friday:
4:30-5:20 pm - 1st graders (at Mitake Chapel)
5:30-6:30 pm - 3-4 graders (Mitake)

Saturday:
1-2 pm - 3rd-5th graders (Hallelujah Nursery/Chapel)
2-3 pm - one 6th grader (Hallelujah)
5:30-6:30 pm - 4-6th graders (Tsukigaoka)
6:30-7:30 pm - 7th graders (Tsukigaoka)

Sunday: no classes
10:30 am - church and lunch after the service

Aaaaaand more pictures!

My "sister" Honami and me waiting to be seated at a sushi restaurant.

A highlight from our retreat - the ladies' outing to the sand bath - and the man who we met at a gas station who showed us how to get there.

A picture taken after the service last Sunday at Tsukigaoka church. We had a guest pastor, Uenuma-sensei (front row, third from the left). And the fourth from the left is Pasto Miyakawa. Can you find me??

And now... for those of you who are dying to know what I look like as a teacher:

My Tuesday 10 am class - Keiko on the left and Chihiro on the right.

My Tuesday 2nd graders

Keiko and me

My Tuesday evening high school class (plus Keiko - she's not in high school, but she's in the class for fun). Satoko is the one speaking on the right.

That's all for now! I hope you are all doing well!

Blessings,
Anna

Alive and Well

2007-10-15T18:34:00.001-05:00

Konnichiwa!

I'm now pretty settled into my teaching schedule and apartment, and I just started Japanese lessons last week. It'll be quite a while still before I have a good handle on the language though!

For now, here are some photos, so you can "picture" my life here!

My apartment:

Where's my bed? It's in the closet during the day, then I move the table at night and pull out my fold-up "futon."

My apartment is right next to Tsukigaoka Church, one of the places I teach. On the right is my building and on the left is the church.

This is one of the main shopping streets in downtown Morioka. It takes about 15 minutes by car or bus to get there from my apartment.

Here are some places I've gone since I've been in Japan:

In August during the teachers' training in Takanosu, the Nordaases took us to this beautiful spot for a picnic.

Here's Kirsten, Hannah and me at the train stop for Kinshuko, the place of our Fall Spiritual Retreat.

These two were taken at Nanshoso, an old Japanese house and garden here in Morioka. This is Mrs. Miyakawa, the pastor's wife at the church next to my apartment. The Miyakawas have three daughters: Mifumi (28), Izumi (26) and Honami (17). They've taken me in as a part of their famly now too, so it's nice to have "my family" right next door!

Here are all of the teachers this year: Kaila (top left) is in Takanosu, Kim & Jon (center) are in Sendai with their three kids, and Hannah and Kirsten (right) are in Akita. We've bonded quickly, and it's always a good time when we're together! It'll be a good year!