Where to start? The last week has been super full of awesome stuff, today included. Consequently I’ve been wondering if it is possible to die from lack of sleep… Sleep was definitely one of my new years resolutions this year, so I need to get on it, but the question is always what to cut out of my day when I have a to do list a mile long, and a ‘I want to do’ list five miles long.
So here is what my life looks like recently:
School:
I’m back to school, and it's the beginning of a new academic year. I have a ton of new students, and they freak out when I walk into their classroom for the first time (because I am a foreigner). Its really cute! They give the traditional “eeeehhh?????????” and then start screaming “HELLO! HELLO!” with their far from perfect pronunciation. It’s really endearing! I’ve got a few Spanish speaking students too, so its been really fun to brush up on my Spanish.
I was asked to do a lesson for my 9th graders about my time in the Tsunami zone. Japanese students aren’t really encouraged to think for themselves of discuss very often (some TV shows even show a recoding of someone watching the show in the corner of the screen to show those watching how they should respond to the show), so it was really cool to take some time to help them process what is going on in their country. We watched the YouTube video my friend Ian made when we went to Ishinomaki, and talked about what is going on, and talked about what our response should be to this situation. As junior high students, they probably can’t go volunteer or donate a ton of money. We talked about what real HOPE and LOVE mean. And that maybe the proper response to this tragedy for junior high students is to live well and LOVE and HOPE where they are. We want to love those in Fukushima, and maybe we can’t go there, but we can love those around us. We also talked a little bit about bullying, because some of the students from Fukushima who have had to leave their cities and transfer into other school districts are getting bullied. “汚れ,” being labeled as dirty, is a classic form of Japanese psychological bulling, and “radiation” has provided the perfect fuel for students’ cruelty. I had all the students write me a reflection in Japanese, and it was really cool to see what they had to say.
Tohoku: It’s been a month and nine days. My friends from Kamizoku (the house church I went to Tohoku with), CRASH, and TCU (the school I went to study abroad at) are working hard still. I wish I was there everyday, but just as I encouraged my students to, I can pray and love and live as well as I can here. Let’s us not forget, and let us not cease to love and serve and give and volunteer.
Church:
I had a Bible study with three Japanese ladies this past Monday, and it was AWESOME!! I’m going to be taking them through the covenants in the Bible (Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic etc.) culminating with the New Covenant. I’ve wanted to try teaching chronologically through the Bible before, and I’ve been reading a really really AWESEOME book by one of by Biola profs, Dr. Lunde, called “Following Jesus, The Servant King: A Biblical Theology of Convental Discipleship,” and its been helping me understand following Jesus, and the Old Testament, in a whole new light. Anyways, we studied Genesis 1-3 this past week, and it was the first time for all of them to study this section of scripture. It was sooooooo much fun to watch them begin to understand the depth that is in those three chapters and their implication. From a western viewpoint, Genesis one critiques materialism, but for the common person in Japan it more critiques animism and astrology, two huge belief systems here. It was super cool to see how asking a few questions led them to out the implications from the text. I know I was super super blessed by the study, and they said they were too, and they were looking forward to next time. It’s amazing how easily I have taken all the churching and theological education I have gotten for granted. Two of the ladies at the study have been Christians for a long time, but this was the first time they got to study this section of the Bible, which is so fundamental. It was super cool to get to put some of my study to use, and I’m thinking of asking my pastor if I can preach once a month…? I just really want to bring the Word and see people grow.
We’re having an Easter even for kids at my church this Sunday. And we only have one kid that comes to church, so we aren’t sure how many kids are going to come, but we’re inviting a lot of people. It’s going to be super fun! Games! Easter eggs! Music! I’m sharing a short gospel message, etc.
I’ve also been involved in the young adults group at the big church in the city. It’s every Thursday evening, and its great to hang out with some Christians my own age. They are having a camp the week after next that I am going to go to, which will be a cool way to get to know everyone better.
A high school ministry (Hi. B.A. its an interdenominational gathering for high school students, because most Japanese churches are really small, so they don’t have much fellowship for young people) just started in my city, and I’m thinking of getting involved. That’s the age group I really want to work with, but I’m a little nervous about spreading myself too thin, which I feel like I am already doing…
Japanese…
Oh Japanese!!! I used to tell people this wasn’t such a hard language. The beginning levels are not. But unlike most languages that get easier the further you get, this one gets exponentially harder the further you get. I have the proficiency test coming up in a little over two months….YIKES! So if I’m not teaching, doing ministry, (mostly failing at) trying to keep in touch with all my friends scattered around the country, or hanging out with all the random friends I have accumulated over my 8 months here, you can find me at starbucks studying kanji, or on the bus studying vocab, or doing reading comprehension into the late hours of the night in my apartment. Hence my lack of sleep induced headache at the moment. But guess where I am! Starbucks! Studying! I was competing with a friend on the proficiency test in July (any of you who were in Greek with me know how well I lean language once there is a little competition involved! cough cough, Jared Winn!), but he just decided not to take it. BUMMER! But I’m pretty determined to round-house kick this test in the face, competition or no competition.
I have more to say, but I just realized this is getting ridiculously long, and none of you are probably going to make it this far! If you are reading this, tell me you know the secret word: ninja(!!!), next time you see me and I’ll buy you a coffee or something for bearing with me to the end! <3
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
One Month Later
Yesterday was April 11th. Exactly one month since March 11th. One month since the 9.0 earthquake, the tsunami, the beginning of the nuclear problems.
I was working in the Board of Education yesterday, which is on the 9th floor of city hall. In the afternoon, at the time the earthquake had hit, city hall held a minute of silence to mourn the nearly 15,000 deaths, and the 9,000 still missing.
It’s been a month. Aftershocks are shaking Japan daily. And a lot of them are big, like last night’s 6.6 that hit off the coast of Fukushima; causing landslides that buried houses and causes power loss to nuclear reactors 1-3. According to geologists, we’re going to be having these big aftershocks for the next year… People are still living in evacuation centers. They’ve been there a month now.
The loss is so devastating. But God’s church is on its feet, bringing supplies, and love, and hope and Jesus. CRASH is getting into full swing, and we have teams of volunteers pouring in from around Japan and overseas. Korean Campus Crusade wants to send 1,500 volunteers! My friends from Tokyo Christian University (where I studied abroad) are in Sendai as we speak. Kamizoku, the friends I went to Ishinomaki with are still making their daily runs to bring supplies to love on and serve those who have suffered such great loss.
This is not over yet!
I would do anything to be able to be up there right now, but God has decided that I am here, so here I am. I felt like God was telling me to stay in Japan over the summer before all this went down, and know I know why.
I had a welcome/farewell party for the staff at one of my junior highs, because April is the beginning of the Japanese academic year. I hadn’t seen everyone in a few weeks, because I was up north, and working in the Board of Education. When my teachers found out that I went to the effected area, they asked me to talk about my experience my first class back.
I’m super excited to be able talk about this stuff with my kids! I’m going to show them the video my friend made of our trip to Ishinomaki, and then hopefully have a discussion (which could very end up me monologuing… because Japanese students aren’t good at expressing their opinions), about HOPE and LOVE! What Japan needs right now…
So pray for me! That I would be able to encourage my students and pour love into their hearts in some way.
I was working in the Board of Education yesterday, which is on the 9th floor of city hall. In the afternoon, at the time the earthquake had hit, city hall held a minute of silence to mourn the nearly 15,000 deaths, and the 9,000 still missing.
It’s been a month. Aftershocks are shaking Japan daily. And a lot of them are big, like last night’s 6.6 that hit off the coast of Fukushima; causing landslides that buried houses and causes power loss to nuclear reactors 1-3. According to geologists, we’re going to be having these big aftershocks for the next year… People are still living in evacuation centers. They’ve been there a month now.
The loss is so devastating. But God’s church is on its feet, bringing supplies, and love, and hope and Jesus. CRASH is getting into full swing, and we have teams of volunteers pouring in from around Japan and overseas. Korean Campus Crusade wants to send 1,500 volunteers! My friends from Tokyo Christian University (where I studied abroad) are in Sendai as we speak. Kamizoku, the friends I went to Ishinomaki with are still making their daily runs to bring supplies to love on and serve those who have suffered such great loss.
This is not over yet!
I would do anything to be able to be up there right now, but God has decided that I am here, so here I am. I felt like God was telling me to stay in Japan over the summer before all this went down, and know I know why.
I had a welcome/farewell party for the staff at one of my junior highs, because April is the beginning of the Japanese academic year. I hadn’t seen everyone in a few weeks, because I was up north, and working in the Board of Education. When my teachers found out that I went to the effected area, they asked me to talk about my experience my first class back.
I’m super excited to be able talk about this stuff with my kids! I’m going to show them the video my friend made of our trip to Ishinomaki, and then hopefully have a discussion (which could very end up me monologuing… because Japanese students aren’t good at expressing their opinions), about HOPE and LOVE! What Japan needs right now…
So pray for me! That I would be able to encourage my students and pour love into their hearts in some way.
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes
I wrote this right when I got back Yokkaichi about 2 weeks ago, and forgot to post it.
I’m back in Yokkaichi. Back to work. Back to “normal life.”
My students are still on spring break, so I’m “working” in the Board of Education. I finished the work I was supposed to do all week in about 3 hours, and none of my coworkers have much to do either, so we are strategically wasting time while having to put on a façade that we are “working.”
What I wouldn’t give to be hanging out with people in Tohoku!!! The need is still so great. And here I sit… literally doing nothing. It really sucks. I have woken up each morning since I have been back with a heavy burden to pray for Tohoku. Some of my non-Christians friends think that prayer is an excuse not to act… I don’t think so. Before we act, as we act, after the opportunity to act gone, we come before the throne of God most high. “He is sovereign, so why should we ask him to do something?” I have been asked.
But life comes with seasons, and here I am… and the cherry blossoms are finally starting to bloom. There is something really magical about spring coming after winter…something I feel I am experiencing for the first time, having lived in SoCal my whole life. The stars were abnormally bright last night, and the parks have lanterns lighting up the cherry blossoms, so I took myself for a walk, and sat in the park staring up at the flowers. The lantern light hitting all of the different layers of branches and blossoms, swirling in the wind, highlighted against the deep black sky, looked almost like a galaxy, and came with a strange sense of vertigo.
Despite the beauty of spring, the season of cultural adjustment I am in is…well…exactly like a game I played in college.
In one of my Intercultural Studies Classes classes at Biola, Interpersonal and Intercultural Adjustment, the professor broke us into groups, gave us a deck of cards, and a paper with instructions on how to play the game. After we read the directions, the professor took them away. We were not allowed to talk at all, and at the end of each round, the winner from each group was to move groups. The games started to get messy, and I quickly noticed that the rules given to each group were different. Some people thought they were winning, according to the rules they read, but in the new group they were playing with, they were actually loosing.
Story of my life the last few weeks… I thought I was winning. I thought that I was doing well, making friends, and being a positive influence. WRONG!
The Japanese calligraphy teacher I am learning from was super, super, super angry with me a few weeks ago… I had no idea what I had done. She blatantly ignored me the whole class, and was giving me dirty looks… I finally got an explanation from the lady that hosts the class… Another elderly lady in the class had invited me over to her house, because I live across the street from her, and I had accepted the invitation and went. From my American perspective, I didn’t do anything wrong. However, in Japanese cultural hierarchy, it’s the job of everyone lower ranking to make sure that the higher ranking person feels happy, comfortable, and like they are everyone’s favorite. “You can’t be friends with everyone. Japan is a small country, and so are our hearts. If you want to be friends with everyone, you have to be sneaky about it. You can’t talk openly about the fact that you went to Mrs. S’s house. It’s not really your fault, cause Ms. S is the one who keeps bringing it up, but you have to learn to dodge her comments, and bring the conversation back to focus on the teacher,” I was told. I never would have guessed that going to my neighbor’s house would be such a big deal! I thought I was winning… but NOPE! WRONG! Definitely loosing…
I was supposed to visit my host family in Tokyo during my spring break. Then my fam decided that it wasn't a good idea to go to Tokyo just to play, with the current nuclear situation as it is. I was also advised against going just to visit by my teachers, because I would be putting a drain on the already diminished resources in Tokyo. Then I had the change to go volunteer, which changes all of the reasoning keeping me from going to Tokyo. I texted my host mom once I was in Tokyo to tell her I was volunteering ask if I could visit before I came back to Yokkaichi. She said yes, and my schedule changed a bit, so I asked if I could change the day to visit. She said no, so I went on the prearranged day… I was expecting a warm reception, especially after having been volunteering. But, when I got there, I got the coldest reception I have ever experienced… my host mom opened the door, and then took off up the stairs, saying “you know you should really think about other people’s feelings!!!” No matter how many times I apologized, I felt the wrath of the angry Japanese host mom the whole time I was there… I went to volunteer, and thought I was winning… but NOPE! WRONG! Definitely loosing…
BUT I’m pretty sure every cross-cultural worker goes through a season like this… And I am learning. Thinking. Analyzing. Asking advice from those who have been here longer than me. Consulting my Japanese friends. There is grace enough to cover all my failures, all my mistakes, and all my oversights. Hopefully I will be able to mend the relationships I have strained… to show love in a way that makes sense in Japan.
But everything is not fail. My God loves me. I have friends in this city, so:
So hello spring! Hello cherry blossoms. Hello tsunamis. Hello cultural mistakes. Hello long, pointless days in the board of education. Hello growing up. Hello hope!
I’m back in Yokkaichi. Back to work. Back to “normal life.”
My students are still on spring break, so I’m “working” in the Board of Education. I finished the work I was supposed to do all week in about 3 hours, and none of my coworkers have much to do either, so we are strategically wasting time while having to put on a façade that we are “working.”
What I wouldn’t give to be hanging out with people in Tohoku!!! The need is still so great. And here I sit… literally doing nothing. It really sucks. I have woken up each morning since I have been back with a heavy burden to pray for Tohoku. Some of my non-Christians friends think that prayer is an excuse not to act… I don’t think so. Before we act, as we act, after the opportunity to act gone, we come before the throne of God most high. “He is sovereign, so why should we ask him to do something?” I have been asked.
But life comes with seasons, and here I am… and the cherry blossoms are finally starting to bloom. There is something really magical about spring coming after winter…something I feel I am experiencing for the first time, having lived in SoCal my whole life. The stars were abnormally bright last night, and the parks have lanterns lighting up the cherry blossoms, so I took myself for a walk, and sat in the park staring up at the flowers. The lantern light hitting all of the different layers of branches and blossoms, swirling in the wind, highlighted against the deep black sky, looked almost like a galaxy, and came with a strange sense of vertigo.
Despite the beauty of spring, the season of cultural adjustment I am in is…well…exactly like a game I played in college.
In one of my Intercultural Studies Classes classes at Biola, Interpersonal and Intercultural Adjustment, the professor broke us into groups, gave us a deck of cards, and a paper with instructions on how to play the game. After we read the directions, the professor took them away. We were not allowed to talk at all, and at the end of each round, the winner from each group was to move groups. The games started to get messy, and I quickly noticed that the rules given to each group were different. Some people thought they were winning, according to the rules they read, but in the new group they were playing with, they were actually loosing.
Story of my life the last few weeks… I thought I was winning. I thought that I was doing well, making friends, and being a positive influence. WRONG!
The Japanese calligraphy teacher I am learning from was super, super, super angry with me a few weeks ago… I had no idea what I had done. She blatantly ignored me the whole class, and was giving me dirty looks… I finally got an explanation from the lady that hosts the class… Another elderly lady in the class had invited me over to her house, because I live across the street from her, and I had accepted the invitation and went. From my American perspective, I didn’t do anything wrong. However, in Japanese cultural hierarchy, it’s the job of everyone lower ranking to make sure that the higher ranking person feels happy, comfortable, and like they are everyone’s favorite. “You can’t be friends with everyone. Japan is a small country, and so are our hearts. If you want to be friends with everyone, you have to be sneaky about it. You can’t talk openly about the fact that you went to Mrs. S’s house. It’s not really your fault, cause Ms. S is the one who keeps bringing it up, but you have to learn to dodge her comments, and bring the conversation back to focus on the teacher,” I was told. I never would have guessed that going to my neighbor’s house would be such a big deal! I thought I was winning… but NOPE! WRONG! Definitely loosing…
I was supposed to visit my host family in Tokyo during my spring break. Then my fam decided that it wasn't a good idea to go to Tokyo just to play, with the current nuclear situation as it is. I was also advised against going just to visit by my teachers, because I would be putting a drain on the already diminished resources in Tokyo. Then I had the change to go volunteer, which changes all of the reasoning keeping me from going to Tokyo. I texted my host mom once I was in Tokyo to tell her I was volunteering ask if I could visit before I came back to Yokkaichi. She said yes, and my schedule changed a bit, so I asked if I could change the day to visit. She said no, so I went on the prearranged day… I was expecting a warm reception, especially after having been volunteering. But, when I got there, I got the coldest reception I have ever experienced… my host mom opened the door, and then took off up the stairs, saying “you know you should really think about other people’s feelings!!!” No matter how many times I apologized, I felt the wrath of the angry Japanese host mom the whole time I was there… I went to volunteer, and thought I was winning… but NOPE! WRONG! Definitely loosing…
BUT I’m pretty sure every cross-cultural worker goes through a season like this… And I am learning. Thinking. Analyzing. Asking advice from those who have been here longer than me. Consulting my Japanese friends. There is grace enough to cover all my failures, all my mistakes, and all my oversights. Hopefully I will be able to mend the relationships I have strained… to show love in a way that makes sense in Japan.
But everything is not fail. My God loves me. I have friends in this city, so:
So hello spring! Hello cherry blossoms. Hello tsunamis. Hello cultural mistakes. Hello long, pointless days in the board of education. Hello growing up. Hello hope!
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