Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, everyone! I hope this holiday finds you safe and well. I truly hope you enjoy the season, and never forget the reason!

I'm afraid this is one of those "no time" weeks, so I shall simply give a few brief notes that I really wanted to mention:

Firstly, to my friends, thank you so much for writing and also wishing me a Merry Christmas. Especially to Eve and to Liz -- I fully intend to write you thank you cards and letters and such but your addresses have gone missing in the abyss of my desk. It's weird, sorry. If you don't hear from me, know that it's lack of postage information, not lack of love, and that you shall hear from me later.

Secondly, I heard that the Provo Tabernacle burned down. That is incredibly sad and I am sorry to hear it. I really loved that building, and I can't imagine it being gone. I...I have nothing more to say about that. It's just sad.

Third, this is the last blog post of the year! Japan celebrates New Year's in style; they may devote more dedication to it than we devote to Christmas. At least, it seems that way...all public buildings are shut down for a week -- the library where I write these blog posts will be shut down from December 27th until roughly January 5th, so no blog or electronic contact next week. I would offer to write letters, but the postal service shuts down as well. I would offer to buy you souvenirs, but the banks and ATMs shut down, too! New Year's can actually be a little scary for new missionaries if they are unprepared -- if you didn't withdraw/reserve money before everything shuts down, you have NO WAY to access it for over a month. Hope the pantry is stocked!

I exaggerate slightly, but not as much as you'd think. It's pretty crazy. Shibuya was still in business because it's Shibuya (that was where I spent last New Year's) but Kofu is a whole 'nother story, and I suspect we shall witness 4 days of soulless streets.

So everyone please have a Merry Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Enjoy this time and remind loved ones just how much you love them. Speaking of which, 愛しています！

Acts of kindness are a big burden - Japanese Proverb

When I heard that saying I laughed so hard. It refers to stories much like the example illustrated below.

I don't like sushi. I don't really have an issue with raw fish, although I would rather NOT eat it, that's not the problem. The problem is 1) I don't like the taste of dry seaweed, and 2) I REALLY don't like eating lukewarm/cold rice! Rice is a hot dish to me and I just can't enjoy the taste of it cooled down. It makes me gag. Dunno why, I'm sorry, but I just likes me some hot rice. So when members take us to a sushi restaurant, I have gotten to the point when I will simply admit that I am not a fan of sushi, so if it's alright I will just order something else off the menu. Members then agree and, trying to help, they then ORDER FOR ME and order EVERYTHING ON THE MENU THAT IS NOT SUSHI. This gives me a mountain of food to eat and leaves them in a panic trying to find other things to give me that are not sushi. I appreciate the thought, really, but I wish they wouldn't do it. Hence, the above saying my companion taught me last night. Other people trying to be nice can actually be a big problem for you.

It's actually a pretty depressing saying when you think about it.

Hello, everyone! Sorry about the radio silence last week. My last companion seems to love making lots of appointments on our preparation day so we didn't have time for shopping or e-mail last week. And since those are things that "can only be done on preparation day" she was most reluctant to take time out of other days of the week. It was most refreshing to be with such an obedient missionary! We had a lot of fun and worked very hard last transfer.

So now I would like to take a few minutes and give you a few updates on some of the things we did, starting with my birthday. Before I do, though, lemme say thank you so much to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! It made me very happy indeed.

My birthday was great! We managed to time it so that I and another missionary (we went on splits, so I was with someone other than my companion) were able to go to the base and eat Thanksgiving dinner with an American family. It was amazing, both being on the base and being with that family. The base was so BIG! Is America really that spacious? I was most surprised. I was also shocked to see a US Post Office and the Chili's restaurant. Long time no see. Then there were the Fruit Gushers sitting on the counter in the house...it was pretty unreal. But we were able to spend a lovely time with that family and eat turkey, candied yams, potatoes, vegetables, and amazing pies. It was such a great feast and a great time. We all went around the table listing something starting with the next letter of the alphabet and saying why we were grateful for it. After clearing all the dishes the kids asked, "Can the missionaries help us put up the Christmas tree?" which made me laugh, and when the youngest daughter found out that it was my birthday around this time she made me a four foot tall birthday card made of paper taped together! It was very sweet of her and I loved it. It was a real blast.

We also were able to go visit Mt. Fuji last week! Two members took us and we were able to visit a few historic sites around Fuji, visit one of the 5 lakes near its base, and basically be tourists for a few hours. Near the end of the trip we stopped by a musical box museum, which was AMAZING and I was very sorry we didn't have more time. I shall try to persuade my companion to go there again another day.

My companion changed! That's the other bit of news. She got transferred. We were both very surprised. The other bit of surprising news is that my new companion is actually an old companion: She's been a missionary longer than me! So we are both very old missionaries, and we are both serving in Kofu---and she's served here before!

So, to explain this phenomenon, lemme start by explaining two things. First, Japanese missionaries serve longer than American missionaries because they don't go to the MTC for as long. So while the 18-months/2 years is including the MTC, Japanese missionaries have more transfers in the field because they don't have that MTC time in there. So a Japanese sister will serve for 13 transfers but an American will serve for only 11. So my companion is on her 12th transfer, making her older than me, but I go home this transfer! It's so weird to be the junior for my last time! (I'm not actually a junior companion, we're co-senior, I just think it's funny.) As for the Kofu thing, she has already served here for 4 transfers, and now she's back a year later! So after she finishes her time here she will have spent half of her mission in Kofu.

So that means that my new companion actually knows Kofu as well/better than I do. We are REALLY excited to use this chance to try and bring back some of the old investigators that fell away between her leaving Kofu and my coming in. It's gonna be a really fun time in Kofu this transfer.

My companion really is great. I was a little nervous at first, but she is so sweet! She went to BYU Hawaii for 3 years so she speaks English fluently--albiet with an awesome Hawaiian accent. She's really smart and funny too, so we are always talking and laughing. It's actually hard to stop and we actually have to DECIDE to stop talking so that we can finally get some sleep at night. I know that she's Japanese but it doesn't feel that way at all! She's really easy-going and thanks to her time at BYU Hawaii she understands a lot of why I do the weird foreigner things I do, so she doesn't get frustrated or mad. It's wonderful. I thanked her by putting together her bike after she arrived. She responded by reading my missionary picture journal and laughing so hard she collapsed into a ball of laughter on the floor. I like her.

---

In other news, it's DECEMBER now! That means we can officially listen to Christmas music nonstop. I love December because I love Christmas! For those of you who are wondering, Christmas is celebrated a little differently in Japan. Japan is not a Christian country so most of the celebrations are secular. The main traditions are chicken and cake. The family gets together and eats Christmas chicken--usually from KFC but McDonald's is putting up a big fight this year and they are selling this crazy $20 Chirstmas Chicken Box thing--then serves up and eats Christmas cake. You can start ordering these things in October and they are pretty expensive. A one layer 8-inch cake costs at least $20, and generally around $30 or $40. I guess they are pretty well decorated but that's still ridiculous to me, so we are making our OWN Christmas cake--and EATING it too!

Japan does have a holiday where they celebrate being a family and the family just gets together to spend time together, but that's not Christmas that's New Year's. New Year's is when the entire country shuts down for 4 days. As missionaries we can't really do much--we aren't supposed to knock on doors or visit members unless we are invited, so we are stuck with wandering around empty streets for a few days. It wasn't a big deal last year when I was in Tokyo because the streets were still pretty full even on New Years, but I am a little worried about Kofu--the streets are empty on a NORMAL day. Still, besides missionaries everyone has a wonderful time inside for New Year's. Good for them.

Okay, I think that's all the time I wanted to take for just now. I hope everyone is having a great time and preparing for the holidays. Have a great week, and God bless you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

NOTE: Sorry, but before I forget can someone please get ahold of Anthony? I think he moved and I need his new address. Thank you.

Well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day full of family, friends, and gratitude! If it happens to include a large feast as well, great! For those who may not be aware, Japan does not celebrate Thanksgiving, and when you say the word "Thanksgiving" they have no idea what you are talking about. They DO know what 感謝祭 is, however, and that roughly translates to the same thing (Gratitude Festival).

I wasn't planning on celebrating Thanksgiving this year as I am in an area with no foreigners, but then the military base called and asked if some missionaries wouldn't mind attending their Thanksgiving feast. Well, who am I to say no and disappoint all those hard working service men and women? So it turns out I'll be eating turkey on Thursday after all. Huzzah! I will let you know how it goes. If I remember to write about it.

This week we had some very neat things happen. First, a General Authority came and spoke to us. He kinda woke up the mission and reminded us that we TOO can see miracles, and we really do need to be more bold about our message. It was a great conference. He told us that we should be extending baptismal commitments after the first meeting and made us promise to do so at our next lesson. "You extend, they choose to accept or reject it. If they say no, that's their choice, but you should give them the choice." It was interesting and we agreed to try it from now on.

Well, the next lesson we had was with a high school student. We teach her English and the Gospel in her home. She wants to go to BYU-Hawaii someday in the future, but for now she just wants to learn as much as she can. Her family is really interesting. Her mom will often wander in and out of the room during lessons and change the subject while we are in midsentence. That's...yeah. But the girl is really sweet and wonderful.

Well, we explained the doctrine in the first lesson (oops, for those that don't know the lessons: the first lesson discusses God as our Heavenly Father, the importance of families, the role of prophets, the existence of Jesus Christ's church, the Great Apostasy, the Restoration through Joseph Smith, and a brief introduction to the Book of Mormon and prayer.), and then we explained that when you know these things are true, Heavenly Father wants you to act. We explained in very simple terms what baptism was and told her about how important it is. As we were in the MIDDLE of asking her to be baptized when she knew these things were true, her mother walks into the room and places some images on the table. And I can remember EXACTLY what she said (translated):

"Can you BELIEVE that they have adult comic books in the elementary school library?! Look at this filth!"

And yes, there on the table were some scanned covers of some very not-child-appropriate books. Not-anyone-appropriate books, for that matter.

...So, uhm, yes. Spirit GONE. It was bizarre and I almost wanted to start laughing, the timing was so perfect.

And for the record, once her mother left the room we were still able to commit her to baptism.

--

In other news, my birthday is tomorrow! Somehow the other missionaries found out. Before the conference last week we stayed with two other Sisters in their apartment as it was much closer to the conference than ours. That night they threw a surprise birthday party, and they pulled out this amazing homemade cake that they had made just for me! It was awesome and I wish I could show you pictures, but just suffice to imagine a white two-layer cake with chocolate, "Happy Birthday Sister C" written on top, candles, and strawberries for filling. I was incredibly touched and very happy.

I am also very thankful to everyone who sent me birthday well-wishes. Thank you. You are all wonderful and I love you all very much!

I LOVE AUTUMN SO MUCH

Thank you so much to everyone who is trying to help my Spanish, I appreciate it immensely! It's been a great week in the mission, and I would love to tell you a few highlights. I need to write down the rest in my journal, but first I need to find some time to write...

By the way, the Bishop tells me that the mountain in the opening credit to Paramount Picture films is a mountain in SLC. Is that true? He isn't sure but we are now both curious.

This last week we have been working with members quite a bit. We went to the temple with our Ward last Saturday. It was very rewarding. There was a new member and it was her first time to the temple, so we were able to attend as well in order to go with her. She absolutely loved the experience. While there, she requested that everyone pray that her friend (who we are teaching right now) would get permission from her parents to get baptized. Up until this point her parents were not in favor of the idea and requested that she not be involved with our church to that point. She was all in favor of getting baptized but feared being separated from her family in any way, so we had hit a bit of a roadblock. Well, that very same evening she got a call from her parents telling her it was okay! So we have an excited investigator who is willing to hear the discussions again and take them seriously, and we all have a greater testimony on the power of prayer. That, needless to say, was a very good day.

The next day (Sunday) some members offered to give us a ride to Tsuru, a town which is pretty far from Kofu. The ride takes about 80 minutes by car and involves going over under and through quite a few mountains, so we were very glad not to have to go by bike. While in Tsuru we were able to meet with some old investigators and friends of members and really revitalized interest in learning spiritual things (missionaries used to bike there, but that died out a year or two ago, apparently. I could find no record of activity in Tsuru in the apartment records, so I had no idea). Many asked to meet with us again, so we are thoroughly excited, and the members were absolutely thrilled. We have already set up a few times next week to go back to Tsuru, and members are also asking us to visit their families as well. I haven't ridden a car this much in a long time. I think I may becoming a touch car sick, but I will gladly put up with it/ignore it--the payback is more than worthwhile!

Oh, also on that ride to Tsuru we discovered something amazing. Tsuru is closer to Mt. Fuji than Kofu. The members offered to pull over at a particularly nice spot while we were headed into town, and we agreed, as the car was getting a bit overheated and needed a break anyway. We pulled over and hopped out of the car. I didn't notice anything different and I was prepared to see the mountain slightly closer when I turned around and THERE was Mt. Fuji. It was HUGE! I have about 4 dozen pictures that simply do no justice, but if you have seen any postcards with that towering mountain with clouds creating a slight fog heading halfway up the summit and a lake stretched out below the base, then you have seen something half as beautiful as that view. It helped that Fuji is starting to get his iconic snow, and the leaves were changing color fantastically all around us.

Leaves changing color is my favorite sight in the world, and when the members heard that they stared at me and asked, "Have you ever been to Japan in Spring?"

"Yes. And the cherry blossoms are very beautiful, but to me this sight is better."

The two Sisters ferrying us looked at each other after that and then, in unspoken agreement, they took a brief detour. Apparently there is a very famous scenic road about 5 minutes out of the way that is COVERED in momiji trees (momiji=...maple?) and has the best view of Mt. Fuji and the iconic lake. I was trying very hard not to squeal with delight the entire time we were on that road. While I was snapping away and thoroughly enjoying the sights as we drove along, the two Sisters in front commented, "Wow, you really learn to appreciate all the normal stuff in your neighborhood when someone else reacts with such joy! We should come this way more often!"

Yes, and when I get back to Utah I REALLY need to go visit SLC Temple. :)

Anyway, I love autumn a little more, and I can sorta understand why Japanese people are so proud of Mt. Fuji. It really is an impressive sight.

On other thing I noticed on that drive that was a little more strange to me was the trees that lined the streets in the city. They are very beautiful to look at and provide mediocre shade, but what stands out more than anything else is their fruit they produce in Fall.

I do not know what that fruit looks like or tastes like and I never intend to find out because of what it smells like. It smells EXACTLY like dog droppings. So if you are driving along the street with your windows rolled down this curiously strong and powerful odor fills the car rather rapidly and I am amazed at all the many aspects of nature once again.

I wanted to focus more on the miracles this letter (there have been many) but I suppose my comments and thoughts have wondered off once again. We really are seeing a lot of miracles this transfer. I am having a blast in Japan!

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers. I am still going strong!

See y'all next week~

Sorry I was gone last week!

Firstly, last week. Last week was miserable due to a major cold. I got it Sunday evening, was having a hard time breathing and moving and not sniffling on Monday (medicine didn't do a thing!), and by Tuesday I declared I was not getting out of bed and I slept the entire day. I was incredibly achy and I had a fever. It was not a fun day, but I am glad it was a p-day. I wanted to go out and do p-day things but come Tuesday morning I was very glad we stayed in the apartment all day. I guess that means this is my first real p-day of this transfer? I'm still recovering from that blasted cold, but I am now in the endless coughing stage, so I feel fine but sound terrible. I'm glad the worst part is over.

In other news, I have a new companion. She is great. She is a fantastic missionary that is quite reminiscent of my MTC companion. She is a great missionary, full of spiritualness and confidence, and we have already seen miracles.

Two of those miracles happened on Sunday and Monday. Sunday an older investigator who didn't want to take lessons opened up to us and we were able to help resolve some of her concerns. She is now willing to hear the lessons again and will plan on getting baptized. That was very nice to hear! We are meeting with her later today.

Monday was great too. We had a potential investigator and we were finally able to meet with her Monday afternoon. It was her first lesson and it went very well. We explained that we normally teach about the church with intent to baptize the people who take the lessons, and she got very excited and asked to be baptized (we explained the basics of what it was, first). We said why sure, you can get baptized. It normally takes about 2 months to hear all the lessons and prepare, will January be okay?

She replied, can I not get baptized in December? I really want to get baptized mid-December.

...Why yes, we can arrange that.

So we have a new investigator and she already set her own baptismal date. We were very excited to hear that, and I rather feel that it is the START to great things happening for the rest of this transfer! So yes, things are going rather well this transfer. We already hit the point where every day is so busy that we can't fit in all the things we want to do, so we started planning next week as well as this week, and next week is getting pretty full, too!

THAT's always fun, lemme tell ya!

I feel so blessed to be working right now. I am immensely enjoying my time as a missionary. Things don't always go exactly as I'd like them to, but who cares? I'm having too much fun and seeing too many miracles to complain.

Today we go coat shopping and shoe shopping (we will hunt for a sale, I really need shoes that don't feel like boats). Tomorrow I will visit the dentist (we have too many appointments today to do a full p-day) and see if I can't get this pesky tooth sorted out once and for all.

I got permission from the President to study Spanish for the rest of my mission. Kofu really needs Spanish speakers!! I would appreciate any help anyone can provide, even if it's just a vocab list (a phrase list may be better). I need someone to explain how to conjugate verbs into past and future tense; no one seems willing to teach me and getting books that teach Americans how to speak Spanish is surprisingly hard in the middle of Yamanashi Japan for some inexplicable reason. I will start reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and I have arranged to teach the lessons with members from the pamphlets with lots of help. We'll see how it goes!

In other news, I apologize to people who have written me -- some even months ago -- and still have not gotten a reply. I have many half-started letters on my desk; they will go out! I am trying to catch up right now, so many will be receiving shorter letters but know that they are overflowing with love.

Also...sigh, this is rather embarrassing, but I figure this is the best way to get this out of the way. Yes, my birthday is coming up. I am very glad for people who have offered to ship me things. The best thing you could send me is a huge long letter full of wonderful news and personal progress and thoughts and things. For those who wish to send packages, I will provide the following, despite my embarrassment:

THINGS I DO NOT WANT
Clothes, books, and souvenirs. Basically things that will have to come back home with me. I'm fine on these fronts. If you give me any of these things, just know that they will not be coming back with me -- I will be leaving them behind for future missionaries.

THINGS I WOULDN'T MIND/WOULD LOVE
American food. Cornbread mix and Gingerbread mix, if those exist, are especially welcome (they are not in Japan! I miss them terribly!).

I am a huge fan of jerky (beef or turkey are my favorites), particularly hickory smoked or peppered.

I also LOVE LOVE dried fruit of all kinds, especially mango and apricot. I have never tried dried pineapple but I am sure I will like it. Something my parents ingrained in me that I love to do is eat beef jerky and dried mango at the same time. Both things I can obtain in Japan with a bit of effort, though, so I guess they are not a high priority?

Hot chocolate mix and/or marshmallows is also very welcome. Hot cider is also great.

Healthy snacks, like fruit snacks that actually fulfill fruit servings, are also welcome.

Fruit Gushers are something I have always loved and thus would also be most welcome.

I just thought of it, but salt water taffy, Rolos, and candy corn are also candies I love, but seeing as my companion and I are both trying to eat healthily most of that will be given to local Elders. They will love you for it, however.

Okay, enough awkwardness, I gotta go. Love you all tons!

I think I am going to spend my inheritance in Japan

I have some new-news-going-old that I think I already mentioned, but just in case I did not I will bring it up again:

I have shrunk.

I have shrunk on my mission. Now, this is WONDERFUL news for me. I'm not slim yet by any means, but I have reduced in size just enough that my clothing is rather loose, and my shoes are now like little boats that would probably save me in the next Big Flood.

The shrinking is great news. The need for new clothing as a direct result of the shrinking is not good news. Why? Because Japanese clothes don't fit me, of course!

...

...Except now they kinda do. I now officially can wear the Large size clothing in Japan. Crazy, huh? I am now officially considered large by Japanese standards.

So I can buy clothes. Expensive crazy awesome amazing clothes.

Shyeah, except I won't be using them for that long and I dunno how many I would still wear after my mission.* I think I will stick with just keeping my eyes out for a new pair of shoes. I saw some shoes I really liked the other day and considered picking them up when I casually looked at the price tag. Yeah, $200 shoes is a little high.

All is well here. Kofu smells wonderfully like Fall and I persuaded the ward to have a Halloween party. Missionaries can't dress up but we are in charge of the games. Werewolf, anyone?

---

*Yes, many many thanks to my dear friends who have all kindly pointed out to me that I have 3 months left. I am also looking forward to seeing you again, but rather than saying I only have three months left, may I remind you that I still have three months left? It's such a little word and yet it makes a very big difference. I will happily make plans to visit and spend time with all of you -- IN three months.

I have now hiked TWO mountains

We went with the ward and a few investigators back up the mountain trail. It was a lot of fun. I took a few pictures that it looks like I may actually be able to show you all next transfer. I am discovering that I actually enjoy hiking. The Y Trail just isn't a very fun hike.

Not much new to report in Kofu. I am trying to write letters back to people, but it is taking time -- sorry. I really do appreciate hearing from you. Every time I get a letter from one of you it makes my day. Thank you.

Not much news this week. Next week I am not sure if I will be able to e-mail; we have a pretty busy p-day. Next Sunday is transfers, by the way, so we'll see what happens.

Talk to you all again later!

I cannot wait to be able to upload pictures again

I am still looking forward to getting personal computers, if for no other reason than I will be able to upload some of the cool pictures I have been taking lately. As it is, I am afraid you simply get a wall of text yet again.

Today before we came to the library we stopped by a store really quickly to buy new pens. As we were going into the store, I noticed an older woman heading for the door to leave. Without thinking about it too much I held the door open for her so that she could pass through. She stopped and waited for me, so I motioned her through. Her face lit up in surprise and delight and she bowed several times, thanking me, as she walked through the door. She then waved before turning the corner to the street.

I am not going to turn that into a sermon or a comparison of cultures, it was just something that made me think "huh" and remember, yet again, that I am not in Kansas anymore.

Things are going rather well this week. I managed to keep my bike tires free of flats, taught a lesson, met someone who might be interested in having us come back around, and climbed a mountain.

Which of those would you like to hear about first?

The bike tire being free of flats makes me incredibly happy, considering I have had 3 flats in the past week or so. I'm just glad I know how to fix a flat tire, or else I would REALLY have been in trouble. I am also careful to avoid riding in the areas where I am pretty sure I got flats last time. This makes for some interesting twists and turns and dancing with traffic, but it's quite fun.

You know what else is fun? Missionary work! Especially when you actually find people, but I've gotten to the point that just talking to people is fun, too. My companion disagrees (and I would have, too, when I was only 6 months old) so I am trying to make it more fun for her by introducing a weird game. The game has no name, but I shall call it the "Kekko" game. Kekko means "No thank you" in Japanese and it's the simplest way to turn someone down. We hear it a lot as missionaries. The game goes something like each companion chooses three different kekkos, and then if someone says one of them you get a point. So my kekkos were "I'm buddhist," "I'm too busy," and plain ol' "kekko," and my companion chose "I am part of another religion," "I don't like Christianity," and "I am hurrying home to my kids." These are all pretty common excuses given as people run the other way, but it's kinda fun to try and get bingo or something similar.

Of course we also focus on having really good conversations, but this is just something to try to make it more fun.

The lesson we taught was to an older person that wasn't really too keen on hearing from missionaries but agreed to listen once out of obligation to a friend. The lesson went decently well, but it wasn't brilliant (which is a shame). Still, it was infinitely better than having no lessons.

The person who may not mind having us come around was someone we met knocking on doors. She was nice and said it might be okay if we came back sometime when she was free, but she wasn't particularly fascinated. We will do our best to have the Spirit teach her better than we ever could.

The mountain was Mount Takao, one of Japan's "Top 100 Mountains" and therefore a neat touristy area. Our whole zone got together to climb it together. It was kinda interesting. Lots of gentle hills with very pretty forests. I had a bizarre experience, though. I had kinda thought we were hiking to the base of the mountain and then a little over an hour later, we were on top of the summit.

Huh.

It was pretty weird to climb a mountain when I didn't realize I was climbing a mountain, but it was fun. Not the easiest hike in the world (there was one point of endless tall stairs that I would not like to climb again in a hurry) but it was vastly different from the Y Trail, which I am gradually coming to realize is actually a pretty rough climb.

After we reached the summit one of the Elders who had climbed Takao before invited us all to get some incredibly famous ice cream. Intrigued by this fascinating prospect we took a different route home. The route home was full of GORGEOUS temples and amazing artifacts, with souvenirs available for purchase at every corner (I actually did pick up some postcards after remembering I collect those). The funniest part was when the Elders stopped and pointed out Lehi's dream was sculpted on one of the temple walls. What do you know, a guy underneath a tree eating a pale fruit as water and hideous dragons rage all around him. You could argue that one of the wooden support beams was the iron rod, but that might be taking it a bit far, seeing as the actual story was something completely different. I took a picture regardless. After the temples we came across a food shack which was indeed selling milk gelato, the famous ice cream in question. It cost $3.50. Yow, thought I, that's some famous ice cream. Still, I figured I wasn't going to be back this way again so I took the bait and bought the ice cream.

It was a $3.50 milk flavored ice cream cone. Whoopee, Elder. As the cone was passed into my hands I stared at him in betrayed disbelief, at which point he pointed out why the ice cream was so great. He took his own cone (4 in all bought this stuff), and marched over to the condiments. He then picked up a salt-pepper shaker, shook it all over his cone, strode to a nearby bench, sat down and ate it.

Intrigued I investigated the condiments myself. What do you know, there's a picture above the table of kids doing exactly what he just did to their ice cream. And what I had thought was salt and pepper was actually white and black sesame seeds. Huh. I sprinkled some on and tasted it.

It tasted like milk ice cream with sesame seeds in it.

Not altogether a bad flavor, but I no longer trust that Elder's tongue and sense of value. Still, perhaps if I were more adventurous I would have tried sprinkling fish flakes, dried tofu, or seaweed, all of which were also available. In the end I just swallowed my loss along with a pretty tasty ice cream cone. You might want to give ice cream and sesame seeds a shot, but I wouldn't say it's worth $3.50 for a cup of ice cream.

It was a pretty fun day, although I am surprisingly sore now. Not from the climb, but the descent! The different path we took was MUCH faster (20 minutes), but also at a very steep decline the entire way down. It was very hard on legs and toes, and I was happy and tired when it was over. My legs are now stiff and a little painful, which is refreshing in a way.

In other news, General Conference is this weekend here in Japan. I hope they have English available at the Kofu building; I am not sure if they will. The only people who speak English are me and the two Elders, and we all speak Japanese very well as well. Still, I am excited for conference.

I am having a beautiful, gently windy, nice and cool fall. It's exhilarating and I am in paradise.

In other news, I am noticing something I should like to rant about a tiiiny bit. It goes something like this:

HYPOTHESIS: Men are jealous of women.

Here's my reasoning:

1. We must first assume that people will attempt to imitate things they respect, admire, or wish to become like.


2. Women wear dresses and make-up.


3. These items are considered "women's clothing" and are thus found with women's clothing in stores.


4. Like purses, there are now male equivalents coming out for the manly counterpart.


5. Nonetheless, these are still considered pretty girly.


6. Make-up is for girls.


7. Mascara is definitely make-up.


8. Men wearing mascara, therefore, are imitating women.


9. Mascara companies WHO USE MALE MODELS IN ADVERTISING emphasize this.


10. If Japanese companies use it in their advertising, it is either considered normal or desired to become the new normal.


11. Japanese make-up companies want men to wear make-up.


12. Japanese men who wear make-up are doing what women have been doing for years, and (I reiterate) are thus imitating women.


13. Japanese men are totally jealous of Japanese women.

So there is my reasoning. It's rather flawed, but I gotta admit the number of make-up companies using male models is rather alarming. Possibly MORE alarming is the number of Japanese companions I have had who see absolutely nothing odd about it.

Okay, that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed this rather tall wall of text! Farewell until next time!

They would look like children to your eyes

It's true that Asian faces tend to look younger than American faces, and it is difficult to judge age accordingly. This hasn't been a huge problem for me except for occasionally mistaking a middle school student as a high school student (because all high school students look so YOUNG to me). That is, at least, until I saw a TWELVE YEAR OLD driving a car.

She was probably 30-something and that young boy in the car was probably her son, but really? She looked like a preteen! Crazy!

It is true that I have gotten into the habit of adding 5-10 years to everyone's age based on how they look. If they look 12 they are probably 18. If they look 18 then that's probably their kid they are holding and they are married. If they look 40 then they are pretty old.

The only exception to this is smokers, who look their age.

This week has been long and full of rainstorms and flat tires. The best day, I think, was when we went several hours out in a HEAVY rainstorm, got lost and went a further 10 miles out -- up a mountain -- and then on the way back I suddenly got a flat tire. It was already pretty late but we were able to find a garage that was still closing up shop that was able to give me some fresh air. Thank you, garage people!

I always think it's funny that the rainy season is considered June. June of this year did indeed have a fair bit of rain, but it wasn't that bad, really. Coming into Fall I am starting to have some bad flashbacks of my bean area, wherein it rained nearly every day. Fall is the rainy season it seems. At least now the rain is the proper temperature -- cold.

It's finally cooling down! I love Autumn so very much. Summer decided to go out with a bang, giving us one of the hottest summer days possible the day before Fall equinox. The equinox itself was nice and cool, making me regret short sleeves but happy all the same because I LOVE fall weather!

I have finally unearthed my winter clothing. They've been sitting in vacuumed bags inside my suitcase for all summer, but finally they get to start making their debut. It's nice, too, because it feels like I just got a bunch of new clothes since I haven't worn them for so long. I am quite excited to create some new outfits, and once I am sure that summer is gone for good (he keeps trying to sneak in for a few hours) I shall take all of my summer blouses and throw them away. Or burn them. Whichever sounds more fun at the time.

Actually we have marshmallows in the apartment so burning the clothing makes more sense, huh? ;)

Mmm, hot chocolate. I am so excited. I love winter food. The one thing I miss is ginger. Not ginger as in the plant, but ginger as in gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, and gingersnaps. I LOVE gingersnaps but you can't get them here.

That's okay, Japan has some pretty interesting winter food too. It is the season of the hot-pot and the sukiyaki feasts. I am, naturally, enthused, and I have started a small workout program in order to make room on my body for all the meat I am about to eat.

Things are still fun in Kofu. We have actually had some success meeting people while going door-to-door, which is depressingly rare but always nice when it happens. I am looking forward to the rest of this week!

You are all great, and I am still trying to catch up letter-wise. Thanks for being patient! Talk to you again next week!

You can see Fuji from my house

It's true, folks, you can see Fuji outside my study window. It's pretty awesome.

Kofu is nice. It's really pretty, and it's got lots of friendly people. It has a few overly friendly mosquitoes (I am now up to 100 bites between knee and ankle (le sigh) but as the weather cools down hopefully all those blasted creatures will DIE.

The first week after transfers always goes by too fast and we accomplished less than we wanted to. We are fixing that by being a lot more rigid on our plans, but it's still cutting things close for week 2. We plan to visit many more members and investigators this week. People live really far out and far apart, though, so we need to plan and segment carefully. It should be lots of fun.

Last night we were invited to FHE with some great families. They served an amazing meal and their house is my dream Japanese home -- lots of sliding doors and an amazing garden, all framed so that when you open the dining room doors (which are made out of paper, btw) you get this gorgeous view of Mt. Fuji while you eat. It was so cool.

The zone is planning on going mountain climbing next week. I am thrilled but a little concerned as I am not the most fit person at the best of times, and I am not sure how I am now. We shall see, won't we?

Life is beautiful, times are fun, and I still have no way to show you any pictures so you'll still just have to wait. It's getting a bit ridiculous, though. I have now filled up two memory cards. Good thing SD cards are dirt cheap, huh?

Pshyeah, like I have money.

Hope everyone is happy and well! Have a wonderful week, and go stare at some nature and contemplate just how amazing this earth really is. It's a worthwhile endeavor.

I transferred

I have left Chiba for Kofu. I was going to be all prosaic but then I discovered that I don't actually have time.

Kofu is huge. It's an entire prefecture, so my new area is basically twice the size of Rhode Island. Considering all my areas up until now have been one city that's kinda a big deal.

The coolest part about Kofu?

Not the temperature -- Kofu is renowned for it's heat.

Not the produce -- I do love grapes, but that's not the best part.

Not my companion or our huge apartment -- both are really nice though.

Not the fact that it's THREE HOURS away from Tokyo, and we have to travel to Tokyo for all missionary conferences.

No no, Kofu is a VALLEY.

That means there are MOUNTAINS. EVERYWHERE.

I am surrounded by mountains!

I'd feel at home but they are all this weird GREEN color.

Oh, and JTTF! Happy Birthday to ASH! I wasn't able to put a package together in time, but I will get that letter siting on my desk into the mail at least.

To people who have written me but haven't heard from me: I am sorry. I have a bunch of half-written letters on my desk. I am working through them and sending them along. If you want to speed along the process, feel free to write me a note and remind me. ;)

Lost in Translation

I think my Japanese might be improving a little. I'm starting to understand most if not all conversations, and the other day a member from Shibuya called me to ask me a question and there was much complimenting of my Japanese in the phone call. "When you were in Shibuya your Japanese was good, but it sounded a bit...childish, I suppose is the word. It's so refined now!"

Which makes me a little embarrassed and wondering what my Japanese must have been like back then, but I feel much better about it now. I can't personally really feel any difference...but there clearly is one.

I still am bad at reading kanji. I need to kick that study back into gear, as soon as I have cleaned my desk. I have FAR too much stuff. I want to get good at writing kanji and also being able to read out loud. I am still at the stage where I can recognize and understand kanji but I am not always great at readings yet -- with the exception of common names. I can read those no problem.

One thing that still fascinates me is that while my ability to speak and understand Japanese may be improving, there are still some things that I don't understand. These miscommunications are still lost in translation. Take humor, for example. People used to laugh at my humor when I was not trying to be funny, but didn't understand my jokes. Now people tend to laugh when I AM trying to be funny, although my jokes are still rather simple. I'm getting used to that, and I suspect that when I return to English someday in the distant future I will be utterly not-funny for a while.

But far beyond humor is the cultural differences. I will share an example. The other day my companion and I had biked out to Goi, one of the most inaka (countryside) places in our area, meaning that the buildings were only 2-3 stories tall and the color green was occasionally visible between all the Pachinko parlors. There we went to visit a member who has been struggling lately. We tried to catch her at home, but her kids told us she had already headed off to work. We trundled over to the store where she worked and found it relatively quickly. She works for a small meat stand, about as long and wide as a pickup truck. The line of customers was out the door and chatting gaily on the road while the employees hastily filled orders. We decided to wait for it to calm down a bit (all the customers were men) and watched on the other side of the road for a moment.

One of the orders seemed to call for chicken because the owner, a small tough woman, stepped over to the side of the store with a large bag (it was the size of a pillowcase) of chicken breasts. She then began to beat the bag of chicken against the sidewalk in order to break up the pieces. She then reached in, with her bare hand, and grabbed a few pieces, which she held against her not-exactly-clean apron to carry back into the store, put into a bag, and give to the customer. All this passed without comment, although my brain fused in several places as I cringed through the whole process. I kept thinking back to all the food training and cooking classes I had taken, and I had lost count of how many rules were just broken -- not to mention the chicken and sausage were not immediately put back in the fridge but were left as open bags outside. I am not sure how long they remained that way as we left a while later, but remember this is a hot summer, and it had not yet cooled down for the evening.

The next day we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader and reported that we had met with this Sister, albeit briefly, at her work. I also made a small comment that I didn't think I would be able to buy meat from that store. Both my companion and the Ward Mission Leader looked at me, confused. I explained what I had seen, although I messed up at first and said "dirt" instead of "sidewalk." The Leader was quite surprised, but my companion figured out what I had meant and explained that the bag beating was on the sidewalk, not on dirt.

"Oh!" said the Mission Leader, looking relieved, "Well, that's all right, then."

I blinked, "It is? I mean, it's sidewalk. That bag doubtlessly got some holes from the beating and dragging around."

He waved his hand at me, trying to reassure me, "I know things are different in America. I've had some American companions, but it's okay. We do things a little differently here. That's completely normal."

"Ah," replied I and dropped the conversation. I suppose the germs in Japan are too polite to hop onto the chicken.

Really, I understand that there are some cultural differences, and I am totally okay with the idea of "different doesn't mean wrong." There are a lot of things about Japan that just wouldn't fly in America (public bath houses, for example, which would be the equivalent of a swimming pool without suits), but that doesn't make them wrong, just different.

But when it comes to health concerns I admit I can be a little picky.

And I think I shall be a bit more selective of where I do my shopping.

All else is well in Japan, and thanks as always for reading! Have a great week everyone!

Congratulations to D for the birth of a beautiful wonderful new child, and I am so happy to be an aunt once again! Please check out one of my siblings blogs for more details. I am sure there are plenty to be had.

[Note from Shana: I will have info on my blog after this Friday when I can get some good pictures! But Jenny is a beautiful and healthy redhead, and everyone is doing well.]

久しぶり！ Long time no see!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, it's been fun out here in the field. We've been a little busy--not with appointments back to back, but with appointments that are FAR apart distance-wise and they kept creeping into our preparation day (today), so we haven't actually had a day of rest in about a month. Bleah. We corrected that and took a day off properly today, but due to a few miscalculations it's now the afternoon and I am just writing this to let you all know I am not dead before we set off to do some missionary work this evening.

For those of you who may not be aware, missionaries have one preparation day, or "p-day" every week. In Tokyo it's Tuesday but the day varies from mission to mission. This is the day we do our laundry, get haircuts, shop for food, etc. If we want to go to a museum or zoo or something we would do it on p-day. P-day is from 11:00am until 6:00pm; we still study for 3 hours in the morning and we still do missionary work in the evening.

Lately we've been having some great success in meeting new people who are interested in learning more about the Gospel and the church. We have a lot of mini appointments set for this/next week so I hope it all works out. We also met with a member who feels all the members of the ward should go on splits with the missionaries and do finding (knocking on doors, calling out to people in the street, etc.) at least once a month. She has even provided a potential schedule. It was amazing. We also have a baptismal date set. Yes, I am rather excited.

We have been very busy lately, which makes me feel a little sorry for my dear bean-chan! This new missionary is working really hard and doing her best to keep up, but every time we have a chance to sit down for a few minutes she falls asleep! She's sleeping right now. I think missionary work must be really exhausting. I'm tired all the time, but that's just...I'm ALWAYS tired when I wake up early in the mornings regardless of when I go to sleep. I've been like this my whole mission. I don't fall asleep during the day, though, and I have enough energy to last me until 10:30. I guess you really do get used to the work! :)

We went clothing shopping today. Lucky me, I found some nice blouses on sale for $5! Well, for 500 yen, and I guess that means $7, huh? How IS the economy doing in America, anyway? Am I going to be able to get a job when I get back? The moral of the story is I have 2 new blouses and I am very happy about it.

Well, that's about it for this week. Time is flying by WAY too fast! Love you all, talk to you again soon!

A quick update

Sorry for the lack of update last week. I was planning to sit down and really grind out an awesome post this week but I just realized I forgot the peanut butter. I remembered to bring all the lesson materials but I forgot we were making cookies too so I forgot the peanut butter. Now we have to run back and get it.

The peanut butter and the lesson are for a wonderful family we are teaching. They got baptized shortly before I came into the area, and they are just fantastic. I am excited because the kids have a lot of questions to answer this time, and answering questions (or rather helping people answer their own questions) is one of my favorite things to do.

It is so HOT this week! It's nigh unbearable! I cannot wait for September. The simple act of stepping outside covers the body in sweat, and once you are actually out on your bike for a while you feel ready to collapse. Seriously, it's bad this week. I do not like summer.

We had a lot of miracles this week. We had a hearing-impaired couple chase us down the street and ask us for a pamphlet so that they could come to church. They saw us as we walked past them in the train station (we can't proselyte in or near train stations) and chased us down. That doesn't happen very often. I remembered enough sign language to communicate with them, but all the missionaries spent the weekend frantically studying to prepare for meeting them again. I now have enough vocabulary to give the first lesson in sign language, and I learned the name of our church and how to do Joseph's Smith First Vision. Huzzah! It was fun and I remembered a lot of my dormant signing in the process. Japanese Sign language is really similar but often involves kanji in their signs...

There is a less active who won't meet with us. We got her back by weeding her garden. Take that!

...She then meekly opened the door and invited us in. Wasn't really our plan (is it weird that I miss weeding?) but we didn't object. I was really glad to finally meet with her.

That is about all I can think of. Love you all verra' verra' much and I will talk to you again next week!

Oh, and I am a little behind in replying to letters. I am sorry. Sit tight, I will get to it, but it may take another week -- I am so exhausted that after this lesson I think I am going to sleep.

Love you all, so grateful to be here, the gospel is SO true!

TRANSFERS!

Well, transfers happened on Monday. Greetings from Nakano! Nakano is home of the Japan Tokyo Mission Headquarters. It is surrounded by Assistants to the President, Secretaries, and I am sitting in the HQ writing on one of the office machines. It is a very different atmosphere.

I have not, however, transferred to Nakano. I will go back to my awesome area, Chiba, tomorrow. My dear, darling Japanese companion has left. I shall miss her! But I don't have much time to think about it because I will see my new companion tomorrow. Today I am in limbo (hence Nakano).

Why am I in limbo, you ask? Why didn't I meet my companion at transfers? That's because my companion was still at the MTC.

I guess I am a trainer now! I am very nervous and very excited. Mostly nervous, but mostly excited.

I don't have a lot of stories to share today, but I have seen a lot of miracles. I am really tired, really nervous, and really counting down the minutes until tomorrow though, so I am not in the right frame of mind to write blog posts.

Anyone with any advice for training? I have no idea how NOT to totally ruin this poor bean...I will simply have to do my best not to, I guess.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy birthday, Mom! I hope that you will look back on the enormous amount of stress I gave you with fondness.

I do not think there is a trunkier piece of mail

Guess what came in the mail last week? My death letter.

(Death letter: A missionary term referring to a letter that is typically sent to a missionary who has 6 months remaining. It consists of a reminder that the mission is winding down, along with a request not to get trunkie -- the actual term used in the letter -- and to instead sprint to the finish line and work hard. It also includes some paperwork asking about flights home and what airport we want to go to and if we want our parents to remember about us and pick us up.)

There is nothing like a death letter to get one's head OFF of missionary subjects. I think I am recovering well and doing okay by simply forgetting about it and continuing on, but now sometimes when I look at a store and see something interesting a small voice whispers, "Hey, would that fit in my suitcase?" Still, I still have 6 blooming months. That's a long time, so whenever that small voice suggests souvenirs I can still strangle it down.

Today my companion and I went with a good friend we made in the ward to the temple. It was an absolute blast, and afterward we celebrated with Mexican food in a restaurant that does pretty passable fajitas. Since this member was the one who initially introduced my companion to Mexican, and since this is her last week in this area (90% sure as it's her first area and it's been 6 months. Oh, and the President already told us) we simply had to celebrate.

The temple itself was amazing, as usual. It has been far too long since my last visit, and I was very grateful to be able to afford to go. It was a bit humbling to consider the Saints who sacrifice much much more for the same experience. I doubt I shall take the temple for granted again. It truly is heavenly.

Next week is transfers, and many people I know are going home, some of whom are going home rather unexpectedly -- I did not realize how old they were! I shall miss these missionaries a lot and I am glad I have a chance to say goodbye at transfers before they go. Next week I may well be in a new area, although again, I'm 90% sure that I will stay right here, so I will write again -- same time, same place.

Did I mention the awesome Sister who had a great experience and decided she needed to come back to church? She came back to church. It had been about 7 years since her last visit. She enjoyed it, but said it also hurt a little; she felt sorry she had been away so long. We hope she will be able to come back next week and every week; she really has changed into a brighter happier person since we started meeting with her.

And she gave us awesome mini-hats to commemorate her return. I wish I could upload pictures, they are so cute. They are about the size of a mini-CD and clip into your hair. She also told us how to make them.

This weekend we also had a BBQ. That was fun with a few bad-drama-cheesy-twists. That is a story for another day. The BBQ itself and the ward were both really wonderful.

It continues unbearably hot and we are trying to find various measures to ensure that we are not outside between 11:30 am and 4:30 pm. Seriously, people are collapsing and little children are dying in Osaka* (or so I hear. I do not actually have access to the news, so I have to go off of what people say). It is HOT.

I am gonna go now. I don't have much fantastic news...I still don't like humidity, I am still attractive to bugs, I still have a dendou baby** and the world is still big and missionary work still awesome. Love you all and thank you for your prayers.

*Presumably from being forgotten in cars. I can't believe it's boiling-blood hot just from the sun.

**Pot gut. Lots of Japanese missionaries get 'em. It's because we only use our bikes, and that doesn't work the stomach much at all, so if you don't do ab workouts in your morning exercises you are DOOMED.

P.S. I forgot to mention the big earthquake! There was a big earthquake!

Well, in terms of earthquakes it was pretty small. I mean, nothing even fell over, but it was big enough to wake both me and my Japanese companion (who sleeps through anything), and it felt like we were riding in the back of a truck on a bumpy road.

Our room is totally not earthquake prepped. There are no nearby doorways and the outside wall is entirely glass. I shall simply have to rely on faith and the Holy Ghost should a larger earthquake decide to hit Tokyo/Chiba.

Also? I love studying Japanese poetry. I found a hilarious one the other day. Nestled between an ode to snow and a description of summer is a beautiful poem lamenting that an ex-girlfriend hasn't yet been punished by divine will. It was gut-bustingly surprising and I love it.

'Twas a good week

Sorry my post is so late this week. We had a ridiculously busy Tuesday and yesterday was my companion's birthday so we used it as an excuse to meet with people. More on that in a second. I have some quick announcements:

NAKKI: AISHITEIRU YO! GANBATTE NE.
JTTF: Hey, I have a long letter for you, but it sounds like you are moving...tomorrow? I want to send it off but I am sorta waiting to hear about your new address. Until I hear a new addy I will just keep adding to this letter until it becomes a SUPER letter, mmkay?

Okay now for a cool story. I've been avoiding religious stories since this is a public blog but the more I think about it the more they are AWESOME and frankly, I am a missionary. If I avoid topics of religion it narrows what I can talk about greatly.

Wednesday was my companion's birthday. We celebrated by visiting a Sister in the ward who is presently not attending church. When we first met her she wasn't doing anything religious, and she was deliberate and decided in her decision not to attend, but she was happy to have us over. We met with her a few times, and as our meetings continued she was gradually admitting that she was once again praying, reading the scriptures, etc., but she still wasn't ready to come back to church. All fine and well, we'll just keep giving her little spiritual boosts now and then.

So, this Wednesday we have a birthday party at her apartment. At the end of the party we share a brief message about how we can turn to Christ whenever we are having struggles, and through Him we can become happy again one way or another. After we bore testimony about the truth of this scripture (D&C 68:5-6, I think) we asked her if she had ever had an experience where her faith helped cheer her up.

She then shared with us a story of how she was currently friends with a friend from a very different church. They were getting along very well lately and...

(At this point I was a little nervous. Was she about to tell us she was leaving our church forever?)

...when they were talking about what this friend believes, the Sister realized that what they believed was temporary, and since truth is eternal...well, they just couldn't mix. She asked about why the church was changing their beliefs and the friend didn't know. The friend didn't know a lot of the whys and wherefores.

Then the Sister realized that she believed the Mormon church was true, but she had forgotten some of the whys and the wherefores. She wanted to have that sure knowledge again -- she wanted a stronger testimony. We were pleasantly surprised. Then she said:

"So I think I better come to church on Sunday."

We looked at each other and then looked at her. "Yes, that would be a good idea. Would you like to sit with us?"

"Oh, yes, that would be nice!"

So, there you go. A great story and I didn't even do anything.

Oops, we gotta go! More next week, or possibly the week after! Love you all lots!

Randomness

Not a lot of time (what else is new?) so I am just copying from an e-mail I wrote earlier commenting on random facts about Japan. Most of this I think has been mentioned at one point or another on one blog or another, but just in case you forgot, here's some random facts about Japan!

Traffic
Bikes are incredibly typical and may actually outnumber the number of cars on the road -- although they ALWAYS ride on the sidewalk and are considered pedestrian traffic. Therefore it is safe to ride your bike, even at night, because cars know you are there and know to look for you. Bikes are also expected to go very slowly so that they could stop on a dime (so as to avoid hitting old people, actually) and thus speeding Elders racing along still manage to get into bike accidents -- albeit rarely. Bikes are the main transportation for missionaries, to the point that sometimes people we stop on the street ask if a bike is actually part of being a missionary for our church (these are people that have seen us riding around before).

Cars drive on the left side here. Cars are pretty small, and leg room is not really a high priority. Sometimes this frustrates me, but their gas consumption is amazing, so. Parking lots are packed and often several stories high (you park in the bottom and a lift carries your car up to the respective floor and puts it on a little shelf) and people are able to back into a parking spot that is exactly the width of their car. It terrifies me when they do this and I always have to close my eyes when they do it. The other day I saw a parking lot that was 6 stories high, which was a first for me. Up until now the most I have seen was 4. This isn't a parking lot where you drive up to the respective floors, but the elevator kind. There are also plenty of normal typical parking lots, too, although there is never enough parking and it's usually pretty far from where you want to really be. People are used to walking around here -- a 20 minute walk is considered pretty typical to get from store to train station or from bus to home.

Living Quarters
Do you remember that reality show thingy they showed at the MTC? The District or something. Do you remember looking at that apartment and thinking, "Geez, that is as big as the house I live in now."

Yeah, Japan is the opposite.

All Japanese houses have a Genkan, or a...front...area? A place that is usually lowered where you put your shoes. You ALWAYS take off your shoes at the genkan -- wearing your shoes in the house is simply unthinkable. The rest of the house is raised slightly, so you step up to go inside. People will generally wear slippers around the house. These slippers do NOT go into the bathroom -- you take them off. There is sometimes a pair of slippers for you to wear while you are in the bathroom so that you don't have to touch the floor.

The bathroom is a weird setup; if you don't know about it remind me and I will explain next time.

The flooring is not wooden; it's tatami. Tatami is like tightly woven dried grass. It's not very comfortable (don't lie down directly on it; it is kinda sorta itchy?), but it is slightly cushion-y. People sit on this all the time. They sit in a position called seiza, which is basically kneeling as if you are going to pray (sit on your ankles). You take off your slippers before entering a room with tatami. Most people have a wooden floor kitchen and a tatami for most of the other rooms. Our apartment is pretty western. The only room with tatami is our sleeping room.

Did I mention we sleep on the floor? I desperately miss beds. We sleep on a futon, which is about the width of most simple blankets and use a...I dunno how to spell duvet (DOO-vey). We use that for a blanket.
---
Japan is really humid and REALLY hot right now (yesterday was what, about 95-100F?). I feel bad for the Elders on Sundays because suit coats are required. They always greet members drenched in sweat. All well, at least being drenched in sweat is pretty standard in Japan and in the summer no one really comments on it. Still, it can't be pleasant for them.

Can't think of much else right now. There is a shrine next door to our apartment that is pretty big, and they have a festival tomorrow and the day after. Our entire neighborhood is lined in rope and twisted paper like Christmas lights. I can't remember the point of the paper; I think it welcomes good spirits, chases away bad spirits, or marks the land as spiritual, not sure which it means and it might be all three.
-----
So there are your cultural facts for the week. Life is going well for me as a missionary. We had a mini zone conference yesterday that focused on finding people. We went out determined to find lots of people and got turned away all day -- most people wouldn't even stop or look at us, they just walked around us -- but we weren't sad because we were trying hard. Today we got a totsuzen (sudden, unexpected) member referral and two people we have been having trouble getting ahold of called us and set up appointments. I guess we get blessed in different ways, and the Lord really is paying attention to our efforts. That's how I felt, anyway.

Love you all lots!

Albino Paradise?

Why is it that in America everyone likes being tan and in Japan everyone wants to be white/pale? Is it just because it's hard to do? It's really easy to get a tan here in the summer and I was terribly pleased with myself the other day when I looked at how pronounced my tan line was getting where my watch rests, and STILL people will walk by me and say, "Ah, what a pale person!" in much the same way we would say, "Ah, how beautiful!"

I am not objecting, mind you. Not at all.

I had a few curious events happen this week, including one definite miracle, which I will save for last (read as: scroll down for the awesome bit).

First, I would like to make an addition to my growing list of reasons I am not a fan of skirts on bikes. I do not know if I have made this list yet, in which case I will start now!

Why I Don't Like Skirts on Bikes

• The skirt gets caught in the wind at embarrassing moments


• It sometimes reduces movement and range


• Standing at a stop light and remaining modest is nearly impossible (you have to stay seated)


• The skirt gets caught in the chain/back wheel resulting in huge and ugly black stains


• Skirts grab onto shoes during mounting and cause bike accidents

The last addition I only discovered this week, when I got into a bike accident. Not a bad accident, mind you; it was a collision between me and the ground, see. Now, I'll admit partial blame, but really I think the ground ought to take some responsibility for all of this.

It happened when I was getting on my bike in a parking lot. I was wearing a skirt I was not used to and my spare shoes, so it wasn't the best combination. My shoe got caught in my dress as I was raising it over the frame bar, and instead of my shoe coming down nicely on the pedal it remained caught somewhere near the bike seat. The bike, however, was expecting a foot to push down on the pedal to get things started, so when no foot came down it hesitated, tapped a slight bump and fell over. Naturally it fell over directly onto my jutting knee.

I will not lie: it hurt a LOT.

So now we have a collapsed bike, a surprised companion, and a missionary in pain. Worse yet, we have a ruined pair of nylons. There was a HUGE hole in the knee! I was stuck with hole-in-the-knee nylons and a good trek away from a new pair. It was most distressing.

Seriously. My knee still hurts and I'm limping still, but I am most upset about the nylons. I have yet to find nylons my size in Japan which means I have to make do with what I brought. A hole in mandatory irreplaceable clothing is a big deal!

Anyway, I'll get over it. At least it was an older pair of nylons.

The bike is fine, by the way. I haven't checked in with the ground's family but I believe he's fine.

--

Second, I wanted to wish everyone a happy July 4th! This is not a holiday in Japan for some weird inexplicable reason. Still my companion and I celebrated by getting 'steaks' (minced meat shaped into a rectangle beef patty) on Saturday night. It was actually pretty neat; they brought the meat out done "medium" with a tiny little hot plate about 2 inches in diameter and told us we were free to cook the meat to our desired doneness. It was a neat trick although sadly the hot plate got cold about halfway through the meal. Still, I liked the idea and enjoyed the meal. It was the first trip to a restaurant this transfer!

--

The next trip to a restaurant was a district lunch at Popoki. Popoki is a tiny little restaurant (barely enough room for the bar where you sit) crammed full of amazing souvenirs from all over the world. The owner has these souvenirs because he has BEEN all over the world -- he takes a vacation once a year and he and his wife travel like demons. The restaurant can only sit 10 but it is a lot of really good food at a really good price, so naturally he recognized missionaries on sight. It was a yummy lunch and I am amazed I had not been sooner.

--

We finally got a chance to use the Goi Bikes! The Goi Bikes might take a brief explanation. There is a train station called Goi. It is in our area, but it is a considerable distance from where we live, and thus we don't bike there -- we take the train. Sadly, the people who live in Goi live very far apart and not at all close to the train station, so if you go to visit someone in Goi it's a day trip.

What's the solution?

Old missionaries donate their old bikes to Goi!

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, there are two insanely old bikes parked in the free bike garage (designed, it seems, with this sort of purpose in mind) that missionaries have the lock-key to and are welcome to use at any time. It's perfect! The only trouble is that the brakes are stiff, the chain and gears are shot, and oh, there are no bike seats.

Still, when you have to go to Goi, they are perfect. We finally gave them a shot and at one point were even able to achieve the daring speeds of 6 mph! We laughed and joked and were really grateful for the bikes since they turned a 30 minute walk in the hot humidity into a bizarre but simple bike ride. Woohoo!

--

I have finally, FINALLY met someone who was so happy to be greeted in the street by strangers that she burst into tears and hugged us. She called her friend to say how she had met such wonderful people and told us we had changed her life.

It was awesome, frankly.

She wasn't crazy by the way, just a little tipsy. Still, it was a fun experience.

--

Okay, I guess I should talk about the awesome wonderful miracle at some point. This blog post has gotten very long anyway. Does anyone remember me talking about a woman who wasn't coming to church very often but finally came back with her friend in tow, and her friend it turns out may or may not have already been a member from a long time ago?

Well many weeks and a few dramas later it turns out she IS a member, and we now have her record. She was so happy! She asked us to contact her family as well, so we have a referral to pass along and a wonderful story.

I'm sorry, I had intended to go into more details but I just realized a great deal of this story isn't really Internet appropriate, in that it's not something for the general public. This woman is truly a miracle who has had a very tough life. Her life will still be tough, and she still has a few problems with visas and the like, but for all of us this was a huge step in the right direction and a blessing. I am extremely excited for her and adore her, and I look forward to seeing how everything will turn out for her and her family.

Speaking of which, I need to go give the honbu (HQ) a referral, so I had best be going soon.

It is raining today. Japan is too humid for a poor lil' desert girl like me, and I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the end of the rainy season. It can't possibly be too much longer...right?

It doesn't make sense to me that rain should make the temperature hotter, but I have been proven wrong thanks to local weather.

Love you all lots, talk to you again soon!

I am sleepy

I think I will, for the first time on my mission, take a nap on p-day. Sorry to people I SHOULD be writing, but I am just running on empty today. These past few days have been really busy, where we basically spend 30 minutes in lessons (usually we spend 45 or so), say goodbye, dash out the door and pedal like crazy to our next appointment. This is mainly because we had a mis-communication and set up 2 appointments that are on opposite sides of the planet. More than a sign of sheer busy-ness but yeah.

We did have a baptism on Saturday! It was a wonderful brother the elders have been working with lately. We were all happy to see him get baptized, and the Spirit was really strong. He's an amazing man and I congratulated him deeply and warmly.

Well, sorry for the short-ness, but I hope you all have a great week and I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers!

Not much this week

This first part is for anyone who can read Japanese, although it mainly came due to a member's request.

NAKKI TIME!!
なっき、こんにちは！今回わたしは日本語で書きたいと思います!今週の伝道はすごく楽しかった。厚かったけど、毎日自転車をのりました。日曜日の夜にわたしは吉祥寺に行きました。同僚交換をしました。同僚交換というと同僚が24時間でスイッチします。すごく楽しかった、たくさん学びました!あぁ、あとねぇ、転勤ありましたよ！私達転勤しませんでした!よかったね！この次の６週間にもよろしくおねがいします！！

A (C's brother) provided this translation: Nakki, hello! This time I think I want to write in Japanese! The mission was wonderfully fun this week. It was hot, and we rode bikes every day. On Monday evening I went to Kichijouji. We did a companion exchange. During a companion exchange, we switch companions for 24 hours. It was great fun, I learned a lot! Oh yeah, one other thing, there was a transfer! I wasn't transferred! Phew! So let's have lots of fun over the next six weeks too!
---
Okay, that's enough for now.

It is hot in Japan. In fact, for the first time (in my life?) I have a crazy awesome tan. It's funny because when I take off my watch it's like looking at the skin of two different people. Seriously, I'm pretty dang tan right now. There is a stark and distinct tan line, both on my wrist and on my feet where the shoe strap lies. It is also Tokyo, so I am sweating more than I would have ever imagined possible, but I have the hopeful sure knowledge that this cannot possibly last more than 60 days...right?

It is rainy season, although unseasonably not-raining (It is insanely humid, though). Many people are freaking out since that means the rice won't do well, and people may have to buy foreign rice, gasp!

In other news, my brother is getting married. Congratulations again! I know I have already announced it before, but meh, whatever, it's still news.

Also, happy birthday to Isshi-kun! I hope you have a great day and year!

Hope everyone is well. Anyone who wants to send me some advice on dealing with cockroaches, it would be appreciated. Not that, you know, our apartment is messy or anything...

...It's really not. I have no idea why we had a cockroach in it yesterday, but that sucker was HUGE and surprised me quite terribly. Right after deep cleaning, how fair is that?

Japanese Summer

I like Japan. I like a lot of things about Japan. I do not like the fact that deodorant is not yet mainstream in Japan. Alas.

Here's a quick game I learned from a soon-to-die missionary; I will share it and then be on my way.

BOOK OF MORMON BASEBALL
1. One person says 'Pitch' and starts flipping quickly through the pages of the Book of Mormon, from start to end.
2. The other person says 'Swing!' The first person stops on that page.
3. The first person asks if the 'batter' wants the left or the right page, left or right column. The batter tells the 'pitcher' which page and which column.
4. The pitcher looks at the verses in that column and asks according. For example, suppose the batter asked for the right page, right column. The pitcher looks and sees verses 4-7 in that column, and says "Four through seven." The batter chooses a verse which the pitcher then reads.
5. The batter must then guess book and chapter without opening their Book of Mormon or peeking. They have 3 strikes.

This is a surprisingly fun game although I got 3 in a row correct so my companion won't play anymore unless we do it in Japanese.

Heighten Games' Exposedness

That is part of a translation one of our investigators did for her company. She asked me to correct her English and I was happy to oblige. Still, some of the quotes like the one above had me silently giggling for a good 10 minutes. She meant to say something like 'Gives games more advertising.'

Okay, a story and then I need to go. We are working with two people who got baptized recently but due to work and strain have a hard time coming to church every week. Lately, one has been coming to church every week and we are happy to see her! In fact, she's brought her friend with her these last two times. We'll call her friend Vy. Vy was a missionary dream come true! She was a mother of two young girls, she loves church and asks questions, she is Christian and recently she's been going to a different church, but she wasn't satisfied and she really likes our church. It makes her feel at home, she told us. On her second visit to church she requested that the missionaries come visit her.

Dream come true, right?

We had failed to ask a rather important question the first time we met her. It is a rather important question, but not one we often need to ask. The question goes along the lines of, "By the way, are you already a baptized member of our church?" I am sure you can see how this question is important, and you may also be able to see why we don't need to ask it very often; most people tell us off the bat or we can just tell.

Well, in this case we probably should have asked. Halfway through the first lesson she told us about her baptism when she was 8, and she had a copy of the Joseph Smith movie. We learned that she has always believed the Mormon church was true, but didn't know there were Mormon churches in Japan so when she moved here she started attending other churches. Well, she found us again! Now we just need to find her record.

She still wants us to come over and teach her. Her family went inactive shortly after baptism so she doesn't know anything beyond Primary. We were happy to oblige. She's an absolute angel and I like her; we just thought it was funny.

So, yes, ask important questions, even if they seem odd. That's the moral of the day.

Oh, and before I forget, I promised I would write a small message to Nakki in Japanese:

NAKKI! Konnichiwa! Kanji de kakenai, kedo, ogenki desu ka? Kyou watashi wa pizza tabemashita. Sugoku oishikatta. Taberu to, nantonaku Nakki to isshouni hanashitai kimochi ga kimashita. Ashita otanoshimi shiteimasu!

Is it seriously June?

Where on earth has this year gone? How can it already be June? Just yesterday I was taking photos in the snow, and now it's June? Wow. That's so crazy.

It wasn't really snowing yesterday although that would have been an awesome lead-in to talk about weird weather.

It HAS been unusually cold lately. Summer, apparently, decided to shove Spring out of the way in order to flash us all with some bright, hot, burning sun somewhere around April, and now Spring is gently sliding back into place and cooling us all with rain, strong winds, and cloudy skies. It's still long-sleeves and raincoat weather here in Chiba.

Not much to report story-wise this week. I climbed a ginormous 3-story tower structure made entirely out of rope this morning. My companion and I spotted it a while ago and I have been aching to climb it ever since. It felt really good to climb something. I haven't been using my hands at all lately. I have a strange urge to take apart my bike and clean it top to bottom while I'm at it...which wouldn't be a bad idea; that bike hasn't been scrubbed since...ever.

The tower, by the way, is constructed of several ropes tightly pulled together into geometric shapes with large stakes pinning the three base corners into the ground and a large central pole to hold it all together in the middle. It looks a little like the base for the Eiffel Tower, and it was a LOT of fun to climb although really scary when you got close to the middle and the ropes started to give under your weight. Needless to say I stayed near the outside.

I got really, really sick last week. As in, we took a taxi home and I sat on my bed and waited to die.

I didn't die, and happily after a few hours I started to feel like it would be okay not to die. I was fine after that.

We are teaching many people, and many people have started to come back to church. They have also dragged their neighbors along with them, which is always great to see. I really do love this area.

Short but sweet

I don't have a lot of new detailed information, so far as people are concerned, but I do have a few brief comments.

I have located D&D Deodorant. The name is coincidental but the implications HILARIOUS and it made me smile on the train ride home.

It is raining. I WISH it were rainy season, but this week's rain has nothing on that miserable week in June. At least the weather is relatively cool at present. We have been getting a curious mix of hot and cold lately. My arms are very freckled from the sun, but this week is scheduled to rain the whole time. Rainy season, or tsuyu, is rain nonstop for a few days, but it is HOT and HUMID and the rain itself is warm. It is most unpleasant to be in but something that will be endured because I don't really have a choice.

We had a member run up to us in church and excitedly tell us about her friend, whose entire family seems interested in the Gospel. We dutifully took down information and before we had a chance after church the member called us again and told us that she called her friend and had set up an appointment for us, could we go visit her on Wednesday?

Why yes, yes I think we can.

I really like this ward. We visited the bishop unexpectedly in order to ask him a question (and figure out where he lived), and he and his wife cheerfully invited us up into the apartment where we were served homemade cookies, homemade herbal drinks, homemade ice cream, and homemade curry (using mostly spices she grew herself). His wife is astounding and decorated most of their home with various paintings, masks, and wall hangings. She is a good artist and a VERY good cook. They cheerfully entertained us and we were able to learn a great deal about the ward and what was expected of the missionaries, and we were able to share a few of our ideas in return. It was a happy meeting and I have new respect for the bishop, who I admit seemed a little scary at first. What was I thinking? The man is a true comedian!

In the ever changing and updating food legacies, I have discovered that I don't mind seafood curry, but I have to have NO IDEA of what I am eating. I carefully explained the idea to the Japanese members, as follows:

To me, eating squid and octopus is very hard. This is because I do not think of them as food, but animals. How do you feel about eating dogs, cats, or insects? It seems a little odd to you, right? (Yes, is the usual reply.) Well, I've eaten insects before and I can tell you they don't taste all that bad. If I said that, would you be willing to try it? (Some say yes and some say no, but generally the reply is reluctant). Well, that's what squid and octopus are like to me. I would have just as hard a time eating them as eating insects, dogs, and cats because they are animals, not food. If I don't think about it or don't know what I'm eating then it actually tastes pretty good, but the moment someone tells me I put a tentacle into my mouth it becomes vile to me.

This is my same issue with cheese although I really do object to the flavor. Cheese is rotten milk to me, if I think about it, and it just tastes bad to me either way.

Oh, the curry was served with cheese bread. I think I had more issue with the mayo on the cheese bread than with anything else.

OH! The whole point I wrote this blog was to give instruction on how to eat a Tim Tam. If, for some reason, some of you receive Tim Tams from me in the near future, please take note of these instructions. (A Tim Tam is a chocolate biscuit made in Australia).

HOW TO EAT A TIM TAM
1. Prepare some hot milk or hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is better but really sweet.

2. Take a Tim Tam and bite off two opposite corners. The bite should not be too big, but you should be able to see the chocolate cream within the cookie pretty well. This Tim Tam will be used as a straw.

3. Dip one bitten end of the Tim Tam into the drink and use the other bitten end as a straw. The Tim Tam will start to melt. Eat it before it falls into your drink!

4. Glory in a sweet chocolate-ness you have doubtless not experienced until now.

NOTE:
-The hot chocolate should not be so hot that you are forced to slurp it, but it should be quite warm. If you can drink a tablespoon without burning yourself then you are good. If you can't melt chocolate in it then it's not hot enough.

This method of eating the chocolate biscuit is called "A Tim Tam Slam."

Extracted from a letter to the parents

My new companion, Sister S, is a lot of fun. I am immensely enjoying my time with her. She asked me to say, "She is very small" just now. Indeed, she is rather short but not as short as one of my previous companions. Isn't it curious that all my companions have been Japanese thus far, save my trainer (who was originally Japanese but got changed at the last minute)? I swear, Japanese is supposed to be a language I am to master or something.

Being a follow-up trainer is much easier than I thought. Sister S is always cheerful and an utter joy to be with. I am teaching little and learning much.

This area is great. We have some really great investigators along with some really frustrating ones. We have one investigator who agreed to get baptized last lesson, although it may take a while before she is actually prepared. She is now "taking lessons with intent to be baptized," which I say in the same accent as that someone "courts with intent to marry."

We found a park nearby that has a flower museum with exhibits changing very rapidly as various species of flowers come into bloom. Since last week was my P-Day, today is Sister S's P-Day, and she has elected to essentially go to a really cheap/famous/delicious Melon Bread store and then lounge around in our freshly cleaned apartment. I will have to investigate the park next week along with the ENORMOUS rope tower that children are free to climb. That thing would never pass in sue-happy America, but small children happily monkey several dozen feet in the air on a suspended rope tower the shape of the Eiffel Tower. There is a small and not-safe-looking net underneath parts of it to theoretically catch falling children, I
suppose, but it still looks insanely dangerous.

I desperately want to climb it.

Hey, it's been a while!

Did I mention transfers last week? Transfers were Monday. I got transferred, which was most unexpected. I only spent 1 transfer in my beloved Yokohama. I am now back in Chiba, which is where Matsudo is located, only now I am also in a city called Chiba.

For anyone who remotely cares, Chiba is a prefecture, which is kinda like a state. Yokohama is in Kanagawa prefecture. They are close to each other. Shibuya is in Tokyo prefecture, so I have been in 3 prefectures in my mission so far.

I really like Chiba. It's a little more countryside, but it's still JAPAN so rather than having a lack of convenient things close by it's more like having a group of people who will smile and stop to talk to you. Ideal for missionaries!

I am now with a new companion, who is actually rather new to the mission field so I am her Father, or her second companion. This means I am a follow-up trainer. I am nervous but excited.

This place is really cool so far. We taught a former Yankee (the Japanese term for school-punk) last night. She is one of my new favorite people. It was really interesting to teach someone who sounds like a punk in the vocabulary they use but someone who loves the gospel based on what they talk about. It was a good lesson. She really wants to get married in the temple and is considering giving up on her current crush since temple marriage isn't on his menu.

My bike got damaged pretty badly during shipping and a few parts need to be replaced. As a really poor missionary who has had a number of unpleasantly expensive and ineffective expenses lately (did I mention I went to the hospital last transfer? I can't remember.) I am not too happy about having to pay to repair my bike, but I will endure. The apartment is well stocked so if nothing else I can just survive on NOTHING until June, when I shall have money for trains and things again.

Well, it feels really good to be able to see a computer screen again but I would dearly love to go get back to work. It's pouring rain but that just keeps things interesting. Love you lots!

Oh, and by the way, I really appreciate your letters. There are a few people I have not been able to respond to lately as these last few P-Days have been hectic, but I will respond as soon as I am able, and it should be either today or next week. Sorry! I am repenting! Wait just a little longer!

Oh, and PS. JTTF, D=Girl.

Is a geek without a computer still a geek?

YES. I WISH I had time to show you the pictures but to make a long story short we found an investigator via a 30 minute conversation about cosplay, and she showed me her cosplay stuff, and now I have a picture of me as a missionary wielding 2 keyblades:[Image and links added by Shana after several Internet searches]

All is well in Yokohama. Sorry, we have a few appointments today and I needed some time to send some pictures home in preparation for my brother's wedding. Augh! Bye for now!

This post is brought to you by the postman!

So, I need to apologize for the incomplete post of last week. I had fully intended to create an amazing post this week, but my new area is REALLY lacking in public computers within safe, missionary-friendly areas. I do not, by any means, have reliable access to the Internet and I do not expect that to change until hopefully June or so. Therefore I am handwriting this and hopefully it will arrive before too long.

I had told you all that I had transferred, but I did not tell you where I had gone. Well, here is the answer: Yokohama.

"What's that you say?" I hear you ask. That is correct, ladies and gentlemen! I have come to my favorite city in Japan: Yokohama!

I am not in the same area I was in before. I am now in an area called Kohoku. This is in the area NEXT to the area I was in last time (Yamate), and it is the same stake as Yamate. This means that YES, I have met most of my friends over the past two weeks. Super Mama gave me a hug and a huge gift when I first met her. I was super surprised and very happy. I love Super Mama!

I met her and the majority of my other friends at General Conference this last weekend (April 10-11).

"But hang on," you might be saying, "General Conference was Easter weekend. You mean April 3-4."

Yes and no. It takes a week to translate General Conference, so the JAPANESE version airs the weekend after. I still watched it in English. They divided the church into several areas. Japanese was downstairs, and English, Spanish, Korean and Chinese were upstairs. It was really cool to step out, get a drink, and hear the prophet speak five different languages :)

Oh yeah. Happy Easter! I looked up Easter in the Bible Dictionary. I had no idea about Eastre; that was interesting.

Well, I need to actually start wrapping up. I need to prepare a lesson for one of our newest investigators. She is amazing; I can't wait to meet with her again.

Before I go, congratulations, D, on your new baby girl. I cannot wait to meet her.

I also want to extend a thank you to everyone who is still continuing to write me. I know the responses are infrequent and I apologize, but I do read and treasure every letter. So again, thank you.

Okay, that's all for now! I hope to write a REAL post next week. But if not, see you after this transfer! (Maybe!)

In retrospect, "I don't like bread, it's too sweet" should have tripped some alarms.

I have learned to like some foods. I have learned to like some foods that I did not expect to learn to like, and then I get all confident that I can handle all other foods, too. Then I get THIS: Umeboshi, pickled spinach, vegetable jello (with cabbage!), mochi soup, and plum tea.

To give you an idea of what the whole meal tasted like, take plum tea. I think this is how you make it:

1 cup vinegar
3 cups salt

Mix, heat, drink.

Yeah.

In other news, I transferred. That's why I didn't respond last week, and that's why this week is so short. I don't have free access to Internet for now. Oops, time's up! More next week if I can!

Quick Update

I used up most of my time this week writing to various folks and I forgot that a lot of short e-mails equals one very long chunk of time, so here's today's status:

I am sunburned quite badly on my face.

This is because we went to a BBQ in Abiko and the sun made an appearance. We went to a very VERY wide park and, sasuga Japan ("that's Japan for ya"), it was very minimalist and there was NO shade in the entire field. I did not expect either of these things (the sun nor lack of shade), so I was outside and happily enjoying myself playing Japanese Ultimate Frisbee (it's the same but with real vests and a whistle and a ref and stuff) and eating burgers. When I came home I felt hot and sick and terrible and today I have a VERY red face.

Boy, is my face red.

Ha.