What happened?

Well, I've been home for a couple of days now and I'm still suffering from jetlag. I'm going to blame it on my best friends who have slept over the last couple of nights and kept me up late with giggles and pillow talk. How I've missed home.

It's been exactly a year since I left LA for Japan. Crazy to think that an entire 365 days has passed since then. It doesn't seem that long ago.

Let's see what happened in a year...

July: Tokyo orientation. Made friends for 4 days and then got sent to our final destinations with no way to communicate and keep in touch other than Facebook and e-mail. I finally met my boss and make it to my village...after an hour and a half plane ride from Tokyo, 2 train rides, and a lift from the mayor. Quiet, beautiful, and kind--nothing what I expected.

August: Explore. Where the heck do I live and what can I do? Discovered morning bazooka blasts and the 5:00 "A Whole New World" chime. Started teaching my adult night class. No internet and nothing to do at home every night. Emotion explosions.

September: Classes. Holy smokes, I never knew I'd be so busy. At first it wasn't too bad, but I soon discovered I had good classes/teachers and bad classes/teachers. My uncle cameto visit--first visitor! I started running every day to prepare for the Ekidentaikai.

October: Fall. I hiked with the bicycle riding club. Saw leaves change color for the first time. Practiced piano every night to play for a school festival. The temperatures started dropping below zero. October 26--first snow fall. Ran Ekidentaikai and almost froze to death.

November: Sick. My first cold--caught from watching TV in the cold room. I should've heeded everyone's warning. Crammed for the JLPT while attempting to write a novel. Poor choice.

December: HECTIC. Crammed for JLPT. Went to Sapporo, took the test, came back at midnight, got up at 5:30 and drove back to the village and went straight to work, worked 3 days, went back to Sapporo for conference, came back to the village immediately after conference finished, went to office end of the year party, worked 5 days, got on a plane and flew home.

January: Cold. Came back to the village at -23C. Started playing nagabutsu aisu hokei. Wrestled with contract papers. Started baking to pass the time and develop some good wife skills.

February: FRIENDS. Trekked up to Abashiri to watch drift ice. Drove out to Sapporo for the Snow Festival and Otaru for the Snow Candle Festival. Took a bus out to Tomamu for a weekend of perfect snowboarding. Homesick but grateful for new friends.

March: Chaos. Teachers got their transfer notices. School was winding down. Spiritually dead Gospel concert. Earthquake. Chaos. Absolute chaos. Uneasiness, sadness, grief. Hope, relief, patience. Solemn graduation ceremonies. Spring break trip to South Korea.

April: New. New teachers. New school year. No sign of spring yet. Snow kept falling. Attempting to clean up the house and make my house feel like home.

May: Golden. Golden Week trip around Japan. Old friends and family. Spring finally came...and that only means the snow stopped.

June: BUSY. Usually worked 10+ hours a day and undoukai (sports day) festivals on the weekends. Exhausted and on the verge of burning out. Planned vacation with Mom and Dad. Trekked out to Sapporo for the Yosakoi festival.

July: Kept my eye on the prize--summer vacation. Gritted my teeth, bit the bullet, worked long hours, and made it. Drove to Sapporo alone, visited Costco, picked up Mom and Dad, drove around Hokkaido, crashed my village, flew to Tokyo, and landed in LA.

One year. 365 days. Every one of them showing me how much more I need Jesus. I remember the first month sitting at home with no work and no friends and no internet at home. I remember asking God why He would send me there...to the middle of nowhere. I remember starting to get honest with God about everything--frustrations with language, loneliness, anger, past hurts and bitterness. I remember asking God to reveal Himself...and starting to see Him everywhere and in everything. I remember asking God if we could be best friends. I remember the nights I cried because I ached and longed for home...and how He wrapped me in His arms and held me tight. Every day--the good ones and the bad ones, the warm ones and the cold ones--I need Jesus. I need Jesus not because I'm alone and can't quite understand the language and my house is old and I don't have many friends. I don't need Jesus because of that. I need Jesus because I'm me. I could have all the friends in the world, the nicest, warmest, biggest house, and the best dictionary/personal translator, and I would still need Jesus because I am me. I am in need of His grace and mercy and love every single day to survive...anywhere. After a year, I'm finally figuring that out.

It's almost been a year

Well I'm back in Tokyo almost a year after I arrived.  But this time I'm headed back to LA for a nice summer holiday--to get my fill of burritos and vitamin D to last me until December.

It doesn't feel like a year has gone by.  It has gone by in a flash.  I'll write more about my first year once I'm back in LA...maybe out by the pool with an ice cold Diet Pepsi and a burrito and lots of sunshine.  But for now, I know this is where God wanted me.  And even though there are lonely days and cold days, I know He hasn't forgotten about me.  And I'm glad I'm staying another year to experience more of my Jesus.

Neglected

My blog has been neglected. Mom and Dad are here in the village and we've been busy exploring the great island of Hokkaido.  It's been nice having people around, but to be honest, it's tough too.  I'm used to having my life a certain way out here.  I get up when I feel like it (or when my alarm screams at me for the 7th time).  I eat what I want when I want.  I let my dishes pile up for the day....and I never bother drying them.  But now I can't do that.  I have guests.  Things I left neglected (like cleaning the house and fixing loose windows) are no longer neglected.  They can't be. 

But there are things that have been neglected now that my parents are here.  I had a routine.  My breakfast dates with Jesus have been neglected. My Monday night Sabbaths have been neglected. My poor garden has been neglected (and now all my flowers are dead). 

Good things (like cleaning and fixing) and not so good things (like dead flowers and no Jesus dates) are results of change. I recognize that this happens...and I need to adapt. I can't forever neglect my Sabbath and I should probably start using the Swiffer more often.  Change isn't bad...it's just different.

What else in my life needs to not be neglected? What about yours?

SUMMER! (almost)

Well, almost. Two 6th grade classes to teach Thursday, one adult conversation class to teach Thursday night, three junior high English exams and two PE classes to teach on Friday. Then it will be summer. Glorious, glorious 5 weeks of vacation.

5 weeks? 5 weeks is a long time. You're right. It is. In May, I worked until 6:30 every day after work. In June, I worked most Saturdays AND Sundays. And until 6:30 every day. I'm...exhausted. And now, it's hot. But vacation is on the horizon and I'm so ready for this week to be over!

Mom and Dad are coming to visit starting this weekend. I've been busy trying to get my house ready. And by ready, I mean cleaned. If you've ever been to my parents' house, you know how clean it is. I however live by myself in a house with too many rooms and no time/energy to clean it. I went to town, bought Mr. Bubbles, Swiffer sheets, glass cleaner, scrubby brushes, all-purpose cleaner, vacuum bags, and paper towels. I cleaned my shower room and wash room, vacuumed the floor, swiffered behind the bed, cleaned the windows, and attempted to throw things out/put things away. I finally finished the pathway in front of my house, although my flowers died because the recent rain demolished them. Things are making progress, and I'm excited for them to come and see my place!

It's hot. And by hot, I mean mid-70s. But it's muggy. I'm used to dry LA summer heat. But it's mid-70s and my arms are sticking to the plastic desk pad as I type. It's gross. Although, I remember coming to Japan in high school, to Saitama, for 6 weeks, during a heat spell. It was over 40C in the shade...and like 98% humidity every day. That was miserable. I should say I'm blessed to be up here, surrounded by beautiful nature and temperate weather.

I came back to the office yesterday after a long hot day of teaching and sitting through a meeting I couldn't understand. I came back and the office lady whispers, "Soft cream--kitchen." I put my stuff down, walk to the kitchen, and open the fridge looking around. There's no soft cream. Obviously. You don't keep soft cream in the fridge. Long day. I pull open the freezer and there's a cone of soft cream waiting for me. It's summer again. And it's great!

Butterfly Effect

Yesterday I watched the news...in Japanese. It's an interesting time right now for Japan. It's been 3+ months since the earthquake struck (although we are still having huge earthquakes). The Prime Minister is set to step down because people are upset. The nuclear meltdown has...melted. People are still living in shelters. Aid still hasn't been received. The economy keeps heading south. It's a weird time for Japan considering it's an industrialized nation.

But the news yesterday said that electricity and gas will go up 5-8%. Rice and flour will also go up 5-8%. That is BAD NEWS. My gasoline right now is 149JPY per liter, which means my gas is running at $6.99 per gallon; good thing I only drive on the weekends. In a country where the economy is already doing poorly, it's a bad time for commodities to start skyrocketing. But what can you do?

For all the economics classes I slept through, I mean, studied hard in, I learned there's a law of supply and demand. No nuclear power means all of our electricity prices will go up. Government is using gas to fuel relief vehicles, which means civilian gas prices will go up. Tsunami water wiped out fields and fields and fields of rice and wheat, which means rice and flour prices will go up. Milk prices have gone up due to fears of radiation, and it's spread up here to the dairy farms in my village. People aren't buying milk from the village (I don't know why because we're not even close to radiation...or anything for that matter). But it's affecting my students' families. It's a giant ripple effect, butterfly effect this country is going to feel for a very long time.