Marshwiggle Musings: October 2006

What's been up--part II It's been said that a picture's worth a thousand words, so instead of adding mutiple thousands of words, here are some images to augment the previous written description of my recent goings-on:

My 7th graders at the school festival

Kasumi and Yuka at the school festival

Chie sensei, me, and Miho sensei at the school festival

Kanji done by 7th graders

The leaves are stunning this time of year!

A shrine outside Abukuma Cave

Inside Abukuma Cave

More of Abukuma Cave

The group that went to the cave: Tammy, Benno, Yuta, Ryo, Jeni, Lis, and Me

Sunset from an outlook near the cave

The kids that went to Mansfield last month...we had a party for them last night.

Well, I’m not totally in the mood for writing, but I have extra time at school, and feel I have been sorely neglecting to inform the American population about what I’ve been doing in the last few weeks (besides being sick and intensely desiring specific varieties of macaroni and cheese). In short, life is crazy. Nothing new, I know. We’ve started tutoring for STEP tests, though (an English test that many 9th graders take. If they pass, their chances of getting into a good high school shoot way up), and I’ve just been informed that after the two-week stint of tutoring is over, I will be given another evening class to teach, because apparently, we Fune-chu teachers don’t do very much. Mind you, I’m not at all upset about getting the class. In fact, I’m rather looking forward to it. But it was a bit upsetting to learn that the reasoning behind it was because I’m perceived as not being “busy enough.” “The boss” said that she’s worried about Wakakusa teachers getting sick from being overworked. I find it ironic that two of the teachers who were sick at the time of the new class announcement were Fune-chu teachers. But enough venting. Anyway, I’ll be taking on a Wakakusa class for one of the teachers there. And, the “lull” that my boss saw on my reports from Segawa Jr. High has finally ended. School festival is over and I belong again! For the last month or so, students and teachers have been preparing for the event of the year—the school festival (a day of sitting in an unheated, sun-blocked-out gym for 6 hours watching students perform). This year, like years in the past, students performed plays and did taiko (Japanese drums) together. New to the program this year was a school-wide choir piece (it was REALLY good), and a traditional dance by the 9th graders. I must say, I enjoyed it far more than last year, probably because even though I still didn’t understand the plays, at least I knew the students in the costumes and could laugh at the casting of their parts. All in all, though I was doped up on cold medicine all day (and could barely keep my balance or walk in a straight line…), I did enjoy the festival. But like I said, I’m glad it’s over. I now have purpose again…teaching classes, grading papers, preparing activities, offering grammar advise…it’s a great life. I love my kids. They are such a blessing. Even when they’re correcting something I’m doing wrong, I just want to hug them for it, because I know they tell me out of love. I think I’ve finally reached a place of “contentment” (in the good sense of the word) here. I love my team, I love my job, I love my students. The little annoyances and cultural differences still irritate the dickens out of me sometimes (like having to teach in a 50 degree building…), but I believe the good things far outweigh the bad, and some days I can’t believe that God has even allowed me to come here. I pray that I do and am what he wants me to do and be here. I feel like I fail so often. May he use my meager attempts in whatever way he sees fit. I’m merely a cracked pot. May his light shine through anyway.

Well, I’m not totally in the mood for writing, but I have extra time at school, and feel I have been sorely neglecting to inform the American population about what I’ve been doing in the last few weeks (besides being sick and intensely desiring specific varieties of macaroni and cheese). In short, life is crazy. Nothing new, I know. We’ve started tutoring for STEP tests, though (an English test that many 9th graders take. If they pass, their chances of getting into a good high school shoot way up), and I’ve just been informed that after the two-week stint of tutoring is over, I will be given another evening class to teach, because apparently, we Fune-chu teachers don’t do very much. Mind you, I’m not at all upset about getting the class. In fact, I’m rather looking forward to it. But it was a bit upsetting to learn that the reasoning behind it was because I’m perceived as not being “busy enough.” “The boss” said that she’s worried about Wakakusa teachers getting sick from being overworked. I find it ironic that two of the teachers who were sick at the time of the new class announcement were Fune-chu teachers. But enough venting. Anyway, I’ll be taking on a Wakakusa class for one of the teachers there. And, the “lull” that my boss saw on my reports from Segawa Jr. High has finally ended. School festival is over and I belong again! For the last month or so, students and teachers have been preparing for the event of the year—the school festival (a day of sitting in an unheated, sun-blocked-out gym for 6 hours watching students perform). This year, like years in the past, students performed plays and did taiko (Japanese drums) together. New to the program this year was a school-wide choir piece (it was REALLY good), and a traditional dance by the 9th graders. I must say, I enjoyed it far more than last year, probably because even though I still didn’t understand the plays, at least I knew the students in the costumes and could laugh at the casting of their parts. All in all, though I was doped up on cold medicine all day (and could barely keep my balance or walk in a straight line…), I did enjoy the festival. But like I said, I’m glad it’s over. I now have purpose again…teaching classes, grading papers, preparing activities, offering grammar advise…it’s a great life. I love my kids. They are such a blessing. Even when they’re correcting something I’m doing wrong, I just want to hug them for it, because I know they tell me out of love. I think I’ve finally reached a place of “contentment” (in the good sense of the word) here. I love my team, I love my job, I love my students. The little annoyances and cultural differences still irritate the crap out of me sometimes (like having to teach in a 50 degree building…), but I believe the good things far outweigh the bad, and some days I can’t believe that God has even allowed me to come here. I pray that I do and am what he wants me to do and be here. I feel like I fail so often. May he use my meager attempts in whatever way he sees fit. I’m merely a cracked pot. May his light shine through anyway.

Ippai Yo! So. I had an "open class" today with Tamaki sensei. Basically, this means that we taught a more complicated lesson than usual, under the meticulous scritinization of all the "hoity toities" in Fukushima prefecture. Then we had a meeting about it afterwards (in Japanese of course). Unfortunately, instead of concentrating on what was being said and even attempting to understand it, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to eat Velveeta Shells n' Cheese. Woops. After the forever-long meeting, though, I am happy to say we DID get a hot lunch. Compliments of our "congratulations, you did a good job" money collection (that's how Tamaki sensei explained it to me anyway). Unfortunately, there was no Velveeta. I did, however, get to enjoy dandelion broccoli, squid-accented soup, and runny-egged spinach. I think I've been in Japan too long, though. Except for the squid soup, I actually liked it all. And, to my delight, the last peculiar piece of food I tried, a hush-puppy looking thing, turned out to be a sort of "fried macaroni and cheese pancake." I think it's about on the same level as fried ho ho's. Insanely unhealthy. Extremely yummy. Long live open classes! Man, I'm full.

What a Weekend! It’s good to be back at Segawa. It seems that weekends are so far removed from my everyday work life, I almost forget what my students are like by Monday (or Tuesday in this week’s case). They never cease to make me smile, though, as I’m sure I’ve affirmed countless times. Today the students were preparing for their school festival—a whole Sunday of home-made props used for home-made plays advertised by home-made banners. It was the banner that was the object of preparation today. Apparently this year all of the students (and teachers later, I’m told) have to put their handprint somewhere on the event’s huge paper label. It didn’t take long before I began to notice the multi-colored ears, arms, hair, shirts, and cheeks of some of my more gregarious students, prompting much grinning and eye rolling…what can you expect when you put junior highers and paint in the same room? But anyway, this post isn’t supposed to be about school, so… Though we didn’t have any dancing or tumbling children to entertain us this weekend (see Mike & Jen’s or Trisha’s blog for details on last Sunday’s mini undokai), we did have a 3-day weekend this week, and succeeded in stuffing it to the seems with activity. On Friday nights when I don’t have Eikaiwa (English conversation class), I refuse to be satisfied until I indulge in a movie with some of my “sisters”, so Adriane, Patty and I snuggled up in our blankets and stuffed our faces with kettle corn as we giggled, oooed, aaaahed, and screeched at a very old, taped “Bachelorette” episode I had unearthed in a male teammate’s apartment. After said episode was finished, our girliness was gushing, so we then popped in Where the Heart is, a chick flick in every sense of the word, and spent the rest of the evening sighing and tearing up over a baby born in Walmart and the story of her mother’s “discovering life.” As the tune goes, sometimes “I enjoy being a girl!” Having stayed up until 2 the night before, some serious sleeping-in was in order, so I didn’t wake up until my brother Chris called me the next morning. I was so thankful to talk to him. Our relationships has grown a lot in the last few years, and I always feel like I’ve gained and learned so much by the time we hang up the phone. He’s always challenging and affirming at the same time. Anyway, enough ranting and raving, I just love him a lot. Later on, I had some serious prep to do for the “Game Night” I had, in a moment of inspiration, offered to host earlier that week. Frantic cleaning and shopping was needed…which I didn’t finish until about 2 minutes before people started streaming in at 6:00 on the dot. (Sometimes the punctuality of this culture is just annoying to those of us who invariably run late…) So…how to describe the events of the evening. Well, picture this: my apartment is a clown car. And, instead of clowns popping OUT one by one in a continuous stream, they proceeded to pop IN one by one…until there were 15 of us in my (basically) studio apartment. If you’ve ever read The Hobbit, I felt somewhat similar to the situation Bilbo found himself in when all of the dwarves (12, I believe) and Gandalf came knocking at his round hobbit-hole door. Except I had one more than Bilbo… Anyway, needless to say, things were a bit crowded. But SO much fun. After whipping up home-made chicken tenders and fries, stuffing our faces with a myriad of Japanese snacks, and dancing to a party mix of 80s tunes, a game of chicken-leg dominos was eventually begun in my bedroom/living room, and, having no more space in said room, four of us moved to my kitchen floor to challenge each other to a rousing match of euchre. Late-comers had to delicately tip-toe over-top of our euchre-absorbed bodies in order to reach the other room. It was an absolute blast. I’m not so sure how our 1 Japanese friend that came felt about all the madness, but Lis’ visiting sister and our newfound friend Aaron were partying it up, so we’re hoping Masataka had some fun, too (I believe I did see him joining in the motions to YMCA at one point…) During the events of the evening, I guess my apartment got a bit hot (imagine that), so I’m assuming someone opened my window…and didn’t latch it again when he (yeah, I know who it was…) shut it. Well, the torrential winds I spoke of last winter have returned to the land of Funehiki, and since my window was cracked, the gusts kept me up much of the night. Around 8:00 AM, I got fed up, got up to investigate the noises, and, upon discovering it was merely a cracked window, livid that I could have fixed it 8 hours earlier, slammed the window, flipped up the latch, turned on my fan for background noise, and hit the pillow again…only to end up sleeping through my alarm and missing church (woops). But, thanks to Al Gore and his genius invention, I was able to listen to a sermon on the Internet. Allow me to pause here for a moment to say: In all seriousness, I am extremely thankful for the World Wide Web. Carrie mentioned her gratefulness last night, and I couldn’t agree more. It not only aids in keeping up with people at home, but it can also help keep us sustained spiritually. I’m thankful for how God has used it to bring anything from sermons to music to a card of encouragement to people all over the world. It is a great thing, ne? Ok, getting back…In the afternoon (Sunday here), I again had to prepare, this time to have some guys over for dinner. Benno, Aaron, and Ryo showed up around 6:00 for some cream stew, and, praise the Lord, we were able to talk with Ryo about who (and “what”) we believe God is. Ryo has expressed a lot of interest in not only getting to know us as a group, but in studying and learning about the Bible. He’s about 20 years old and spent 2 years in the States going to college, so his English is really good. Please pray for him and us as we continue to seek and use opportunities to share the love and hope of God with him. After getting to bed a little too late (again) the night before, Monday morning came quite early when Tammy and I arose to go for a morning run. I would have skipped it, but our city’s race is coming up this Sunday…So, we ran up to the track, and upon returning, threw ourselves in and then back out of the shower, sprinting (literally) for an early train to Motomiya. My friend Hiromi had invited us to her camp to see a missionary to Senegal speak about her ministry there. When we reached the camp, our hearts just lit up. It was so beautiful! Mountains surround the whole area, and the tall trees, grassy paths, and quaint little cabins made us re-appreciate God’s beauty and glory in a way that only an outdoor camp can. Thus began what we have since titled our “International Day.” During the next 12 hours, Tammy and I 1) Hung out with about 50 Japanese Christians (amazing!) 2) Listened to a woman speak about God’s work in Senegal 3) Ran into and chatted with some friends from Norway 4) Headed home for our Canadian Thanksgiving feast (and feast it was!) 5) Listened with excitement to others in our team tell of how they met Christians, sharing the gospel in Koriyama, from China, Korea, and Taiwan. Not to mention that most of us are American, and Patty, being from the country herself, contributed some Germanesque dishes to our feast. I’ve got to say, sometimes my actual job is tough, but I LOVE the life that God has blessed me with through it. So, with heart and tummy full, last night I crawled into bed—thankful for the favor God has poured over us in abundance. It is not because of anything we have done that we are so blessed, but only because of our Lord and his grace. And (even if I’m not Canadian) I would like to say, for that I am truly thankful. Happy (slightly belated, Canadian) Thanksgiving, everyone!