Sweet Saturday

Although I missed out on the Thanksgiving holidays, I totally made up for it with possibly the best Saturday I have had in Japan. Although it entailed waking up painfully early, it ended up being well worth it. I will start with the conclusion first in saying that I now feel a great desire to go to Brazil. 

 First, this is a picture of Fuji from a class I taught on Friday. Winter is a great time to see Fuji, I am told. During winter in Japan, there is less haze, smoke and rain, so you can see Fuji more often. I have looked at it almost every day for 4 months and I have to say that I am still not tired of it. It is a beautiful mountain.  Thanksgiving day also marked the 4 month mark for me arriving in Japan. I seems crazy that it has gone so fast, and so slow at the same time. I am now 1/3 of the way through my time here. 

 We started the day by playing soft volleyball in Minami Alps. I arrived 10 minutes early (which means that I was 20 minutes early because Japanese people seem to be chronically late) to find these older folks playing croquet out in front of the gym. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

 Getting ready for the game. It isn't traditional volleyball because we play with kickballs basically. It takes some getting used to. 

 This guy is ready to go! He was stretching and all sorts of stuff. Don't let this fool you by the way, it was absurdly cold in that gym. 

 Mid game. That little kid has skills. 

 The other cool thing about soft volleyball in Japan is that the net is like 6.5 feet high, thus making me a semi-professional. 

 We won all of our sets, until they switched teams and I lost. It was bitterly disappointing to lose, but it got better once we had a good team name. I named us the Subarashii Samurai (it means lovely/wonderful samurai). 

 I wore my track suit, and I. Look. Good. I felt like Tony Soprano all day long. I was missing some gold chains and murder charges, but I was close enough. 

 Afterwards we went to Brother Agren's house. He lives by this crazy overpass thing that connects a road straight down a cliff. I can't figure who thought this was the best solution...it looks like an amusement park ride. 

 We were having a legitimate Brazilian BBQ. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I was looking forward to BBQ all week long. 

 We had about 25 people in a really tiny area, but that is how you do it in Japan. 

 Cooking the steak. I initially thought that we would run out of steak, but they just kept on cooking until every single person was full. We also had some deer steak as well. Let me say this...those Brazilians know how to BBQ. They dipped the steak in beer and salt before we grilled it. I love Japanese Mormons. 

 Brother Reme slicing up one of the top 5 sausages I have ever eaten. Evidently there is a Brazilian market nearby where they get all of this stuff. Incredible. 

 And what party in Japan would be complete without Karaoke? 

 Brother Agren (with the gray hair and glasses) has not one, but TWO karaoke machines! I sang a Somebody To Love by Queen. It wen't well. 

 The projector screen for the karaoke machine. 

I have no idea what these songs are about, I imagine love or something. 

 I have been to a few ward parties, but this definitely takes the cake. 

Folks sitting around chatting after dinner. It felt very comfortable hanging out for the afternoon. Despite the fact that there were lots of people crammed into a very tiny space, it felt like home. I guess I am getting used to the small space thing. I was full on steak and Coke Zero and sitting around telling jokes and laughing just like I would at home. 

Let me add this to my list of things I am thankful for: I am extremely thankful for people. I am very thankful for the church and the people in it. I am grateful to get to know these fine people, even though I can't speak to them. I'm thankful that you can get to know and love people without having to talk.