Unbearable Cuteness

I know you are expecting more pictures of children because let's face it, that is why you are here...So, the elementary students are practicing for their sports day, and they are at least 5.5 times cuter than the junior high kids when they practice...just a fact of life. So I snapped some pictures for you to enjoy.

 The kids made a band that marches around...furthermore, they were good!

 Check that out...not bad right? For kids age 6 to 12...

 I don't remember having these fancy piano thingy's in any marching band I ever saw.

 They are having a cheer off/sing off.

 You can see the colorful hats that denote teams.

It's more about loudness instead of quality.

 The yellow team's flag has Chip 'N Dale on it!

 Green had Mike Wizowski

...and red has Mickey. 

 An overhead view of them practicing some of their relay games. 

Oh the Places You've Been

If you are looking for lighthearted stories about funny things that happened in Japan over the last couple days...sorry. You should probably just keep on going right over to Facebook and see what is up there. This here is going to be a serious entry because today, September 13th marks 5 years since I this kid went into the MTC. Crazy right? Unfortunately, only a few pictures survived that time surrounding that 5 or 6 months. I went into the vaults and managed to find this gem. See if you can spot me. 

I often find myself reflecting on my mission (brief though it was) on this day when it rolls around every year. The truth is that it represented a real shift in the my personality, and the way I view the world. It was during this time that I found out the extent of the anxieties that I have, and how damaging they can be to a regular life. I never could have written this story that has unfolded for myself in the 5 years since. 

I look at the things that I have lost (my hair being first and foremost) and gained over the last half decade. People say that time flies, and I guess that I agree to a certain extent. I look at the person I am now, as compared to 5 years ago, and I can't imagine doing it again. So much has happened in the last 5 years, and so much of it was a real battle for me. I am actually kind of hoping that the next 5 will be a little smoother. 

In 5 years I have: been employed in 10 different jobs, lost a lot of hair, probably gained weight (who hasn't?), gotten a college degree, been to England and France, moved to Japan, found almost entirely new friends, seen said friends get married and begin having kids (Liz), seen the arrival of quite a few new nieces and nephews, eaten thousands of hamburgers and taken up golf. 

I suppose that isn't too shabby for 5 years. 

Mostly it is interesting because I view going into the MTC 5 years ago as a hinge point where my life was changed drastically. Aside from learning about my anxieties and difficulties, coming home early put me on a different track than the rest of my friends. I graduated college almost 2 years earlier than others my age, I really got into the SUU experience, I changed who I was, I met all new people and somehow I ended up back in Japan. 

I suppose I could have guessed that at some point I would get to Japan. When I decided to take this job and move here, part of me was resolved to put Japan behind me as something that I am capable of doing. I am proving that to myself, which I believe will aid me in finally putting my mission experience to rest. 

I guess I will end with the poetic ending that we all love. Feel free to use this one when you are in sacrament meeting about how the Lord knows what he is doing after all (really don't though, that's cheesy). Today, exactly 5 years from the date that I went into the MTC, called to the Japan Tokyo Mission, I found myself sitting in a meeting house in Japan with two missionaries serving in the same mission I was called to. I would never have planned this for myself, and I wouldn't have believed you if you told me I would be here now, but there is some justice in my mind by teaching and helping with missionary work in the same place I was called...even if it is 5 years late.

Sports Day at the Junior High (Picture Alert)

A magical time in every school year is the school festival. This weekend we enjoyed the sports day festival. Here are some pictures and videos from the event. 

 Here they all walk out with the flags they made

 Some kind of salute thing to the principal (on the stage)

 Lining up for stretching

Jump-rope with the entire class of 30 or so kids 

 T-e-a-m

These kids swinging the ropes work really hard 

 As you can see

Yep 

 Ye Olde Tug of War

 This teacher has some amazing Tae Chi skills 

 Harness the energy...

 ...and pull! They won.

 The pole around the cone race thing

 Once they get back, they all have to jump over the bar they were running with

 An obstacle course relay

 They had to walk back to back with a soccer ball between them

Then there is sack race where the front person scoots the sack along 

The tire-pushing race 

 Passing off the sash

Climbing under the fishing net

 This is the banner/sign for the sports day

 Getting ready for the cheer/chant portion of sports day. The kids in black are in their official school uniforms.

 Boom. Video

 Another cheer from the 1st year students

The 2nd year students 

 Another race where one student runs across the backs of the others in an unbroken chain

Looks...fun 

 An old fashioned relay race

Ahh...the Mukade race. You may remember when I showed the picture of the giant devil centipede in my first bug post. This is a relay that replicates that giant evil bug.  

 Also reminiscent of chain gangs, the kids are tied together at the ankles and they have to move in time or they fall down and hurt themselves. I am not the safety police, but I will say that I didn't think this was the best idea. Seems like this whole thing would be dangerous right? 

Here you can see the Mukade in action. 

I only saw about 20 girls crying after the race because they had fallen so many times and hurt themselves. All in the name of fun! Overall it was a good day and I didn't get too sunburned.

Things That Are Adorable

A man once said recently that it is almost like the Japanese school system saw little Japanese students who are inherently cute and thought to themselves, "How can we make them even cuter?"

The answer: Make them wear matching hats and hold hands as they walk down the street.

 Adorable right? 

 Here they are practicing for sports day (which will come in detail in the next post)

 They do a relay around the cones

Kids are also pretty amazing at origami in the shapes of beloved video game characters

 This is the food from the phenomenal French bakery at the Kofu station. On the left, chocolate croissant, in front, chicken and potato carbonara, and at the back right, a delicious calzone. 

I found a place that sells Diet Dr. Pepper. Delicious and reminiscent.

Tale of Two Lunches

Lunch the first. Friday, September 2nd. Nagasaka Junior High School

As I looked down at my tray that had been prepared for my by the students of the junior high, I had a bad feeling. Usually in these situations, I work back from the familiar. "Bread, I know what that is" "That there is some kind of chicken." On this day, I only recognized one thing. Pineapple. Not bad right? I could live with pineapple. Fruit is rare and expensive in Japan, so it usually acts as the dessert.

The plate had some kind of salad with chicken and green beans that can only be described as slimy. I am relatively sure that I recognized some part of an egg mixed in around with the chicken. Eggy and slimy. On to the soup-stuff. I have discovered that Friday at the junior high is basically "Eat with a spoon day." All of the dishes that they have on Friday are meant to be poured over a bed of rice and eaten with a spoon. I figured this out when I looked for my chopsticks and found only a spoon. Watching what the others did, I poured the stuff over the rice. The whole concoction was vaguely yellow and had the consistency of the liquid (or semi-liquid) that is left over in the turkey pan on Thanksgiving. I don't know about you, but I usually call that...slimy. I spotted a few hard boiled eggs kicking around in there like eyeballs. Eggy and slimy.

As for what else was in this turkey leftover concoction, I can't honestly tell you. I only recognized carrots and daikon. Daikon is a big root (or tuber) that the Japanese revere. It is kind of like a radish/potato. It isn't bad, but I won't be buying any soon. The other things looked like various medieval shapes. First off was a vegetable that looked like an octopus tentacle with suckers on all sides, then struck me as looking like a mace with rectangular points for bludgeoning. In this medieval medley there was a...food substance (though there is no way to be sure) that looked like side of a tiny gingerbread castle. It was cut in a way that made it look like it had battlements across one side where archers could shoot. I hesitate to say it was food because it had the texture of Styrofoam. In addition to the rest, there were at least 3 other things I didn't recognize, but I choked it down.

I am sure it is good for my character, and I bet my digestive tract is thankful for the insoluble fiber. I have resolved to find out what it is called and make sure that I bring a backup the next time lunch is brought to you by the words egg and slimy.

Lunch the second. Monday, September 5th. Nagasaka Junior High School

Even as I write this, the glory of the lunch recently eaten sits in my belly. As I looked at the plate, I could recognize every single thing I was being served. I saw white bread, chicken, potato salad (kind of) and egg soup. You may think, based on a recent run-in with eggs, that I am not a fan of egg. I assure you that I am, but not when they are slimy. With the bread was jam and butter in a package. I watched those around me to see how they would eat when I saw the head teacher squeeze the jam and jelly onto the piece of bread, slap the chicken and some potato on there and start going to town. Interesting, but not for me. I enjoy my flavors separately and allow my pallet to tie them together.

I used one piece of fine Japanese white bread as a counter balance for my soup, and put the butter and jelly on the other. The chicken, though small, was delicious. I don't know how the Japanese do it, but I have yet to have an un-juicy piece of chicken. Even the stuff I cook at home comes out bursting with juice. After my potato salad (with ham nonetheless) was finished, I moved on to my dessert. 3 green grapes. You may be thinking, as I was, that 3 grapes is a rather odd number to choose. Empowered by a meal eaten that I enjoyed and could recognize, I moved on to my grapes a little faster than the rest. I popped one of them into my mouth and bit down only to discover that the grape contained garbage.

Farbeit for me to criticize the Japanese on their grape production, but it was not what I expected. Most green grapes in this country are still sweet; this thing was tart and sour. These facts alone don't condemn the grape, but the seeds and stem in the middle do. The skin was also thick and unchewable. Not knowing about these things before hand, I just bit into it and started munching away. Initially, I thought I had broken a tooth on the evil Japanese sour "fruit." I discovered that it was just the 5 seeds inside. I know I have been lucky to have only seedless grapes before, and there is a reason...seeded grapes are too much work for not enough enjoyment. After spitting out my garbled pile of undigestibles, I threw the other two grapes away. Fool me once, strike one Fool me twice...strike three.