Japan!

Greetings from Kiryu, Japan! Today marks the fifth day of our 5-week stay, the jet lag has worn off, and we have already enjoyed many memorable moments. 

Yesterday lunch we met with an English teacher who lives down the road from us. It was our first experience in a restaurant here, so Keiko, the teacher, ordered a number of different dishes for us to try. I was excited when they brought us salad, because I finally had the opportunity to try octopus! Yes, there was octopus and shrimp on the salad. I liked the taste of it, but it is chewy, so beware if you try putting too big a piece into your mouth.... Chew well before attempting to swallow. :) We also got to try miso soup and tempura. Both were delicious! How I'm going to leave the country the same weight I entered I don't know. 

After the meal, we went to Keiko's studio where she teaches her English classes. She teaches conversational style, and that lesson was all hands on practicing! We talked with the students, told them about our life in America, and they told us about their families and what they like to spend their time doing. We had so much fun talking with them. It surprised me how well they could speak my language! Some of them have travelled half way across the globe, and were proud to tell us of their trips to North America. Sounds like the favorite destinations have been trips to New York and Canada. They were very surprised to hear that we live only 1.5 hours from the Canadian border, and also that we have never set foot in New York City. :) 

(Ryuzo, Namiko, Masako, me, Joy, Teruko)

Apparently they enjoyed their time, too, because they invited Joy and me out to eat at a Chinese Ramen restaurant in town that evening. And of course that brought a new challenge.... They sit us down at the table and show us the menu, which of course we can't read. Thankfully it had pictures for everything (why aren't all menus like that?), so they could point to them and ask if we wanted to try it. They ordered whatever they thought we might like. I ate way more than I thought I could hold. After tasting several different dishes, they bring out our Ramen. If you have ever ordered Ramen, you know it doesn't come in just a bowl. It's like a mixing bowl amount... and the lady next to me said we each got our own bowl all to ourselves. Here our new friends had eaten their fill and they expect my sister and me to have room for a very large portion of Ramen on top of what we already ate. I did manage to finish. (Whew!) It was very kind of them to treat us to dinner, and I loved how the waitress stood nearby watching as we conversed in English. The cool part about the whole evening was before digging in, I bow my head to pray. When I finished, Teruko, who sat next to me, started telling us how they do it in Japan. Christianity is basically non-existent over here, and what she meant was Buddhists pray with their hands like this. Then she says Catholics do it like this (she crosses her heart), and then there we are with a wide-open door before us, and we get to tell them that in America, we as Christians pray like this. We ask if we can pray like we do in America, and yes, they wanted us to, so there in the middle of the restaurant we get to pray out loud. It was amazing. Being the new people from another country they were ready to hear anything we had to say. They know the word Christian, and they know that name belongs to us. Though they may not know exactly what it means to be a Christian, I think they can recognize Christ's love in our actions.

   

This morning we had a new challenge to take on. Kyunghee, the wife of our host family, was going to be away for the morning but she had a shopping list. So she gave it to us and off we went to try to find our groceries. It was fun! But, believe it or not... we tried avoiding people because we really didn't want to be asked anything.... We don't know enough Japanese to get around on our own. 

   

That is a small recap of a few highlights from the last two days. Right now I am spending the afternoon sitting in my muggy bedroom with my camera, journal, and bible close by. I think it's time for me to get a glass of water over here, too. No way! Seriously, As I type here I get a hand-delivery of some ice water and a Popsicle. Someone was reading my mind. :)

... Esther