The pleasure in this for me is mainly that I feel connected with the kids, I’m helping them in a way unique to my abilities as a foreigner in Japan, and I don’t have to preach in front of the classroom staring at twenty bored kids! It took a little time to sell teachers on the idea, but I think most of them are coming around. We’ll see how it turns out in the end!
So, Monday (Nov. 7) after school we had ICC club and I talked about American children’s clapping games. We had fun with that then we discussed future meetings. I rode my bike to the train station with a brief stop at home. It’s become a habit to get a fast food meal in Kofu since I have no time between ICC (English club) and Bible study. I have to fix that since once a week is too often for food like that. Bible study was refreshing and stimulating as usual even though the study was less than inspired. I feel so incredibly blessed to be near a group like that. I supposed I should have stayed at home and tried to recover from my cold, but I missed church because of the Nikko trip and I really wanted to be uplifted by Christian company. I went right to bed when I got home. This ended a pretty exhausting stretch of time with the Halloween Party, the mid-year conference, two trips to Fujiyoshida with a speech contest in the middle, the trip to Nikko and a Monday busy from waking to sleeping. It sure was nice to not have so much to plan for lessons this week.
Tuesday (Nov. 8) I had the night to myself and I totally crashed with a book all evening. I took Loving God by Charles Colson from the Brown’s (pastor of New Life and meeting place of Bible study) library and I loved his Born Again and was excited with this one as well. I finished it before the end of the week so I got out what I thought I recognized as classic literature from the Ryuo library and I have to say The Bridges of Madison County was not nearly as uplifting and I failed to see why it was so famous. Maybe I just can’t get past glorifying an affair even if she did stick with her family. Anyway, Wednesday I read and talked with Andy and then Heather. Thursday night I talked with Mom and Dad and Friday (Nov. 11th) I had a good time cooking dinner and I tried a new recipie of caramel dumplings. Amazingly enough they were too sweet for me! I was glad that a group of hungry boys stopped by to see Mark and I was able to unload the rest on them, which seemed to be appreciated.
Saturday (Nov. 12) I got up around 8am and cleaned up what was starting to be a mess of an apartment. I did many loads of laundry then in the afternoon I decided to finally find the place called Dragon Park. I’d heard about it but in all my running and biking around I’d never found it. I biked around a good ways and went further down places I’d never gone before. I found it after a good bit and it turns out I’d been very close to it on a number of occasions and the tower I can see from my apartment is at one end of the park. It is a little disconcerting to see a beautiful church right across the street from it. A church would be fine, but this church is not a church. It is only a place where weddings are held. Western weddings are all the rage and this place provides the idealized setting of a peaked church roof with stained glass windows, spacious reception hall and beautiful view on the top of a hill. I found it very creepy, but the park was beautiful. It was the first sunny weekend day in a while and it was warmer than it had been in a while. The park is also on a hill so it has a great view of the city sprawl below it and the mountains, and of course Mt. Fuji. It was clear so you could see its snow capped peak easily. That sight never ceases to give me awe. If a bit of rock can do that how much more should its creator inspire?
I went for a run around the park on the track labeled every 50 meters. It’s only 800 meters, so it’s a small park compared to back home, but it’s wonderful compared to everything else around me. It has some trees on the edge and a big field (though closely cropped) where many people were throwing balls and kicking the soccer ball around. I ended up going around six times and it was lovely. It was wonderful to feel the cool breeze and the warm sun, watch people play on the field, listen to a few people making music at one end, and watch young photography enthusiasts look for the perfect shot. After my jog I pulled up on a bit of grass with a good view of Fuji-san and spent some time stretching. One of the photographers asked if he could take my photo, or at least that’s what I thought he asked. I said yes and he proceeded to take my picture, so I got 100% on that listening test. I also noticed a young girl look at me and I could tell she wanted to talk to me. I said hello and she said hi back but didn’t say anything more or come closer but she still looked at me. I asked her if she spoke English and she said yes and moved an inch closer. After about 5 minutes of asking her questions and getting her to answer and move one step closer to me I got her within a few feet. We talked (okay, so I asked questions and she answered) for a while and her English was quite good. All the while the photographer was having a grand time getting pictures of me in strange poses talking to a sweet Japanese girl. What fun! I wish my students were that willing to talk. She just wanted to try out her English! Oh, what happens to kids’ enthusiasm?! It was so refreshing to talk with an eager student, though. I’m not complaining. It was such a blessing to be at the park on that day. I’m almost glad I didn’t find the place earlier since it meant having the wonderful discovery in that way. The photographer gave me his business card with a website so if I see anything on it I’ll put out a link.
I had a little time at home to get some stuff done before going to church. I could really feel it had been two weeks since I’d been in church. It was so wonderful to see Danny’s smiling face waiting to pick us up in the van and to worship with believers. I’ve discovered completely now that it doesn’t matter what kind of music or what kind of worship style a church has. What’s important is the church – the people, and loving and listening to and praising God together. I think partly why I’m so fed at church is that my life is marked by a complete absence of Christians around me. It’s not a hostile world, there’s just no one from my true home. When one spends a week truly out in the world and alone (in that sense) then it is a great blessing to gather together and feel the presence of Christ. I’ll have to remind myself after returning home that if I ever feel unfed or unsatisfied with a church service then I wasn’t battling for Christ hard enough during the week! Don’t take that comment too far, but it’s an interesting thought. As usual we went out to dinner and had great fellowship after church.
Sunday, Nov. 13th, I went to the International Festival in Kofu with Rudy. While we were waiting at the bus stop I noticed two Japanese women signing to each other. I watched rudely and could only make out a sign or two. I figured it was Japanese sign language, but I couldn’t help wondering if I’d forgotten so much ASL that I just didn’t understand it. I decided to be bold and got the attention of one of the ladies and signed “Do you know ASL?” I found out later the answer was no, but she was so excited to meet a foreigner who signed that it didn’t matter. Even though we had no language in common we communicated amazingly well. I don’t know any JSL, one lady knew about three words in ASL, they were deaf, and Rudy and I can’t read Kanji. Neverthless, they felt such kindred spirit in a fellow signer that I felt quite comfortable doing my best to communicate with them. I think my experience with sign helped me guess what they were trying to say and to get a few idea across. I acted as interpreter for Rudy who was probably thinking how he’ll never want to go anywhere with this crazy Janet again while he watched the whole ordeal. The ladies got us half off our bus fair somehow, though I’m not sure how. We started in the festival together but soon split up. It was very large and we had a good time looking at the craft displays and food offerings. I saw the taiko group perform that I visited with Nikko early in my time here. That was cool. We had a bite to eat, ran into our friends again and took the same bus home. One gave me a sheet with Kanji on it and I believe it is where her daughter works and that she knows ASL. I could be terribly mistaken and I haven’t had a chance to show it to one of my JTE’s yet to find out . . .
I went running in Dragon Park again and found an ITSMORE grocery store nearby. It had two half loaves of unsliced dark bread!!!! Let me say that eating that was one of the greatest pleasures I’ve had since I’ve been here. I didn’t realize how much I missed good bread! The ITSMORE is quite a ways out, but I might have to visit every once in a while for a treat. I also saw brown rice (the only place I’ve seen it so far), but I wasn’t about to carry that on my back on the long bike ride home."American children's clapping games" -- Mitzie would be proud!
