This week has been a pretty easy one as far as weeks go. Not too many classes and nothing too out of the ordinary. No special classes to teach or wild kids to wrangle…and as I write this I have two more classes to teach at Tobu elementary. (The school with the best/ wildest kids!!) It has been raining pretty good today, so I caught a ride here with one of the teachers at my school, and I hope I can get one back home. The bus leaves from City Hall to go to the station at 4:23…and I finish work at 4. Not much room for error, as I have to go to my apartment and change clothes first! YIKES! If I don't make that bus it’s not the end of the world, but it does mean that I have to wait two more hours to catch the next one.
Life in Japan is going well, Toei is a nice place and I have made some friends here. This weekend should be fun, as I am headed to Tahara tonight to brew beer with Nate, and tomorrow we have a birthday party for Miyuki’s dad at Udagawa, the great (expensive!) place that her family like to go. Somewhere in there we have to get our Halloween costumes together, which should be a real riot if we can pull off our idea. Group costumes are always the best!
The boys at the apartment and I are still trying to get all of the bugs worked out of the slingbox, but a guy I met online (I know…) is feeling sorry for me and is letting me connect to his slingbox so I can watch the cats. I hope that I have something to watch this weekend though! We have played well in Florida in recent years, but saying that makes me feel like we are about due for a blowout…
The election is getting closer and closer, and here people could care less and less. I never hear anything much about the election from the people here and probably won’t until it is all said and done. That’s crazy to think about, especially since it is dominating everything at home.
I wish that I could tell you that I am getting better and better at Japanese, but I think I am getting worse and worse. I really want to better my speaking ability, but that seems to be the hardest thing for me. It was the same in Bosnian as well, I could always understand more than I could speak. And I won’t even mention French, as I can’t remember how to say anything. I am sure if I did try to speak French, words would come out in a mix of languages that no one would understand. Add to that the fact that the longer you stay here the more English you forget, and I am royally screwed.
I hope everyone at home is getting ready for a great Halloween and Thanksgiving to follow quicker than we all remember. It seems that each year the holidays come quicker and quicker. I guess we are all just getting old. In my mind I think I’m about 22, and plan on staying that age for a few more years.
It’s about time to head to class…I’m sure they too will be over before I know it. I just hope my activities work, or the 45 minutes that is class can feel like 3 hours. There is nothing scarier on the face of the earth than staring at 15 pairs of eyes staring back at you, and you have no idea what you are about to do. Well, I guess the only thing scarier than that is staring at 30 kids…
Have a great weekend in KY. Take some time to do something that you like to do and haven’t done in a while. Look at the stars, call an old friend, eat something bad for you, drink a KY Ale…it’s ok—I said you could. And when you do it, think of me…I’ll be stuffing myself with some expensive steak sushi. Ain’t life grand…
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
What have I done?
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.”
A friend recently posted a few blogs about the candidates and of course the Rev. Wright came up. Since the beginning of the controversy with Wright, I have found myself divided on this issue. I admit that I have never heard the man give a full speech, or have I read tons of things that he has said. I have however seen many segments of his sermons and teachings that the media has brought to the attention of a nation.
I am sure that Wright has said things that I will disagree with, but the problem is that I can’t really find anything at the moment. When I first heard the comments that he made, I found myself saying—“Man that guy will be unpopular, and I think he his right.” We all know that if Jesus were to run for president today, he would lose in a landslide. Most “Christians” wouldn’t even vote for him. A guy that wouldn't fight back if we were attacked? A President that would tell the rich to give what they had to the poor? Do you think he would get a lot of votes?
Rev. Wright said what he believed and I applaud him for that. The only bad thing was that it all became popular at a time when Obama couldn’t afford for it to be. When trying to convince the American people to vote for you, one must be very careful about what they say and how they say it.
Do I think that the US is to blame for the attacks of 9/11. Partly. While we didn’t pilot those planes into the Twin Towers ourselves, our reckless actions around the world fostered areas of hatred and created people that hated us so much that they will stop at nothing to hurt us.
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.
Does this mean that we deserved to be attacked? Of course not! The non-violent and forgiving person must believe in forgiveness for others and ourselves. But can we not see how those in the rest of the world could view us? We bombed the Japanese and had a huge parade in New York. We gave money to Osama, Saadam, and Isreal and many Americans went on with dinner like nothing was wrong.
Do we think as Americans that we are entitled to be free and happy more than others around the globe?
The election is drawing close, and I don’t think that the Rev’s comments will be the deciding factor. But they give us something to think about. If Jesus was preaching today…do you think the government would support everything that he said? Or would they want to silence this guy who was turning so many people against them…
A friend recently posted a few blogs about the candidates and of course the Rev. Wright came up. Since the beginning of the controversy with Wright, I have found myself divided on this issue. I admit that I have never heard the man give a full speech, or have I read tons of things that he has said. I have however seen many segments of his sermons and teachings that the media has brought to the attention of a nation.
I am sure that Wright has said things that I will disagree with, but the problem is that I can’t really find anything at the moment. When I first heard the comments that he made, I found myself saying—“Man that guy will be unpopular, and I think he his right.” We all know that if Jesus were to run for president today, he would lose in a landslide. Most “Christians” wouldn’t even vote for him. A guy that wouldn't fight back if we were attacked? A President that would tell the rich to give what they had to the poor? Do you think he would get a lot of votes?
Rev. Wright said what he believed and I applaud him for that. The only bad thing was that it all became popular at a time when Obama couldn’t afford for it to be. When trying to convince the American people to vote for you, one must be very careful about what they say and how they say it.
Do I think that the US is to blame for the attacks of 9/11. Partly. While we didn’t pilot those planes into the Twin Towers ourselves, our reckless actions around the world fostered areas of hatred and created people that hated us so much that they will stop at nothing to hurt us.
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Rev. Wright said in a sermon on Sept. 16, 2001.
Does this mean that we deserved to be attacked? Of course not! The non-violent and forgiving person must believe in forgiveness for others and ourselves. But can we not see how those in the rest of the world could view us? We bombed the Japanese and had a huge parade in New York. We gave money to Osama, Saadam, and Isreal and many Americans went on with dinner like nothing was wrong.
Do we think as Americans that we are entitled to be free and happy more than others around the globe?
The election is drawing close, and I don’t think that the Rev’s comments will be the deciding factor. But they give us something to think about. If Jesus was preaching today…do you think the government would support everything that he said? Or would they want to silence this guy who was turning so many people against them…
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Ramblings on a Wednesday afternoon....
Recently I read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. It was a book that I had been reading for quite some time, I would start it and put it down, only to come back to it from time to time when I made some time for reading in my life. I must say, the day I finished it, I was truly sad. I wanted it to go on and on forever, and I could read stories about Jayber and Burley and Athey and all the guys all day.
I think I love the characters so much in this book because they remind me of my friends at home. I wonder about what life would be like if I we all lived in a small town that was made up of “us”. It would be like Pole’s cul-de-sac idea only times 10, since we would have the whole town. Of course Birdman would be the doctor, Pole would be the lawyer, Pratt would run the general store, Ryan would be the blacksmith/mechanic, JR would be a truck driver, Fenner would be the accountant/handyman, Bobbitt would be the school master, Worm would be the mayor, and so on. Of course we would all be farmers on the side.
I think I Ethan would be the barber. He would make a good barber and is full of good advice. When I read Jayber Crow, I always thought of Jayber as Ethan.
It's no secret that I love gadgets. I am not as bad as some, but I have gadget fever pretty bad. I can sit in Japan and watch the TV in KY thanks to the internet and my Slingbox. (when it is working!) I can sit at school on my nice computer and access information about anything and everything from every corner of the globe. I can use my ipod to connect wirelessly to my computer and send files, see the screen, watch movies, and hundreds of other amazing things that you would have to see to believe.
I wonder if I would be happy if I lost all of my gadgets. Could I learn to survive in a world without cell phones and wireless internet on every corner? Could I make it here if I had to rely on paper letters to tell my friends of my adventures or to hear news from home? What if I couldn't watch movies online and have the opportunity to be entertained at all times in all places?
When I was younger my dad always said that he would be happy to have a small house in the Dave holler near where his grandparents lived in Jackson County. I never really understood what he meant when I was younger, but now I do. Ryan and I talk about building a cabin on granny’s farm and having someplace to escape from the world. We wouldn’t need electricity. We wouldn’t need to build a TV stand, or have wireless in the woods. We would need a porch and some chairs and a wood stove to cook on, and we would be in heaven.
Sometimes I wonder where I will be in 10 years. I have decided that wondering is a waste of time, where I am now is much more interesting than where I thought I would be when I was 17. I have been privileged to have seen so much, and travel to so many places that I never dreamed that I would see.
What are we working towards? Will all of the gadgets ever make our lives easier? The more gadgets I get, the more complicated things become. I buy the slingbox so I can watch my KY TV anywhere in the world. How frustrated I become when it doesn’t work? More stress. I worry about losing my ipod. Stress. My cell phone doesn’t get good reception in my apartment. Stress. I left my computer charger in Tahara. Stress.
It is no secret that I think a farmer has more to offer society than an accountant. No offense accountants. I think that a mechanic is a more useful person than a politician or someone with a Masters in International Commerce or someone that can do amazing things with Excel. Today I found a blog that I wrote a long time ago about how we were losing the traditions and skills of our grandparents and replacing them with useless degrees and jobs. I still think that.
I never said what I would be in the town. I think I would just be a farmer, like Burley Coulter. I would love to hunt and fish and cause trouble from time to time, but I would always be there for any of my friends, and they would enjoy when I was around. I would hang out in Ethan’s barbershop and tell stories and laugh at everyone else and tell Bird that he doesn’t know what he is talking about when I went in for a checkup.
We would have a great town.
I think I love the characters so much in this book because they remind me of my friends at home. I wonder about what life would be like if I we all lived in a small town that was made up of “us”. It would be like Pole’s cul-de-sac idea only times 10, since we would have the whole town. Of course Birdman would be the doctor, Pole would be the lawyer, Pratt would run the general store, Ryan would be the blacksmith/mechanic, JR would be a truck driver, Fenner would be the accountant/handyman, Bobbitt would be the school master, Worm would be the mayor, and so on. Of course we would all be farmers on the side.
I think I Ethan would be the barber. He would make a good barber and is full of good advice. When I read Jayber Crow, I always thought of Jayber as Ethan.
It's no secret that I love gadgets. I am not as bad as some, but I have gadget fever pretty bad. I can sit in Japan and watch the TV in KY thanks to the internet and my Slingbox. (when it is working!) I can sit at school on my nice computer and access information about anything and everything from every corner of the globe. I can use my ipod to connect wirelessly to my computer and send files, see the screen, watch movies, and hundreds of other amazing things that you would have to see to believe.
I wonder if I would be happy if I lost all of my gadgets. Could I learn to survive in a world without cell phones and wireless internet on every corner? Could I make it here if I had to rely on paper letters to tell my friends of my adventures or to hear news from home? What if I couldn't watch movies online and have the opportunity to be entertained at all times in all places?
When I was younger my dad always said that he would be happy to have a small house in the Dave holler near where his grandparents lived in Jackson County. I never really understood what he meant when I was younger, but now I do. Ryan and I talk about building a cabin on granny’s farm and having someplace to escape from the world. We wouldn’t need electricity. We wouldn’t need to build a TV stand, or have wireless in the woods. We would need a porch and some chairs and a wood stove to cook on, and we would be in heaven.
Sometimes I wonder where I will be in 10 years. I have decided that wondering is a waste of time, where I am now is much more interesting than where I thought I would be when I was 17. I have been privileged to have seen so much, and travel to so many places that I never dreamed that I would see.
What are we working towards? Will all of the gadgets ever make our lives easier? The more gadgets I get, the more complicated things become. I buy the slingbox so I can watch my KY TV anywhere in the world. How frustrated I become when it doesn’t work? More stress. I worry about losing my ipod. Stress. My cell phone doesn’t get good reception in my apartment. Stress. I left my computer charger in Tahara. Stress.
It is no secret that I think a farmer has more to offer society than an accountant. No offense accountants. I think that a mechanic is a more useful person than a politician or someone with a Masters in International Commerce or someone that can do amazing things with Excel. Today I found a blog that I wrote a long time ago about how we were losing the traditions and skills of our grandparents and replacing them with useless degrees and jobs. I still think that.
I never said what I would be in the town. I think I would just be a farmer, like Burley Coulter. I would love to hunt and fish and cause trouble from time to time, but I would always be there for any of my friends, and they would enjoy when I was around. I would hang out in Ethan’s barbershop and tell stories and laugh at everyone else and tell Bird that he doesn’t know what he is talking about when I went in for a checkup.
We would have a great town.
Camping in Toei!!!!
We had a great weekend in Toei. The girls and Nate came up and we went hiking and camping and swimming and just had a ball. It was the first time for the girls to go camping, and Nate and I were excited about it. It’s funny how now that I am a little older, I get more excited about time spent in the woods with friends than going to a crowded spot in Nagoya.
We did see some great wildlife though! I almost stepped on a Mamushi, which is the Japanese equivalent of the Copperhead. We also saw a Kawakagushi, another poisonous snake that lives around here. When Nate and I were getting ready to go to bed at the end of the night, we heard some monkeys screaming and they had to be close. It was awesome!
We cooked up some campfire chicken and sweet potatoes on the fire and it was delicious. The girls were skeptical at first to say the least, but we wont them over in the end. We had a great time and when we were leaving we were all making plans for the next camping adventure.
I had two classes to teach this morning and now I am finished for the day. The mornings here are filled with fog in the mountains, so I can never tell what the weather will be like in the afternoon. Today the fog burned off and it is sunny as ever. It’s crazy to look out of the window at school and see the mountains in the distance.
This weekend I am headed to Toyohashi for the Toyohashi festival. Fall is festival season in Japan, and every weekend it seems that there is something going on. Miyuki will be dancing in the festival, so for all of you that know her you can imagine how funny that is going to be. Sunday we are going to get up early to go a rice field and harvest some rice for a sake brewery. Sounds like a typical Sunday huh?
Miyuki organized a trip for us that we will be taking in late November. We are going to visit a micro-brewery in Nagano and spend the weekend there enjoying the scenery, good brews, and natural hot springs. I can’t wait!! Nate and I are also in the middle of starting a new blog about our adventures here, so stay tuned for an update!
Hope all is well back home and you all are having fun. My family is super excited because Sadie will come soon, I hope! Send me a note or call and tell me how you all are.
Almost time for school lunch here…the best time of the day!!!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Noah and some stinky animals!
I have two elementary school classes to teach today and then I will be home free for the week. I don’t have any classes tomorrow, and the five I have to teach on Friday should be fairly easy. I will be going to my favorite elementary school in the afternoon on Friday, so it should be a walk through for the kids and me. I think we will play some games for sure, that always makes the time pass!
This weekend is a three dayer thanks to the holiday on Monday and Nathan, Miyuki and Michi are coming to Toei for some outdoors fun. It is warm enough to swim today, but I don't think the weather will hold. We may do some camping in the mountains which should be a blast. If we do that it will probably snow or storm or be 1,000 degrees. Place your bets.
I got my scooter buzzing like a charm. I stopped at the local gas station yesterday and got the guy there to put some air in my tires, and top of my fluids. It is running like a scalded dog now! Of course when I stopped at the gas station the guy already knew who I was, and everything about me thanks to an article that was written about me in the paper. He asked me about Kentucky, and wanted to know if the horses that my family had were thorobreds. You think I am kidding! He also told me what all of my teachers, friends, and dad told me: “Go slow and be careful.” Classic.
I have been thinking a lot this week about Noah and his ark. I know that is a random thing to think about, but sure has been on my mind this week. I have been trying to meditate about it and see what I can find out. I try to think about it from different angles and views and try to ask some challenging questions.
The Bible gives some pretty specific details about Noah and his building of the ark. The type of wood is given, as well as the dimensions for the ship. Beyond that, we are left up to the world of guessing and faith to speculate about the ark.
Theories and questions abound about the ark. I have many myself. There are the obvious blatant questions: Did he actually have all of the animals in the world inside that ark? Any Sunday School student worth his salt will surely tell you yes without batting an eye. But, for the older and wiser (I hope!) among us, this answer doesn’t come so easy. How did the animals get into the ark? Why didn’t the foxes eat the chickens? How did all of the animals fit? Why did the animals come, if in fact they did? How did Noah recreate the specific environments needed to sustain animals from the jungle and from the tundra in the same boat? In other words, were the snow leopards and cheetahs hanging out together? How did animals from the far reaches of the world get to the ark, let alone find their way to the ark across seas, rivers and mountains? What did the animals eat? Did Noah have bamboo for the pandas and Eucalyptus for the koalas? How did two of each animal repopulate the entire earth? Do you know how long that would take? After the flood, what did Noah and his family eat? .................Why didn’t he just wait a little longer for the unicorns?????
These questions are just the beginning. I guess you can try to scientifically answer some of the questions. Depending on your view of the age of the earth and evolution, you could say that when Noah was alive, there were not as many species of animals living…but certainly that would not decrease the thousands of species that are alive today by a siginificant enough number to make a real difference. Even if you consider aircraft carriers, which are HUGE ships and surely bigger than the ark, how could you even fit all the animals from the Louisville zoo? We can try and find the remnants of the art on top of a mountain in that part of the world, but in fact all that it would prove (if found) would be that someone built a large boat a long time ago, and somehow it made it to the top of a mountain. (unless of course, Noah made all of the animals sign a guest book…and that book were to be uncovered along with the remnants of the ark!!!)
I also wonder how the ark did not move to a far off location. For example, I’m sure a huge wooden boat would catch a lot of wind, and in turn be blown far away from where it was built. If you think about a constant five mph wind blowing the ark, and it was floating for 40 days and nights, then it is possible that the ark would have drifted 4,800 miles from its starting point. I’m not that smart, so I am sure that sea currents and swells and other things factored in as well. Maybe the ark was just so damn big that it just sat there in one spot like a giant buoy that smells like animal poop. Who knows.
So I guess what I am saying is that I really have been struggling with if I really believe that the ark was real, and what the Bible says happened, happened. I don't think that believing in the ark will be something that saves or damns me, but it is something to think about. I am not a person that believes that every sentence in the Bible has to be true in order for Jesus to have been real and to have died for me. Surely we believe Jesus is bigger than the book itself! It is just paper and ink you know. I don’t know of anyone who has used the book to cure people or ward off demons or for anything supernatural. It is the words and ideas in the book where the power lies.
Maybe you believe that the ark WAS real and that the answer of, “God made a way!” is enough to extinguish your questions about the ark. I however, like many of you know, am still looking for the nail holes….
Well I have been thinking about the ark alright. And then…something pops into my head. If I REALLY believe that God had a son that he sent to earth…He was born from Mary who had never had sex…He never did ANYTHING wrong…He died and was put in a tomb for three days only to come back to life….
If I really and truly believe that, then I guess believing that there was a man who built a big boat big enough to house all of the animals on the earth and his family ain’t that big of a deal.
Just call me Thomas.
This weekend is a three dayer thanks to the holiday on Monday and Nathan, Miyuki and Michi are coming to Toei for some outdoors fun. It is warm enough to swim today, but I don't think the weather will hold. We may do some camping in the mountains which should be a blast. If we do that it will probably snow or storm or be 1,000 degrees. Place your bets.
I got my scooter buzzing like a charm. I stopped at the local gas station yesterday and got the guy there to put some air in my tires, and top of my fluids. It is running like a scalded dog now! Of course when I stopped at the gas station the guy already knew who I was, and everything about me thanks to an article that was written about me in the paper. He asked me about Kentucky, and wanted to know if the horses that my family had were thorobreds. You think I am kidding! He also told me what all of my teachers, friends, and dad told me: “Go slow and be careful.” Classic.
I have been thinking a lot this week about Noah and his ark. I know that is a random thing to think about, but sure has been on my mind this week. I have been trying to meditate about it and see what I can find out. I try to think about it from different angles and views and try to ask some challenging questions.
The Bible gives some pretty specific details about Noah and his building of the ark. The type of wood is given, as well as the dimensions for the ship. Beyond that, we are left up to the world of guessing and faith to speculate about the ark.
Theories and questions abound about the ark. I have many myself. There are the obvious blatant questions: Did he actually have all of the animals in the world inside that ark? Any Sunday School student worth his salt will surely tell you yes without batting an eye. But, for the older and wiser (I hope!) among us, this answer doesn’t come so easy. How did the animals get into the ark? Why didn’t the foxes eat the chickens? How did all of the animals fit? Why did the animals come, if in fact they did? How did Noah recreate the specific environments needed to sustain animals from the jungle and from the tundra in the same boat? In other words, were the snow leopards and cheetahs hanging out together? How did animals from the far reaches of the world get to the ark, let alone find their way to the ark across seas, rivers and mountains? What did the animals eat? Did Noah have bamboo for the pandas and Eucalyptus for the koalas? How did two of each animal repopulate the entire earth? Do you know how long that would take? After the flood, what did Noah and his family eat? .................Why didn’t he just wait a little longer for the unicorns?????
These questions are just the beginning. I guess you can try to scientifically answer some of the questions. Depending on your view of the age of the earth and evolution, you could say that when Noah was alive, there were not as many species of animals living…but certainly that would not decrease the thousands of species that are alive today by a siginificant enough number to make a real difference. Even if you consider aircraft carriers, which are HUGE ships and surely bigger than the ark, how could you even fit all the animals from the Louisville zoo? We can try and find the remnants of the art on top of a mountain in that part of the world, but in fact all that it would prove (if found) would be that someone built a large boat a long time ago, and somehow it made it to the top of a mountain. (unless of course, Noah made all of the animals sign a guest book…and that book were to be uncovered along with the remnants of the ark!!!)
I also wonder how the ark did not move to a far off location. For example, I’m sure a huge wooden boat would catch a lot of wind, and in turn be blown far away from where it was built. If you think about a constant five mph wind blowing the ark, and it was floating for 40 days and nights, then it is possible that the ark would have drifted 4,800 miles from its starting point. I’m not that smart, so I am sure that sea currents and swells and other things factored in as well. Maybe the ark was just so damn big that it just sat there in one spot like a giant buoy that smells like animal poop. Who knows.
So I guess what I am saying is that I really have been struggling with if I really believe that the ark was real, and what the Bible says happened, happened. I don't think that believing in the ark will be something that saves or damns me, but it is something to think about. I am not a person that believes that every sentence in the Bible has to be true in order for Jesus to have been real and to have died for me. Surely we believe Jesus is bigger than the book itself! It is just paper and ink you know. I don’t know of anyone who has used the book to cure people or ward off demons or for anything supernatural. It is the words and ideas in the book where the power lies.
Maybe you believe that the ark WAS real and that the answer of, “God made a way!” is enough to extinguish your questions about the ark. I however, like many of you know, am still looking for the nail holes….
Well I have been thinking about the ark alright. And then…something pops into my head. If I REALLY believe that God had a son that he sent to earth…He was born from Mary who had never had sex…He never did ANYTHING wrong…He died and was put in a tomb for three days only to come back to life….
If I really and truly believe that, then I guess believing that there was a man who built a big boat big enough to house all of the animals on the earth and his family ain’t that big of a deal.
Just call me Thomas.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
A little late....
I hope this update finds everyone at home dreaming of a UK win this weekend and in good spirits! I am at my favorite elementary school at the moment “preparing” to teach two classes of English to 3rd and 4th grade combined and 5th and 6th grade combined. It should be good; these students are easy and always enjoy even the simplest of games. We could play “Yell English words you know in a loud annoying voice” and these kids would be champion of the world. They are cute though, and before class the 6th grade girls serenade me with singing and piano playing!
I now know what it must have felt like when all of my teachers growing up had to teach on a Friday. Especially a Friday afternoon. Wow. You have no idea how good it feels to finish that last class on a Friday!
As soon as school is over I am going to rush home and change and try to catch the early train to Toyohashi. Lord willing, by the time you read this, I will be there. Nothing like going to the big city to have a conversation with some other foreigners! It also is good for the soul to ride the train for a bit. I always like to think and people watch while I am on the train. It is very relaxing, as long as you don't miss your stop.
Things in Toei are well, we had the festival last weekend, and now the weather is turning cold. I wish you could see the fog around the mountains every morning when I wake up. It is beautiful…but cold! The nights have turned cold as well, but it is a great time too sleep with the windows open. It reminds me of being in college with the Big Worm and sleeping in our room with the heat off and windows open while it was snowing outside. We would cover up in about 100 blankets and then watch our breath as it escaped from our comforter fortresses. I just laughed out loud when I thought about Bird walking in, or us walking into his and Pole’s room, which was kept just a shade under the surface temperature of the sun. Big Worm and me had some great times, and to this day I don't think he can eat Taco Bell.
Fall is a great time of year and I hope you all are enjoying it. If the Japanese can teach us Americans anything, it would certainly be to take time to enjoy the small things. Don't take a beautiful fall blue sky for granted, or the beautiful leaves that we get to see in KY. Make sure you take them all in, and take a day just to sit around outside and do nothing. Make sure you take a Saturday and devote the entire day to football as well.
I miss all of you and hope you are doing well. Take the time to drop me a note or give me a call. I will have my phone in my apartment soon.
Enjoy today.
I now know what it must have felt like when all of my teachers growing up had to teach on a Friday. Especially a Friday afternoon. Wow. You have no idea how good it feels to finish that last class on a Friday!
As soon as school is over I am going to rush home and change and try to catch the early train to Toyohashi. Lord willing, by the time you read this, I will be there. Nothing like going to the big city to have a conversation with some other foreigners! It also is good for the soul to ride the train for a bit. I always like to think and people watch while I am on the train. It is very relaxing, as long as you don't miss your stop.
Things in Toei are well, we had the festival last weekend, and now the weather is turning cold. I wish you could see the fog around the mountains every morning when I wake up. It is beautiful…but cold! The nights have turned cold as well, but it is a great time too sleep with the windows open. It reminds me of being in college with the Big Worm and sleeping in our room with the heat off and windows open while it was snowing outside. We would cover up in about 100 blankets and then watch our breath as it escaped from our comforter fortresses. I just laughed out loud when I thought about Bird walking in, or us walking into his and Pole’s room, which was kept just a shade under the surface temperature of the sun. Big Worm and me had some great times, and to this day I don't think he can eat Taco Bell.
Fall is a great time of year and I hope you all are enjoying it. If the Japanese can teach us Americans anything, it would certainly be to take time to enjoy the small things. Don't take a beautiful fall blue sky for granted, or the beautiful leaves that we get to see in KY. Make sure you take them all in, and take a day just to sit around outside and do nothing. Make sure you take a Saturday and devote the entire day to football as well.
I miss all of you and hope you are doing well. Take the time to drop me a note or give me a call. I will have my phone in my apartment soon.
Enjoy today.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
What's your opinion on this????
Palin a challenge to So. Baptist view of women
By MIKE BAKER
Associated Press Writer
Southern Baptist Convention
RALEIGH, N.C. --
Within the nation's largest Protestant denomination, a woman may not lead a church or a home. But prominent Southern Baptists see nothing wrong with Sarah Palin serving as vice president - or perhaps even commander-in-chief someday.In other words: A woman can run the White House, just not her own house.
Republican presidential nominee John McCain's selection of the Alaska governor as his running mate - the first female on the party's ticket in history - has thrilled conservative Christians. It also has led Southern Baptist congregations and seminary students to confront their beliefs about the role of women in leadership.
Interpreted from Scripture, the teachings on women are held close in thousands of Southern Baptist Convention churches where millions worship. Among them: "The office of pastor is limited to men," and a wife should "submit herself graciously" to her husband. Earlier this month, more than 100 Lifeway Christian Bookstores - a retail chain affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention - pulled from the shelves a magazine featuring five female pastors on the cover.
Yet many in the denomination say the nation's second-highest leadership post is an apple to the pulpit's orange. Palin's potential work in a McCain administration - or even as president in the event of McCain's death - would be separate from her family life with her husband, Todd, and their children.
"There's no disconnect or inconsistency whatsoever," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "We don't go beyond where the New Testament goes. Public office is neither a church nor a marriage."
It's a question that's more than theological. The Southern Baptist Convention, with 42,000 churches and 16 million members, is reliably Republican. President Bush has addressed the denomination's annual meeting several times. And during the 2004 race, the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign hosted a reception for Southern Baptist pastors at a hotel across the street from the assembly.
The denomination is guided by The Baptist Faith and Message, a set of beliefs that includes restrictions on the roles of women. No Baptist is required to follow the statement, but it is a central theological document for Southern Baptists, their seminaries and clergy.
A prohibition on pastoral leadership by women, affirmed within the last several years, is based on the Bible verse 1 Timothy 2:12 in which the Apostle Paul says, "I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man." Regarding family life, Southern Baptists cite Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord."
Land said the Southern Baptists' position allows for a wife to work outside the home, so long as her husband agrees - and Todd Palin has long backed his wife's career in public service.
Yet, Land's view is far from universal in the denomination. Many Southern Baptists believe women and mothers should stay home.
A year ago, the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, which has its main campus in Fort Worth, Texas, introduced an academic program in homemaking, where women - and only women - are taught how to cook and sew. In a 2004 sermon, the Rev. Daniel L. Akin, president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Wake Forest, N.C., cited the biblical book of Titus to argue that one of God's assignments to young women is to "be a homemaker."
"She is not lazy or a busybody, nor is she distracted by outside pursuits and responsibilities that eat up her precious time and attention," he said. "This woman is not seduced by the sirens of modernity who tell her she is wasting her time and talent as a homemaker, and that it is the career woman who has purpose and is truly satisfied."
Yet, in a recent interview, Akin said he supports Palin's candidacy, arguing that while the Bible speaks about the role of women in church and the home, it speaks nothing about women in government. Still, he said he would sound warnings to a wife and mother of five children who wanted to take on such a difficult job.
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