Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I could speak fluently and I could say what a normal American would say back home. Today when I came to school the notoriously strict principal (at one of my elementary schools—the same guy that scolded me last week for not saying hello to him every time I arrive) ask me who the red car belonged to that was outside of my house last weekend. He also asked whom the other two people were that I was driving to Toyohashi with. I felt like telling him the car belonged to a Mr. Biznass, A Mr. Nunya Bizass to be specific. He ended his inquiry into what I was doing with my life by telling me that everyone here is watching me, and that I need to be careful. I might let it get to me, but I know that all of the other teachers in Toei can't stand this jerk—so knowing that makes him easy to ignore. I would love to let him hear it just one time though.
Everything else is Toei is going great, except for one small thing. The teachers at my junior high give me so much to eat, I am going to have to talk to them. Every day they load up my plate with a TON of food, and I can’t take it anymore. Some Japanese people think that just because I am a white foreigner that I must eat a ton. I have pointed it out to many of the other teachers that I am not any bigger than any of my Japanese teachers, and that I can't eat that much. Nevertheless, the fact that I am white trumps all other reason.
The weather is getting warmer and I am ready. I have been enjoying exercising after school and getting home in time to enjoy the sun—unlike winter here when it got dark at like 4:30PM. The only downside to the summer is that I think it now gets light here at like 4:15AM, and by that time the birds are up and going nuts each day. I like getting up each morning at like 5AM though…gives me time to ease into the day, drink my coffee, and chat on the phone before the work day begins.
Michi and I have been reading the Bible a lot together these days, and I have go to say that I am now convinced that most people, especially Christians, have no idea what the Bible really says. Even if I do think I understand what it says, when I start to break it down and explain it, I realize that I don’t know a thing about what I am trying to explain. We are plowing through John, and we are in the middle of chapter 3. If there is anyone out there who can explain what Jesus meant in John 3:18 when he said that those who don’t believe are ALREADY condemned—I’d love to hear you give it a shot. And while you are at it, go ahead and give me an explanation of the last four or five verses of John 2.
I have been listening to and reading a lot about different translations of the Bible and where our current text came from, and I am amazed by so many that can follow every word that we have in English and not even wonder about where it comes from. I admit that living in a foreign country and learning different languages makes it obvious how meanings do change with each translation. To my knowledge, when we read the Bible—we are reading text that has been translated through at least two languages. I can imagine how the meaning gets lost… Kentucky English just doesn’t translate into Japanese. You can imagine how even the smallest things are lost in translation. Think about how many ways we have to express the simple but always funny act of passing gas. Translating, “Who cut the cheese?” or “ripped a big one” into Japanese just doesn’t work.

Yeah DAD!

My dad is on the far left. His group came upon a bus crash in Ecuador!!!!


http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/802405.html

$100 Challenge

This weekend I was in Nagoya with Michi. I decide to do something that I had never done before, and something that I didn't think I ever would do. Michi wanted to go shopping, so I took her to her favorite store and told her she could shop as much as she wanted, and that I was going to walk around downtown for a while. (I get bored after being in the store for 5 minutes.)

Before I left I gave her $100 and told her that she could only buy things for herself and that the money was hers to spend on anything she wanted. She was amazed and immediately was so happy. The rest of the weekend she told me about how it made her feel so happy that I wanted to be generous to her and wanted to make her happy.

She was in the store for over an hour, and she came out empty handed. She hadn't bought a thing, but the simple fact that I was willing to sacrifice something that was mine for her, made all of the difference in the world.

Whatever $100 is worth to you, I dare you to do the same for your girl. FOR SURE, it will be the best $100 you will ever spend.

The summer is almost here in full swing. The nights are getting warmer, and it seems like the birds are up and chirping at 3:30AM every morning. I woke up to a bright sky this morning and could have sworn I was late to school, but when I checked my phone I saw that it was only 4:45AM. It makes me happy when I do that though, because after that I can get the best 15-20 minutes of sleep.
School is going well the days come and go just like the ones before them. I wake up and do my morning rituals: email, read the news, shower, make my coffee, ichat with Michi, call friends and head to work. My afternoon rituals vary somewhat—usually I get home from school, check the news, run/exercise for about an hour, make dinner, eat, read/watch movies/relax, and hit the sack early. I know my life during the week sounds a bit boring, but believe me that the alone time can be nice and that I do make up for it on the weekends.
Usually I spend the weekends with friends and traveling and just about every weekend is spent with Michi. I have a room in her brother’s house that makes it real easy for me to stay in Toyohashi on the weekends. Sometimes life in her brother’s house gets a little wild with the four kids—but it is exciting.
It’s hard for me to believe that I only have about two months of school left until I will be home again for another visit. Time here passes both fast and slow. Sometimes I look at a calendar and wonder where the month went, and other times it seems like lunchtime will never get here. I do know that it seems like it was just yesterday that I was back in Japan—but in another sense it seems like forever since I have been at home relaxing. I have one sweet break lined up this summer (more than six weeks off!) and I am looking forward to making the most of it.
These days I have been reading a lot more, partly because I am trying to learn a lot and partly because I want to finish all of my books before summer so I can stock up with new ones when I am at home. Now I’m reading Sex God by Rob Bell. He says some good stuff but the way he writes and his endnotes are not to my liking. Sometimes I think he just wrote a bunch of sentences on a piece of paper, cut them out, put them in a bag and shook them, and dumped them on the table. Wherever they landed they stayed. He is full of great info and good information though.
I have two more classes to go on this Friday afternoon before I am done for the weekend. I’ve already taught two at the junior high this morning, and today I ate so much for school lunch that I need to explode or take a nap—or maybe a combination of both. Now, it’s time for me to put on my best smile, muster all of the energy that I can, and go teach some elementary school aged Japanese kids a few English words and games.

I am taking a nap after my afternoon run. For sure.

I love you Mom!

And I miss you. I'll be home soon!