Chris & Abbie

Baseball is a big thing here in Japan. Japan has their own baseball league, and the games are usually on at night. Sometimes we watch them, just because we like baseball. Our favorite team is the Tokyo Giants, but I think that's because we see their games more than any other teams.

But they also show American baseball on TV. The American games are aired in the mornings, so we can only watch them on the weekends. Mostly we see the Mariners, Yankees, Red Sox and Rays, since there are Japanese players on each of those teams. But we heard that this morning they would be airing Saturday's Cubs game. Sure enough - at 8:10am the game came on!

It was so much fun to watch and see Chicago - we definitely miss our home town and for certain we miss Cubs games. If Kosuke Fukudome keeps playing well, hopefully we'll keep getting Cubs games here!

Chris put on his Cubs shirt and hat for the event. He wanted me to wear the shirt and hat you see sitting next to him, but everyone who knows me knows I don't wear hats.

As you know, our washer and dryer were a bit tricky to figure out, since they have the Japanese buttons and all. Well most people here actually hang their clothes out to dry (when the weather is good, of course). So I tried it, and...I love it! Our clothes dry faster outside than in our dryer and they smell so wonderful!

You can see our plants in the picture, too. We don't have any green space at our apartment, but we are trying our hand at some potted plants - tomatoes, basil and some pretty flowers. I'll post more later on that to let you know if we have any success with this!

On Saturday we went to Koriyama to see an art exhibit by a Japanese artist, Seiji Fujishiro. When we got to Koriyama, the next bus to the museum wasn't coming for an hour, so we decided to walk. We walked 45 minutes to get to the museum. And yesterday was the first really warm day, so I decided it was a great day to break in my flip flops for the Summer! Not so much! We hiked up hill and I ended up with blisters in between my toes...but...

It was so worth it! This art exhibit wasn't like anything I've ever seen before - it was so beautiful!

The artist creates his pieces by first drawing his picture on matte board. Then he cuts out each shape that will be a different color and layers different colored paper behind the board. In the end they are displayed with light shining on each image from behind, so the colors are so bright. It's really hard to explain, but it was so cool!

The other interesting thing is that the artist is a Christian, which is kind of surprising since he's Japanese. Most Japanese people don't really know much about God, and a lot of them have never even heard of Him. So the neat thing is that part of the exhibit was all artwork on Bible stories - the Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, Crossing the River Jordan, The Ten Commandments, Christ's Birth and Death, etc.

So, I asked Jeni, one of our teammates, what people would think of the artwork, since some of them have never heard of God. She said that some would just think it's nice artwork, but that some of the pieces had descriptions with them, that explained the story. It made me so excited about the artist - his exhibit travels all over Japan, and even the world, but what a great way to tell the Japanese people Bible Stories!



This was a piece that he finished just a month ago. It's of the Taki-Zakura, the 1,000 year old Cherry Blossom tree that we went to see.

A close up of the new piece

Me and Jeni outside the Koriyama Art Museum

On Wednesday, our friend Lis had a concert in Koriyama (the big city about 30 minutes from us). She plays piano and her friend, Iichi, plays guitar. They were great!

They played songs both in English and Japanese and some of the songs were even worship songs. It was really neat to see all the Japanese people listening to them, and after one of the concerts some of Lis' Japanese friends were even asking her what the songs meant. What a great opportunity for her to be able to share with them!

It's really neat to me to see the opportunities God opens up for us here in Japan. While Chris and I still need to learn more of the language, God is still presenting people for us to get to know, and hopefully build relationships with. But how neat that God would present an opportunity to share His love to people at a club!

Lis and Iichi

This week was Golden Week (3 Japanese Holidays right in a row), so we were off school Monday - Wednesday, which was really nice! But today was our first day back to school, and there was never a dull moment! So I thought I'd share some of my funniest moments so far:

LAWN:
At the English school they mowed the lawn today. And when I say mowed, I mean the man took a weed wacker to mow it - and yes, it's a HUGE lawn, so he was out there for 2.5 hours today completing the task. Maybe they don't use lawn mowers here - we're just not sure.

CHAIRS:
Last week I was teaching my 6th grade girls class. They are fun and quite energetic bunch. The classroom has a very high stage I need to stand on to write at the chalkboard, so I frequently move from the stage to the main level and back, throughout the class. There is a teeny, old, wooden chair that you step up to go onto the stage.

Well, yes, as I went to step on the chair to go up onto the stage, the chair cracked. The bottom of it broke (where you'd sit or stand) and the students just died laughing at me.

CHAIRS, YET AGAIN:
Today the infamous chair was fixed, so no problem, I thought. I was so careful to step everytime I wanted to get on the stage, but apparently one time I didn't pay attention. The chair slipped out from me before I could step on it and I fell to the ground, smacking my back and head on the stage. Again, my students laughed, but also asked if I was ok. What could I do but laugh?

SECURITY:
The other week I was shopping at Funehiki Park, kind of like a two-story Walmart, with a grocery store. As I was leaving the store, the security alarm went off. Had I been in America I would have kept walking. But being the only American in the store, I thought that would be a bit obvious. So I stopped and proceeded to wait as one, and then two, and then finally three workers searched all 3 of my bags. They tried to talk to me for about 15 minutes, but the little Japanese I do know, is really only helpful in the classroom. So finally after waiting it out they let me go, but watched as the security alarm went off, again. This time I just kept walking.

Some of you know that I started to get into quilting just before I left the States. My one dream was to get a sewing machine in Japan, so I could make quilts for people. I also hope that someday I'll be able to use it as a tool for ministry, but for now I need some more practice.

So, the other day, Chris went over to the big store near us, and got my sewing machine for me! Of course, everything's in Japanese: the owners manual, all of the words on the machine, etc. But there was an intro DVD that came with the sewing machine - it's also in Japanese, but it gives me a visual step-by-step guide to how to get things started. So tomorrow will be the big day to get it set up and see how it goes. (I'll let you know!)

My new sewing machine - with top loading bobbin, what a bonus

More Japanese to figure out...


It even came with a free cover - another bonus!

On Sunday, we went to Sendai. Sendai is usually a two hour bus ride from us, but on Sunday it took four hours to get there. The bus driver warned us of that before we left, saying there was some reason, but of course we couldn't understand the reason. So we just settled in and enjoyed the ride.

We went with a couple of our friends - Rebekah, Patty and Ashley. It was so great to have them along because they knew how to buy the bus tickets and where to go in Sendai.

Our main priority was the apple store - Both we and Rebekah had to get our laptops looked at, but while we were there, we made sure to enjoy some other things: UNIQLO (kind of like H&M), a bookstore that actually had an English section, and some mexican food. I wouldn't exactly say it was tasty, but it left us remembering and wanting Garcias!

Overall the day was lots of fun and we were quite successful at the apple store!

Rice fields on the way to Sendai. The farmers all flood the rice fields before they plant them - we're not sure why.

Sendai - probably the closest "BIG" city to us

This one's for Rachel - we think Wicked and Lion King are playing in Tokyo!