by Whitey | Apr 18, 2008 | Weekly Re-Cap
Is it Friday again already? Life seems to be moving pretty fast these days. The days fill up quickly and the next thing you know it, another week has passed. It makes these Weekly Re-Caps hard to write. But here goes. This week I’ll talk about my new routine…
I’m getting into a pretty regular routine now that school’s full-time: I get up at around 6:30, have a shower, then have breakfast, coffee and quiet time. I leave for school between 8 and 8:30, depending on whether I’m biking or taking the subway. Biking takes more time and effort, but it’s good exercise, and I enjoy the trip. The subway is faster but really crowded that time of day, and more depressing; just picture a train car full of sleepy salarymen, office ladies and students, crammed in like sardines, most of them going somewhere they don’t want to be going, especially that time of day. Yeah, biking is better.
I’m in class from about 9 AM till 12:35 PM, then in the afternoon I need to spend at least 2 hours studying and doing homework. Then I have “missionary stuff” to do, which means anything from preparing for an ESL Bible study, to emailing supporters, to internship work. So there’s always something to do, whether it feels like ministry or not.
As I said, the days fill up pretty quickly.
Prayer Points: This week the new pastor, Uchiyama-sensei, arrived. His first prayer meeting was Wednesday night. That same night the outgoing pastor’s family left, and the moving company took their stuff away the next day. Pray-ers, please continue to pray for the church as it goes through this transition time. Pastor Uchiyama’s first Sunday as Nagoya Immanuel’s pastor is this weekend. Also, please keep praying for my studies (we’re moving quickly into new and uncharted territory!) and God’s guidance for my ministry here. Thanks!
And that’s a wrap for this week. If you haven’t been here all week, scroll on down and see what I’ve added — there was a bunch of new stuff this week. See you next week.
by Whitey | Apr 17, 2008 | Life in Japan, Photos, Videos
This past weekend, as I mentioned before, Zach came to Nagoya. I had the task of being his tour guide, which was kind of nice, because it gave me someone to do some site-seeing with (the locals, just like back home, take local landmarks for granted).
We met up Saturday morning around 10 at Nagoya Station. After a brief discussion we decided on three things to do: visit Midland Square (tallest building in Nagoya) and check out the view of the city; go to Nagoya Castle, where they were having a samurai parade and battle re-enactment (which was not nearly as cool as it sounds); and travel to Gifu (the neighboring prefecture) for the Fire Festival, which just happened to be going on Saturday night.
The Fire Festival was just as crazy as the name implies. Basically, a bunch of “bare-chested, sake-fueled men” (as the article read) carried around portable shrine things making lots of noise — typical Japanese festival stuff, but with the addition of fireworks being shot into the air, lighting up lanterns and sending ashes and sparks down on the aforementioned bare-chested men. There were also lots of booths set up selling various food and souvenir items. Zach got a bbq squid on a stick and I bought a huge bbq sausage on a stick; there were lots of things on sticks, now that I think of it. There were also lots of people.
Anyway, here are some photos and videos from Midland Square, Nagoya Castle and even Gifu (where it was too dark and far from the action to get good video on a cell phone but if you look carefully you may see some of those bare-chested men dancing beneath the flames).
Nagoya Castle and the surrounding cityscape,
as seen from Midland Square:
Fierce-looking samurai warriors:
Me! At the Castle:
Me again! On top of a replica of one of the
“Golden Dolphins” that adorn the top of the outside of the Castle:
More fierce samurai. Myself included:
Zach and his squid-stick:
The craziness just getting started in Gifu:
Lanterns on FIRE!
Going up the elevator at Midland Squre:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6KBFsyCbJU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
Taiko drummers at the Castle:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBBKP0TzGTg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
Craziness at the Fire Festival:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=958unGkOeFs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1]
by Whitey | Apr 11, 2008 | Weekly Re-Cap
This week…
1. I had my first full week of full-time language classes. Lots of review for me, since it’s the same stuff I took in January, but it’s moving much more quickly. I’m trying to take advantage of the ease of the current workload and memorize the words I missed the first time. And hopefully get ahead and stay ahead. Soon enough we’ll be into uncharted territory.
2. Things at the church have been chaotic, as renovations were being done, boxes and furniture were being moved in and out, and lots of stuff went out with the trash — all part of pastoral transition time.
3. Fellow missionary Zach came to Nagoya. I haven’t seen him yet but we’ve made plans to meet up and see some sights together tomorrow. Expect to read about the fun here.
If you’re a pray-er, please pray for…
1. My language studies
2. Pastor Saoshiro and family — this coming Sunday is their last one here.
3. Pastor Uchiyama and family — the new pastor, who begins next week.
Thanks! That’s a wrap for this week!
by Whitey | Apr 4, 2008 | Weekly Re-Cap
Last week I was away and off-line for a few days, so I didn’t get to post a re-cap. So this week I’ll attempt to sum up the past two weeks concisely, in point-form.
- Last Wednesday afternoon, I hopped the Shinkansen to Yokohama and found my way to the Wesleyan mission house, where I was hosted hospitably by the Probsts, WGM missionaries.
- Thursday was spent hanging out with fellow-GP-missionary Andrea, and our boss’s boss’s boss Wesleyan General Superintendent Dr. Jerry Pence, along with his two sons, sight-seeing in Tokyo. Photos will follow when I get around to it.
- Friday, Saturday and Sunday I attended several sessions of the Immanuel Church’s annual national conference. Friday night I gave a testimony in the evening service, and Saturday I gave greetings — in Japanese! — during one of the business meetings.
- Sunday night after conference I came back to Nagoya. Tired.
- Monday morning I wrote, survived, and passed my Japanese exam.
- Tuesday morning I had orientation and a placement exam for my full-time course.
- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (today) I had class in the morning and studied in the afternoons. So far the new class is super-easy because we’re back to square one, covering the stuff I was doing in January, which was already pretty easy since I’d studied it before. But it’ll get much harder pretty soon I’m sure.
- Yesterday I also shot some photos in Nagoya Central Park and did some recording for a soon-to-be-released (maybe even tonight) podcast, in which I talk more about conference, the needs of Japan and the Japanese church, my studies and what’s going on here at the Nagoya church. Check back soon!
And that’s a wrap for now.
by Whitey | Mar 28, 2008 | Life in Japan
One recent weekend I was wandering around taking pictures and enjoying the nice weather (It’s spring here, you know, and that actually means something, unlike back in Canada). In front of Nagoya Station, probably the busiest part of the city, I saw the above-pictured group of people offering free hugs to passers-by. I watched for a while, while literally hundreds of people passed by and barely anyone stopped for a hug. If someone did stop, it was some really extroverted person. I saw others try unsuccessfully to persuade their friends to go get a hug, too. But still, hardly anyone stopped, though many looked and smiled or laughed or looked away like they were embarrassed.
It was an interesting sociological experiment to watch, as I’m sure it would have had different results in another culture. You don’t see a lot of public displays of affection in Japan, especially between people who have just met. Interestingly enough, Zach had a similar experience a while back, all the way up in Tokyo.
I’m not sure who this particular group was (This was one of the many times I’ve wished my Japanese was more developed) but they were nice enough to let me take their picture. I also got hugs from all five of them — which is five more hugs than I’d gotten since coming to Japan 3 months ago. Made my day.
