The kitchen

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The kitchen is a nice big size. It has a huge sink, a nice size table, and standard range, refrigerator, and microwave. There were a lot of dishes and pots provided, and there is also a lot of cupboard space, although it is quite high. There's even a cool cellar in the floor... but I haven't quite figured out what I want to put down there, if anything. Maybe just emergency supplies of water or something!
There are only two drawbacks: the floor and ceiling are rather ugly; and the kitchen is used by the English school every week, so I have to keep it clean. That will be a good challenge for me, though. So far, I've managed by not eating at home very much. There's a really cheap rice-bowl fast food place down the street that I've gone to a few times.

My bathroom

From what you'd consider a typical bathroom in the US, mine is split into three rooms. One room is only the toilet; I haven't bothered to take a picture of that. For the English school, my boss has it decked out in Winnie the Pooh. Next is a room with a sink and vanity, my washing machine, and some shelves. Finally, there is a bath/shower room. That is huge, and has a rather high, peaked ceiling. All the rooms have windows. The shower room has a very deep, Japanese style tub: I can fit in it up to my neck, but I can't stretch out much. The tub is reheatable, although I suspect that the way water is reheated is just to start pumping more hot water into what's already there. The room is tile and plaster, the tub is metal.

Upstairs

There are only two rooms upstairs, my bedroom and sort of an office/living room. The latter has carpet covering the wood floor, the bedroom does not, but I have a rug I'll put down in the winter. It seems I've neglected to take a picture of my upstairs living room, and I can't do it right now because it's a mess. I can always update later, right? It's very nice, and came with a small sofa and a large bookcase and a small desk. That is also the way out to my balcony for hanging laundry. That I do have a picture of, as seen from the bedroom window.

My bedroom

 
I have an actual bed! That's good, because I don't have the soft, comfortable tatami in my bedroom, but a hardwood floor. It's pretty simple right now, just the bed, my dresser, and lots of closet space. There are windows on both sides, so it gets lots of good light.
 

March 20th 2007 -- I moved!!

 
On Tuesday, March 20th I moved into my new house in Niitsu. When I say new, of course I mean new to me. It’s a somewhat old, Japanese style house. It’s an eleven minute walk from the train station, where I can also get a bus into Shirone.

The day I moved was quite busy. My new employer and her husband filled their cars with my boxes, I filled the car I had been driving, and we moved most of my things over in one trip. Pastor W and his wife also helped load the cars and take care of garbage from my apartment. Laura returned from a trip to Tokyo that day, and after I picked her up from the train station, she and I spent all afternoon and evening cleaning. It was a lot of hard work, and we finished quite late, but we still had a great time doing it. 

Driver's license renewal

March 27, 2007 (back dated b/c I couldn't post on the day it happened)

Today I had the first-time experience of renewing my driver’s license in Japan. When I first received it, it was good for two years. I don’t think that’s typical for a new driver, but I’m not sure. Anyway, today it was renewed for three years.

The first license you get is green, which means you’re a beginner. But my new license is blue. It’s not the whole license, just one stripe on it. I had to go to the same driving center where I got it two years ago. I drove the “company car” for the first time and went on my own. Each step was fairly easy to understand, and they were very efficient. Although, I nearly didn’t get my address changed. The first lady and I didn’t understand each other: I was trying to tell her my address had changed, she only thought the change was from Shirone city to Niigata city. So I had to explain it to another man later, and then it was okay. They checked my eyesight, took my picture, and eventually sent me to a room to wait. After twenty minutes, a two hour refresher class began. There were about twenty other people in the classroom. An instructor gave a power point lecture that was mostly about automobile collision statistics. He detailed the top causes for death by automobile collision, and showed us a couple of video clips of crash test dummies comparing use of seatbelt or not. I was a little sad that some of the people in the room had their heads down or were falling asleep. I could only understand about half of the words he was using, but I felt that I understood about 70 percent of the meaning, and I took notes on what seemed most important, or words I wanted to look up. After 55 minutes, we took a ten minute break. Then we watched a video that was about the most common bad habits of drivers, and the worst-case scenario collisions that occur because of it. The video was about 30 minutes long. Then our instructor spoke in a bit more detail about the importance of having safe driving habits. After that, we received our renewed driver’s licenses.

It took all morning, but it was worth it. If you go for long enough without any accidents, you get a gold color license. I don’t know how long I will live in Japan, but if I live here for a long time, I hope I can earn a gold license!

Ski Trip!

 
February 12th I went skiing with Laura and several students. We all rode down together in a big 8-passenger van and I got queasy sitting in the back, so they let me sit in the front the rest of the way.
The weather was nice in the morning, but foggy and snowy after lunch. The snow was okay. I skiied great! I didn't fall, and I skiied with control and decent form the entire day. My legs were really sore, though.
Monday is always my day off, but the 12th was also a national holiday observed, so the others had off from work, too. 

November Praise Hour

 
November 26, 2006 Shirone Lutheran Christ Church. Thanks to the pastor from Nozomi, I have these photos to share with you. Although this event is organized, planned, and prepared for by church members, they ask us to lead the praise time. Here is Laura, me, Efrain on guitar, and Victor on drums, leading "I will call upon the Lord." The translations for the songs are done by our pastor, who also gives a short, easy-to-understand sermon, and he always preaches the gospel. We had at least fifty people, most of them non-Christians. 

All about Thanksgiving

 
Laura shared a message about the meaning of thanksgiving, and Eriko, a highschool student, translated it into Japanese for us. 

Joyful Noise Choir

 
Our church choir sang a hymn in four part harmony at one point during the praise hour. The first verse was sung in English; then the first, second and third verses were sung in Japanese. In this group, preaching to the choir would not be a waste of breath: about half of the group are not Christian! 

Victor's solo

 
At every praise hour, Victor sings a solo with his guitar. This time, he wrote a praise song of his own! It was really quite good! He and I agree that the Holy Spirit did most of the work! 

Turkey time!

 
After the worship, we had a thanksgiving feast. As always, Michiko did tons of work preparing the 'American' side of things: two turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and sweet potato casserole. This year she wisely solicited help from willing students to prepare much of it the day before. All from recipies she got from her time living in America, and many ingredients ordered from the internet because they aren't available in Japan, it was superb. Just like home! 

Let's eat!

 
Victor and Efrain did a great job carving the turkey. As always, everyone enjoyed a wonderful feast.
Afterward, thirteen of us went to the nearby gym to play badminton. Our biggest group yet, we had tons of fun. This makes at least the fourth time this year that we've had a post-praise hour badminton party. 

Fall Conference 2006

 
From October 31st to November 5th, we met in Tokyo for our annual Fall Retreat, called a conference because of the length. Over the weekend, from Friday the 3rd to Sunday the 5th, we were in Okutama. Although it is an area in the mountains and countryside, it still politically belongs to Tokyo. This picture was taken in the dining hall of Okutama Bible Chalet, where we stayed. 

Wendy's

 
On Tuesday night we had dinner at Wendy's, a place we don't have in Niigata. But I had a late lunch and wasn't very hungry, so I only got a Frostie. While Tokyo is very busy and crowded, there are some good points, such as the wider variety of eating establishments. 

Anchor hall

 
This was the place we had our business meeting on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. I took minutes for the meeting on my second-hand mini-laptop that I bought earlier this year. We had times of prayer throughout the meeting, so it didn't drag like usual. 

Dinner!

 
Wednesday night found us at TGI Friday's for dinner. We don't have one in Niigata, so it was nice to enjoy some good American food. It's always a good time. 

Presentations

 
The reason fall retreat was called a conference this year is that it involved more than just the business meeting and retreat. We also enjoyed some presentations designed to help us do our jobs better. Here is my friend Bethany sharing a presentation on expectations.
In addition to presentations, we also had some type of worship service each night. I didn't take any pictures, but it was wonderful, and very enriching. 

Caught up with a friend

 
On Thursday night I had a chance to have dinner with a good friend of mine. She was living with her family during the summer, and I met her in early August. At the end of September she moved to Tokyo for a job starting at the beginning of October. Even though we lived nearby for only a short time, we became good friends. She was baptized very early this year and is really on fire for the Lord. 

Bridge

 
This was the bridge we crossed to get from the train station to the chalet where we stayed. It was a suspension foot bridge that moved ever so slightly when you walked across it. My mom would have hated it; I even had trouble crossing it on Saturday after my little mishap...