29 Years Later

Friday night worked out well. I had spent most of the day praying and sorting things out in my head, with regard to what I am about to divulge publicly.

To put it simply, I now have a girlfriend. Big news for anyone that knows me, and not something I take at all lightly. I'm at a point in my life where it is pretty serious, as decisions like this will affect me, and her, long-term.

I won't go into details, as this is merely my blog, but things are really good right now. God is, and always will be, in the centre of this relationship. If it is his will, things will progress as they should. If everything is done properly, there will be so much contentment, peace and joy.

I got barely any sleep on Friday night. On Saturday, Mika, Eddi and I picked up Laurel from K-town and the four of us drove out towards Nakamura. We stopped at a beach on the way and then fed a couple of horses nearby. We went to a batting cage in Nakamura, which was pretty cool, as I had never really swung a baseball bat before.

After some grocery shopping and donuts, we came back home. I didn't get an opportunity to talk to my family that night, but I did see them last night and told them about recent events. They are happy for me. :)

So, in case it isn't obvious, my new girlfriend is Mika. We just got closer and closer and realised that we both wanted the same thing. So now we are in a relationship and looking towards a bright future together, where we work out our vision and long-term Kingdom-building plans (that's Godspeak for doing his work).

I went to bed early on Saturday night, having had so little sleep this past week. It was refreshing, even though I woke up with a headache on Sunday. The service at church was good, though. We had the same guest speaker from Wednesday night. Heimo-san also prayed for people after the lunch we shared together.

Following that, Mika and I talked to our pastor and we had him pray for us. A very good start to any relationship, ne.

We took Eddi to the park, by which time it was actually getting quite late in the afternoon. We stopped at the hospital to visit Mika's grandfather, before coming back to Taisho (church is in Kubokawa, as is the hospital). I talked to mum, dad, Amy and Simon on Skype before going to Mika's place for dinner.

We watched a movie together last night, at my house, and spent time talking and praying together.

So things are really good, on a personal level. I wouldn't usually talk about such private issues, but I am happy to write this stuff in my blog. It's all a part of the Japanese experience. As a Christian, my experiences and the way I relate to the world are probably different. But it is great, because life is full of so many blessings that secular-minded people would simply overlook.

There is much joy to be had in Christ.

Peace.

Timotheos

Hamburgers Are For Winners

It has been 11 days since I last posted an entry here. Boy, how the weeks fly by. Some days seem to take a long time to get through, but in retrospect, each week seems to go by pretty fast. I've been in Japan for nine months, and it's almost May already!

Let's take a look at the last week and a half in review:

The rest of last week was the standard fare: school and time spent in the office twi- erm, preparing and... stuff.

On Saturday, we attended the Genki Musical. Every year, JETs from around the prefecture put together a play, performed in the regional dialect of Tosa-ben. They did a really good job with Makino and the Beanstalk, this year's production. Pre-reading the script in English really helped, too, as I was able to follow it and enjoy it.

We Shimanto-ites went out for dinner afterwards, which was very nice.

On Sunday, I didn't feel too good (headache, despite having decent sleep), so didn't go to church. I spent a lot of time resting and some time on my computer.

It poured with rain on Monday, so I had to forgo the usual evening run. However, Mika and I ran on Tuesday instead, as it was a beautiful day.

On Wednesday, there was a guest speaker at our church in K-town: a man from Sweden, who had been involved with missions here in Japan and had helped to plant the church. Mika interpreted his message into Japanese. It was really good to see 15-20 people attending the meeting, and it was a very encouraging time (the message was mostly about hearing the voice of God and the power that he gives to each of us).

I stayed up very late that night. I'll skip over the details for now, but I ended up getting around three hours of sleep. :x

On Thursday -- wait, that was yesterday. Ok, so we are almost up to date now. ;)

Yesterday it was a nice day, too. I felt pretty tired and was glad to have a small break between classes. Fourth and fifth periods land before and after lunch, respectively, and I had those free; which gave me a few hours of time to just rest and not do anything significant.

Mika and I went for another run. So intead of running on Monday and Wednesday, this week we have run on Tuesday and Thursday.

Last night was nice. I was up until almost 2am (yet another late night), but it was worthwhile. ^^

So yeah, I'm being a little vague here, but for good reason. Some things you can type for all the world to see; and sometimes you just have to be discreet, allowing your readers to just imagine what they will. Suffice to say, I have been spending less and less time logging into World of Warcraft and more time trying to get my priorities straight.

God is good.

Peace.

Timotheos

Enkai and Trifle

The new academic year started last week. We were introduced to new teachers at our respective schools. There are five new teachers at Tokawa chuu, and I'm not sure how many at Shouwa. But there is a new English teacher there, Nakaoka sensei.

So Tuesday was all about the start of the new year. There were no classes but I had to attend two assemblies. The one in the morning was more casual and was just an introduction of the new staff to existing students. In the afternoon, everyone wore formal attire (I'd worn a suit all day, actually), and we had an opening ceremony for the new first years -- of which there are a mere six.

Of course, Monday, Wednesday and Friday were all days spent in the office, "working". I always work hard when I have no school. >.>

Thursday saw classes at Shouwa chuu, but they were mostly introductions and questions. There are 11 new students there.

As an office, we had hanami on Friday. Hanami is having a picnic lunch beneath sakura trees. It was nice to sit outside and eat a prepared obento.

On Friday night I attended an enkai with Tokawa chuu teachers. We ate at a yaki-niku (Japanese barbecue) place. Afterwards was the obligatory karaoke. Good times.

On Saturday, Michael and I packed up our air pistols and corresponding gear and headed into the hills to do a bit of shooting practice. We continued on to Nakamura to do some shopping and he ordered a proper shoulder strap for his gun and extra clips. I got some groceries; including the necessities for making a trifle.

Back home, I made a trifle for our dessert evening that same night. Michael, Mika, Laurel, Narae and I ate at Yamagoya before heading to my place to watch Rat Race. Mika had to leave early so missed out on dessert, which we ate after the movie. It was mostly my trifle and some icecream that Mikey had brought.

I spent most of Sunday at home. Nothing productive.

Went to church last night with Mika and Eddie. Taniguchi sensei (our pastor) gave us each hard-boiled eggs with cute Easter labels. I ate mine at breakfast this morning.

After church, I grabbed the rest of my trifle and shared it with Eddi and Mika at their place. I chilled there until quite late. But it happens. ;)

Monday. Tired. Whole day to look forward to in the office. Some interesting activities coming up, though. Aside from school, of course.

Moti-va-tion!

Peace.

Timotheos

Osaka Holiday - April 2009

I've been putting off this blog entry for a few days. Last Monday, Michael and I drove up to Osaka to stay for three days. We stayed in Kobe for one night, also, and then drove back down here on Friday.

Since then, I have not been motivated enough to write an entry. So don't expect anything inspiring or entertaining.

On the night that we arrived, we checked into our Hostel in Shin-Osaka and took the train to Osaka central (Umeda station), where we had a brief look around. We would travel a lot on either the subway or local train system over the next few days.

Tuesday morning was spent around Osaka proper. We ventured further out from the station than we had the night before but nothing really eventful took place.

After lunch, we met my friend Eri - a Kansai university student who had boarded with my brother's girlfriend's parents back in New Zealand earlier this year. It was the first time I had met her in person. The three of us went to Osaka Castle. There was a lot of history depicted inside, in various artifacts and folding screen paintings that showed battles between various noble families.

大阪城 (Osaka Castle)

A Gold Tiger Statue

Tim, Michael and Sakura (tree)

On Wednesday, we went to the Osaka Zoo. It was pretty cool. Lots of nice animal enclosures and a good selection of animals. The elephant enclosure was especially cool. You walked through a jungle-type area and then all around the two large areas that the elephants were in, being able to see them from various angles.

Elegant Giraffes

Vicious Tigers

Ferocious Wolves

And Monstrous Elephants

That afternoon, we ventured around "Denden Town". It was the Akihabara of Osaka (minus the pr0n). We looked in a lot of gaming and electronics places and spent some time in an airgun place. We both purchased air pistols, as well as all the knecessary knick knacks (BB pellets, extra clips, gas, etc.).

I got myself a Beretta M9. It's pretty sweet. Haven't had much opportunity to test it yet, but we will have plenty of opportunity to shoot each other during the Summer.

Thursday saw us travelling some more. We went to Himeji and visited the Museum of History and then the famous Himeji Castle. Amazing place and well worth visiting, the White Heron of Himeji.

The White Heron - Splendiferous

The Sakura Were Blooming - Beautiful

Another Nice Angle - Artistic

Driving to Kobe and then finding our final place of rest was a mission. Navigating anywhere in Japan is a nightmare unto itself. Then, when you finally get near your destination you have to keep stopping to ask for directions. Because in Japan, every location tries to avoid you. They really have made it hard to find anything. I guess the words "street address" don't exist in Japanese. :/

Well, we made it back to Taisho on Friday in one piece. And that was our Spring Holiday.

Have a look at all of my photos and video here. Enjoy! ^.^

Timotheos

The Blue Pen or the Black Pen?

A few years ago, I worked at the Burger King in my local town. One morning, I was the only person at the register. Who should walk in but Laurence Fishburne. He was with someone else, and I don't remember what they ordered. But one thing I will always regret is having passed up two opportunities: one was to ask for his autograph; the other... well, in order to understand, you need to know something first.

You see, at Burger King, much like MacDonald's, you could upsize your meal. It was called Kingsizing®. They also had two different coloured cups: regular cups were red and large cups were blue. You see where this is going? You do know who Laurence Fishburne is, right?

What I regret is not having asked a particular question that would have imprinted memorably on my life -- much moreso than simply having served Mr. Fishburne at Burger King on that slow morning. I should have asked him if he wanted the blue cup or the red cup, holding one out in each hand. Instead, I served him as I would a regular customer and chickened out completely. Such an opportunity only comes once in a person's life. Don't miss out when you get this opportunity. You will still have a story to tell, but it's not the sort of story that will get you a Time interview.

If you're confused as to a. Why I have this in my Japan blog; and b. What the heck I am talking about, then I shall explain. Briefly.

You see, Laurence Fishburne is perhaps best known for playing the character Morpheus in The Matrix. One key scene had him offering Neo, our protagonist, the option to either exit the matrix or continue on, oblivious to the truth of their slavery. The way this was to be decided was through two different coloured pills: a red pill, and -- you guessed it -- a blue pill. So you see the connection between Burger King cups and Morpheus' offer, reflected in his sunglasses, to either learn the truth (insert Genesis story here) or continue on as a computer hacker in a computer-generated existence. Ne?

Both the irony and wit would surely have left an astounding impact on both our lives had I taken the opportunity to act with courage. Instead, Mr. Fishburne enjoyed a burger and continued his holiday in New Zealand; none the wiser. And me? Well, I thought about it afterwards. And thus my anecdote was born.

As for the reason why I have threaded it into my blog, I felt that it would make for a good introduction to my next -- much shorter -- story. Which, incidentally, in turn paves the way for other recent recountings and random rhetoric.

A couple of weeks ago, I went into Ryubi, the stationery shop in K-town. I grabbed three blue pens and two pencils and brought them to the counter. The shop clerk proceeded to tell me that what I was buying were blue pens. Well yes, they were blue because I had chosen blue pens. But because I am an ignorant gaijin, she had to ensure that I understood that what I was buying were not black pens. That's right, the pens were not black.

I assured her that I intended to buy blue pens because I always write in blue. She even went so far as to pull out a black pen and write on a scrap of paper to show me that indeed, it was black -- but my ones were blue, not black like her example. But I wanted blue pens. I was confident, and I was sure.

It wasn't till later, when I recounted my tale to a friend, that I realised why the lady was insistent upon making sure I understood what I was doing. Apparently, Japanese people commonly write with black pens; just as you and I grew up writing with blue pens at school (at least, I think most people did). To this day, I frequently write with a blue pen (when I'm not using a pencil). I don't shun black pens. I just prefer blue.

That cleared up, I now wonder why there is such a huge selection of blue pens available. Perhaps they need a little Morpheus there holding out a blue pen and a black pen. When you approach you would see them reflected in his wee sunglasses, and he would ask you -- in Japanese, of course -- if you wanted the blue pen or the black pen. If you chose blue he would yell out, "Gaijin alert!" and proceed to lower his shades and laser you in the face. But the laser would hit you in the chest because the designers hadn't accounted for the height difference...

Well, I have my blue pens, but it makes me wonder about other differences between Japanese culture and Western culture. There are bound to be plenty of small things that if one is only observant, one will pick up on; and have a story to tell as a result.

Take, for instance, rice. It is highly frowned upon to put soy sauce on white rice. Not just any rice: white rice. I'm not sure if there is an emphasis on the colour (or texture, or quality) but people always tell me not to put soy sauce on white rice. So I take this to mean that it's ok to put it on any other rice? Fair enough, right? What I should have done on St. Patrick's Day, then, is to have made some green rice, poured shouyu (soy sauce) all over it, and then, when someone gasped and told me that it is offensive to do such a thing, I could have pointed out that it was, in fact, green rice that I was eating; so it should be ok! All hail St Paddy, patron saint of beer guzzling and grossly coloured foods.

Green eggs and ham, anyone? I would eat them in the park. I would eat them after dark. I would eat green eggs and ham. I do so like them, Sam-I-Am.

Today, after two church services, Mika, her daughter Eddie and I drove out to Iejigawa (Mika drove; we just came along for the ride). We went past the shougakkou that I sometimes teach at, and stopped at the nearby dam. There were groups of people having hanami: a picnic under the sakura trees. Although in Kochi, hanami means getting pissed under the blossoms and making a loud racket. It's all about the sake, baby.

We crossed the dam, with an exclamation from me of "dam!" at the great concrete structure with its large steel gates preventing the water from passing -- or at the very least, controlling its gentle flow. What a joker!

On the other side, it was nice to walk along next to shimanto-gawa -- the Shimanto River -- and throw pebbles at a fish that was sitting there, barely moving. It took a lot to eventually persuade him to languidly undulate away. Upon our return, he was back -- and with four friends, all lazily floating around, waiting for the insects to come close enough so they could lure them into their pool of sudden death. I threw no more stones but rather let them enjoy the overcast day that would have looked all the murkier through their river-soaked pupils.

We went to the shougakkou to fly a kite. If you were to say that as two syllables, like it would be said if directly transcribed into Japanese characters, it would be ki-te (kee-teh). This could mean "tree hand". Or it could just be those sweet, purring animals we find just so loltastic.

Incidentally, the ki-te did end up in a tree. It was as if the tree hand reached out and snatched it greedily into its embrace. I had to climb up and retrieve it -- or at least assist in shaking it loose while Mika tugged on the string, as it was too far out on a narrow limb to reach by hand. Even by tree hand. :p

There are also three swings and two rope swings in the small playground. It was relaxing, and nostalgic, to play around for a while. Pull up a swing. Stay a while. Ah, youth: I call thee back at whim.

Having swung on the rope swing, I came to realise that today was very Indiana Jonesesque. After all, I crossed a raging river (see: peaceful and barely moving), climbed a gigantic, swaying tree (see: not-so-gigantic, completely stationary) and swung mercilessly across a large chasm on a fraying rope swing of death (see: solid, knotted rope hanging from a tree, hanging over flat ground). 'Twas an adventure worth noting!

The discussion of names came up this evening. Mika told me that she once met a Chinese girl who had taken the name Jojo. Brand-name much? She told me it would be like her calling herself Yamada Denki. At which my response was, "What did you say about my mada?".

Yamada is so fat, when she went swimming they mistook her for a whale, dragged her to shore, carved her into pieces and sold her meat to the best sushiya in Tokyo city. Take that, PETA.

Time for bed. I should have hit the sack (note: futon -- and hitting it would avail naught but sore fists) well before now. We leave for Osaka early tomorrow morning. Which means I have to get up at least five minutes before we leave. And I haven't even packed! At least I remembered to replenish my Oxyride battery supply for my digicam (that's Japanese for "digital camera").

Good night, sleep tight, and I will be sure to take photos in Osaka.

On the road again, yo (that's what she said). And the sky is clear, yo (at least we hope it will be). Gonna meet some hotties, yo (that's what I was promised!). I'm gonna be bushed tomorrow (neeeeee). ^^

Peace (yo).

Timotheos