Maybe it's Maybelline.

Or maybe it's reverse culture shock.

Or maybe it's just stress.

Out of all the times I came back to visit HK, I've never felt so stressed by the city itself.

Perhaps its the 3 construction sites surrounding the apartment.

Perhaps its the humidity causing my hair to be constantly frizzy.

Perhaps its the gloomy cloudy wet cool weather making it difficult to choose what to wear everyday.

Or perhaps its how there are so many people, how so many of them seem so impatient and rude and loud and angry.

Or perhaps its how everything seems so crammed and crowded and suffocating and never-stopping.

I'm not saying I don't love HK anymore. But I am definitely looking forward to going back to Japan.

...when I am weak, he is strong...

I'm only guessing that that can be applied to my week.

It's been a hectic and stressful and tiring week. The stress of certain tasks, people, places have been negatively affecting my Christmas spirit-ness.

And there was only one line that played over and over in my mind...

"For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor 12:10

Fire

Report in last week's Taira Christ Gospel Church bulletin

On Sunday December 13th, at about 11:30pm after everyone went home from the evening service, a fire started in the kitchen of Mrs Nomura's house, only 3 metres away from the church's worship area (chapel). Shortly after, the propane gas cylinder in her kitchen exploded. The fire immediately spread to the church's chapel. [...]

3 single men were living in the church building when the fire started next door. Brother Hayashi was asleep, whereas the other two had not slept yet. Brother Hayashi, who was woken up by the noise of the explosion, thought someone was making noise and causing trouble in the chapel. Just as he went downstairs to check, Mr. Igari was coming out of the prayer room, and the two saw the window all red with fire, and went outside and saw the house next door all up in flames. Brother Hayashi called 119 at 11:57am, and at 12:00am called Pastor Mori's house. He quickly went back up to the second floor and escaped with Mr. Saito. The three men were completely fine and not at all injured.

When the firefighters arrived at the scene, Mrs. Nomura's house was in great flames, and any amount of water to put out the fire was useless. Pastor Mori got to the scene at 12:07am, and couldn't help but simply watch the church go up in flames. The fire was finally put out at about 2:30am, and the three men were moved to Pastor Mori's house.

The next day, from about 8am onwards, many people, from church members to pastors and members of other churches, and even non-christians came to see the situation at the church - a total of about 20 people. They broke through the barriers set up by the firefighters and immediately started clearing up the place. [...]

Even though the firefighters had tried to put out the fire for 2 and a half hours, most of the church was burned. The prayer room and the pastor's office on the 1st floor were the only rooms that weren't burnt. The kitchen wasn't burnt either, but the gas caused great damage.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Nomura's body was found. But by the grace of God none of the church members were hurt. As you may know, the church building's foundations has been sinking ever since the big block of flats behind it was built; and it's already no surprise that the floor has been slowly coming off due to moisure and mould. [...]

The church has fire insurance, and all the equipment also has insurance on it, so it is expected that we will get money from both insurance parties for this fire incident. And this is how God will give us the church a new chapel. Pastor Mori feels that God is strongly pushing on our backs and pushing us to move forwards. Us as a church should repent for those things we need repentence for, stand firm in most holy faith, pray fervently by the Spirit, wait eagerly for God's love and for Christ himself, and believe that we will be raised up in our thirst for Him.


(There were some bits I didn't quite know how to translate..but I made sure I did all the important stuff.)

(Also, prayers will be much appreciated. Thanks.)

In love with the Buble

Having been cut off from the world (aka internet) for a week, I spent most of today catching up with the 3 most important things of the week - in no particular order - Email, Facebook, and The X Factor.

And that was how I found my dream man type - Michael Buble. Wow. His performance with Stacey Solomon can make anyone melt. He was so graceful and just so nice and so smooooooth.





And then so I decided to youtube his other videos...






SWOOOOOOOOOON

....and last but not least.....!!

I JUST realised I forgot to mention the most IMPORTANT thing that should come at the end of my last post - God promises restoration!! How silly of me to forget. (And yes I apologise there's even more to my long-winded post)

At ANY point in the Bible where God says he'll bring disaster and destruction, it is always accompanied by the promise of restoration and healing. Continuing with Ezekiel 20:40-44 which basically says: One day, Israel will turn back to God and serve Him; and God will accept them as a lovely aroma and bring them back from where they are scattered (where they don't belong); and they will know that He is the Lord, as He brings them back to the land that He promised to their forefathers. And there they will be sorry for the horrible stuff that they did, and know that He is the true God.

Also in Jeremiah 32:36-41 (which I used a few posts earlier) which basically says: God will gather them back into their land and keep them safe; He will give them one heart and be with them and do them good and put the fear of God in them for their own good so that they won't turn away and do stupid things again. And God will rejoice over them and plant them with all His heart and soul!!

His promises and grace (which we don't deserve) outweigh his wrath and anger (which we do deserve) so much that we really have no reason to argue that God is some kind of a killing machine. Furthermore, Skeptics and atheists always selectively pick out such revelations of justice and retribution in the Bible whilst ignoring the big picture into which it fits and by which it gains its purpose.

The 'bloody' Old Testament

I came across this blog post titled "How Many Has God Killed? (Complete list and estimated total)" on some random blog which reminded me of a post that I wrote (but never finished & published) a few months back.

I think the question raised is not the right one - the question we should be asking is WHY has God killed so many? If you read through the Old Testament it is indeed pretty bloody and one might even ask did God really order all this 'genocide' on his own people Israel and the surrounding nations?


Israel - God's chosen nation

Israel was the chosen nation. But why? God chose this tiny nation that was bullied by all its neighboring super powers. Yet it was his little maiden of his eye. unmerited love from God.
Ezekiel 16:1-14 - Basically says this: Israel was just like a helpless little baby girl who was forgotten and looked down upon and not repected. But God took her into his arms, took care of her, fed her, helped her grow up, taught her how to live, lavished her with clothing and jewels and perfumes and expensive things. She became very beautiful - she "grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels". All because of what God did and not because Israel was worth it.


The proportion of the blessing was even greater than proportion of judgment

In the bible, whenever people followed God's laws and ways and loved him and listened to him (which wasn't very often), they lived peacefully (which wasn't very often). Skeptics and people who try to denounce the Bible because of its violence often don't see (or deliberately ignore) the overflowing richness of God's blessings and mercy.

Ezekiel 20:6-22 basically says this: The Lord promised to bring them out of Egypt (where they were being enslaved and treated nastily) to a land of their own, and land 'flowing with milk and honey' (i.e. abundantly rich), and He told them to rid themselves of idols and vile images (images that turned people's attention away from God). But they didn't. They continued to make and worship ugly things and idols that did not please God (and they knew that God didn't like that stuff perfectly well but they did it anyway). And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy. And He rescued them out of Egypt anyway. And whilst in the desert God provided food and things they needed and laws to live by (so they won't feel lost and know what's good for them and won't argue with each other), but they still rebelled against Him in the desert by not following his decrees and rejecting his laws and made idols. And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy. (Do you begin to see a pattern here?) He looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert. So he told their children to be good and keep his laws, unlike their fathers who have gone bad. But these kids also rebelled and went nuts. And so God said that He's not going to tolerate this crap and said he'd pour out his anger and destroy this poeple. BUT He didn't. He spared them out of love and mercy.

To God who loved and cherished Israel so much to regard her as the most precious jewel in His eyes, it must hurt Him so much to see her being so rebellious and ungrateful. The ultimate tragedy is her rejection of His power and love and mercy, not the loss of life.


God (basically) said, "when you follow me, you will be blessed; when you turn away, you will be cursed." (Deuteronomy 28)

The judgment and horrific loss of life must always been seen under this context reality (of Deut 28), i.e. the reality of such literal, such dramatic manifestation of God's promise. When the demonstration of God's miracles and blessings and presence is so dramatic and powerful, then the curses of God's judgement must also be as terrible. Death is a grim reminder of the nature of sin - horrific, despised, feared.

God revealed CLEARLY his laws and decrees to his people. Thus when they deliberately choose to reject his revelations, they didn't have the right to complain of what of dramatic judgement.
"To whom much is given, much shall be required" - Luke 12:48.

Skeptics and athiests often misunderstand the meaning of a "perfect God" that Christians talk about and thus aren't able to accept a God that seems to endorse killing and sends disasters to innocent people. A perfect God does NOT mean an all-tolerating God. A perfect God must reign with perfect justice and justice involves getting punished for wrongdoings according to the framework of absolute laws - laws that only a perfect God can impose.

God is The Absolute
When we take a life, we are wrong cos we can't restore it, but God can. He is the maker of absolutely everything and the ruler of absolutely everyone, and thus has the absolute rights of ownership over all people and places.

As living beings we can never really understand death, but God does. But we can know that death has its tragedy but also amazing hope if we put our faith in Him. To the believer, God gives hope and confidence to pull us through in the face of death.

Define Majestic

On the way to Yamanaka-ko, going through Yamanashi prefecture, we said hello to Mr. Fuji. He was naked without his usual visage of clouds. And he looked grand. Majestic, even. Good thing I went on a highway bus and not in a car with fellow foreigners who probably would have been captivated by Fuji and not looked at the road and crashed us. And I would have prbably died. Again. So THANK GOD (AGAIN) THAT I DIDN'T DIE or else I wouldn't have been able to write this post. :D

Yamanaka-ko (lake) is one of the Fuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko), an area located at the base of north Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture. The name Fuji Five Lakes comes from the fact that there are five lakes formed by previous eruptions of Fuji.

And when I go back to Yamanashi again, it will be to ride this. And 2 other similarly whopping massive roller-coasters. YES.

(These photos were taken by my mobile)

Meaningless! Meaningless!

² "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 1:2) Solomon was so right.

I have the X-Factor to thank for this post.

I am humble enough to admit that yes, I have been chasing X-factor for the last few weeks, since they started the live shows with the final 12 contestants. But aside from the 1-hour-per-week of entertainment I get from the show, I managed to come away from it with something more.

Just type in X Factor or any of the contestants' names into google news search and you'll find a myriad of stuff about the shows and people. "CONSPIRACY" "FANS FRENZY" "FIX ROW" blah blah blah.

I can imagine such news splashed across the Sun or Daily Mirror's front pages on Monday mornings and sad lonely people clinging to every word and milking everything from it all.

But its so utterly meaningless. I can understand that some people may have up to a certain degree of interest in the lives of these not-even-popstars wannabes. But to make SUCH a big deal out of it, and how detailed these tabloids fabricate things, is nonsense. Who cares if a contestant was voted off because it was all scheming/fixed etc, or how some of them can't sing, or whatever romance is going on backstage.

And this is just a tiny tiny tip of a big big meaningless iceberg. And I don't just mean that the entire X Factor frenzy is meaningless. I mean there's SO MUCH meaninglessness in this world its ridiculous. It just really dawned on me somehow.

I apologise for my somewhat depressing rant.

Stinkin' Hell

Last Saturday I went to hell, which is about 1.5 hrs drive from Tokyo (although it took us 3 because it seemed like everyone was going there last weekend).

Hiroshi, Hezza, Jeimusu and I made a day-road-trip from Tokyo to Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture to see the glorious colours of autumn leaves (check), Ashinoko Lake (check), a glimpse of Fuji-san (check), and the highlight, "The Big Hell", or "Great Boiling Valley", a volcanic valley with hot springs and active sulphur vents (check).



Hakone was PACKED that day. Lots of cars, and lots of people walking around. It was a wonderful day weather-wise, though; and not far from Tokyo, and just the right time for looking at the beautiful autumn leaves. So chances are the entire Tokyo population probably did decend upon it at that same weekend. Despite the traffic, driving through the town and the Hakone area was very nice with different coloured leaves along the roadside.


After having tempura soba for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake, we took the cable car (or ropeway as they call it here) up the hill to hell, anticipation rising with altitude, and seeing smoke and steam spouting from the slopes added to the excitement. But anticipation didn't foresee the big shock that came crashing down as we stepped off the cable car - THE STINK. It can only be described as 'rotten eggs and vomit'. Awful. But awesome.


No photo can rightly capture the awesomeness of The Big Hell, no matter how good or big your camera (and mine wasn't small). It was a combination of all the factors - the smell, the dead trees, the black rocks, the yellow rocks, the steam, the patches of red sand, the streams of warm milky spring water, the faint view of the top of of Fuji looking like its floating in mid-air, and later on the sun at dusk. It may be called Hell, but it was no less than an amazingly awesome experience.





As you can see from the photos, there wasn't much vegetation on the hill, due to a big volcanic eruption N years ago that wiped off most of the life on that hill (N being an increasing number that I couldn't be bothered to research). It was only afterwards (like now - during the course of writing this post) that it dawned on me that I was standing on a VERY active volcanic site. WHAT IF IT HAD ERUPTED AGAIN?! Count yourself lucky, my dear readers, 'cause if it had, you wouldn't have been able to read this very informative post.





Oh and the eggs - they sold these black eggs that were boiled in the spring water. The shell was all black, but the inside was the same, tasted the same, and were sold for 100 yen each.

In conclusion - HELL WAS AWESOME.


(Click: google images of Big Hell)

Sustaining Grace = ?

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

- John Piper (Perhaps one of the best theologians of our time)

I definitely think we sometimes use the word 'grace' too loosely. We hear it all the time. "By God's grace we have a child without any physical or mental defects." or "By God's grace we avoided any accidents on that dangerous stretch of road" or even "By God's grace I had just enough money to pay for my groceries at the check-out"...


The Bible-in-a-year guide is taking me through Jeremiah these few weeks. Living in the 21st century, it is not always easy to be able to relate to events in Israel back in 500 something BC, especially Jeremiah's prophecies of constant threats of death and destruction and invasion and disaster etc facing Israel. That's why I listen to (good) sermons. And so I was reminded by John Piper that amidst all the threats of doom in Jeremiah, God's promise is lodged in there somewhere...

Jeremiah 32:36-41

Now therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, "It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence," 37 "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. 41 And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul." 42 For thus says the Lord, "Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them."

Evidently, grace didn't spare calamity upon the Israelites. They had it tough - "by sword, by famine, and by pestilence", as the Israelites themselves described it. These are God's chosen people. Nor will grace spare us from calamity. But that's not the end of it. It is God who has the last word - his promise to save and restore.

God might not stop that car accident, or might not let you have a superficially perfect child, or probably won't stop a church building from burning down. But grace is the light and relief amidst darkness and pain.

Not grace to bar what is not bliss,
Nor flight from all distress, but this:
The grace that orders our trouble and pain,
And then, in the darkness, is there to sustain.

Samukunatta

..which means, it's gotten cold! Yes the winter is roaring in like a hungry caterpillar.

Winter in this part of the world means:

Hiding under the kotatsu (is a table with heating element underneath)

Higher electricity bills

Longer showers

Higher gas bills

Higher water bills

Ever more reluctance to get out of bed

...and thus more rushing through the morning routine

Freezing bicycle rides to and from school. Gale force winds + half frozen rain = NATURE'S FORM OF TERRORISM

Toilet-seat-warmer setting goes up

HOTPOT PARTIES!

Me ta bo - ie getting FAT

Trips to snowy places

Trips to warm places

Apples and oranges

Less insects

Hot water bottles

Winter doesn't sound too bad afterall! (except for the cold part)

31 October 2009

I read a few chapters of Jeremiah.

I bought lots of vegetables. And lots of chocolatey snacks...

I swept and vacuumed the apartment.

I cooked.

I ate a lot.

I watched two romcoms and one episode of House while eating the lot.

I managed to book a cheap-ish flight to HK in December on a Japanese website and am quite proud of being able to do that.

I chatted to mum and to grandpa.

I lightroom-ed some photos.

It's been a pretty good day.

Flu fever

I sneezed the other day.

Uhh so?

The thing is....I sneezed in front of the vice principal. A vice principal whose face I haven't seen for quite sometime as it is always hiding behind a massive medical mask.

AAH CHOOOOOO! The staffroom went quiet for about a second. Then the commotion started - the VP yelling "mask!", some teachers laughing, some teachers grumbling disapproving sounds...

Yes. Everyone here is in pandemic mode. There are bottles of alcoholic handwash on every corner. ALL students are ordered to wear masks. Students are told off for not wearing their masks. (Even during PE lesson..!). There's a box of masks for staff to take freely. Every break time students are reminded over the broadcast system to open windows and wash their hands. When one student caught swine flu last week, everything has been thrown into uncertainty - do we still go on with the singing contest?? (They did) And do we continue with our annual bazaar/community exchange event on the 7th November??? (Undecided)

Conversations in the staffroom have reduced to which teacher's kids or spouse have caught the flu or how many more kids in School X and Y have caught the flu and how School Z have had the entire 1st grade off for x number of days.

All this is getting quite tiring. I still haven't worn a mask in school yet (except for the school singing contest when the whole school spent 6 hours in the town community hall or else I would've been refused entry). I don't intend to wear one unless I absolutely have to.

What would you scare Lazarus with?

Ravi Zacharias never fails to disappoint the listener in his talks, be it on theology, humor, wit or relevance.


“Have you ever wondered what you would do to frighten Lazarus after he’d been raised from the dead? What would you do to threaten him? Lazarus, I’m gonna’ kill you?

Caligula says, ‘I’m going to kill you.’

He says, ‘Ha, ha, ha.’

He says ‘stop ha, ha, ha-ing. I’m going to kill you as I’m killing all the Christians.’

He doubles over in uncontrollable laughter, comes up for air and says, ‘Caligula haven’t you heard? Death is dead! Death is dead!’

How do you frighten somebody who's already been there and knows the one who's going to let him out? "


I really haven't given as much credit to The Daily Bread on my blogs as I should considering how much thought it provokes in my small head almost everytime I read it which is almost everyday. A few weeks ago, one of the 'bread' titles, Worth Dying For, revived a memory of a church service that I attended not too long ago (in fact only 2 months ago) back in Hong Kong. The pastor was talking about a Chinese Christian who wrote how she witnessed many Christians denying their belief in Jesus Christ when they were threatened with persecution for their faith.

What would we do if we were put in that position? Isn't it easy to say "Ah I would never renounce my faith like that!", whilst perhaps others might say "What good would I be dead? Is it not better to lie now, stay alive, and speak the gospel later?"

The only response I can think of right now is what Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians "TO LIVE IS CHRIST AND TO DIE IS GAIN"(Philippians 1:21). Yet he goes on... "If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." (1:22-24)

As Christians we actually do have a bit of a dilemma don't we? We know that an unimaginably wonderful place is waiting for us after life on earth, where we'll walk in streets of gold and be with Jesus Himself as well as all the legendary followers of Christ that have gone before us. Yet we also ought to believe that God can still use us as ambassadors to more people to Christ, to witness to light amidst suffering, to bring joy to the hopeless.

Thoughts?

A (busy) day in the life of Samansa sensei

I realised for all this time that I've been blogging I've never once mentioned how life actually happens for me here. Here's a usual day at a visiting school.

6:25am Alarm goes off. I press snooze. Twice. Then the thought of not having enough time to straighten my hair and finish my breakfast finally proves enough motivation to get a groggy me out of bed. I proceed to do my teeth, get dressed and straighten my hair, slap a bit of make up on and make and have breakfast.

7:35/40am I head out, and kick myself as I pass the rubbish racks for forgetting its recyclable plastics day or burnable rubbish day, but I could never be bothered or I usually have no time to go back to get the rubbish. I get my bike and cycle to school.

7:50/55am I get to base school, and by that time the taxi is usually waiting for me already. I roll in to say my good-mornings to staff room people, get the taxi tickets, say goodbye, roll onto the taxi, and daydream whilst the taxi makes its way to the visiting school.

8:10am I get to my visiting school, faff around, discuss with the teachers what we'd be doing for the day's lessons; go to lessons; play some warm up games; get kids to repeat what I'm saying; walk around and day dream some more when the teacher's doing the grammar explanations...

12:20pm Lunch time! At this one particular school, I have lunch with the kids. But they always take forever to prepare their lunches in their classrooms. They have to dish out rice or noodles or bread, and side dish, and milk, and maybe a dessert to 25 people in the class, get two people to come to the staff room to get me, find me a seat, get everyone to sit down quietly, say 'itadakimasu' (something along the lines of 'I'm grateful for what I'm about to receive'), and eat their lunch, all in 30 minutes. By the time they do start eating there's only about 15 minutes left to actually eat.

1:25pm Afternoon lessons start, and are usually very tough especially after rice days since rice just puts everyone to sleep. Which means I have to be extra animated and loud and crazy. Not fun, depending on how many classes I've had in the morning.

3:15pm (or earlier) Students clean the school and staff supervise. I'm never assigned any particular role in this but I also feel uneasy if I'm just sitting at my desk while the kids are sweeping and wiping and cleaning all around me. So I usually grab a broom and sweep a bit, usually my row of tables; or in other schools I help dry the mugs after the girls have washed them.

3:30pm Taxi comes to take me back to my base school from the visiting school.

4:05pm After sitting around and just faffing for 20 minutes or so I grab my stuff, hop on my bike and zoom down the drive way and go home. Or go to the supermarket.

But today, things were a little different. On Wednesday, I have calligraphy class. But this week, things were yet a little more different. Last week, I was asked to play the piano for the teachers' performance in the upcoming school choir singing contest. And we were going to have a practice. So today I stayed at school and practiced my piano part during the teachers' meeting, then the teachers joined me in the music room and we practiced two songs, me on the piano making an aweful load of mistakes.

So I was quite late for my calligraphy lesson today - an hour late to be exact. But there's no fixed time so I could turn up anytime and stay for as long as I wanted really. Today was especially nice because before I left I told my teacher why I was late and how busy it's been these days and so she gave me a bowl of hijiki-itame (umm meat + seaweed thingy + tofu stir fry) to take home so I don't have to cook!! Cha-ching.

(Carrying on with the usual Wednesdays)

5:20 I get home and change into my PJ bottoms, collapse into the 'couch' and read 2 or 3 chapters of the Bible according to the Bible-in-one-year schedule (although I'm usually a few chapters behind.)

6:00 Dinner, usually in front of the computer watching Hugh Laurie being a genius, American and rude. (Not implying any correlation between the 3 factors)

7:20pm E, a Japanese housewife, comes over, sometimes bringing delicious chocolates or snacks to feed my guilty conscience. We chat for about 2 hours, in English and Japanese, and by the end I'm usually so tired I don't realise what language is coming out of my mouth anymore. She get's the signals, leaves me, I shower, check facebook for the 38th and final time, go to bed.

Sometimes I write useless blog posts like these before I go to bed.

Unused

A few weeks ago, schools around the city have been told by the city's board of education to use ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers - i.e. me) for first grade English only, because "second and third graders need to focus on passing exams". And so for the last 4 or so I was only schedule with the 1st graders. I was used less than 50% of my time in school. I had to ASK the 2nd and 3rd grade English teachers to let me come to their classes. I think it's the first time I've actually asked for lesson time.

What are those office-bound grandpas and grannies at the BOE thinking!? That 2nd and 3rd graders don't need to learn English from native speakers? That 'focusing on passing exams' means they can't learn anything from us? And that whole 'need to focus on exams' thing is so hypocritical - the whole point of hiring us JETs is to give their English lessons something more than just for the sake of exams. It gives them opportunities to interact with an English speaker, to get them to talk and listen to native sounds, to expand their horizons within the classroom, to prepare them for this increasingly multicultural world that we live in. And yet these so-called educationers are going back to what I thought they were trying to break free from - narrow-minded exam-focused youth who are so behind in communicating in the world's one common language - even compared to many of their Chinese and Southeast Asian counterparts. These kids are smart, they have so much potential, and if given the opportunity and incentive they can improve a lot in their language education.

I always get comments from Japanese people saying how my Japanese is so good when I've only learned it for 4 years, whereas they can hardly utter a word in English despite the fact that they've learnt it all though junior high and high school and some even in university. Of course, one of the main reasons for this difference is because I am emerged in a solely-Japanese-speaking society. And that's it. If people here were taught English more intensely and from a younger age, more people would be using English, and they wouldn't have zero-English.

I feel quite often that I'm cheating the government's/tax payers' money when I'm being paid so much for doing so little. Use me!

Eco-friendly --> Eco-hypocritism!

I haven't blogged in a while. There's quite a lot to be said.

Ever since being in Japan, I've seen big contradictions in Japan's so called eco-friendliness. On one hand, the commercials on TV are always going on and on about new eco-tax-free cars, eco-friendly TVs washing machines air-cons refridgerators vacuum cleaners cellphones coffee farm produce etc as well as TV programmes on eco-friendly exercises and activities around the country etc etc.

Yet on the other hand, there's so much packaging in EVERYTHING. Take a box of souvenir cakes for example. First there's the paper bag, then the cardboard box, then under that is a plastic bag, and then you'll find a plastic tray carrying the little cakes, and you find these little cakes individually wrapped in plastic wrapping, and open the little wrapping you are likely to find a small piece of cardboard paper underneathe the little cake/tart/snack.

I do however, like the fact that the Japanese separate their rubbish in so many categories - burnables (wet rubbish), recyclable plastics, plastic bottles, cans, paper, glass, unburnables (metal and used cosmetics bottles etc), electrical appliances etc. It is quite a pain in the face when I first got here, and another pain in the face since it is impossible to find rubbish bins on the street. But still, great initiative.

Back to the criticisms. Supermarkets in my city have stopped giving out free plastic bags, they're only 3 yen (0.02 british pounds) per bag, and not to mention the clear plastic bags that you put your onions and brocollis in, and the plastic trays you get if you buy meat or sushi or cooked food. Then if you buy a 'sanitary product' they put that 'product' in a separate little paper bag.

Finally, the most ridiculous idea ever - the new government is proposing to make all highways completely free. Highways in Japan are tolled. And then about a year ago the government made it a lot cheaper by promoting the 'ETC' system - you buy this card for something like 30,000yen (200 pounds), and then when you have that you can use the highways all you can like for 1000yen per ride (I think). Come long weekends, number of cars on the road up, congestion up, pollution up, noise up, frustration up. And tour bus companies are going out of business.

How to fail at life

I have recently been dipping in and out of a pool of cynicism as I have begun to realise the possibility of life after this JET year, and the pressure of this inevitable decision-making moment that is rolling towards me like a giant tsunami. Right now I'm in the pool. So please allow me a few moments to vent.

It seems nowadays there are quite a lot of ways to fail at life, at least according to certain circles of friends or people near and around me at Uni or in HK.

You fail at life when your As at A-levels don't count for shmizzle after a few short years.
You fail at life when you don't have a 'useful' university degree such as business or engineering or medicine.
You fail at life when you don't graduate with 19 job offers from large multinational corporations all eagerly waiting to take your soul.
You fail at life when you're not aiming to have some sort of 'professional qualification' by the time you're 25.
You fail at life when your job doesn't make your rich clients richer or get your clients' advertising postered all over bus stops and on prime time TV.
You fail at life when your ambitions don't necessarily spell out 'have an excessively comfortable life'.
You fail at life when you're not amazingly good at at least one thing or hobby like playing the violin or photography or a particular sport.
You fail at life when you're not at one point in time studying for some exam for some course or qualification.
You fail at life when you're still living with your parents at the age of 25.
You fail at life when you're not in a steady relationship with someone who is also either already a 'professional' or working towards becoming one.
You fail at life when you don't have a company box for horse-racing and rugby-sevens.
You fail at life when you don't have 'power lunches', 6 meetings a day and don't leave the office until 11pm.
You fail at life when your mileage card doesn't have a million miles from frequently going on business trips around the continent and beyond.

Additions to the list are welcome.

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater

Here is a women: orphaned, arthritic, incontinent, blind, with cancer, lying here almost motionless in her bed. In Annie Johnson Flint's biography Rowland Bingham wrote that the last time that he saw her she had seven pillows cushioning her body to keep her supported from indescribable agony.

He recorded this hymn that she wrote in his book:


He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace. When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

- Annie Johnson Flint

Ugly works

It's been sitting at the station bike park for a week and my new but ugly almost-turquoise bodied bike was still there when I picked it up for a spin around town this morning! Maybe the lime green lock added that extra off-putting-ness to it.

Win. (For now)

China is 60

Happy Birthday, People's Republic of China.

60 years of communism. Of control and censorship and disrespect for human rights.

60 years of major change and rapid economic development and growth. But also of killing half a million people per year (recent years) with cancer caused by its terrible pollution and industrial wastes.

60 years of an amazing journey from being a country that used to be bullied and forced to buy opium by mean powerful countries and trade with and cede colonies to them , to a mega powerful country that produces almost all consumer products for the world, with a powerful army and navy, producing 100 billionaires in a year...

Happy Birthday.

My Three Bikes

I went through quite a large variety of emotions today, mostly because of events to do with bikes.

I woke up at quarter to nine trying to smack the alarm clock quiet when it was actually my phone alarm going off. I didn't have much time before I had to cycle to the bus stop to get the bus to town for church. I left home with 6 minutes before the bus came, and it takes 5 minutes to get to the bus stop. I mounted my onahama bike and zoomed down the familiar streets to the bus stop, parked it outside the family restaurant, and the bus came a minute later. It was cloudy and a bit chilly, but I thought I was off to a pretty good start overall.

After a 35 minute bus ride into town, I got off one stop before the station, where I had put Chantal's (last year's ALT's) bike, aka the Taira bike. I got this bike from Chantal so I could bike from where I get off the bus to church, which is a 25 minute walk; or to weekly badminton sessions. But when I got to the tree where I thought I had put it, the generic-looking black mamachari had been replaced by a notice saying 'Your bike has been moved to the Station West Bike Park'. OK, that's kinda annoying. But it's only a 3 minute walk from where I was, so OK. But when I got there, to my shock horror, there were a billion bikes in that bike park. Or rather several hundred. Most of them looked pretty generic too. But I knew my bike had a seat cover, so I walked around the bike park looking for a bike with a seat cover. I went around once, and didn't see it. Hmm maybe someone stole my seat cover!? I also remembered that my bike had little blue paw print stickers at the back on the tyre mud guard, so I walked around again, now getting a little nervous, my eyes darting left and right and along the back of the bicycles. Still nothing. I was getting considerably ticked off. I looked around again. Nothing.

My (Chantal's) bike's been stolen!! :O First came shock, then anger, then disappointment, then annoyance. Shocked because it's my first time I've had a bike stolen from me. Then anger because of some prick's dispicable act against MY bike. Then disappointment because I now have no bike. Then annoyance because it means I have to walk all the way (a massive 40 minutes) to church.

So I started walking, rather aimlessly but at the same time towards the general direction of church. My head spinning like a washing machine with all these emotions. I whipped out my phone and emailed S Mac, filled with crying/sad/angry emoticons. But just as I was putting my phone away, I came across a home centre, with 50 new and colourful bikes lined up outside the store. I stopped. I looked. I debated internally. I checked the prices. 9,800 yen. I checked my wallet. 10,000 yen...! I had exactly what I needed. I took that as a 'sign' that this was meant to happen. And it happened. It's an uglyish teal-blue gear-less cruiser bike. I pointed. I paid. I own. I rode. I breathed out.

After church I got money and bought an extra lock - an ugly lime green but hopefully sturdy lock.

Now, at least I'll know if it does get stolen again, all I have to do is look for someone riding an ugly colour un-coordinated bike. And I will not let him forget what happens when one steals a bike from Sam.

It wasn't me.

OK so I did take an extra omiyage white chocolate cookie from the 'share table' in the staff room the other day.

But that's not my point. I'm talking about the grander scheme of things.

Of how I was accepted by JET. Of how I was rejected by all other job applications. Of how I am privileged to have a group of friends, both foreign and local, here in Japan. Of how I have been so fortunate to be able to travel to and explore many places around Japan. Of how I haven't been killed in an earthquake or a bike accident. Of how I passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and the entrance test for the CLAIR Translation & Interpretation Course.

Of course, I worked hard for most of these, but nothing compares to the grace of God's hand in every door opened or closed; every turn and path made straight, in my life.

To Him be all the glory, honor and power.

Thank you God ♥



*omiyage - socially obligated souvenirs whenever you go traveling or whenever someone finds out that you will be traveling somewhere interesting

Note to self

Existence of God by Ravi Zacharias

1. Physical entity of quantity does not have the reason of existence in itself. If you slice and reduce the physical universe into any form, it still cannot explain its own origin. It has to find its explanation outside itself. i.e. The explanation has to be non-physical.

2. The 'to-design' argument. Logic tells you that where you see information you assume prior to that information is a mind. You don't assume that Handel's Halleluja just came together by itself , nor do you assume that the dictionary developed because of an explosion at the printing press. The possibility of an enzyme coming together by chance is one in ten to the power of 40,000, which is more than the number of atoms in the universe.

3. In the history of society, human experience, in history itself - social and moral issues and human interaction demands explanation of moral reality. The existence of good and evil demands the existence of a moral law to distinguish the two. The existence of a moral law demands a moral law giver.

Just a few things that are handy to keep in mind.

What contest?!

Wednesday was the Iwaki City Inter-Junior High School English Oratorical Contest. Around 50 girls and boys from each JHS around the city gathered at Alios, the local arts theatre, and recited speeches in English. 30 something of them recited a peice from English textbooks, and 17 of them recited original speeches they wrote themselves.

As expected the textbook-recitation section had lots of students repeating the same speeches. Except for a few, just like my dear darling student N-chan, who recited the emotional 'The Diary of Anne Frank'. We had practiced hard for a good 2 months, and N-chan herself had put so much effort into perfecting each word and expression. We had lots of extra lessons over the summer holiday, she practiced at home, and on top of that she had to go to juku (cram school) everyday and ballet lessons most days. Not to mention all the summer homework the school piled on her.

Yesterday finally came. All that hard work was going to pay off and make everyone proud. And she did make us proud, by doing a wonderful recital, full of Anne Frank-esque emotion and energy, finishing and pronouncing each word perfectly, and didn't go too fast or slow, didn't stutter, didn't stop, didn't slur over any words. It was a work of art. We were so confident that she was going to walk out with a prize or something.

We were wrong.

She didn't even make it to the top 6.

We were stunned we didn't hear her name when they were announcing the top 6.

At the end of the whole thing, when I waiting outside to meet up with her, I saw this teary red-eyed girl approaching, and my heart sank even more and was even more disappointed at the verdict. I thought it was impossible that she didn't win. I felt so bad, so sorry. Before the contest we were so confident and kept reassuring her that she'd come out with flying colours. I felt we had lifted her hopes too high. All that hard work....!

Turns out 4 out of 5 of the judges were actually Japanese, and there was only ONE native English speaker. What kind of English Oratorical Contest do you call this?! Where 80% of the judges don't even speak the language fluently..!? It really wasn't very fair.

But hey, this is Japan.

why, atheists?

Excuse me for asking...but...

Why do atheists care that they are atheists?

Why do atheists care that others are not atheists?

If they truly believe that there is no God, no meaning to life, no after life or no nothing after death, why do they care so much that other people might believe in these things?

Why are there atheist books?

Atheism seems to me a very personal belief, as in each person ought to have their own 'version' of their beliefs and moral basis and values, and thus seems quite difficult or even impossible to push onto people.

And what is with that 'atheist campaign bus'?

I could only imagine that it does nothing good except cause arguments and discomfort.

To me, "atheist do nothing but complain about religion."

I realise I'm ranting a bit here.

*****

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

here in the love of Christ I stand.

Under House Arrest

Ah my week of 'quarantine' has finally come to an end.

I suppose 'house arrest' is a bit severe a term to describe what I went through during the week. Basically because I was in a foreign country for 3 weeks I had to stay at home and not go out as much as possible in case I got swine flu. Funny - because I would consider someone from Japan a bit more swine-flu-susceptible than HK. Meh. Full list of swine flu cases, country by country.

I did leave the flat a few times, when insanity and boredom and beautiful weather drove me out of my pajama pants and into the sunny streets of this little yakuza-infested town.

When I was at home, though, I did quite a lot of cleaning, reading, cooking, facebook stalking and project runway catching-up-ing. I will certainly miss the feeling of slowly rolling out of bed at 10am , seeing all the other ALTs' bikes are no longer in the bike shed and thinking they were all driven out 2 hours ago and are now parked quietly outside their respective schools, whilst I contemplate how to slowly waste the day away without being too unproductive.

BUT tomorrow morning (Saturday - weekend) I actually have to get up early(er) and meet a couple of students and help them practice their little speeches for the annual English Speech Contest. Oh why oh why. Lord have mercy and graciously spare me some grace. Indeed one of the last things on my want-to-do list. And the irony is that I actually volunteered. I could've totally bailed out on it. But when I think about how unprepared these poor girls are, and also about how bad I would look in front of the other ALTs for being responsible for under-training them, my fingers just started tapping away at my cellphone - and before I knew it an email was composed and sent to the English teacher about how worried I was and how much I want to help. I do want to help. Just hoped it was a better time of the week and day.

I'm a kind person, really.

Misconceptions

Having been in Japan for a year, and having spoken to lots of people back home and being asked lots of questions about life in Japan, I've come up with a list of what people might misunderstand about Japan and life in Japan.

If you don't want your perfect little self-constructed image of Japan ruined, turn away now.

Misconception #1: Everyone in Japan eats sushi or some kind of 'common Japanese food' everyday
Unfortunately, no. People definitely don't eat sushi everyday. It's not cheap even in Japan. And no not everyone eats ramen or even rice everyday. Quite a few Japanese people I know actually prefer bread to rice/noodles. For school lunch, out of 5 days in a week, we get about 2-3 rice days, 1-2 bread days and 1 noodle day. We never get sushi for lunch, hardly get tempura; but we do sometimes get curry, pottage, sautéed veg, potatoes and jelly.

When I asked one of my teachers in school (Japanese teacher) what they usually eat at home, he responded with 'salad, rice, soup...' and he occasionally takes his family out for pasta, burger, roast meat, and sometimes sushi.

Misconception #2: Everyone in Japan loves fish
Mr. S from one of my visiting schools, a Japanese language teacher, HATES FISH! I have also encountered several students and friends who generally don't like anything from the sea. And one of them was brought up by fishmonger parents!! Poor kid.

Misconception #3: Everyone in Japan is polite
Most people are quite polite in Japan and generally have relatively better manners than those in Hong Kong. BUT I have observed, several times, that people on a train or metro rarely give up their seat for the elderly.

Misconception #4: Everything in Japan is super high-tech and modern
In fact, squat toilets are still widely used around the country; many houses are poorly built with wood and metal; every year hundreds (or thousands?) of very traditional festivals are held all over the country that have been held for hundreds (or thousands?) of years. Japan has also done well to preserve many old old temples, shrines and buildings.

Misconception #5: Everything in Japan is very expensive
Only in the cities! And even within cities there are some great restaurant and shop finds that sell great value clothing and food. There are also lots of 100-yen shops and 100-yen (around 65p or $8HKD) sushi restaurants (my favourite haunt)!

Misconception #6: Japan is one big bustling urban city that's super crowded and noisy
There are in fact many deserted coasts, lots of farms and open fields, magnificent mountain ranges and deep forests.


Right - off to my sushi lunch.

Anecdotes of Home

I can't believe it's already been a week and a half since I got home. It has just flown by. But at the same time I felt I've done loads already. That's cos I have done quite a lot already. This is, afterall, Hong Kong.

I have definitely had a bit of reverse culture shock since I got back. There are a lot of things that one may hate, or love about Hong Kong. These are just a few things which I used to take for granted, but now find quite amusing/dispisable/laughable.

1. Building names - The number of buildings and high rises and apartments and housing estates can rival the number of hairs on Austin Powers' chest any day. But the most amazing thing about these buildings are the increasingly ridiculous names developers slap on them. Some are so gory and overly pretentious you just wanna puke. For example, just around the corner from where I live is Palatial Crest, or in Chinese - 輝煌豪園. Unfortunately I don't think its fit even for Princess Sam Lees. A newer estate I recently got to know, situated in Kowloon City, is Le Billionaire...!!! LMAO. I would immediately un-friend any friend who would choose to live in such a gaudily-named block of concrete.

There are loads others such as Bel-Air, Beverly Hills, the Arch (in Chinese its ACTUALLY named after Arch de Triomphe...and the building sort of has an arch in it), Manhattan Hill, Bellagio, Wealthy Height etc.

And myself? I live in the lovely Merry Terrace. :D

2. The MTR - I love love love the MTR. It is clean, fast, cool, and clean. But I hate hate hate the people who ride the MTR. They are impatient, rude, noisy and aggressive. Actually, you will realise this upon 10 minutes of landing into HK Airport, even before you get on the MTR, when you take the little inter-terminal transit train at the airport that takes you from your airplane to the arrival hall. Because a train every 2 minutes is not fast enough for the fast-paced HKer. And in turn, this behaviour makes YOU impatient, rude and aggressive. It's a vicious cycle. I think once I actually snapped and yelled at someone who was trying to push me back into the train as I was getting out. Lord have mercy.

There will (might) be more to come.

Hi, it's me again...

wow I haven't blogged in nearly two months..do you remember me

Also, I'm back again in my noisy smoggy sweaty smelly busy home aka 852 aka HK. It has been 8 months. And I have already noticed things that have changed. Small things. Higher taxi fares. Shops gone and shops opened. Buildings gone and buildings built.

I also seemed to have forgotten about and thus felt slightly overwhelmed at the masses of foreign people in Hong Kong. I guess being one in 35 foreigners in a 350,000 population town does that to you. But having said that, in the nearly-4 days that I've been here, I've already heard 3 groups of Japanese people in HK each in separate occasions - a big group of salary men in the next table in a Thai restaurant, two ladies shopping in Zara IFC, and another pair of ladies sitting behind us in a French restaurant.

Right so what have I already achieved in the first 4 days of my 3 week visit?

I've had Thai food; I've been to LanKwai two times, three bars; I've taken a ferry to Lantau and seen the Big Buddha; I've had seafood; I've had french food; I've watched a movie at a cinema; I've taken the MTR three times; I've had Chinese food twice; I've been to H&M once and I've been to the tiny lanes in Central twice....

...and I still have lots more to do. Wish me luck.

A Truck vs. A Shadow

"Would you rather be run over by the truck or by its shadow?"

It was the 50s, and Donald Grey Barnhouse, a famous bible teacher, had just lost his wife to cancer when she was in her thirties. On the way to the funeral eldest daughter had asked him, "If Jesus died for our sins why do we still die?"

At that moment he looked out the window and saw a truck and its shadow go by. Barnhouse turned to her daughter and asked, "Tell me sweetheart, would you rather be run over by the truck or by its shadow?"

"Well of course by the shadow," she replied, "the truck would hurt but the shadow would not

Barnhouse nodded and said, "That is exactly what Jesus Christ has done for you and for me. The truck of God's judgement went over him, only the shadow of death goes over you and me now. There is nothing to fear."

Jesus didn't just come come to talk, but he came to give true hope.

He didn't talk about coming in another life, but once to die and then judgement.

He came to give us the purpose and meaning in life.

He came to offer a relationship and a bridge, a relationship with God the Father the Son and the Spirit, by having that sin paid for, the sin that is real and that requires true forgiveness.

(Fragments from RZIM, India Vision Q&A by Ravi Zacharias)

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and belives in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

I want to....More creative writing

Here's a couple more writing exercises that I thought were genius on the grammar 'I want to...' by 8th graders.

The first one is written by a boy called Moue

1. In 2 years, I'm going to be 15 years old.
I want to go to Onahama High School.

2. In 5 years, I'm going to 18 years old.
I want to work at Seven Eleven. (Convenience store)

3. In 7 years, I'm going to be 20 years old.
I want to work at Ministop. (Another convenience store)

4. In 12 years, I'm going to be 25 years old.
I want to get 1000000000000000 yen.

5. In 22 years, I'm going to be 35 years old.
I want to marry Naoya. (His classmate)

6. In 37 years, I'm going to be 50 years old.
I want to change the world.

7. In 47 years, I'm going to be 60 years old.
I want to go to heaven.

8. In 1000 years, I'm going to be 1013 years old.
I want to be reborn.


This is what Naoya wrote:

1. In 2 years, I'm going to be 15 years old.
I want to go to Taira Technical High School.

2. In 5 years, I'm going to 18 years old.
I want to Graduate from Taira Technical High School.

3. In 7 years, I'm going to be 20 years old.
I want to drive.

4. In 12 years, I'm going to be 25 years old.
I want to be a woman.

5. In 22 years, I'm going to be 35 years old.
I want to marry Moue. (boy mentioned above)

6. In 37 years, I'm going to be 50 years old.
I want to die with Moue.

7. In 47 years, I'm going to be 60 years old.
I want to be reborn.

8. In 1000 years, I'm going to be 1013 years old.
I want to be a goddess.


LLLLLOOOOOLLLLLLL

I love my boys.

On The 'Desiring God' Blog

Those who say that 'all religions are true' or 'all religions lead to the same thing' or 'all religions are one' either don't know what the words 'religion' or 'same' or 'true' mean, or they shamelessly make such assumptions and conclusions without actually delving into or even making a slight effort to understand the fundamental basis of said 'religions'.

*I use the word 'religion' here in terms of what the secular world might call religion, although I personally don't think Christianity is in fact defined as 'religion'.

Jesus and Buddha on Happiness
June 19, 2008 | By: Jon Bloom
Category: Commentary

Greatly disturbed by the suffering he saw in the world, 29-year-old Prince Guatama Siddhartha (563-483 BC), who was later called the Buddha (enlightened one), left his wife and young child and set out on a search for the meaning of life.

What struck him was the impermanence of the world—nothing lasted. In spite of this, people were attached to impermanent things. They desired to hold on to life, health, possessions, and each other. But life, health, possessions and people pass away. This, he reasoned, was the cause of human suffering. Therefore, he concluded that if he could kill desire his suffering would cease and he would be happy.

But the Buddha did desire something: lasting happiness. Ironically, it was this great desire that fueled his philosophy of killing desire.

There is a vacuous absence of God in the Buddha’s pursuit of desire-less joy. He didn’t say much about God’s existence. To him, God was irrelevant to human happiness. Rather, happiness was being free from desire-induced suffering and reincarnation. It was the blissful end of individual existence—the sweet annihilation that is Nirvana.

How different are Jesus’ answers from the Buddha’s. When a rich young man, not so different from the rich young Guatama, sought out Jesus’ direction for eternal happiness, Jesus replied,

You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. (Mark 10:21).

Note that Jesus did instruct the man to become detached from his possessions, but he did not mean a Buddhist detachment. The Buddha taught that nothing lasts, so be attached to nothing. Jesus taught that One Thing lasts, so at all cost, be attached to that!

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:45)

Jesus knows that our desire for happiness is designed by God and so is our desire for permanence. They are not evil. Here is what is evil:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13)

We are designed to be satisfied with the one eternal, permanent God. Evil is when we believe that God will not satisfy us and therefore pursue happiness in transient things. That’s the essence of sin.

Jesus and the Buddha agree that pursuing happiness in transient things is futile, but they direct us to opposite solutions. The Buddha says satisfaction is treasuring nothing. Jesus says it is treasuring God. In treasuring God we end up receiving all things. In treasuring no thing we end up with, well, nothing.

Which, of course, is why we are not Desiring Nothing Ministries.

Britain's Got Patriotism...?

(This post was written a while ago....but never published it....)

Being in Japan, 6000 miles away from Britain, has not stopped me from following closely to the much talked about Britain's Got Talent (mostly thanks to listening to BBC Radio 1 and keep hearing Susan Boyle this Susan Boyle that...). I absolutely loved it. The whole show. It was brilliant. The range of talents, acts, ages, interests, skin colour...

And I was totally content that Diversity won. They weren't perfect, but Boyle wasn't either. No one is. The point is, Boyle has practically won already, by securing contracts with theatre productions even before the BGT Final. Diversity, if they hadn't won, would have been forgotten by the British public in less than 2 hours after the Final.

Anyway, what caught my attention throughout the whole show wasn't just the talent, but how all the contestants who were interviewed all echoed a common theme: Patriotism. Perhaps not the Oath-taking, flag-saluting, anthem-singing kind, but when asked what it would mean to win the show or get to the royal variety show...etc. almost all said something about how wonderful it would be to perform in front of the Queen; what an honour it would be to sing in front of the Queen, it would be great to perform in front of the Royal Family...whatever the talent, most echoed such similar ambitions, as they marched on to the audition on a stage that was dazzling with Union Jack colours. Commentators as well, saying how wonderful it is to uncover raw home-made British talent from your mother's hometown's local church or community centre etc. Yes I quite agree. Just like the encouragement of consumption of local farm produce is increasingly popular, why shouldn't we encourage more appreciation of more local talent eh?

On TV

During a morning breakfast programme on Japanese TV they showed a few societal statistics and surveys taken from the 1980s all the way to early 21st century, and one of the survey questions was 'How important is religion in life?'

I know the picture isn't very big but in short, the red line (decreasing) illustrates the trend for those who answered 'Very or quite important'. The blue line (increasing) illustrates the trend for 'Not really & not at all important'.

I somehow doubt that the people surveyed had the same idea of 'religion' as the pastor at Taira Church on Sunday did, who said, ' "Religion" is what WE humans have to do in order to be saved; whereas "the Gospel" is what GOD had to do in order for humans to be saved'.

Nigella in training

There's something about studying that gives one the desire to make things, or cook things. Otherwise known as excuses for procrastination. As my Japanese Proficiency Test approaches, I have found myself working in the kitchen more than on my desk. Last week, I made my first batch of cookies. It wasn't great, although on the following day at school there was a resounding 'UMAI!'* from all the teachers that were privileged (or brave) enough to try. Last Friday I made another batch, a better batch, and gave most of it to my calligraphy class - 3 grannies and 2 elementary school kids. I got mugicha* teabags in return from the teacher. Que Japanese reciprocity.

On Monday, after a long and difficult day at work, I decided to express the stress in the form of shopping - more specifically household shopping, and ended up buying a blender. ('Twas less than 1500 yen! Win!) And today I made peach-&-banana-&-zero-fat-yogurt-&-soymilk-&-honey smoothie. Ooh-la-la.


I also made 'Sunny's scones' - I got a vague scone recipe from my friend Sunny. They're tomato-onion-cheese-basil scones, except I didn't have any basil. So I put pepper instead. After making an epic mess in the kitchen (as well as on myself...I just found scone-mix in my right ear), the scones came out pretty good, to my surprise (see picture). Until now I was never able to boast any sort of cooking skills, despite both my parents being good cooks themselves.

Next challenge - banana bread!


Note:
* umai = delicious
* mugicha = 'roasted barley tea'

Creative Writing

As much as I, as an ALT, would like to think I should be encouraging more oral communication from students, most of the time it is writing exercises that really bright up my day. Or more specifically, reading the students' creative writing exercises.

This week the students were taught the grammar point "I'm going to (verb)", and they were made to write what their aspirations or expectations for themselves in 15 years time.

I managed to sneakily take pictures of 2 students' masterpieces without getting weird looks from the teachers around me. Take note: both of these are written by 13 or 14 year old boys. And while they are very materialistic, they're also quite creative in some ways.


Exhibit Number 1:

I am going to have two kids. I am going to marry a cute girl. I am going be an office worker. I am going to be happy. I am going to make 300,000 yen. I am going to have tropical fish. I am going to have a big house. I am going to pick up 1,000,000 yen.





Exhibit Number 2:

I am going to have three kids.
I am going to marry Yusuke (a boy's name).
I am going to take care of Yusuke.
I am going to kiss Yusuke everyday.
I am going to love Yusuke.
Yusuke is going to love me.
I am going to cook tororo imo (type of potato).
I am going to live in a pink house.

This was not the only uhh 'boy wants to marry boy' piece we got.

This is another 'culture shock' issue I faced in Japanese schools - that how boys have very um close and loving relationships with each other, which is kinda cute in some way, but then it can also get a bit erm 'ero' sometimes and they get really huggy and touchy feely with each other.......yeah.

(But then apparently its normal here......)

I never went to school with boys...can anyone shed any light on what 12-15 year old boys are like in other cultures..?

Sufficient Grace

This morning I woke up feeling kind of annoyed, irritated, and grace-less.

First of all, trying to organise a party without knowing numbers (and hence how much food to get) because people don't RSVP or people cancel last minute is irritating. Especially when it's my birthday. Yes I am vain in that way. Secondly, JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is 2 weeks away and knowing I still have lots to learn is irritating. And then waking up at 7:30am on a Saturday is irritating. I also wasn't feeling well, physically, which is irritating.

All these little things sound rather trivial, but with all this all rolled together on a warm and humid Saturday morning got me feeling grace-less.

But God, with all HIS abundant grace sent gentle reminders that made me realise a few things...

For starters, upon opening Firefox to check my email, these big headlines on Yahoo news front page -Miracle recovery of 'amazing Grace' - hit me right in the face. It reported of a miraculous recovery of a baby called Grace who survived and recovered after her life-support machine was turned off after her parents gave up hope of her ever recovering from "incurable" meningitus - story here. There is no other explanation other than God's sufficient grace to give this baby life, and bring her parents joy. That story appearing on Yahoo News, today, was no coincidence, I believe. The baby's name being Grace was no coincidence either, I believe. Thus first reminder - God's grace is sufficient.

Then after getting bored of studying, I decided to re-listen to a Ravi Zacharias talk on 'Why don't I feel my faith', and at one point he said how easily we let our emotions and feelings control us, when actually, we ought to kick those moods that get us down and less Christ-like. It's the language of me to myself, to train our emotions, to be the master of our feelings. Second reminder.

The party turned out to be better than I had expected. The people that I actually enjoy hanging out with came, and even though it wasn't a massive turnout, it was just big enough (about 10 people) for everyone to enjoy each other's good company, chatter & banter, good food and wine - just generally have a good time. Any bigger and it would've gotten a little chaotic, which would have been irritating.

So praise Him for his Grace, His perfect plan, His little reminders, and how He 'works for the good of those who love Him', even though I probably / definitely didn't deserve it today...(I'm not even sure if that verse really applies to my situation today)...

But at least now I'm going to bed NOT irritated, NOT annoyed, and NOT grace-less :)

Stupidity Tax

Two news story on BBC news really pushed my wtf buttons this morning - A 20-year-old woman from Leicester was imprisoned because thought it would be funny to overtake a siren-sounding ambulance, laughing and making obscene gestures at the ambulance crew, and slowed down, causing the vehicle to brake suddenly, whilst at the back of the ambulance a paramedic was giving heart compressions to an elderly patient. Full story here. Seriously...wtf! Who does that..!?!!

And story number two is where an NHS Trust clinic caused a couple's embryo to be wrongly implanted in a different patient, causing much distress to the couple who have been having pregnancy difficulties for years, and the Trust having to pay an undisclosed settlement to the couple. Full story here.

Turning to the plank in my own eye, I managed to melt the anti-slip rubber on the bottom of one of my little floor mats by keeping my rice cooker and electric kettle/hot water pot on it at all times. The consequence was I had to peel off the mat from the floor, and spent 20 minutes scrubbing off the melted bits off the wooden floor in the kitchen. But not really that big of a plank compared to the above stories from the BBC.

Which brings me to stupidity tax. Stories like that make me think it's not actually an such absurd thing. Acts of stupidity usually bring an amount of unhealthy or harmful consequences to society - either to the person himself and/or to others in society. In both of the above cases they've caused considerable damage to people outside of themselves, as well as to themselves (being imprisoned and paying the settlement respectively).

If stupidity can be seen as a demerit good, and if the government's role is to reduce demerit goods in society, then maybe people like this should be taxed in order to internalise this negative externality. And then the government should use the money to educate people in common sense. Or maybe society needs 'common sense licenses' where everyone is required to hold one in order to be allowed interact in society, and is taken away and must either be on house arrest or put in isolation when stupidity is breached.

The Japanese know how to have fun

I guess I can't really compare how the British or Chinese teacher/company parties go, but one thing is for sure, and that's the Japanese really know how to make it a hell of a night.


On Friday night, I was cordially invited to one of my visiting school's "thanks for the hard work / thanks and farewell Mr Singaporean JET / let's work hard for the upcoming National Schools Sports Tournament" party. It was in this wonderful Japanese-Fusion-esque restaurant, in a private room for all 25 of us with our own bar, a fabulous set menu and all-you-can-drink. There was conversation and laughter and jokes and drinks and food for a good 2 hours, and more importantly great company. Some of these teachers really know how to get the party going. There was not a dull moment. I also love the unspoken 'what happens in a party stays at a party' policy. Nothing said or happened is to be talked about again. Everyone comes to work the next (working) day as if nothing happened the previous night.



Anyway, with the sake and beer continuously flowing (which, is actually drunk in tower-fuls - suitably named 'Ta-wa bi-ru'), a few of the teachers got up and did a sort of ritual chant/traditional cheering routine to cheer everyone on for the Tournament, for Mr Singapore and his future, and for the school in general to 'gambare'.

This party was definitely one-of-a-kind. And I love how each Japanese party is sort of similar but also quite different. I don't believe that any other culture out there does their parties like the Japanese do. Maybe it's something in the water? Maybe its something in the sake....

On Blogging, Travelling, School Lunches and Religious Freedom

From now on I do hope to post a bit more frequently...although it must be understood that 10 months in, I've settled in for quite a while now, those initial new 'Japan discoveries' have now become the norm.

And life has become pretty regular, except for the occasional travels - well, I say occasional, but actually I just realised I've been travelling pretty much every month since the JET-ing began..

- August - well, arrived Tokyo and setting foot in
- September - Sendai Jazz Festival in Sendai, Miyagi
- October - Lots of festivals around Fukushima; shopping trip in Tokyo; and the Gifu & Toyama Bus Tour
- November - Okutama JCF Retreat; Nikko, Tochigi; Tokyo DisneySea
- December - Hong Kong
- January - Sapporo, Hokkaido
- February - Aizu, Fukushima
- March - Tokyo; Nagano JCF Retreat; Osaka
- April - Kobe; Kyoto; Tokyo (yes, again)
- May - Okinawa


On a different note, when I saw what was served for lunch at school today, my first thought was that the guys who decided today's main dish, side dish, carbs and dessert obviously didn't talk to each other today...

We get school lunches delivered to school everyday by a school catering company. Usually the school lunch consists of: Milk, Main dish or soup, side dish, the carbs and dessert (erm actually the term 'dessert' is debatable as we sometimes get cheese or a packet of nuts & small dried fishies...so probably the term 'after-lunch snack' would be more appropriate..?)

Anyway, TODAY'S lunch consisted of: Milk, soft noodles, soupy Japanese curry, 2 takoyakis ('octopus balls') and yogurt. It's as if they picked each item out of many in catagorised hats. The school lunch company made absolutely no effort in giving thought to the combination whatsoever. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't mad, not at all. It was just really amusing. Although sometimes we do get some truly indigestible matter. A friend once commented on how school lunch soups are probably made: write down a bunch of foods on pieces of paper, put them in a hat, pick 3 or 4 out, then serve it in your own urine. I myself probably wouldn't've put it in such a way, although it does make you think...

....that I should be grateful that I have lunch at all.

I had also recently just realised, after being in Japan for nearly 10 months and teaching for 9 of those, that Japanese public schools don't have religious education. I shared my revelation with the trainee intern teacher sitting next to me, and she said it was because the government is not allowed to intervene in terms of anything religious, because religion is a sensitive issue, and people have the freedom to make their own choice.

I see it, however, not as freedom, but as a great limitation to freedom. It seems people are deprived of information to be free to make a rational choice based on facts. They are bound by a shallow 'religious' culture that surrounds them - on the surface all the festivals and shrines and temples make Japan seem deeply rooted in Buddhism and Shintoism, but underneath that superficial culturally colourful coat the real religion is of materialism, of keeping one's face (or dignity), of advancement and constant renewal, but also of a strong herd-culture. On the other hand, "many long-held traditional beliefs and values seem to be crumbling. Never, in Japan's recent history, have there been so many brutal crimes being committed as now. It is also reported that over 30,000 people commit suicide annually." (RBC Ministries)

I haven't really talked to any of the kids about religion, or how much they know about different belief systems. I don't expect them to know a lot. Even the reasons behind religious public holidays in Japan are not taught to children "because if they say so it will be interpreted as having to do with a particular denomination". I'm not saying indoctrinate the kids with certain religion(s), but there's not even a gateway for exploration and investigation, or even just a window to expand their worldviews and open up their minds to other cultures and beliefs and mindsets.

I sometimes feel the kids here are so bound up in chains of all sorts. They need freedom!