Earthquake!

...drill, that is. Yes, I do feel a small shaker every couple of weeks, but it's nothing to fear really. Even still, in this earthquake prone area, we have earthquake drills, along with fire drills, in the schools.

I knew we'd be having a drill a while ago, so I didn't have to waste time preping for a class that wouldn't happen. The alarm was set to go off in the first 10 minutes of my second ninensei (grade 2) class of the day, so we just did our morning greeting, said our morning prayer, starting singing "Jesus Love Me", and the earthquake alarm went off.

If you've never been in a Japanese earthquake drill before, this is what happens: the alarm goes off, and you immediately hide under your desk and cover your head. This is to protect yourself from any falling objects. Following the earthquake alarm, the fire alarm went off. The idea was that the earthquake caused a fire. In the classrooms, there are large head covers (which are basically replective large oven mitts). The students, as well as the teachers, are to put these on. This keeps the heat off I guess. The students also seemed to have some clothes to cover their mouths with, in order to keep out the smoke. Well, it's better than nothing I guess. Following this, we were to go to a meeting spot outside. Since it was raining, outside ended up being the gym.

I really do hope that if we ever have a fire, that it's not in the gym on a rainy day. That just might be the end of me.

What not to make in Japan

Taking a play on words from Rory's site, this is what not to make in Japan. Seriously, some of this food could kill you if you are not in good health!
















Exhibit A: Japanese extreme super dragon funny death MSG action food.

Seriously, do not even attempt to eat this if you are not in excellent health. In fact, even if you are in excellend health, this should not be eaten. Even eating half of this dish could change your status from "excellent health" to "grossly obese."

The contents of this meal include two sauce dishes. The top sauce consists of mayo and ketchup. These are to be mixed together, and have various food dipped into. This is not good for your health. In fact, when this was fed to a lab rat back in '95, the rat gained 1.3 kilograms, slipped into a coma for 4 months, and then died.

The other sauce is simply soy sauce and wasabi. This is actually healthy for you. For maximum health benefits, the wasabi should be eaten on it's own, with no other food. This has been known to cure such diseases as cancer, AIDS, and even pregnancy in some cases.

The top food dish is three different types of meat sticks; chicken, cow, and (possibly) aged goat liver (circa 1985). It is said that David Lee Roth ate this same dish after leaving the rock band "Van Halen", and lost his hair. In other words, this dish is a major cause of male pattern baldness. I should not have eaten this, and neither should any person who still has hair on their head.

The bottom dish contains an assortment of fried veggies, meats, and unidentifiable products. All of these things are laced with near-lethal dosages of MSG. As science has recently shown, MSG causes anmesia in arctic penguins. These penguins often forget that they are penguins from the arctic, and believe that they are businessmen in suits. So, if you are a businessman in a suit, and have eaten some food laced with MSG, there is a good chance that you are not who you think you are. You may actually be an arctic penguin. If you find yourself wearing a suit, while mindlessly sitting in an office, you need to seek help immediately.



















Exhibit B: Triple layer french toast, bacon, cheese and maple syrup.

If exhibit A looked nasty, you haven't seen anything yet. This dish will make you fat, give you cancer, possibly give you AIDS, and then kill you if not eaten properly. It contains three layers of french toast (made with 8 egg yokes, 500 ml of 50/50 cream made from fat and "gently handled" Greek goats, and donut bread), mozzarella cheese, arctic penguin bacon (put down because of a severe case of anmesia), and maple syrup.

I was extremely lucky to survive such a meal. Julius Caesar ate this meal every March, and it killed him.

My Church

This is about Urawa Lutheran Church, where I go every Sunday. The service is at 11:00. There's a childrens service at 9:00, and a Bible study at 10:00. The entire service is in Japanese. So, it's pretty difficult to follow for me. The structure is basically the same as any Lutheran church, so I'm not completely lost. Carl (my co-worker) and myself take turns leading the English Bible study. There's usually around 3-8 people in it. One of our Japanese friends and fellow church congregants translates when needed. Our Bibles are both in English and in Japanese.

One humourous part of church was during holy communion. Here, everyone received the bread and eats it straight away. When we receive the wind though (individual cups, filled at the alter), we should wait until everyone standing at the alter has been served. Then, the pastor instructs us to drink together. The first time I did this, I did not know I had to wait. So, as soon as I got the wine, I drank right away. After I realized that I should've waited, I was pretty embarrassed.


















Here's the front of the church, with Pastor Kaye (my co-worker, who is not a practicing pastor right now) in front.

















Here's is Pastor Suzuki and Debi's (one of the teachers we replaced) father erecting a new cross that he built himself. It has holes where the nails that held Jesus may have been. Lutheran churches generally do not have crucifixes. Instead, there is an empty cross. This is to emphesize that Jesus is alive; that He rose from the dead.

















This is during a children's service, at Easter.

















A few weeks ago, we had a couple of professors from Concordia College in Irvine California stay with us for about a week. Dr. Abate is the black guy (originally from Ethiopia), and Dr. Rooney is the white guy in the blue shirt and tie. Every year for the past 18 years(?), my school/church has invited a couple of professors from Concordia Irvine to come here and act as missionaries. During this time, they tour around the Tokyo area, give a couple speeches to students in our daily morning chapel services in the school, and also tour the school (sitting in on some classes, etc.). It's a nice opportunity for them to see Japan, and share their faith with a secular country.

Japan is officially around 1% Christian. Most profess to be Buddhist, Shinto or agnostic (unsure about religion). For those who are Buddhist or Shinto, this is in name only. They generally go to the special events a couple of times a year, and don't think about it for the rest of the year. This is similar to people who to go church only on Christmas and Easter, but don't really think about their faith the rest of the year.

















This was from Easter. On this day, we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. It was really fun watching them try to find the eggs!

















Here's a couple of girls, who are also my students (grade 6).

















Here are a few female high school students and college students, and myself. The girl (German/Japanese, but fluent in English also) on the right is doing a year of school here (grade 11 here, but is actually a bit older). The girl on the right (American) is doing an exchange with a university here in Tokyo for a semester. The two girls in the middle are grade 11 students.


















Hi everyone! Peace!

















This week, we had a group of five high school students and two chaperones visiting from Phoenix Arizona. They stayed for about a week. Each of them stayed with a different host family, and has opportunities to see much of Tokyo. They also were able to tour around the school, and observe some classes. This is the 8th year my school has done this. This picture was taken during a good-bye praise service in the school. After the worship, we had a nice buffet lunch. Then, everyone gave their good-bye speeches.

For 4 weeks this summer, my co-worker, another teacher and myself will be chaperoning 21 Japanese high school students in America. We'll be in Irvine, California for two weeks, and in Phoenix, Arizona for two week. We'll have chances to see things like Disneyland, some California beaches, Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, etc.

















Here are a couple of grade 11 students. Their families hosted some of the Americans this week.

















Here's a group of use posing in the church. The Americans from Phoenix are in the back (with Carl, my co-worker, on the right). In the front is one of the English teachers, the principal of the school, Pastor Suzuki, the chairman (and former principal) of the school, and myself.

My Hero

Typical Don Cherry, as he does his thing during game three of the Stanley Cup Finals in Edmonton.

In other news, England won their opening World Cup game; blaming their non-loss on the hot weather. Silly Brits. I guess they just want an excuse all ready in case they get knocked out of the tourny early again. If they loose out on a cool day, they can blame in on Rooney's ankle. WOW! All bases are covered here!!! These guys actually thought this thing out...