2nd Christmas Party: Ladies

Earlier in the week, the church through a Christmas party for all the ladies who attend church or lady neighbors.  Most of those in attendance were on the older side.  Little, old ladies.  We had a young mom and her baby.  And Hiromitsu and Hisashi were also there.

The New Chapel was all decked out with Christmas decorations.  We also had a nice little lunch.  It's something I'd stereotypically expect from England: cute, little sandwiches, tangerines, and tea.  There was also a variety of Japanese pickles that I tried but didn't like.  After lunch, we had cake.  Christmas cake.  It's a Japanese tradition.  It's mainly a white sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries.  It was good.  Very light.  But the cold Christmas season always makes me crave really rich foods, like hot cinnamon rolls!

Hisashi gave a sermon about Mary.  I liked the spin he gave on it.  He said that Jesus was not the hero of Christmas.  It was a woman, Mary.  The mother.  It was a nice way to reach all the women and make the story of Christmas personal to them.

After lunch and sermon, we exchanged gifts.  I was prepared this time!  I made another yarn lei with the stuff I had left over.  It was a lot of fun to exchange the gifts.  It was kinda like musical chairs.  Finally, the most stopped and I got my gift.  It was a ceramic cup.  It was really nice for 500 yen!  Plus it was wrapped in a really nice handkerchief.  It was like getting two presents instead of one.  And who got my lovely pink lei?  Hiromitsu!  Not quite fit for a guy.  At first he thought it was some sort of scarf!  But maybe Ayumi would like it...

After presents, we had a candlelit service.  I don't remember everything that was said.  But, Hisashi lit his big red candles.  Then one by one we each lit our own little white candles.  In the end, it looked quite nice.  After saying a prayer, we blew our candles out.  And that was it!

It was a nice little service/party for the ladies.  I hope they enjoyed it and were blessed by it.  Now, on to my third party...

A Baptism & the 1st Christmas Party

Two Sundays ago, we had a really special day.  Yuki, one of my former English students and mother of some of the Sunday school kids that attend, got baptized!  This is a big deal in Japan.  To them, this is the major step to say, "I'm a Christian."  I've never taken baptism so seriously in my own Christian life.  Of course, I recognize it as something important, but I supposed it's something that I never really focused on very much.  When I got baptized, I suppose it felt like no big deal.  But this time with Yuki, it WAS a big deal!

I made a yarn lei for Yuki (not easy in Japan!) and gave her some flowers, but I think I was outdone by the pink poinsettias!

Yuki got up in front of the church and shared her testimony.  It was very educational for a westerner like me.  For most of her life, she's felt an extreme amount of pressure, fear, and worry.  She's worried about everything!  Her husband has been largely unsupportive in her seeking out God.  She has to deal with something that I certainly know nothing about.  Having to obey her husband!  In fact, she had to sneak out in order to show up for her own baptism!  It's something that I don't think I'll ever understand.  The Japanese tradition of the husband being "the king" (as one Japanese woman put it) and the wife being the servant.  It's something that Yuki is facing and I'm sure many other women pursuing God must also face.  But seeing all the spiritual battles that Yuki has been fighting for many years, and how God has always fought for her... It becomes quite understandable why a baptism is something so special and important for a Japanese person.  It's also a blessing to hear how God has used past English teachers and missionaries to bring her up.  Many of those teachers have left, but they made an impact that lasted longer than their stay in Japan.  It's a reassurance that God will continue to use us and our servant hearts in ways that our bigger than we can understand.  It was a beautiful moment to see this fruit of their labors and God's ever-pursuing love.

Yuki getting baptized.

Another note that I found interesting was their style of baptism.  Most Protestant baptisms I've seen involve the pastor submerging the person in a body of water, either a tub, or river, or beach.  Instead, Pastor Hisashi baptized Yuki by putting water from a silver cup on her head.  I do know that in submersion water baptisms, it signifies a person dying (going underwater) and then being resurrected into a new life (coming out of the water).  I wonder if the symbolism and significance for the Lutheran practice is different or if it means the same.  And if it is different then that would also make sense why the emphasis on baptism also seems different.

Mana-Su fell asleep during
Hisashi's message!

After the service and lunch, Fileo had a Christmas party.  It was the first of many Christmas parties to be held at ACC.  Aaron and I showed up and we were very surprised to see people dressed up in costumes.  Manami wore a Santa dress and hat.  Ryunoske dressed up as Rudolph.  Tomowari was some sort of yakuza guy (not Christmas related at all), looked like he stepped out of a shooting video game.  Haruka was Mario (also not Christmas related at all).  Manami Suzuki was a pink prince (again, not Christmas related).  She looked like she belonged in Sugar Rush from Wreck-it-Ralph!  Hajime.. was in all black.  Including black face.  Literally black face.  I'm not really sure what he was supposed to be, but I'm sure he wasn't a black person so it wasn't racist.  But he was black.  I thought maybe he was a lump of coal, but seeing a theme of non-Christmas related costumes made think maybe I just didn't get it.  Lol. Well, Aaron and I didn't really know we were supposed to wear costumes.  Manami mentioned dressing up.  I thought that meant wearing Christmas colors or a Christmas sweater, so I wore a red sweater.  Joshua showed up in a Christmas sweater, which made me feel a little more normal.  But I guess I didn't grasp that she meant wear costume.  It's not exactly a traditional American thing to do.  I think Aaron was also confused.  But it was entertaining.  Especially when we found out our mission.  Head to the local supermarket, purchase a bunch of stuff to decorate a cake, and then decorate the cake.  Prettiest and most delicious cake wins.

We all ran into the store.  Manami Suzuki stood out the most since she was wearing bright, neon-pink tights and a wig.  She was extra embarrased.  Haruka looked mostly normal except for her Mario mustache, which she tried to cover up most of the time we were there.  I don't know why they were embarrassed.  I would've totally embraced the moment!  Maybe I just love being weird.  Being weird is awesome!  I enjoyed being the weird group in the middle of Yorkbenimaru.

We had only an hour and $8 to do everything, so after buying all our stuff, we rushed back to the church to make our cake.  Our original idea was to make a Christmas tree.  Then we saw that the cake was really tiny.  We improvised and it turned into a totally new monster.  A Christmas tree cake turned into a cake Christmas tree forest.

Our tree forest cake.

When time was up, we presented our project to the 3 Wise Men: Hiromitsu, Hisashi, and Toru.  I BSed our presentation by saying the three trees represented Father God, Christ, and Holy Spirit.  But even my BS didn't win us first prize.  The winner was... Hajime, Aaron, and Moe.  Personally, I think they should've been disqualified because they left the paper between their two layers of cakes AND because they stole our Pocky sticks.

The winning cake.

Although, if I were the judge I would've chosen Manami, Ryunosuke, and Joshua's cake as the winner.  There's was just really pretty.  Of course, they had Joshua the artist on their team!  And I thought theirs was the yummiest.  They were smart enough to put loads of almonds and chocolate chunks all over the place.

Manami, Ryunosuke & Joshua's cake!

After the cake contest, we exchanged Secret Santa gifts.  Again, I was totally confused by the different Christmas practices in Japan.  Usually in America, when we do a Secret Santa, everyone picks out names from a bag and then buys that person a gift without revealing who they are.  In Japan, however, people all show up with a wrapped gift and distribute them randomly to everyone in the party.  Well, I guess I assumed we'd be picking out names that day, rather than giving out gifts.  I felt like a jerk for not bringing a gift and we were once again unprepared for the party.  Fortunately, Joshua brought 2 gifts, so we were still able to participate.  Thanks, Josh!  Aaron and I got a gift from Hajime.  Yeah, not really a secret, lol!  But it was a really nice gift.  It looked kinda like an ash tray.  But it was a glass tray from Okinawa.  Even though the tag said "Made in Taiwan."  But everyone seemed to know that this was some sort of specialty from Okinawa.  So... I guess it's Okinawan!  It was still very nice, and Aaron and I are racking up a lot of random gifts given to us from people in the church.  I have no idea what to do with them all since we don't have our new apartment yet!

Well, that was the end of our Fileo Christmas Party.  One down, a bajillion more to go all before December 25th!  I'm pooped.

Food. Friends. Fun.

On Saturday,  Aaron and I had made plans with several friends.  First, we met up with Nobuko and her husband at Yumi's family soba shop.  It's a plan we've been trying to set for several months, ever since Yumi opened up her shop.  Finally, FINALLY we were able to do it.

First, we had to wait for Aaron to get out of work.  He had to work late this weekend because of Christmas preparations.  We didn't get going until around 3pm.  We tried to dial in the address to our GPS, but it just took us in circles.  Once we got to the general area, we stopped at a convenience store and asked the poor high school kid working to give us some directions.  The guy was really helpful and told us exact directions in how to get there.  While in the convenience store, I took the opportunity to buy a snack.  Some cheese crackers!  That was my breakfast!  I'd been waiting all day to eat at Yumi's shop and now we were super late!  But, thanks to that high school kid's help, we found the place.  His directions were perfect.

Yumi taking Nobuko's order.

When we got there, we were surprised by how small it was.  I knew from pictures that it was going to be small, but once we stepped foot inside, we got a better idea of just how small it was.  It was only big enough to sit about 8 people at a time.  With Nobuko and her husband, we took up half the entire restaurant.  Aaron and I sat at the counter on these tiny little wooden stools.  Since, it was pretty cramped and there was already a family sitting inside, we waited for a while before we got our food.  We were able to make some small talk while we were waiting for our food.  Poor Yumi and her family were slaving away!

Once we finally got our food, the wait was worth it!  It was delicious!  I normally don't care for soba because it's quite bland.  But they mixed their soup with some chicken broth and it tasted so good!  I ordered the cold soba, but it probably would've tasted even better hot.  Aaron got the same thing I did and he loved it too.  He said it was the best soba he's eaten!  Plus, they gave us some free dessert.  Some azuki bean bricks (I don't know what they're really called) and persimmons.  After all their other customers left, we all sat around and talked story.  We ended up staying for quite some time.  When we checked the clock, it was already 6:40 pm!  We had to go or else we'd be late for our next plan.

Soba with chicken! Yum!

Before we headed out the door, Yumi gave me one of her homemade charms.  It was worth $5, but she gave me it for free.  It was a little charm made from a 100 year-old kimono.  At least that's what she said.  When she said that I thought it was so cool.  I tried to hand her 500 yen to pay for it, but she refused.  They then ushered us out of their parking lot and waved goodbye.

Next up, we had dinner!  Luckily, our dinner place was just around the corner from Yumi's restaurant.  We couldn't believe how close and convenient it had all turned out.  After only about a 5 minute drive, we were at the restaurant.  When we got there, Natsuho had just arrived too.  Not long after, Manami Suzuki and her friend Ayano came in.  We were all there.  The place was a Korean restaurant that was owned by a Korean lady.  Manami had been there before and recommended we try it out.

The huge blocks of meat, with a little cup to catch all the oil.  By the end of the night that little cup was filled up to the top!  It was pretty gross.

We all ordered whatever we wanted, but Manami ordered a big chunk of meat for all of us.  Literally.  A huge chunk of meat.  We couldn't believe how much meat they gave us.  They fried it right in front of us as we ate chijime, sundub, and other Korean dishes.  Of course, Aaron had to order a bowl of bibim naengmyeon.

Natsuho ordered a big glass of beer and afterwards some kind of rice wine that they served in a bowl.  He passed it around and we all tried it.  It was quite interesting.  It seemed that Natsuho enjoyed himself and we had a good time talking to everyone.  The Korean lady who owned the place was really a crazy lady.  She talked to everyone and was pretty wacky.  I'm not sure but she either called me fat or was checking me out.  She told me I had much volume while making a shapely figure with her hands and then she said that I had a small face.  I didn't really know how to take it.  She also said I was short.  She also seemed to like Aaron since he has a Korean connection.  I don't know what she said to him but she kept feeding him like he was her son.  It was quite a strange but funny experience.

At the end, the Korean lady made us a kimchee fried rice with cheese.  It was pretty cool to watch her.  It turned out to be the most delicious thing we'd eaten all night.  I think I might even have to make that for myself one day.

Unfortunately, Aaron had rented out his school's van for the day and he needed to get it back by a certain time.  So we had to say goodnight far too early.  When we finally got home, we were stuffed!  It was a strange day for my stomach.  I spent the first half dying from starvation, then the next several hours eating non-stop!

Our three friends: Manami, Ayano & Natsuho.  All eating the yummy, cheesy kimchee fried rice.

But overall, it was a fun day with great food.  Aaron was very happy and it was like having a life again.  Lol, I agree.  It's nice to have some sort of social life and not feel like a mindless working robot.  As for me, it was my last day of food happiness.  The next day would be the start of my 3-week-long Daniel Fast.  I guess this was my Fat Tuesday.  Yup, very fat.