My fantasy interview...

Matt Lauer: Jenn, you've survived 4 months in Japan. What will you do next?

Jenn: I'M GOING TO TOKYO DISNEYLAND!

Yes, that's right folks. We are headed to Tokyo Disneyland this Friday. I promise to write about Hong Kong, Disneyland, and the race on Sunday soon...just not right now!

Countdown to Texas: 16 days

Don't waste your time

You may be asking why I've wasted my time (and yours) with another one these lengthy questionnaires. Well, the only excuse for this one is boredom. I never understand why people spend time answering all these questions about themselves. Maybe it's to try and understand myself better...or try and let others understand me more. Either way, feel free to ignore this post and wait until more anticipated posts come (like my trip to Hong Kong).

Name: Jennifer
Birthday: July 4
Birthplace: Tyler, Texas
Current Location: Yachiyo, Chiba (Japan)...very far from Tyler
Eye Color: green or hazel...they change depending on my surroundings
Hair Color: Blonde
Height: 5'5''
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right...like all normal people are.
Your Heritage: I should know this, shouldn't I?
The Shoes You Wore Today: My indoor gym shoes...outdoors (ha-in your face gym shoe nazis)
Your Weakness: a good cup of coffee
Your Fears: Monotony and not living up to my potential
Your Perfect Pizza: pepperoni and pineapple

Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: well, the year is almost over...maybe just finishing Kayada with grace
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: what's up g-funk?
Thoughts First Waking Up: What day is it?
Your Best Physical Feature: I have no idea...
Your Bedtime: Last night it was 3:00 a.m., but that was because it was my last night in Hong Kong...tonight, looks like it might be midnight
Your Most Missed Memory: Being a kid without a care in the world
Pepsi or Coke: water

McDonalds or Burger King: Chick-fil-a...c'mon, people...but in Japan, Mos Burger
Single or Group Dates: Both, please. (Group = me and 4 guys, right? right...?)
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: What about some of my mom's tea?
Chocolate or Vanilla: depends on the situation...usually chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee: Coffee
Do you Sing: In the shower...dancing around my apartment
Do you Shower Daily: Umm, yes...usually (yeah, I know what you're thinking Mom...ha)
Have you Been in Love: Yes

Do you want to go to College: It's over and done with (name the group that sang that)
Do you want to get Married: Yes
Do you believe in yourself: Absolutely
Do you get Motion Sickness: Not usually, but those double decker buses in Hong Kong probably could if I rode long enough...
Are you a Health Freak: About 1 day per month when I'm feeling guilty...maybe I should work on that...
Do you get along with your Parents: Definitely
Do you like Thunderstorms: They scare me and I hate being alone during them.
Do you play an Instrument: not well...a little guitar, a little piano

In the past month have you--
Drank Alcohol: Yes--had a great White Russian (at a Russian bar, none the less) in Hong Kong
In the past month have you Smoked: nope
Been on Drugs: no
Gone on a Date: no
Gone to a Mall: yep
Eaten a box of Oreos: that's a negative
Eaten Sushi: ha-no...and I'm in Japan, what a shame
Been on Stage: nope
Been Dumped: No, but the month's not over yet! You could have your chance...
Gone Skinny Dipping: in 5th grade in the lake with Heather...until Rick(her cute older neighbor) saw us and we were completely embarrassed--as if we had something to hide in 5th grade
Stolen Anything: no

Ever been called a Tease: not to my face
Ever been Beaten up: Only by myself
Ever Shoplifted: no
How do you want to Die: with the people I love around me...laughing
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: Happy
What country would you most like to Visit: Belgium, Greece, Australia, China, and the list goes on...

In a Boy/Girl..
Favorite Eye Color: don't care
Favorite Hair Color: don't care
Short or Long Hair: Whatever suits you
Height: well, I do tend to fall for taller guys...ha
Weight: who cares? I can still take you....(okay, maybe not)
Best Clothing Style: comfortable

Number of CDs I own: no way I can even guess that right now...all my music in Japan is on my computer
Number of Piercings: 3
Number of Tattoos: none-unless you count fake ones
Number of things in my Past I Regret: taking this survey is climbing the charts...

Hong Kong or bust...

So I'm headed to Hong Kong with Lauren until Sunday. We're staying at an awesome hotel...check it out: Langham Place

I'll be sure to post pictures from the trip when we return.

Countdown to Texas: 22 days

November Young Life

Before Young Life club this month, we played soccer. I wish I had pictures, but of course I was playing, therefore, no pictures. If I get some from someone else, I'll post them later.

Here are some pictures from the evening...I love going to Brett and Bong's house!

Shinsuke, Jerri, Reese, me, and a girl that I don't know


Me and Reese...I love this girl


Reese LOVES to flip.




Some of my favorite folks...Daisuke, Ako, and Shinsuke


After bible study was over, we all hung out talking for awhile. We persuaded Daisuke to tell the story of how he proposed to Cheryl. Shinsuke, quite willingly, agreed to play Cheryl for the reenactment.

Daisuke and Shinsuke (as Cheryl) walking, holding hands


Daisuke and Shinsuke (as Cheryl) sitting on a bench...however, the guys couldn't control their laughter, nor could any of us watching!


Daisuke pops the question and Shinsuke (as Cheryl) leans in to hear those precious words, "Will you marry me?"

Random picture time...get happy!

Here is Kenichi with his creation, 'Liz mikan'.



Mikan=japanese word for mandarin orange

Here is a picture from a tea ceremony we went to a few weeks ago.

How you doin'?

We went to Daisuke's alma mater for a festival. Budodai is a sports university, so of course there were some good looking guys, thus the reason Lauren and I went. Just kidding--of course we went to hang out with Daisuke!!

Lauren and I bought t-shirts, so we got to draw a ticket for a raffle. Well, I got the grand prize--RICE!! How exciting, huh? This dude went crazy blowing his whistle. It was hilarious. (I gave the rice to Daisuke...you know I'm not going to make rice at home!)



Daisuke, Maika, and some dude with paint all over him


Maika drumming



There were some break dancers and techno dancers performing in the afternoon. It was awesome. The break dancers made me miss the days in Houston when the guys would break dance in the gym...good memories.





Here is a kendo demonstration. (Please don't ask me to explain what kendo is.)



A Japanese bounce house



And...drum roll please...I want you to see what I was finally able to do!



That's right-Joshua let me hold him. Thank you...thank you. I'll give autographs all evening.

If you can't imagine yourself being Peter Pan, you won't be Peter Pan

Some of my students came over to watch a movie in the courtyard again. We watched Hook, because that is the only movie we had with Japanese subtitles, but the boys loved it.

Left to Right: Yota, Hiroaki, (Dang-forgot his name), Kodai, and Toshiaki


We gave them all nicknames, so you can also call them (l to r) Yoda, Beckham, Bon Jovi, Genius, and Pretty boy

Yeah, they loved it.
Here is the whole group (minus Megan, because she was taking the picture)


Aren't they adorable?

(l to r) Beckham, Bon Jovi, and Genius

Hiroaki, me, and Kodai


Oh, and just so you know, it's a big accomplishment for Japanese people to smile with their teeth showing. That's how you know they're really happy!

I'm really going to miss these boys when I change schools in January.

Why are so many guys here?

A few months ago Liz, Lauren, Megan, Yuya, Daisuke, and I started an English bible study at Liz's apartment. This was because Yuya and Daisuke wanted to study the bible in English to improve. The first time we had it, it was only the 6 of us. It has grown a lot of the past few months.
Here is a picture from our biggest group, 18 people.



Here is Daisuke practicing guitar on the floor in the kitchen because it was so crowded.



On average, we have 12-14 now. It's been cool to see so many non-Christians come, just because they want to practice English.
Oh, and did you notice there are more guys in the picture? 13 guys/5 girls...we laugh about it. Everyone gives us girls a hard time for having a men's bible study, but as Liz says, "Whatever works!"

Oh man, I miss her.

Dad: I know you are sleeping but I thought you would enjoy this. I went out to start your car and your dog went wacko barking cause she thought you were there.

Happy Blog-i-versary

It's true...I've had this blog for a year now. Hard to believe, huh Katy? Thanks for being my #1 reader for the past year.
Thanks to all you guys who read...even if you just lie to me and say you read it, I appreciate it. It's nice to know you guys actually want to know what's going on in my life, even if most of you didn't start reading until I came to Japan.



p.s. I promise to write a real post soon. I'm crazy busy right now, but I'll try and make time on Friday afternoon.

Due to unwanted spam comments, I've had to enable word verification. This simply means you have to type in a few letters to leave a comment.
Of course, most of you don't leave comments anyway...
However, those of you that do, I'm sorry for the 'inconvenience'. You are the real reason I write after all--my loyal comment-givers--I love you all.

The adventures in bus riding…

For me to tell this story, I really need to start from the beginning, so please bear with me. It all started when many months ago, Lauren and I decided to ride the bus to church. This was our first encounter with the Japanese bus drivers evil side. Now, of course we had ridden the bus before, but we were always with Liz. During the ride, the bus driver stopped the bus to yell at me. I still to this day have no idea why he yelled at me. When Lauren was getting off the bus, he also yelled at her. Again-we have no idea why. After this experience, we vowed to never ride the bus again.
Of course, in a place where we rely on public transportation, we knew we couldn’t keep that vow. Lauren’s school is far from our apartment, so on rainy days, she needs to take the bus. One afternoon, we decided to take the bus to her school so she could make sure she was taking the correct bus. We tried in our best broken Japanese to ask a bus driver which bus would take us where we needed to go. He pointed towards a bus and we said thank you. We went and got on, and soon the bus started going, however it stopped so the bus driver could talk to the same bus driver that had helped us. He told our current bus driver that we had gotten on the wrong bus, and needed to be on the other one. So, they told us, and we got off. Now, that is the ONLY good experience we have had with the bus, so we thought-oh, this is great. The bus drivers were being SO nice! We were optimistic that maybe the bus wasn’t as bad as we had made it out to be. We boarded the correct bus, then headed to Aso-chu. We got to our stop, so we went to get off the bus, however, we didn’t know how much to pay because it wasn’t up on the board like normal. We tried to ask the bus driver, but he totally ignored us. We tried putting money in, but the slot was closed. The driver then gives Lauren his best “go to hell” look. I told Lauren, “Let’s just get off…I don’t care about paying if he isn’t going to help us.” So, we got off the bus without paying. After that, we ended up taking the wrong bus home, but eventually ended up at the train station and we took a train home. All that said, you can see that we haven’t had the best of luck on the bus.
Saturday night was the tip of the iceberg. We were with Liz, so we figured it was ok to take the bus. I mean, we couldn’t live in fear of the bus anyway, so we got on. We had been on the bus a few minutes when it was stopped to let a man off. The bus started moving again, then quickly stopped. Everyone started looking, trying to figure out what had happened. Well-I’ll tell you what happened—THE BUS DRIVER HIT THE MAN! Seriously, we were so shocked. The driver got off and helped the man up while a lady passing by on her bike called the police. The man who was hit walked away, but he was limping badly. Of course, in typical Japanese fashion, all the natives on the bus just took their seats and acted as if nothing happened while the 3 American girls sat in the back shocked and appalled. For this reason, I am vowing to never take the bus in Japan again. (Not really-but I won’t do it willingly.)
When we told this story to Daisuke he said, “When you 2 (Lauren and I) ride the bus again, let me know.” He says we have seen things in Japan that he has never seen in his 25 years of living here.

My 8th grade Beckham...

10.29.05

Hiroaki had told me about the Kayada soccer game, so Lauren and I went to cheer them on. He had a big smile on his face when he saw us. I think he was surprised we actually showed up. Kayada lost, but it was still fun watching.

Hiroaki is #2


My boys in action...


When the boys came to watch a movie the next week, we gave them all nicknames. Hiroaki is now Beckham...at least that's easier to remember.

Do this...do this!!

Ok, it's simple. This is just for fun, so I can see who is actually reading my blog. So, even if you just got here accidently, you can still do this. Go to this link and
fill out 4 measly questions.

www.frappr.com/inlovewithprovidence

Go on--you know you want to.

Best night ever...in Japan

10.28.05
As promised, here are the details of my best night in Japan.
This was the night of our Halloween party. The plan was for the kids to come Trick or Treat, then go on a parade in their costumes. After the parade, they were coming back to our courtyard to play games and hang out.
Lauren and I went to get costumes after our Japanese lessons. We bought some goofy socks and I found some wings to wear. The Japanese don’t really do anything for Halloween, so we were just glad to find anything.
After we shopped, we went back home to decorate the courtyard. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. It was perfect. Liz popped popcorn for later and Megan helped get the snacks together, while Lauren and I hung the lights. We strung skeletons in the entrance of the courtyard, and then spread some carpet out for the kids to sit on while making their treats. We also put the numbers down for the cake walk. Everything was set. We got dressed, and then waited for the kids to come knock on our doors. They came around 5 and we gave all the kids candy. They were so adorable.



These boys were so cute.


Checking out the candy selection...


After they trick or treated, they went on a parade around the neighborhood. We stayed at our place and got ready for them to return. (And took pictures…of course)

Kenichi and I sword fighting


Oh, we also went down to 7-11 and gave them candy. We love those people!


When they got back, we helped them make tootsie pop ghost, which we re-named “Lolli-lolli popu” so that it would sound more Japanese. After that they made ‘witch hands’.
(This was a plastic glove with candy corn for fingernails, then stuffed with popcorn. The kids loved it.)
After they made treats, half of the group came to do the cake walk with me while the others had hot chocolate and snacks.



The kids had a blast. All the parents were thanking us for all we did, but really I think we had just as much fun.



After all the kids left, we cleaned up the disaster area a.k.a. our courtyard. It really didn’t take much time at all because Lillian, Nick, Satoru, and Kenichi were helping us. Everyone slowly left, and it was only Lauren, Kenichi, Megan, and I. We decided to bring the couch and laptop outside and watch a movie in the courtyard.



Kenichi also brought us ribs and fries from Tony Roma's. He works there...that's actually how we met him. We were so excited...but Lauren and I always get excited about American food.



About 45 minutes into the movie, Liz got back home so she joined us for the movie; however, we ended up stopping it and taking a break for hot chocolate. While we were getting hot chocolate ready, we could hear a basketball being bounced on the street behind our apartments. Liz and I went over to investigate and we found 4 of my 8th grade students. One of them is the one we all think is cute—haha. (yes, I know-it’s probably bad to have crushes on junior high kids.) We decided to go give them some candy we had left from the evening. We started talking to them, with Kenichi’s help, but I soon realized that one of the boys understood English. Now, this kid NEVER speaks in class. He never answers questions…nothing. I was like, “Why don’t you answer questions in class?” He said, “No, no.” Of course he is ‘too cool’ for that. We ended up asking the boys if they wanted to come watch a movie with us.

From left to right: Hiroaki, Toshiaki, Masato, and Kodai


It was funny because Kodai’s mom called and he told her he was with his teacher. Can you imagine telling your parent’s that you’re hanging out with your teacher? Ha…
Anyway, we ended up not watching a movie since we didn’t have any with Japanese subtitles and they wouldn’t have understood. The boys had fun just talking and eating popcorn though.
Liz fell asleep at one point, so we took that opportunity and snapped a picture with her.



Eventually the boys had to go home. Hiroaki did tell us about his soccer game the next day, so we told him we might come. Liz, Lauren, Kenichi, and I just sat outside and talked after that. Here are some goofy pictures…

I fell backwards in my chair. (Don’t you love the fashion statement I’m making with my socks?)


It was cold outside...oh, and I had to throw my gang signs, you know.


I had wings.


It was really so much fun. Now, I know what you’re thinking—Jenn, you really hung out with your students and you call this one of the best nights of your life? Well, I guess maybe you can’t understand, but I just really enjoyed myself. The evening started off great with the Halloween party and then I just hung out with fun people.
Overall, I think what made it so great was being surrounded by so many great people and kids.

I heart Japan

Isn't this the cutest thing ever?



There was a cow at the mall. Kids got to take turns milking it. (No, I didn't do it--you know I'm not touching a cow!)

Want to cook some meat?

10.27.05

Today is actually Daisuke's birthday, so we took him to eat Korean barbecue in Makuhari. It was mine and Lauren's first experience eating yakitori. It was great.

Daisuke and Liz




After dinner we decided to go back to Lauren's apartment and have coffee, then watch a movie. We stopped to see Yuya on the way home since he had just returned from California. We ended up staying there longer than expected, so we just had coffee at Lauren's then called it a night.
Overall, it was a fun evening and I'm glad Daisuke had a good 25th birthday!!

Surprise Daisuke...

So, I'm sort of behind here. I'm just going to put the date that corresponds with the subject at the top of each post. I'm off work today, so I'm grounding myself to the computer until I get caught up--or until there is a good distraction. (-:

10.26.05

We had bible study at Liz’s place tonight. For awhile Lauren, Liz, and I thought we might be the only girls there. The doorbell kept ringing, and it was always a guy.



One guy that came was Jade, a Korean guy. He brought a snack for the group to enjoy—well, at least for the Japanese to enjoy. It was tuna chin. No, I’m not kidding…



Apparently it is from some really famous place in northern Honshu. (Mainland Japan)
After bible study we surprised Daisuke with a birthday cake. We only had 5 candles, so we told him each candle represented 5 years. He was totally surprised, so it was great.



Of course, Lauren did a great job at keeping him distracted while we were getting the cake out—Thanks Lauren!!

They sell iPods at 7-11...