What else...? I went to a Wakako's home a few weeks ago. She taught me some Japanese and told me her husband wanted me to wait until he gets home because he wanted to meet me. It was a Sunday and he was coaching a boys baseball game that day. So, he came home and we chatted a while. What a witty fella. They invited me to stay for dinner and we had one of favorite, if not my favorite, Japanese foods to date: Oyako Donburi. The literal meaning is 'parent-child bowl.' Bowl meaning bowl of rice even though donburi is the word for an actual bowl. Wakako showed me how to make it and I promised I would show her how to make American-style pizza. The ovens are very small here so I ended up showing them how to make calzones and Better than Anything Cake. I met her daughter that night. Nice girl. Her son is finishing grad school in Australia right now. Sweeet. Wakako also came over to my apartment last Monday. I taught her to make homemade ice cream in ziplock bags. She brought Japanese children's books written in Hiragana and had me read one. I could read it alright...but had no idea what the words meant. It was about a white and black rabbit that liked to play together. The boy rabbit looked sad occasionally and the girl asked him why. He finally said he wanted to spend all his time with her and was sad that they would have to eventually stop playing. They decided to get married. You know how bunnies are. :-D It was a cute book.
Troy (my co-worker) and I have been working on a plan to restructure my bosses entire school program by program. That has been going well so we hope to present it to our boss this week sometime.
There have been some interesting experiences with culture here. Not all have been positive. I will give only a brief synopsis of those things. Japanese people are obsessed with calories. They are deathly afraid of gaining weight and getting fat. Fat being a skin crease when you touch your toes. Multiple people made comments about my weight and/or eating habits (just based on their knowledge that I'm an American) within a 24 hour period a couple weeks ago. The ignorance bothered me badly. Another is the driving. I will not try to describe the attitude with driving herein. If you want to know let me know and I will chat with you about it later. There is a pervasive attitude of lying here. They expect to be lied to and lie whenever they feel like it. That really bothers me because the world would be lost without a sense of truth and honesty! My boss has lied to me on multiple occasions. Not just yes/no lies but entire developed stories that had absolutely no truth to them. President Jackson (Bishop) says that this is because it is more important for Japanese people to 'save face' than to get a bad image for irresponsibility or mistakes. The final thing is that members of The Church here cling to socially/culturally acceptable things here over what the brethren have said. Such as talking badly about your spouse and marital situation. I tried to explain how this should be handled (work with your spouse, church leader, and possibly a counselor) to one of my students who is struggling with her husband and is a member of The Church. She didn't understand and thought it was better to talk to her friends...even if she wasn't willing to accept advice and seek change. I had to tell her I never wanted to hear about her husband again.
On a positive note, yesterday was my mommy's birthday! Yay! And there are some super adorable children here. I wish I could pack a couple in my suitcase and take them home with me but customs would be a terrible hassle. I've decided that if I'm not married by the time I'm 32 I will adopt at least one Asian child. Maybe a boy and girl whom are siblings. That would be good. Anyhew...still trying to decide if I'm moving to Texas or Utah when I get home. I'm more drawn to Texas but need to visit and see what the Lord whispers before deciding on that one. A great excuse to visit my Sarah, Chris, and Thom!! I love you guys!!
Until next time...
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