This Is Why

Teaching in Japan is an exciting adventure, but at times it is so hard to be away from friends and family that I find myself wondering, "Why are we here and not there?" and "Is it worth it?".  This picture answers it all.

During play time, this student chooses to read the class picture Bible.

This is ultimately why we are here: to help bring restoration into the hearts of kids in Japan.  And this picture reminds me that all the homesickness, all that we're missing out on in the States, and being away from my loved ones is worth it.

God Knows Better

Before Christmas, Kris and I had planned a trip to the Sapporo Ice Festival for February 9-12.  We were really excited about going to another place in Japan to see ice and snow sculptures as tall as 15 meters high all over the city.  Additionally we were looking forward to sharing some special time and an adventure alone.

About three days before the trip, we decided not to go because my back and rib pain from the sledding accident was really limiting my physical activity.  It was a really hard decision because we both really wanted to go; but when we added up the total cost of the trip (it would end up being about $650 just for hotel and transportation), we decided it would be best if we just waited and went next year.  Additionally, the ferry schedule had changed after we'd planned the trip so we had to change our hotel plans and because of the late change, not much was available.  We prayed about it and decided it was best to wait to take our trip next year, especially since we are planning a trip to Bali for spring break, and that will probably be an expensive trip.  I was really disappointed, but trusted that God gave us the right decision.

Now I can see what a good decision that was!  We both caught the flu this week (me on Wednesday, Kris on Thursday).  If we had gone on the trip, we would have had one less PTO day, and this week we both ran out of PTO.  So not only would we have the cost of missed time off unpaid, but we would also have the cost of the trip.  That would have been a LOT of money to lose.  But God knew better than us, knew that we would need that extra money, and that one extra day of paid time off.  I am so thankful God knows better than we do.

Yinz gahtta be kiddin me!

Well, after a year of working at MeySen and taking one trip back to the 'Burgh (as in Pittsburgh, PA), I realized something: I talk like I'm from Pittsburgh.  The way that I say some things are just plain wrong, apparently!  Now, when you live in Pittsburgh and are teaching native English speakers, it doesn't quite matter if you talk like a yinzer (someone from Pittsburgh with a strong accent and dialect) or not.  But when you are teaching ESL students in another country and you want them to understand sounds that specific letters make, it does matter.  Over the past year, from having a supervisor listen to me teach and from listening to my students repeat words and sounds that I teach them, I realize that I do speak Pittsburghese after all and do say somethings totally wrong. Here is the Pittsburgh dialect that I've picked up and inadvertently passed on to my students.


- Instead of pronouncing "ee" or "ea" like a long e (as in bee), I pronounce it as a short i sound.  So "feel" and "fill" sound the same, as do "still" and "steal".  I don't do this for all words, mostly ones ending in "r" or "l".  I make extra effort to make sure I pronounce "he'll" like "heal" instead of "hill".  (People here make fun of me when I say I'm gonna watch the "Stillers" game.)  When I think about the words in stories and songs before I teach them, I am usually pretty good at it; I now realize I need to slow down to say "he'll", "I'll", "steal", etc correctly.  But recently, for the past month, I was teaching my kids a song "If I Could Really Fly"; I just now realized that instead of teaching it as the long e sound, I teach it as "rilly".  So now all my kids say "rilly".  When I heard them pronouncing it that way, it made me realize I'm more of a yinzer than I though.


- Instead of saying "I'll" like "aisle", I say "awl".  I didn't even realize that pronouncing the word like "awl" was wrong until one of the supervisors watched me teach a lesson about the contraction "I'll".  After class, she kept asking me to pronounce it and I did (the Pittsburgh way) and couldn't see it issue.  She finally had to treat me like a kid and say, "Listen to how I say it and watch my lips." The best part is that when I told people from Pittsburgh this story over Christmas break, they all thought the same thing -- "What's wrong with awl?!  That's how you say it!".


- "oo" and "u" are two separate sounds?!  You've got to be kidding me!  Since when do "pull" and "pool" sound different?!  I still don't get the difference.  Note: if you are not from Pittsburgh, you must think I'm stupid with this, but if you are from Pittsburgh, then you too are reading these two words the exact same way right now and are as confused as me.


- I don't say "can" I say "kin".  Again, I didn't realize this until I was teaching my students a chant called "Yes, I Can!".  I didn't think I had a problem with this word, because when it is at the end of a sentence I say it correctly.  But when I begin a sentence with "can", I always say "kin".  When I heard my kids saying, "Kin I have this?" I realized again my Pittsburgh tongue!


- "Slippy" to me is the same as "slippery" and a perfectly acceptable word.  On the Kindergarden sledding trip I said, "Be careful, boys and girls, it's slippy out!".  A few seconds later one five year old said, "It's slippy!" and another teacher corrected her saying, "Say, 'It's slippERy."  Oops!


- The other day I told one of my third grade girls, who was looking in my purse, to stop being so nebby!  She looked very confused.  When I realized I'd said nebby instead of nosy, I just dropped it.


- During Japanese class, our teacher taught us the word kirenisuru, which means "to clean up".  Next to the word, in the book that Kris and I share, I wrote "to redd up".  He looked at me like I was crazy and asked me what it meant.  I looked at him like he was crazy and said "'To clean up.' Haven't you ever heard that before?!"


- Another thing that I do is use "needs", "wants", and "likes" with a past participle (ex "The room needs cleaned" or "That dog likes petted").  In fact, in high school, I was taught that this WAS proper English!  And I constantly argue with other people about it.


- During summer camp I warned my kids to be careful of the "jaggerbushes" so that the didn't get "jagged" by the "jaggers".  Yes, this is a true story.


Ah, yinz guyz kin take da girl outta da 'Burgh n'at, but yinz guyz can't take da 'Burg outta da girl!


PS Whether you are from Pittsburgh or not, you should check out Pittsburgh Dad on youtube.  Pittsburghers will get a big laugh from this guy and people not from Pittsburgh might understand what I mean by the way I talk.

Shabu Shabu for my Birthday Birthday

Last year my birthday was our first full day in Japan.  For my birthday dinner, Kris and I introduced our new friends (and our selves) to a new style of eating at a grill-your-own-meat place.  This year for my 28th birthday, we continued the tradition by introducing our friends to our favorite Japanese meal, shabu shabu, at On Yasai, a restaurant down the street.  Shabu Shabu is prepared by dipping thinly-sliced meat into a pot of boiling sauce and swishing it around for a few seconds until it cooks.  The swishing sound the meat makes in the pot is how the dish got its name. The direct translation of "shabu shabu" is "swish, swish".  Vegetables can be cooked in the sauce as well.  The boiled food can then be eaten alone, dipped in sauce, or eaten with rice or noodles.  At the end of the meal, the remaining broth is usually added to noodles or rice and is eaten as a soup.

Some of the shabu shabu crowd

Because there was a large group of us, and because Japanese restaurants are so small (in comparison to US restaurants), we couldn't get seated for dinner until 9:00 pm (even though we put our names in at 6:00 pm)!  When we finally got there, we were seated in the traditional dining area.  Before sitting at our table, we had to remove our shoes and step up into the traditional dining area.  All of the seats are on the ground and the tables sit at ankle-height.  So when you sit down at the table, you are sitting on cushions on the floor and your feet hang down into a boxed hole below the table.  Several restaurants in Japan have dining like this.

Of the nine people at dinner, only three of us had eaten shabu shabu before.  Our friends just stared at us with wide eyes as we tried to explain the meal and how to order.  They told us just to order for them because they didn't know what was going on.  We got 90 minutes of all-you-can-eat meat, rice, noodles, vegetables, and sides.  Gorging ourselves on shabu shabu was a delicious treat that I had been looking forward to for weeks.  And because we are such carnivores, we didn't have room to eat the remaining broth as soup at the end of our meal.  Thankfully this place had a menu in English, so it was much easier ordering.  It was fun experimenting with different sauces and meats and introducing this tasty food to our friends.

Piles of food!

All you need for shabu shabu

Kris cooking the meat in the hot pot.  Look sis!  There are 2 sides of the pot so you can have a vegetarian side all to yourself when you come to visit us!

I'm glad I got to celebrate my birthday with some wonderful friends.  We had a great time laughing and sharing stories.  I even received some very unexpected gifts!  I've enjoyed the last year in Japan and am looking forward to all that the next year holds.

Flowers and a mini heart-shaped cake Kris got me for my birthday