You wouldn't believe...

Doesn't that post title make you wonder what in the world did Winnie do now?  Well, truth be told, I really didn't do anything I wasn't supposed to, but you wouldn't believe it, we have a farm that has milk cows only about 4 or 5 blocks away!  

Back of the barn where the cows were eating

Today Hana and I took a walk and I took some pictures of the farm.  It's right in what seems like a residential area, but there is a "field" that has been prepped for gardens, or maybe it's the farmer and he is growing food for the animals, as well as themselves.  It is a 1/2 block from the Kiyose City Hall and an elementary school.  Ever since I moved here, I would occasionally smell that sweet dairy farm smell that brings back so many memories of my childhood.  I have walked past it before, but today I finally took some pictures.  I saw the farmer and I believe his house is across the street.  

Looks like a feeder

From the front of the barn.

You wouldn't believe it, but I ended up bicycling in the rain one day this week, arriving home soaking wet.  I have not purchased rain gear yet.  I should one day, maybe today.  I do have to chuckle sometimes because on those rainy days, I see the experienced Japanese bicycle rider holding an umbrella and bicycling at the same time!  They even have devised a way in which to hold the umbrella on their bicycle should they not need it.  I have friends share that they have seen bicyclists holding an umbrella and texting on the phone at the same time!  That is quite a feat, although there is a rule that has just been put in place that you are not allowed to hold an umbrella and bicycle at the same time.  I would imagine that it is a tough rule to enforce but I can see where it is dangerous.  There are times when I am bicycling where the squeeze is pretty tight, whether that be between you and a wall or pole, or between walkers and other bicyclists.  There is a only a tiny margin of error and that could mean falling off of your bicycle or hitting something or someone.

You wouldn't believe it, but Thrift Store is HERE!

Thrift store you ask?  What's the big deal about that?  Well, leading up to yesterday, there was a fair amount of hype about Thrift Store.  I had seen a number of items being brought to school over the course of the week, waiting to be sold.  The Thrift Store is a two day event.  Friday, CAJ families are able to come and browse or buy items.  Saturday, the Thrift Store opens for everyone.  It's like a large bazaar.  The gym was full of clothes, toys, books, games, shoes, knickknacks, small appliances, etc.  It seemed to have anything you wanted.  Unfortunately (or maybe not), since I had just spent the summer downsizing, with the help of many friends, I decided I would not begin purchasing here in Japan.  The only items I bought were CAJ shirts and my lunch of curry rice and a salad.  Here are some pictures of the plaza (outside of my classroom window) and the gym.  Saturday is supposed to be the busiest time.  The way one fellow colleague described it, it was like Walmart on Black Friday in the US.  People come in with garbage bags and just head to one section filling the bags up furiously with a host of things.  I have decided to stay away from the Saturday bustle and enjoy the day.  

CAJ Plaza

CAJ Plaza

Inside the gym

Inside the gym

You wouldn't believe it, but Hana and I have been living by ourselves the last couple of days.  Brian and Bette are both on travel for the school.  Today is a great day!  The weather is beautifully sunny!  I have my laundry hanging out drying.  I'm sitting outside as I type this post.  Can it get any better?  God has given us a beautiful world and today I'm really enjoying it!  

My view while typing this post.

Hana enjoying the sunshine

What's New This Week?

I have not gone on any sight-seeing tours this week, but I still learned a couple of new things.  Each of the people on staff are put on a focus group.  Basically the focus groups help CAJ to develop some long range plans.  I ended up on the Facilities Focus Group.  You would be safe to say that facilities are not my forté.  The idea of the focus groups does not require expertise but more idea sharing.  Our first meeting was a brainstorming session on possible facility additions or changes at CAJ.  One thing I learned was that in Japan they have a sunshine rule with multi-story buildings.  There is a required number of hours of sunshine that has to reach neighbors.  That explains a lot, because I see apartment buildings tend to have this step style, especially when there are a number of floors.  

Notice the floors have one less apartment?

Each Wednesday afternoon I am taking a Japanese class.  My teacher Sakamoto-San is one of the Japanese teachers here at CAJ.  She is really good and I am learning a lot both from the language and from the culture.  Right now I'm learning the Hiragana alphabet and the sounds the characters make.  Right now I'm up to 45 characters and their sounds.  I don't know them all very well yet, but I'm learning.  So, what's so difficult about Japanese?  Well they have three different alphabets, Hiragana, Katakana and Romanji.  Romanji mostly uses the Latin style letters and most of those sounds.  Hiragana and Katakana use totally different characters.  One good thing is that Japanese appears to be quite phonetic.  It's just knowing what things are called in Japanese.  The other thing is that the characters when written are not separated by words.  All the characters are right beside each other.  Sometimes they may be written downward, beginning on the right side of the paper. So all that does make language learning difficult.  

イあmレアr人gあ炉t部t染地目s位tc案べあ炉tおfinfor町音。Translation:  I am learning a lot, but sometimes it can be a lot of information.　(notice that some latin characters are included because there is no sound for them in Japanese.) 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  CAJ's girls Varsity Volleyball team set October 12th as their Dig Pink game.  The whole school was asked to wear pink that day and the Varsity volleyball team sold pink cupcakes and raised money for the Side Out Foundation which focuses on finding a cure for breast cancer.  It was an exciting evening (I only stayed for the first varsity game though).  

Volleyball team all wearing pink

Saturday, October 13th was another bicycle trip to Tama Hills with Bette Vander Haak, where the cross country team had their final meet.  It is about a 17 km trip one way.  The worst part is at by Tama, where we have to bicycle up a fairly steep hill.  During the meet, Bette, David (a CAJ Math/Science High School teacher) and I helped with inputting the results from the different races.  It is on a hill, which means the runners also go up and down the hills.  The weather was very nice for a run.  

Finish line for the cross country races

Since the meet is held on a US Military base, there is a store on the property that has a number of US items on its shelves.  After the meet, many of the participants stop at the store and pick up some items that aren't readily available in regular stores, such as American Cheetos, syrup, certain chocolate bars, Snapple drinks, etc.  (Cheetos and Snapple drinks are my downfall at that store.)  

Sunday, October 14th was an exciting day for me!  I was finally able to meet Momo Nakanishi!  She was a Japanese exchange student that stayed with my brother and sister-in-law in Hague, Saskatchewan about ten years ago.  Momo has been living in Tokyo prefecture, working at a downtown hotel.  She very graciously offered to come up to Kiyose to spend some time visiting.  It was a very fun afternoon and evening.  We met at the Kiyose station (she recognized me right away, but than again, there aren't a whole lot of foreigners living in Kiyose 😃 , you could probably pick me out of a crowd fairly easily), walked over to an Italian restaurant for lunch and we walked back to where VanderHaak's place.  We were able to take Hana for a little walk before it started to rain really hard.  It was good to meet Momo and I really enjoyed spending the afternoon and evening with her.  Hopefully we'll be able to connect again really soon.  Unfortunately I was not thoughtful enough to get a picture of Momo, but she did get a picture of me and Hana on our walk!  

Hana and me on a walk with Momo by the river

I also made my first visit to the doctor.  No appointment was necessary to visit.  It can be a bit stressful because there is limited English spoken.  Dr. Ishibashi does speak English, but there were occasions where I had to fill in a few gaps.  I will be making another visit sometime soon to work out my medicines.  

Each Monday afternoon I have playground duty.  At 3:30 the bell rings and I go outside on the playground to monitor the students.  At 4:00 I ring a bell which signals to the students that it is 4:00 p.m.  They are welcome to stay longer, however parents and students know that by 4:00 there is no more adult supervision on the playground.  During the 30 minutes, I walk around the field and sometimes sit on the bench.  This is the view I have of the school buildings when I sit on bench by the railway tracks.  

Playground facing the school.  On the right is the Elementary classrooms.  The round building is the auditorium where we have chapel, the far left is where the cafeteria is.  

I have really been blessed with having positive experiences thus far.  I pray that I'll continue to have good experiences and opportunities to learn.  

Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend

Entrance to the Takayama Beach Company

So, where did you spend your Canadian Thanksgiving weekend?  I spent it at a cabin, north of Tokyo, about 350 km.  It was one of the places where the tsunami of March 2011 hit.

The cabin itself did not receive any tsunami damage but it was twisted from the earthquake.  The VanderHaak's spent the past summer fixing the cabin up, and I was able to visit it this long weekend!  It was a great trip away from the city for the weekend!  

The Cabin

See where the rocks are? That part was swept away.

It was interesting how the tsunami was able to create immense damage.  If you have not been in this area before, you would almost never know that anything happened.  Once you begin to look closer, you start to see the signs.  Part of the breakwater was rebuilt because the huge wave broke through and over washing this part away.  

Part of a wall from a house

Brian and Bette told me that they have cleared much of the debris since the tsunami.  They separated the debris into specific piles and most of the piles are now gone.  That leaves areas of what looks like field.  When you walk through those areas where there are roads, you see the foundations of the houses/buildings that were swept away.  Some still have the mailboxes sitting there.  Many of the people who lost their houses have not had them rebuilt at this point.  Some may be squatting on their own property, others have moved to other places to live.

Rice Fields that contain salt water.

Another result of the tsunami is some of the nearby rice fields have salt water seeping in the ground.  That has not enabled the rice farmers to grow their rice.  When we went for a walk, we saw workers using excavators to dig up the soil.  It does not look like the fields will be rice ready for a while yet.  

The beach

When you stand on the beach, you see what the tsunami did on one side and then turn and look at the beautiful beach.  It can be difficult to grasp how that all happened and what that experience must have been for the people.  One morning as I was going for my jog, I saw an older lady, raking the ground, looking like she was preparing it for planting or looking for any personal items.  I also saw a man walk onto one of the places where there was only the foundation of a house and just stand there looking around.  The tsunami was about 18 months ago, but I am sure that it is still very fresh in the minds of many of those who lived through it.  It was a stark reminder to remember to continue to pray for restoration and healing.  

Sadly Monday, Canadian Thanksgiving came and we had to leave.  It was a beautiful sunny day.  This picture was taken at about 8 a.m.  It was a terrific weekend.  A much needed time away from the big city.  Now the weekend is almost over and it is back to teaching those grade six students, Bible, Math and Science, Tuesday.  I feel re-energized and am looking forward to continue to develop positive relationships with those students.