Event Supervision

At Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ), many of our sporting events happen on Saturdays, at least that is usually true for Middle School events.  When CAJ hosts these events, there is an event supervisor, usually someone from the Leadership Team, to be there in case of emergencies or if there are issues.  Today it was my turn to be event supervisor.  We were hosting a Middle School soccer scrimmage against one of Higashi Kurume's club teams.  Our team did not fair very well, but I believe it was a good experience for our MS soccer team.

Coach talking with the players.

Working the defense

The other event today was SAT testing.  We had about 120 students come, some from CAJ but also there were a number of students who traveled here from China.  We had five classrooms with students.

Admission Policies!  No Cell Phones!  

Diligently completing the tests

Parents waiting in the Atrium

SAT paperwork that needs to be completed

Since I live right beside CAJ, I am able to pop home for a little bit during the events.  It allows me to do my laundry, wash my dishes, get some breakfast or do some house cleaning.  Everything went smoothly today.  

Now I'm ready for the rest of the weekend!  I thank God that he included a day of rest in the course of a week.  Next week will be a busy week with School Without Walls (SWOW).  The week provides great activities for our students.  Pray the weather stays nice and that all involved remain healthy.  

Dig Teal

This month is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.  Our High School girls volleyball teams have taken on raising money for a couple of families in the Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ) community who are dealing with ovarian cancer.  They raised money by selling cupcakes, cookies, and key rings.  They also set up informational presentations for those interested in learning more about ovarian cancer.

Today was DigTeal day at CAJ.  Many students and staff wore teal colored shirts.  This evening Seisen International School brought their JV and Varsity volleyball teams to play CAJ's teams.  The gym was quite full with many fans wearing teal coloured shirts.  Before the Varsity team began their games, one of the moms shared her journey with ovarian cancer.  It was quite a powerful presentation.  Here are a few pictures of the evening.

Teams are wearing teal shirts for the occasion.

Selling cupcakes, cookies and keychains.

One of our varsity players selling cupcakes, cookies and keychains.

Senior concession

Explaining what this event is all about - Ovarian Cancer 

One of our parents sharing her story of Ovarian Cancer.  

It was quite an event.  It is a great way to raise awareness.  If you are not familiar with Ovarian Cancer and would like more information you can check out this website:  National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.

Floods and Island Vintage Coffee

It has been about 4 weeks since school started.  Boy, time is just zipping by!  So, what's happened in those four weeks?

Well, first we had a couple of weeks of lots of rain.  It rained and rained and rained and rained.  I almost felt like it was we were going to have 40 days and 40 nights of rain.  It was amazing how different it felt when it was not raining and WOW! how amazing it was when the sun came out!   The area here in Higashi Kurume was able to manage the amount of rain.  The rivers were high, but not a lot of flooding in our area.  North of here was quite a different story.  You may have seen some of the news broadcasts of the flooding.  The rains from the tropical storm Etau was quite devastating.  Please, pray for those who have lost loved ones, lost their homes and are struggling to get back to "normal."

Today I went to the 11:00 am worship service at Tokyo Union Church (TUC).  After attending a class, I arranged to meet up with a former student, Elizabeth, who is in Yokohama, Japan studying Japanese at Inter University Centre for Japanese Language Studies.  This week is Silver Week, a Japanese holiday which consists of Respect for the Aged holiday on September 21 and Autumn Equinox day on September 23.  Tuesday is also a holiday because of the Monday and Wednesday holiday and thus we end up with Silver Week.  That tidbit of information meant that Harajuku, the area where I met up with Elizabeth, was a terribly busy place.  Originally, we were going to go to Ben and Jerry's for an ice cream, but there was a line up outside the store.  I have never seen it that busy!  We decided to try for a coffee place.  I had seen this place called Island Vintage Coffee on my walk from the train station to church, but had no idea what it was like.  I suggested to Elizabeth that we go there.

I did not realize it, but this coffee place serves Hawaiian coffee and the food has Hawaiian flavors.  I ordered an Island Latte.  

The latte was absolutely delicious!  We also had a sandwich.  I ordered a bacon and avocado sandwich with a little side of lettuce, pineapple and balsamic dressing.  Is your mouth watering yet?  

Don't you love that flower!  

 The 5A was so they knew where to bring our sandwiches. 

This is Elizabeth.  You can also see a bit of what the Island Vintage Coffee is like.  It was a great afternoon and am glad we found this terrific place.  What a blessing Sundays can be!  

Now back to writing a Philosophy of Leadership paper...

Touring Japan

Two days after arriving in Tokyo, friends, Doug and Diane, came to visit Japan.  We took the first day to look at the school and just wander around Higashi Kurume.  That evening we went to watch the Seibu Lions vs Fukuoka Softbank Hawks baseball game.

It is always a special experience to attend a baseball game in Japan.  

I put the pictures taken that week into one movie.  Some of the places we stopped at were, Kawagoe, Tsurugajo Castle, a mountain village, the Fox Village, the fish market in Shiogama, and Sendai Daikannon. 

It was a pretty fun week, seeing a lot of different things here in Japan.  It was good to have them visit.  We already have our first week of school completed.  Hard to believe that time just flies by!

Mt. Seymour

Saturday, July 25th was a day designated to go hiking out by Deep Cove in North Vancouver.  Joyce and Ozzy (her dog) picked me up and we headed on out.  When we arrived in Deep Cove, we found out there was some sort of race going on and we just couldn't find a parking space, so we decided to head up Mt. Seymour and look for possible trails there.  We did find a trail head and decided to just start and see where it took us.  We were unsure of which trail we were on and where it would lead.

Joyce and Ozzy

We ended up going to Flower Lake and Goldie Lake.  They are not very large lakes, but still were in a beautiful setting. 

Flower Lake

Flower Lake

Goldie Lake

Goldie Lake

We did figure out that there was a 50 km "run" happening.  Run is in quotes because they were probably not running much, as the terrain was really not such that they could do much running.

Trail by the lakes.

Trail by the lakes.

Trail returning to the car.

Ozzy

When we returned to the car, just a few meters away, there was a beautiful viewpoint of the western part of the Fraser Valley.  

It was another day of seeing God's beauty in creation.  What a wonderful world we live in and I am blessed to be able to experience so much of it! 

Penticton 2015

I had a great visit in Salt Lake City, but my next flights to British Columbia were up.  The beginning of my flights was a bit rough, we were delayed by a couple of hours.  Fortunately, my layover in San Fransisco was long enough that it didn't have any impact on catching my next flight.

The first gate in Salt Lake City.  We had to switch gates when our plane was delayed.

San Fransisco

Getting ready to take off from San Fansisco

We had to wait for this plane to land before taking off.

I believe it's either Mt. Rainer or Mt. Shasta, not sure which...

 I have the opportunity to visit with many friends and family. The first few days I stayed with my brother and sister-in-law in Abbotsford. 

Cindy and I decided to take a couple day trip to Penticton.  It was quite a relaxing few days.  We went on the Coyote Cruises, which is basically sitting on an inner tube and floating down a canal.  It is a quiet and cool ride.  We also had a pool by the hotel and Okanagan Lake was basically across the road.

Okanagan Lake

This is the place where you start your ride on the inner tube down the canal.  It has very clear water.  

Pool where we stayed.

 We were fortunate there was a Tim Horton's just down the block.  One evening we went to get a coffee and picked up some Timbits at the same time. 

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Penticton.  The scenery was quite beautiful. 

One of the few float planes

Beautiful clear water

Street where our hotel was on.

It was a great couple of days of relaxation and I was able to see another part of God's creation.