A weekend in Tokyo

Here's some things we've been doing over the weekend:

Cleaning 

Yeah, I know, I'm starting with the really exciting stuff (the weekend got better after this – keep reading). Mould in the bathroom, greasy dust on light fittings and stubborn smells in the toilet. The exciting thing really was the temperature. It was cool enough to actually feel like cleaning yesterday – about 26 in our bedroom upstairs at the time.
 
Moving


Helping friends with some moving. They are moving only just across the railway tracks, a couple of kilometres. We basically took our van and loaded it and our friends' van and drove stuff over, twice. The second time I drove our van and David rode his bike. David beat me by a long way. 

Bikes are so much faster in the shorter distances here. Driving in Tokyo it isn't unusual to find yourself seeing the same cyclist repeatedly as you drive. They get ahead, then you get ahead. But in this case all David had to do was ride along the river a bit. I had to wind through tiny streets, merge into traffic and wait for a light or two. 

Note mirror and power pole on the road.

I really wasn't all that keen to drive, though. Driving our eight seater van in our local tiny streets makes me feel nervous, and this is a lady whose done a lot of driving in her time. Give me an outback Australian road any day. Japanese drivers have a LOT of patience, which is a relief, but it it isn't fun dodging pedestrians, cyclists, cars, vans, trucks, light poles and signs. Yes, the roads are so skinny that poles and signs are on the actual road. There is no footpath or verge to put them on.

But it was a delight to help our friends. I love to serve people in this way. And we've been on the receiving end of such love so many times. It is such a small thing to do, yet so needed and appreciated.


Summer festival

Today our church held their annual summer festival. It is a little bit like a small fete, except the emphasis is on having a nice time, rather than making money. The church's purpose is to reach out to their local community. For example, they have a connection with a local nursing home. The home brought some of their residents out for the fun. One of the members did a short violin recital for their enjoyment.

There were the traditional games and traditional food and drink. Like ramune, one of the modern symbols of summer in Japan. It seemed to be the "in thing" to drink today. It is an interesting marketing of a fairly ordinary product, simply known for the shape of the bottle.

We volunteered to help out. David was on the rubbish separating patrol, a very important job in Japan: making sure you put all the right rubbish in all the right places! I worked on the kakigouri stand. Literally "shaved ice" with a sweet syrup poured over the top. North Americans call them snow cones. The closest Australians would get is a slushy, I think, except that that is a frozen drink, not ice with syrup. The machine was pretty cool (see photo). A huge ice block (about 20cm cubed) held in place over a blade and rotated with a handle, literally shaving the ice into the cups below.


The boys managed to enjoy themselves, despite their worst fears. Again, it was great to be able to serve in this small way. 
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And now back into a five day school week. Haven't had one of those for more than three months! I do believe I've forgotten what it feels like.