International perspective on life in the pandemic

Quick summary of our current pandemic situation*

In early January the Japanese government called a state of emergency for Tokyo and ten other prefectures. This was to March 7, but has been extended for Tokyo and some other prefectures until the 21st.

On 3 March, the 7-day average of new cases/day: 

• Japan 1,030

• UK 7,173

• US 64,409

• Australia 8 

(It's interesting to note that both the UK and US numbers are falling but Japan and Australia—though admittedly the numbers are tiny in Australia, so it's a poor comparison—are holding steady at present, possibly related to the roll-out of vaccines?) 

New visas for Japan aren’t being processed, so this is holding up a number of short-term and new, long-term workers from joining us here in Japan.

CAJ has continued to start an hour later to enable most students to commute at a less-crowded time. This will shift back to a normal time as soon as the state of emergency is lifted.

Our Japanese church has been online since early January.

Our personal international perspective

As we talk with people in Australia, we realise that we have an interesting international perspective. It’s amazing how this global disaster is being experienced in vastly different ways around the world. In February, Wendy chatted with a missionary who is in the UK on home assignment. The restrictions they are living under there are very tight and quite depressing.

By contrast, talking with Australian friends, there is almost an unreality about it all now, with little threat being felt in much of the country. We realised with a shock recently that Queenslanders have made it through the majority of the last 12 months without needing to wear masks!

But the border restrictions are strict in Australia. As a result it would be challenging for us to go there right now. Yet we have American friends who have gone to their country and back, and had to quarantine only when they returned to Japan (with minimal restrictions in their own home).

Japan has many less infections than the US or UK, but more than Australia and the experience is different again. Though we’ve been in the midst of a state of emergency in Tokyo since the start of the year, the rules are vague and nowhere near as strict as Melbourne has experienced. That is partly due to the constitution that limits the powers of the government. However, 99.99% of people over five are wearing masks in public. Many churches are meeting online, even though regulations don’t insist that they do. But schools are still open.

Where the limits are strict in Japan are with allowing new people into the country. That has an impact on organisations like OMF and potentially CAJ, if they want to employ new, overseas staff in August. It also means that many meetings, workshops, and consultations that were previously held in person are being held online these days.

Vaccines are going to change things again, and we wait to see how that pans out. They’ve started vaccinating medical workers here, we wait to hear how the next stage will roll out.

*We sent this out in our prayer letter on the weekend and I thought it might be something useful to put on here too. Cross-cultural workers tend to be more aware of international matters than people living in their own countries, it's just a fact of life when we're brushing shoulders with people from a variety of cultures.

Surrounded by constant transition

Today I went to my second prayer meeting in two days. It sounds like all missionaries do is pray, right? Well that's not quite true, but it is an important part of the work. Praying with others really helps me to pray more, but also keeps me in contact with others in the international community here. My job could easily result in me spending most days stuck behind my computer in my house, which is not only unhealthy for me (I need time with others), but also would mean that I'd get a very narrow focus on what's going on around me in the world. So it's been very helpful to start integrating back into our community by attending a couple of these.

The meeting I went to yesterday was school-based, and especially focused on 10th grade, the grade our middle son is in. It comprised of five mums from that grade level. I was hit full in the face with culture shock. Not Japanese culture (although a lot of the meeting was conducted in Japanese because that was the language two of the mums were most fluent in), but more the international culture that surrounds people associated with CAJ and missions in general.

Of the five mums present, two of us were transitioning into (or back into) the school this month and two others were planning for home assignment from the middle of the year. We also prayed for two other students in the class who are currently in the US for six to twelve months. That's an awful high level of mobility, when you consider the class is only 40-50 students. But it's the norm in this population. It was a shock to remember that characteristic of this life we've been called to. The only constant, aside from our heavenly Father, is change. And that even if we ourselves stay still, we are surrounded by constant change.

It truly is exhausting. We're just recovering from our own transition, but at the same time relating to a high number of people around us who are in the midst of transition themselves. 

Australian Christmas lunch with the Marshalls. Our
boys have developed a love of cherries (closest bowl),
 which were in abundance during this season.

Today's all-morning meeting was with a couple of dozen of missionary women across various walks of life, some old friends, others I'd never met before. I'm exhausted after that, more so than I usually would be. It's a good reminder that, though I don't have jet lag, I need to be kind to myself in the midst of this transition. Because we've basically stepped back into life as it was before we left, the temptation is to just run at the same pace as we usually do. But I'm thinking that that's not wise, not yet.

As I caught up with friends I realised that I'm going to struggle to find anyone in Japan who wants to hear about all the people I've said goodbye to, they've simply got their own issues to deal with and talking to someone about friends of yours that they've never met is hard and a bit weird. I guess you might not want to hear about them either, but on a blog post, you can take it or leave it, you're not a captured audience.

So here's a few of our goodbyes:

David's family

Cold prawns (US=shrimp) for lunch. Our boys
needed lessons in how to deal with these, ironically
their British uncle taught them about this
Australian-Christmas food.

On the 20th of December we drove all day to David's mother's house where we met up with his sister and her family. The next day we had "Christmas" with them and David's aunt and uncle. It was a lovely family time, busy, but in an Aussie-laid back way.

That night we said goodbye to David's sister and her family as they left early the next morning to drive south for two days to visit members of her husband's family.

On Christmas morning we said goodbye to David's mum and drove south ourselves. Routine, in a way, as we've never lived close to David's side of the family, but still, these were important goodbyes. Thankfully those days we spent with them, we made good memories that we carry with us. I'm glad we took the time to organise this trip.

Wendy's family
We drove straight from there to my parents. Another whole-day drive. My parents have seen a reasonable amount of us over the last six months. They only lived 90 minutes drive from where we were located in Ipswich and in a city where we have a number of supporters. So we went up there a few weekends to speak in churches, and were grateful to be able to see them and stay in their house (the only place our boys have known their whole lives). We also took time during the September school holidays to spend with both David's family and mine. These were "Big Rocks", time that we plan into home assignment time before we plan other things like visits to churches and time with friends. Family is important, and even more so when we're not around often.

We stayed almost a week with them from Christmas Day, which also included a family "Christmas" where my sisters joined us with their families. A rare opportunity for all nine of my parents' grandchildren to get together. We've got photos and good memories of that time too. But again, goodbyes were said. We couldn't tell them when we'd next get to see them, but it's certainly going to be more than one year! We're used to being apart, but it doesn't make it unimportant to say goodbye, to acknowledge that love and separation don't go well together.

We got to see my parents again one more time, but I'll leave that to my next blog post, because there were a lot more goodbyes said between 31st December and when we left Australia on 9th January.

LittWorld 2018: the rest

It's three days since I left the conference in Singapore. It already feels like an age ago, mostly because of what's happened since (we had four deputation meetings over the weekend).

The meeting rooms had geometrical names!

However, this post is about the conference. It continued (after I wrote on Monday) to be a remarkable event. Most people were keen to meet new people and find out what they're doing and why they were attending the conference. I learnt a lot, and not all publishing related.

I talked with a Russian about climate, a Chicagoan about life there and in Japan, I talked magazines with a lady from Nigeria who produces one for teenagers and one from Bulgaria who produces a magazine for ladies, and talked theology and current events with someone from Sydney. I roomed with a lady from Denver, Colorado who is a publisher with William Carey. I sat with the head of Tyndale Publishing and his wife, talked with an author from Costa Rica, learned from an Egyptian editor and translator, and attended talks by a journalist from Nigeria and a deputy managing editor with Christianity Today. I went riding with a lady from Egypt and talked to a pastor from Pakistan. 

Phew! 

Even meals were intense. I rarely sat with the same person or group of people twice, and because I hardly knew anyone, I was constantly introducing myself and what I do. The last day of the conference I was "on" from 7.30am to 10.15pm. At that point, I retreated to my room to have a shower and pack my bag in preparation for my 6.30am bus to the airport the next day (the programme for the day wasn't finished at that point, but I was finished).

The view from the island on our bike ride as the sun was setting.

Conferences are fun and stressful at the same time. This one I went to with high expectations, and only knowing two others. I obviously met many others, but did run into someone I hadn't seen since the mid '90s and was able to joyfully hear the story of his involvement in mission.

One of the lunch buffet tables. Feeding people from
52 nations is no joke. We mostly ate Singaporean
food. (At least I assume that's what we ate...not
being a Singaporean expert.)

There were a number of other missionaries too. A New Zealanders in India, Americans in the Philippines, Nigeria, and a ?British couple in Costa Rica. I met a lady who has worked in the Hong Kong office of OMF and one who works with archives in the UK offices of OMF.

I've never been at a conference with an app. It was brilliant. The go-to place to check the schedule, but also an easy way to check out other attendees, to connect and communicate with them, or ask questions. Here's a screenshot of the homepage:

It was a delightfully international environment. The main focus of Media Associates International (the organisation behind this three-yearly event) is encouraging the writing and publishing of books in local languages. It was exciting to see people from countries where it is challenging to be a Christian, getting training and becoming excited about the potential.

My roommate. A delightful person to debrief with at
night time!

Near our hotel. In the background: apartments, I think.

The venue was quite lovely, though because the programme was pretty busy there were days that I didn't do much other than sit, and change rooms, and eat. The hotel was at one end of Singapore, a bit of a distance from the main city centre (not that anywhere is far from anywhere in Singapre). Close to the hotel was a grassy island/park and a beach. I skipped one main session and went wandering over to the island for some serenity (mid-week it was a very quiet spot).

On Thursday I squeezed in a ride between 5.45 and dinner (complimentary bike hire for an hour for hotel patrons). It's been several months since I was on a bike, and it was great to jump back on. However hopping off the bike wasn't so easy. I'm blaming muscle memory: I usually ride a ladies bike, which are easy to dismount, but this was a mountain bike and in my haste to dismount, I tried to swing my leg in front of me. The end result was rather heavily falling on my knee and quite a large graze that bled rather well.

Knee covered by a bandaid I probably wouldn't have
had with me had I not been a mum-of-boys!

Small touches that make a hotel seem a bit fancy. This was one of the ladies' loos.

 A playground on the island. I sat here for a while soaking up the serenity of not having anyone to concentrate on listening to or questions to answer.

 

You see that I couldn't just leave it at "Australia". With so
many internationals there, I reckon they should have
had an option for two countries on the nametag!

This is a taste of the botanical gardens. That's for another post: our mid-week excursion to these extensive gardens. I took my big camera there and will show you some of my photos another day. 

Enough words for today. I've had a much needed day-off and now need to get a good night's sleep. This week I shold have plenty of blogging time, so hopefully I'll be able to catch-up a little and tell you some more about what I've been up to and thinking about.

LittWorld conference Day 1

A not-so-lengthy post from the conference I'm attending in Singapore. Today is the first full day. I arrived in the early hours of Sunday, but we didn't begin until dinner-time last night.

The conference is a Christian Global Publishing conference. That is, there are people here from 52 different countries (more than 250 people). They include publishers, writers, editors, designers, screenwriters, and marketers. It's quite an extraordinary collection of people.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Biblical and godly focus of those who are running the conference, but also by the non-Western input we've already had. We've had two worship times already and they've been a blessing to me. The theme of the conference is "the Word made fresh", so a focus on the Bible. Last night we had a speaker from the Egyptian Bible Society. He told us some amazing stories.

Often these "international" events are very US or UK biased, but thus far the only American speakers we've had from the front are the MC and a tiny bit from the President of the organisation running the event (MAI Media Associates International). I'm used to being a part of an international organisation, but the OMF has its limits, as in, our focus is on East Asia and most of our missionaries come from a limited group of countries, countries that have an official OMF home-side presence (though that is now changing). So, there is limited African, European, and South American influences. I'm losing count of the nationalities of people here I've had conversations with. Here's what I can remember: Egypt, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, US, UK, Italy, Costa Rica, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Africa, Japan, Laos, Australia, and Hungry.

Here are some things I'm already thinking about: 

• What other value can I add to what we do with Japan Harvest magazine aside from the magazine. Can we do something else that gets people more involved outside of them actually just reading the magazine?
• How can I think more globally about my writing about things local?

What follows are some photographic "thoughts" of the last couple of days.

A largely empty Brisbane International Airport. Middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, I was really surprised! I had a very smooth flight, but I was very tired by the time arrived, having had a 23 hour day (we spoke at a breakfast meeting in Brisbane on Saturday).

Upstairs garden. This was the view outside the first room that I occupied. I arrived at about 1am and was given a single room for 11 hours. After that I changed to a double room for the rest of the conference, I don't know why I couldn't have booked into the second room when I first arrived on Sunday morning, but oftimes when you travel you just have to go with what you get.

Below are more views from my first room.

More view. It's a lovely area. I wandered around here a bit yesterday as I looked for a cheap lunch option.

Gorgeous display that greets those of us who "live" on the third floor.

A street-level view of the local area. This is close to many vendors, but it delightfully thought out.

Lunch. I didn't sit at this table, but most tables have a quite the variety of nationalitities. People are mixing well.  Many people don't know a lot of others. Each meal has been a
buffet with a fair variety of food. We're certainly not starving: for food or conversation.

This is where we are located on the island. Quite close to the airport, but the plane noise hasn't been a big concern.

International is normal

These last two days I've had quite different lunches to what I usually do. Let me give you a taste.

Monday
On Monday I joined with a group of five other mums who have children in grade nine at CAJ. We ate lunch at one of their houses. This was not an ordinary lunch, and that's due to the ladies who were present.

Yummy Asian lunch!

I was the only 100% Caucasian lady there. The other ladies were various combinations of Korean, US, Japanese, and Chinese. And by various combinations, I mean that my background was one of the least complicated (I've only lived in two countries and I'm the same nationality as my husband and both my parents and the country I grew up in). Two or three of them are raising multiple nationality kids too (husbands with a different nationality than the wife). Conversation ranged between English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean, so I'm not sure that anyone got 100% of what was said, least of all me, probably the least multilingual person there.

The food reflected the ladies present: a lot of Korean, plus some Japanese and possibly more (what's honey mustard chicken?). It was super tasty.

I'm accustomed to conversation about different Englishes, but these multilingual ladies were doing the same with Korean/Japanese/Chinese. If I knew more of these languages it would have been even more fascinating and there are many links between these three languages.

Tuesday
On Tuesday I went across the city to our national headquarters for a couple of meetings, mostly related to me handing bits of my jobs over to others while we're away. In between meetings I got to work in a room called "The Island"! 

My meetings included my Scottish boss (who is pretty fluent in Japanese), another Aussie, a man from Britain who grew up in Japan, an American who is ethnically Japanese and grew up in Japan with an American family, and a lady from Hong Kong. International is our normal!

Our Japan OMF headquarters is aquatic-themed.
This room is called "The Island", upstairs are two meeting
rooms called "The Stream" and "The River". Down the
hall the finance team works in "The Oasis"!

Lunch was with the various people working at the office that day. Our little table had three British people, all who've been in Japan for longer than me, and a bilingual Japanese lady. Topics ranged considerably, from blue cheese, to the Royal Wedding, and ingrown toenails (really!). My semi-regular Facebook status of Wednesday Words came up too, and they had some suggestions! Braces vs retainers, braces vs suspenders, tute for tutorial, trousers vs pants. Such fun, talking about language.

Today
Meanwhile today, I'm back at my little desk in my dining room, trying to discipline myself to attend to little bits and pieces of followup from yesterday as well as other ongoing things that need doing. (But instead of powering through I'm writing a blog post...) 

It's weird to be divvying up my job to give to others and hard to stay motivated for the "now" or to get motivated for the "coming". I swerve between feeling scared about ditching work and feeling relieved! Maybe you don't understand the former feeling, but I have an underlying fear of boredom that sometimes (or maybe more than sometimes) drives me.

Ah, transition. Never easy, no matter how it looks. I know I'll eventually get around to embracing the freedom of handing over these jobs, but at the moment I feel a little like I'm balancing on a slab of ice in the middle of a lake.

Taiwan in Tokyo

On Saturday I met my two Bible-study ladies at Harajuku, a popular hub in Tokyo. I have only been there a handful of times. It is usually crowded and I'm not fond of crowds. It's also full of expensive shops and restaurants—not really our scene at all.

One of the ladies is Taiwanese and the other Malaysian. Our young Malaysian friend did some research and discovered a Taiwanese restaurant. Last time we met at an Australian restaurant and the time before was American. I guess this really is turning into an international Bible study, despite never leaving Tokyo!

Taiwanese noodles. They had a subtle flavour
that is apparently very Taiwanese. I ate some,
though I did find them quite salty.

So I got to sample some Taiwanese food and drink. I'm not an adventurous eater, so I struggle to try, and enjoy, new foods. I'm not a tea drinker, nor do I like tapioca, so it was a little wasted on me! I had mango juice, though, which was scrumptious. 

These were tasty. Fried daikon cakes, I think. Daikon is a large, white root vegetable. A type of radish (but mild-flavoured).

The decor revealed someone had had a love of hexagons!
This was the ceiling.

And the tiles on the front of the front counter.

When I arrived back at our station, I was treated to the gorgeous sight of the sun setting on Mt Fuji. I wish I'd had a better camera, but I just had my phone, which didn't take such a bad photo.

Wednesday Words

I've been having fun since early May by putting up a once-a-week Facebook status I've called Wednesday Words. 

This photo was taken at the women's retreat I went to in
March. It's an illustration of the international environment
I work in. Here we have people from Germany, Singapore,
Ireland, US, Canada, and Australia. And I'm pretty sure at
least one of these ladies wasn't born in the country that they
are a citizen of. Two of them are also married to men from
other countries (Japan and Cambodia).

Under that title, I've been asking people to comment with words from their English background, specifying a certain category each week. I started out quite broad, with topics like food, clothes, nouns, verbs, and prepositions. But recently have gotten more specific like real estate words, abbreviations, occupations. I've had a great time doing it and regularly get upwards of 70 comments on a post.

It's been great to have a safe place to exchange these without exchanging blows.

Here are just a few things I've learned:

• snow peas (Aust) = Mange tout (UK)
• My team is winning (US) = My team are winning (Commonwealth)
• Clean your teeth twice a day (Commonwealth) = Brush your teeth twice a day (US)
• He's in hospital (Commonwealth) = He's in the hospital (US) [Though this is a bit complex, I might say the latter if there were only one hospital.]
• Crossing guard (US) = Lollypop lady (Commonwealth) = Scholar Patrol (South Africa)
• Hospitalist (US for a doctor who specialises in the care of patients in hospital)
• General Practitioner or GP (Commonwealth) = Primary Care Physician or PCP (US)
• Professor (Australia) = Department Chair (US). [This one is also a bit complicated, in Australia a professor is a higher title than in the US.]
• I'm free on Wednesday (Commonwealth) = I'm free Wednesday (US)
• Meeting one-on-one (US/Aust) = Meeting on-to-one (British)
• Outwith (Scottish?) = Outside of (every other form of English?)
• Take a shower (US) = Have a shower (Australian)
• I'm working 9 while 5 (Northern UK) = I'm working 9 till 5 or 9 to 5 (other English)
• One step on (Commonwealth) = One step beyond (US)

There's quite a lot there, and some I'm still not that clear on. Many of the things that come up in these discussions I'm familiar with, but it's great to learn more of the subtle variations. I've also got friends from the UK and Northern Ireland who bring up a whole variety of very regional-specific vocabulary and usage points.

This is a good learning opportunity for me, as I regularly edit the written work of people from a variety of English backgrounds. Our editing policy is that we try to edit to the English background that the author comes from. So, for example, an Australian would not have to change their spelling to US spelling. However, we do try to use vocabulary that the majority of our international audience will know, so we don't allow a word such as "sparkie" (Australian slang for electrician).

I've been a little surprised at how much attention this particular Facebook status has received. I've had people tell me they go looking for this post on Wednesdays. Others who've suggested topics or brought it up in conversation. It works on my FB feed because I have friends from a variety of countries, though I haven't received many comments from Canadians, Singaporeans, New Zealanders or other English-background speakers. Mostly just US, UK, and Australians.

I'm happy to receive suggestions for topics for the future!

This week's Wednesday Word topic is children and parenting. For example, the other day I commented about a US/Japanese friend's new "pram". She was a little bit surprised, as no one had yet called it that, though she understood what I meant. "Stroller" I think, was her word, though other words you could use are "baby car", "buggy", "carriage", "pushchair", depending on what your local English preference is.

Olympics from a different perspective

I've been surprised at how much swimming we've been
able to see, Japan is quite strong in this sport.

With school holidays in full-bore, there is lots of Olympic watching going on in our house. And because we're in Japan there's lots of Japanese athletes that we're seeing on national TV. Living in another country really does change your perspective. I've seen other missionaries mention this recently too. 

J on her blog said she loves "the parade of nations", the opening ceremony. Making sure she knows where countries are and stuff about them.

"I love trying to make sure I know the geography of each country, studying the costumes, remembering who I know who has lived there or visited there, and celebrating each country's success in participating in an international event."

I admit we were referring to the map on our wall often on Saturday morning when we watched it too. 

M*, a retired missionary, wrote in her FB page that she misses seeing Japan's athletes, as she's now tied into a US-viewers TV schedule. She also wrote: "The coming fortnight will prove challenging for those of us with divided hearts and loyalties."

But then later I've seen these updates from her: 

"Go New Zealand Women's Rugby!!! Happy for you, P.K. (a former colleague who is Kiwi)!!! Do they have a 'name' like the men's team?" 

 And 

"Here's where the Olympics are f-u-n for those of us who cheer on multiple teams: Japan, USA, Japan in the 4X100 IM and the first time Japan has ever won gold in this event. Way to go Japan and USA!!"

So there's another dimension going on here. We've followed a Japanese table tennis player who made it the bronze medal match, but lost. We watched Australia play Japan in water polo and in tennis. It was hard to choose who to barrack for in the last case, but in the first case we felt sad when the Japanese player lost.

We've discovered that the best male gymnast in the world at present is Japanese: Kohei Uchimura. An astonishing gymnasist who has earned two gold medals this Olympics:

"At 19, he earned the 2008 Olympic all-around silver medal. He hasn’t lost a major all-around since, taking two straight Olympic titles and six world titles (no other man or woman has more than three world all-around titles, but all of the previous men to win multiple Olympic all-around crowns competed in an era without annual world championships)." From here.

Japan also has an upcoming gymnast who is also pretty spectacular, but not as much an allrounder as Uchimura, but an extraordinary gymnast all the same. Kenzo Shirai was the youngest male gymnast to become world champion on the floor, the first gymnast ever to perform a quadruple-twisting back flip, and has already had four gymnastic skills named after him, which at not-quite 20 years of age is pretty remarkable. We watched his floor routine in the team event and it was amazing. Below is a video of the floor routine he performed last year at the All-Japan Artistic Gymnastics Championships. 

I know that there are others out there who read this who also have lived in more than one nation. What stories do you have to share of watching the Olympics, or other such international sporting events?

* I'm using initials to preserve some anonymity, though their friends will probably know who they are.

Busy summers

When we first came to Japan it was a bit of a shock to realise that everyone seemed to holiday in the middle of the year. It shouldn't have been, because many Australians holiday during summer! However the Queensland climate and school calendar tends to spread things out a little more. So people also holiday at Easter, mid-winter, and in September when there are two or more weeks of school holidays. Northern hemisphere folk seem to be much more inclined to only take vacations in summer.

This is Yamanaka lake. We took a few days holiday there
last summer in the SEND compound. It's beautiful, with an
amazing view of Mt Fuji.

Of course that makes sense if you've got kids in school. The school calendars (both Japanese and international) are not conducive to taking holidays any other time. We're really spoiled in Australia.

We mostly figured that out after 3 ¾ years in Hokkaido. Actually it made a lot of sense up there, because snow is on the ground for about five months of the year, so there is a very short season of warmth. 

Even so, it took us a while to figure out the pattern for summer in this international school community when we moved here eleven years ago. Eleven weeks of holidays isn't just a void, there's lots of stuff happening. Here's are some of the types of things people do during the summer:

1. Summer School. During the first four weeks of the holidays the school holds summer school classes. This is optional for most, but I believe that ESL/EAL students are required to go to classes to boost their English levels. There's a large variety of classes running this year, including tennis, writing, robotics, algebra, Korean etc. My house emptied out this morning as all four guys went to "school". The boys are doing wrestling for two hours every morning this week and David's teaching Science labs especially for home schoolers, but he has a couple of other students from CAJ as well. The photography class that I did on Saturday was part of this programme. It's wonderful of the school to put these classes on, it's an opportunity to work on weaknesses, pursue your passions, or dip your toe into something new.
2. Camps. Two big camps that happen this week and next are like SU camps we have in Australia. Called Joy Bible Camps, there is primary/elementary school this week and middle school next week. Our boys have all experienced these wonderful camps out where I went with the Grade 5s last month. There are other English-speaking camps happening during the summer, but none are as well known at CAJ as these two. In July there is a high schooler camp run by a group called HiBA (high schoolers born again), this year our eldest is going to that for the first time.
3. Conferences. We're doing this next week: our mission has a national conference in Japan where almost all the missionaries in our mission will meet together for a week of fellowship, teaching, learning, discussing, and other matters. There are various events that the missionary community is a part of in various missions and countries. US has TCK gatherings too.
4. Overseas travel. A lot of families travel overseas, usually to visit extended family, but also some to do deputation, visiting supporters and churches. Some travel for study, or just for fun.
5. Domestic travel. This is common for those of us who stay around. There are several places that missionaries go. We frequently hear the names Takayama, Yamanaka, Karuizawa, and Nojiri. All four of these places have holiday cabins belonging to missionaries and/or missions. One is sea-side, two are lake-side and the fourth is in the mountains. For many long-term missionary families, this is where they holiday every summer, often with many other missionary families close by. Our family is doing the unusual in taking a camping trip to places where there aren't other missionaries.
6. Mission trips. This is something we hear about being done by high schoolers and uni students who still have connections with families at CAJ. Some of them are in-country, like the Gospel Teams that HiBA run, reaching out to Japanese high schoolers. Others are short term trips to other countries.
7. Summer jobs. This isn't something we hear about so often, but there are high schoolers who get summer jobs in Japan, some with missions here (like helping out at a campsite).
8. Staying in Tokyo, hanging out at home. Not so common either, but it does happen. Especially when one or both parents have to work through the summer. Sometimes families split up and one parent and the kids go to their home country. But most people have some time of hanging out at home during the 11 weeks.

Phew, that's a lot of stuff. But usually when you ask what people they're doing over the summer, these are the answers you hear.

Two titbits from today

There are some gorgeous flowers in bloom here.

An international network
In an international mission like ours where not only do we come from many nationalities but we serve in many nations, you don't get to meet most members. When you do there is a fascinating way of establishing connection. There are three main establishing questions: "Where's your sending country? Where are you serving? How long?" Then comes the, "Do you know..."

This is where I am staying, the OMF Bangkok Guest Home.

For example, if I'm sitting with someone from Ireland who's serving in Taiwan, I'll ask whether they know Irish people I've known in Japan and Australians I know in Taiwan. The "how long" question gives some help with how far back you can go. 

It is an interesting exercise, actually and highlights how wide a network we have developed during our missionary career. I'm looking forward to visiting some of these people in their home countries when we are older.

I went for a walk with some Thai-based missionaries this evening and
we saw this chicken (or is it a rooster) strutting around on top of a
 truck with a cat respectfully watching (you can see its eyes).

A tricky question
Today we were asked this: 

What builds trust in your home culture?

I found this really hard. It made me realise how we really don't function often in our Australian culture any more. After some thinking I came up with some ideas:

• Honesty
• True blue/ integrity
• Hospitality/socialising
• Quality time
• Paying out on others

Am I right? What would you "monocultural" Aussies add to this? 

This differs from how you build trust in Japan. Hospitality is definitely not a key factor, neither is honesty. Longevity and trying to fit in would be high on the list, however.