A very encouraging week

Last week was very full. I was looking forward to it, as well as wondering how I would fare. I'm thankful to be past it, but also see that I managed to make it through without falling in a heap, which is really encouraging.

On Monday we had our monthly regional gathering for our mission. Around 50 people joined together to sing, pray, fellowship, and eat together. We heard, and prayed thoroughly, about some business matters. 

After a short break mid afternoon, five of us (plus a facilitator) jumped into our social media team retreat in the same location. We had a formal time of getting to know you, and then went out to dinner together. I was pretty "whacked". I struggled with a headache all afternoon and by dinner time it was making me feel woozy, but I managed to do all that I needed to do. I did head to bed at 8.30, though.

The next day we gathered after breakfast and spent the whole day thinking about things like decision making, team characteristics, some big picture questions about what we do and how we do it, and spent time growing in creativity. It was a big day that we followed with dinner out together, and an evening of creativity.

I knew this team was much younger than me, but it was confronting to spend significant time together and feel very middle-aged (the next youngest person is 13 years younger than me and three of our team are in their 20s or early 30s)! However it was a really good time. We are a remote team and most of us don't know one another well. I've learned over the 14 years I've worked in remote teams that trust is a huge component. If you don't trust one another, it makes your job far more difficult. This was a great time for building trust.

It's also a team that has undergone much change recently, and there is more change and uncertainty in the upcoming months. This level of team change is very challenging. I'm so thankful we had an experienced "team builder" help us as I'm certain I wouldn't have had the knowledge to do what he did, and certainly having someone outside the team to run it was a good move too. This retreat is something we've been talking about doing for a few years now, but the pandemic put a stop to a lot of that kind of initiative (and how often have I heard "but the pandemic..." uttered recently when people are reflecting on the last five years!?).

I got home from the retreat on Wednesday, in time for my usual mid-afternoon coffee. I unpacked, did a couple of "time sensitive" work things, and then collapsed on the lounge for the rest of the evening.

Thursday was a day I had carefully kept clear of other responsibilities. I didn't have high hopes for my capacity for work that day, but surprised myself and others by ticking off (US Eng: checking off) quite a number of editing jobs.

Our table

Friday was entirely taken up by an event we've been anticipating for over 12 months. Last year as we finalised our packing and moving, we realised we had a number of things that others could find useful. So we didn't throw them all out, we kept a few boxes of stuff and stored them, planning to try to sell them at Friday's school bazaar. At the bazaar we rented a table and filled it with stuff we were trying to get rid of. Between 10am and 4pm we sold quite a few things! We also sold all 200 pieces of fudge that I'd made. But it was also a great ruse for having our own "quiet" spot in the school gym where we could sit and greet friends who wandered past. I had so many conversations with friends, many of whom I've known for a number of years. It was a great encouragement to my soul.

It was fantastic to see the school community coming to life again "post pandemic" (yep, that word again). In October 2019, for various reasons, CAJ ended its long tradition of "Thrift Shop". That tradition had, twice a year, filled the gym with donated goods and provided us with not only many cheap household goods, toys, clothes, camping gear, and other miscellaneous items, but many hours of volunteering there over the years provided me with community and friends. That October was supposed to be the start of a new tradition, but any forward momentum got interrupted just six months later by a pandemic, and no more school bazaars happened until October 2022. It's taken a while to get back to a sense of wider community at the school, at least from my outsider position as a mum and teacher's spouse. So Friday was wonderful to behold.

These brand new size 28 slides didn't sell, would you like them?

We also are looking for a runner to sell these "spikes" to.
They've been used a couple of times (also a pandemic casualty).

Friends catching up! Such joy.

A little bit against what I thought was wise, social interaction continued through the weekend. On Friday night we watched a movie with our camping friends at their house. On Saturday, David helped rearrange one of our mission's storage places and had lunch with his two co-workers. I had a haircut and finally did some grocery shopping. That evening we met a couple visiting from the US, a couple who have listened to us and helped us through some tough times in the last few years.

On Sunday we visited another new church and to our surprise knew many people there. It was an English-speaking service and our various English-speaking networks in Japan all were represented. We also ran into an OMF colleague and gave her a lift back to ours for coffee before her next appointment. Straight after that we chatted with our sons for over an hour. 

Phew! I am really surprised that I am not more exhausted than I am today (Monday). Perhaps I'm getting back to some kind of new normal level of energy?

Whenever the topic of leaving Japan comes up, I'm reminded of this wide group of people I only know because I've lived my life here. When the time comes to move on, it will be a sad day, though I know that this is a mobile group of people who I will probably gradually say goodbye to as they move on over the coming years anyway. 

But for now I'm just thankful for a full heart from all this wonderful interaction over the last week.

Little exchanges add up to a lot

Have you ever thought about the little exchanges that make up the bulk of connection with others? Our lives aren’t generally full of D&Ms (deep and meaningful conversations). Though often I long for that deep connection with people, there is, actually, a limit on how much of that I can handle in any one day.

On Friday the school held the biggest school-community event it’s had in three years. It’s a descendent of the ginormous garage sale known as Thrift Shop. I’ve blogged about that event many times over the last 12 years (see some of those posts here). Now it is called the Fall Festival and Bazaar. The “bazaar” side of things is a scaled-down version of Thrift Shop, designed to cost less in terms of time-commitment for staff and volunteers. It also includes something new: a place where individuals or groups can rent a table to peddle their own wares. Because, of the last three years, we've been saving up stuff we want to get rid of (that isn't rubbish), we decided to rent a table.

Our table as it looked at the start of the day.

There were a few great things about having our own table: 

• I had a place to "be" all day. I didn't feel like I was loitering or wasting time. It was also a starting place for conversations that weren't uncomfortable, a here-and-present kind of thing that helped me stay away from topics that aren't so easy to talk about in a light way.
• We had a bucket of "free stuff" that the younger kids loved. It's such fun giving things away.
• I got to make and sell fudge (but I was disappointed with the packaging we managed, which made the fudge look decidedly dodgy).
• We did actually get rid of a fair bit of stuff to places that it will be used (rather than just sent to the rubbish). We were able to give two boxes of stuff to the Salvation Army who came at the end for stuff that hadn't been sold.

I went into Friday expecting lots of more conversations, and came away feeling a little dissatisfied with how insubstantial most of the exchanges were. But, as I've seen as I reflected over the weekend is that on Thursday and Friday I was part of the gentle web of connection that has begun forming again in the community that centres around the school. Looking back, I had short conversations about all the following things:

A future camping trip

Why I had a nearly 100-year-old hymn book for sale (yes, I sold it)

A recent 500 pound, 8-foot bear attack in the US (yes, there was)

How much my youngest son has grown and changed

How to say “poached egg” in Japanese (no, I can't remember now)

How to use a baccarat espresso maker

What Thrift Shop used to look like (for someone new in the community)

Where Kuranda is (inland from Cairns)

How much CAJ pays substitute teachers

The difference between chocolate and fudge (yes, we were confused by the question)

What it was like growing up a few blocks from the US on the Canadian side of the border and how I’ve never lived in a country that has international land borders (only sea borders, hence “going overseas” is synonymous with going to another country). 

Shopping habits: I prefer to be left alone to consider the option and very much dislike shopkeepers in my face.

How exhausting parenting is emotionally, and how ready I am to be moving on out of being the parent of a school-aged child (7 ½ months…but I’m not counting :D).

Fudge and how we’ve given this to our boys’ teachers for years. This is the last year that will happen.

How I got rejected by the blood bank on Friday at the school because my haemoglobin was a little bit low.

Plans for the next couple of years (moving out, home assignment from July 2023, moving back to Japan).

The big gaps that the pandemic has left us with in community: those whose kids started at the school during the pandemic don’t know the parents of their kids’ friends. I don’t know the faces of a bunch of new teachers (and their kids). That's something that rarely happened before the pandemic, due to staff-family gatherings that have usually been held through the year.

I met a lady who works for the same organisation that publishes the magazine. I’ve only really interacted with her over email, though perhaps we’ve met once, I can’t remember.

I got some hugs and got to see some people I haven’t seen in months or years.

And a thank you for my recent blog posts from someone who says she reads everything I write!

I'll stop there. When you add all that up, that's a lot of networking. And the sorts of stuff that doesn’t happen when you aren’t face-to-face with people. I was exhausted on Friday night (and Saturday). But also thankful. 

Thrift Shop finds

I'm already in Sapporo, but before I left I took photos of some of our Thrift Shop finds, because I know that there are a few people who really like it when I post them. So, without further ado:

This was found in free-shopping time. It's a really soft, stuffed "toy" that can be draped around the neck. I knew our youngest was looking for something really soft like the Minion he gave me for my birthday and so when I found this, I knew I was onto something. He loves it.

 More books. All these were free! And a beautiful furoshiki, a Japanese wrapping cloth (traditionally used instead of a bag), also free.

A portable art easel, for use during deputation presentations. You'll probably hear more about this later in the year.

Ice pack holder with a velcro strap for wrapping around limbs. For a sporting family, this will come in handy.

Free CDs.

This one I bought. I traditionally buy one puzzle for holidays, usually the Christmas holidays, but this year we won't be here for Christmas, so it will have to be for some other time, maybe summer next year.

Two friends who couldn't make it to Thrift Shop asked me for favours and I was able to deliver. No idea what Candy Land is, though...

My backpack has packed it in. I found a "new" one for 200 yen (AU$2.40). I used it to get to Sapporo today and it's passed the test.

I eyed off this necklace/earring set all week and when it hadn't been sold by the end, I was able to pick it up free. The other earrings were in a packet of earrings that cost me 150 yen. I pulled these out and re-sold the packet. I wore the earings today all day and they also pass the test.

I believe this was part of our youngest son's youth group costume. Following Thrift Shop they have a light competition as to who can come up with the wackiest costume sourced at Thrift Shop.

Two more parts of the costume.

And a couple of other shirts he found.

And finally, some beautiful notecards. I've got a specific use in mind for some of these in the next couple of months.

We definitely took more than we bought this year, which is a good thing (and some of the things like the above backpack and also a kitchen rug actually are just replacements for things that will be thrown out). It's so easy to accumulate too many things. Now that we're not moving out in June and potentially not even have anyone to sublet our place, the challenge to keep a lid on our junk goes up a notch. Moving is such an helpful thing for helping you figure out what you really do want and what really is not necessary.

From the depths of a Thrift Shop week

A quick post from the depths of CAJ's Thrift-Shop week (in photos).

These are the chief organisers of this year's Thrift Shop. Of course there are hundreds of volunteers not shown, we've just got more responsibility. This was what the "shop" looked like before shopping started this morning.

But back to Tuesday night, it was raining as I walked home after the initial set-up of the hardware (tables, racks etc.). I've walked this road more often this week than I usually do.

My job is the highfalutin sounding "Facilities Manger". It boils down to management of rubbish and signs. I've also kept an eye on traffic-flow (i.e. making sure that walkways are clear).

Here's some of the rubbish bags we've filled, plus a couple of other things.

Many signs! It's a temporary shop operated with a troop of volunteers. So we have what seems like hundreds of laminated signs that are easily put up and down and many of them are giving directions to the volunteers as well as the public.

Here's some of the views of the shop in pristine condition before shopping began this morning.

This is the "girls" aisle. Clothes on the left are separated into sizes.

 This is part of the men's section, with boys clothes in the background.

Toys: a very popular section.

A small "corner" for baby clothes.

On Wednesday afternoon I got a bit flat, so decided to spice things up a little with an Elmo hat someone donated for sale. Things got a little out of control with a few other Elmos from the toy department. It was worth it, hearing the giggles. There are a lot of these photos floating around now, lots of people wanted photos!

I haven't bought much, but did find some good books for only a dollar or so each.

Today was a gorgeous day. Thankfully, because it was the annual middle school science event. This year: egg drop. All the middle schoolers had to create a biodegradable container for an egg that got dropped from the third floor (or second, depending on how you number your floors). It was all quite scientific. You can see my husband here entering data about how long it took them to fall and whether or not the egg broke.

This time tomorrow Thrift Shop will all be over for another year. But we still have our hardest day ahead of us. Tomorrow the public is invited in (today was only CAJ and PTA members). It's four hours of frantic shopping (and "operating registers" for those of us doing that)! And when it's all over we get to clean the whole mess up and turn it back into a functioning gym! 

And I'm already tired! 

Gotta go and rest!

Thrift shop fun

Here is my traditional post-Thrift shop post about some of the things we found to buy. At the end I've added some things I didn't buy, but were fun anyway.

Actually we didn't acquire as much as we might usually. Part of that is due to our kids getting older (most of the toys aren't so appealing), part is due to none of us being present during the "free shopping" time after Thrift Shop and just before packing up.

But we did find some useful stuff (which really should be the aim).

These aren't useful so much as whimsical. They've moved onto the window shelf in our downstairs toilet. The boys were mystified as to their purpose, but I explained that it was just a touch of decorating (something I haven't done a lot of in this house aside from pictures on the wall).

This has an amazing story. Literally the night before Thrift Shop our stick blender broke and I picked this up the next day for a pittance!

Already stowed on a high shelf—a puzzle for the Christmas break.

A pile I found in the corner of some things that our eldest bought. Seems as though he's planning to teach himself piano?

A picture frame for a certain graduation photo that's been lying around.

This was another huge bargain. Priced at something like 3,000 or more yen on Amazon, I bought a camera for our youngest son for 500 yen (AU$5.64). He's developed a recent interest in photography, what a great way to test and develop that interest!

That same lad explicitly told us what clothes he wanted, but not to buy them without his approval. Well, I didn't have a chance to get his approval on these before I bought them, but I scored approval later.

I found a new single self-inflating mat for camping. Practically new!

These I got for free in the five minutes of free shopping I had on Saturday. Three "new" shirts for winter. Skivvies are my staple clothing throughout the cold months of winter in Tokyo, I'm stoked.

Our eldest son bought this outfit (plus a "Sven" moose hat) for a dress up event at the middle school youth group he's a leader at! The boys could hardly stop laughing when he tried it on on Saturday night.

Our youngest son's purchases
Typically he found a brand name shirt!

This he bought for the family. I don't know how useful it will be...

Add this was his youth group dress up costume, complete with a leery wig and oversized sunglasses.

He also found Adidas pants!

This boy loves loud colours. Love the words on this.

And yet another shirt...

He's decided recently to collect key rings and Thrift Shop was a great place for finding them.

This kid is an artist and found some nice tools.

In case you're wondering, as far as I know our middle son didn't step inside the gym throughout the entire span of Thrift Shop. Too many people...hates shopping...and then he got a cold. But I did find him an insulated mug for hot chocolate consumption while camping (and any other time he might wish to use it).

Fun

The fun to be had at Thrift Shop is not just buying things cheaply, but having fun with people, particularly when you volunteer for hours and hours it's great to insert some fun into the time.  I enjoyed "modelling" a couple of fun hats on the two preparation days, call me an informal "moral booster" if you like.

Jessie from Toy Story. I wore her hat much of Thursday...it's been a long time since I've had a pigtail this long. It caused a little bit of an internal dilemma, though, when I had to go over to the school's business office to do some photocopying...should I wear it or take it off? I ended up wearing it over and got some giggles over there too.

These are the tireless workers of the Thrift Shop committee. Of course there were many other volunteers, but these are the ones who held most of the responsibility over the 4 ½ days we were in operation.