The end of the season, cross-country season that is

Before we came to the Christian Academy in Japan I'd never heard of such a thing as a "Cross-country season". Footie season, yes. Cricket season, yes. But cross-country season, no! When I was at school you ran cross-country for your school sports team. Then if you did well you moved on to represent your school, and then it went on from there - city, region and eventually state if you were super good! But the idea of school teams running in several meets against one another over a series of weeks - nope! 

Anyway, Saturday was the last day of the season for middle school cross-country runners. I have to say I'm a little bit relieved. Missing out on my only sleep-in day, and spending most of our Saturdays at cross-country meets has taken its toll and we're feeling a little taxed in our household. It will be nice to have a few quiet Saturdays to ourselves.

And Saturday wasn't all that fun. It was wet. The kids ran hard, but it wasn't easy to keep your balance when the ground was muddy and slippery, so many of our kids didn't get the times they really wanted. But thankfully no major injuries that I heard of and nothing that a bit of washing and a shower wouldn't fix. 

However, standing out in the rain for a few hours watching kids slog away wasn't hugely fun. I am thankful we were able to have our car there, so when were were feeling too muddy or wet, we could retreat to there. And I am also thankful that the weather was warm, not cool. But I did hear one runner complain that it was too warm and humid to run happily!

I did get a surprise. At "The Shop" on base (with American food), my husband tore in at the beginning of the day (before the crowds and long lines) and bought two packets of these Lime-flavoured Corn Chips. I'd never seen lime-flavoured corn chips before my American friend recommended them a couple of weeks back. We enjoyed them last week as Nachos. My husband surprised me, though, with his purchase. I didn't realised he enjoyed them that much! I guess I'll be making Nachos again soon. Maybe on one of those lazy Saturdays I have coming up which start with a sleep-in?

We've passed a significant post-trauma mark

Here's a great post by a friend reflecting on the seventh month mark that we passed this last week. Seven months since the Great East Japan Disaster (as it's officially called). Go and have a read . . . especially if you know a carpenter!

One Japanese treat I love

I had one of these for lunch. Yum!! They are called "Nikuman" (as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong, you Japanese speakers out there). They are also pretty seasonal, we mostly only see them during the cooler months, so it is with delight that I see them back in the shops and convenience stores. Steamed bread rolls with delicious meat-vegetable filling. And pretty cheap too. I think today's cost under AU$1.

Often Japanese ask us what Japanese food we like. Our list of what we like here continues to grow. It is great to have special food that we can only get here. Just like when we are in Australia we enjoy food we can only get there (like sausage rolls and meat pies and many other things). Having things we like in both cultures helps us to be happy where we are, rather than always yearning for things that we like, but cannot eat whenever we feel like it.

One of my hats: answerer of strange and varied emails

One of my jobs is answering emails that come through the OMF Japan website. It really isn't a big job, but like most jobs the work load ebbs and flows. Some days can go past without any emails at all, then a whole glob of them arrive at once. Usually, though, I only receive one or two emails a day that require a response (i.e. that aren't junk or advertising).

The usual types of emails that come in are asking more information about serving with OMF International or how they can pray. Occasionally I'll get emails from Africa or the Middle East asking us to send missionaries to their country or looking for paid employment in Japan; neither of which are what OMF does. It is a bit like a traffic director. I answer the ones I can and direct the ones I cannot to others who can better answer or I find out the answers from others and answer myself!

But this week, just to compliment my already fairly full schedule, I've received a bunch of complicated ones. Emails that wouldn't be easily answered. Here are some examples:

Our New Zealander Financial Manager received an email from the UK from someone he doesn't know asking about Youth Ministry that we do in Japan and wanting more information about getting involved. He wisely passed this on to me as he does no youth ministry and didn't even know how he got the email sent to him. I am no expert on youth myself. So I directed the email to one person within OMF Japan who does, and answered the "how do I get involved" bit myself with a standard email response that we use.

I received an email from the UK asking for the address of our Guest home in Tokyo. Not hard, I sent the email address of our guest home back and they countered with the request for the snail mail address as the person for whom they were enquiring didn't have email. Well, I had to go searching for that myself!

A Kenyan sent an email in asking about how to get involved in ministry in Japan. Saying he's felt God's leading to Japan. He may very well have felt that, but OMF doesn't have sending facilities in Africa, so I cannot help him. But he was very persistent in wanting information about others who send Africans to Japan. So I had to go searching, I emailed my Field Director who didn't know anyone. And then I emailed the office of the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association, asking if they had missionaries on their list. They did, but not many. I'm now trying to rout out some kind of contact for this guy who is so keen. But it isn't easy.

An email came from someone who wanted information about how much they'd have to raise to go to our language school. This is not information we give out because our language school isn't a business, in that people go there and independently do courses. It is part of a total support package of a missionary, that includes many things, such as accommodation, living expenses, transport, medical expenses, etc. I handed this one back to our Finance Director.

Another came from a lady who's heard of our youth ministry in Sapporo called fmZERO. But it took a couple of emails to figure out what her exact query was. It was important for me to know, so that I could direct the email to the right person! Eventually I sent her on to our Short-term ministries coordinator to move her through the process of coming to Japan for a short-term ministry trip.

It's been a bit of an unusual week. I generally don't mind answering these, though some of them take a bit of problem solving and some careful wording. I do get a bit annoyed when we have university students or Bible college students who basically want us to do their research for them; I pretty quickly point them to our website and other resources. Oh, and during the crisis period after the March 11 disasters I had a few who seemed to feel as though we were withholding information about missionaries in the disaster zone. When, in fact, we didn't know much ourselves. The missionaries themselves didn't have power or internet connectivity!

But genuine seekers of information about ministry in Japan, ways they can serve and pray – those I love to help. It is always a great encouragement to receive those emails!

Living in Japan, learning American measurement

When we first came to Japan in 2000 with a 20 month old, we hadn't thought in a lot of detail about education. Probably a good thing, because "our plan" has had to change several times as we've gone along the road of parenting! But one thing I certainly didn't think of was that I'd have to learn American currency or that I'd see my kids learning imperial measurement.

On Monday my 6 y.o. brought home his weekly class newsletter. It included this (sorry, it is a bit blurry):

I try very hard to call it "Maths"! But yes, they're learning American currency. I remember four years ago, just prior to our oldest son starting at CAJ. I went looking online to find out about US currency. I had no idea that a nickel was 5 cents, for example. Of course we don't know if they'll ever have a practical use for this knowledge, but not in the foreseen future! I actually saw a nickel the other day, it fell out of a friend's purse. I didn't recognise it at all, however!

My 9 y.o. is doing a measurement unit in maths. Today he came home and had to measure someone – in inches! Thankfully my sewing tape has both centimetres and inches on it! I cannot imagine how most non-American families managed it (and the majority of the class is non-American). After all Japanese have never used the Imperial system. You simply cannot buy something with inches on it here!

I guess as an Aussie I could get upset about all this American stuff that our kids are taught. But it just isn't worth it. I'm just happy that they are getting a good education in a language and system that they (and we) can manage. When we go back to Australia next time, we'll just have to refresh them as to the Australian system of money – which is a lot easier, believe me! A word problem in the American system can look like this: She has two quarters, a nickel and three pennies. How much will she have left if she buys something for 43 cents?

Oh, and I have to be careful about dates. Did you know that Americans write their dates all mixed up (at least by Australian standards)? Month/day/year. And Japanese write it Year/month/day. When you add in Aussie dates at Day/month/year, the possibility to get mightily confused is huge. Particularly when you consider today's date. It could be 10/13/11 or 13/10/11 or 11/10/13!! I always have to think a bit and usually I write something like 13 Oct, 2011. I guess it is all keeping my brain from getting too stuck in its ways!

Rush-hour on my schedule

I feel as though I'm in the middle of several collisions at the moment. Collisions of schedule.

To start with, it is a four day week. So Monday was a great rest day and family day, but a little-work day.

Tuesday I'd allocated as a Costco day. That means I left in the car at about 9am, drove for about an hour in Tokyo traffic, and got back about 2pm, spent the next hour or two unloading, putting everything away, dividing meat into suitable portions (the mince US=ground beef) comes in huge packets, and squishing all the freezables into the freezer. Then dealing with the homework and piano practise for another hour or two. Costco does mean large cheap pizza, so I always bring one home for dinner. Yay! But there went Tuesday.

Wednesday and Thursday afternoon are my only free days to do the things piling up on my plate. This includes:

• Final editing check on the Japan Harvest magazine before it goes to the printer
• Checking that I'm all set for the start of the English Bible study that I'm leading on Friday morning at church (this one doesn't require a lot of preparation, but I'm nervous, knowing little about what is going to happen and never having done something like this before).
• Starting the 'testimony' that I have to give at a ladies meeting at church next Sunday (23rd)
• Doing the mid-week preparation for a Bible Study I'm doing with a friend on Friday (yes, two Bible studies on one day, how spiritual!), this is mostly reading.
• Keeping up with the emails that just keep coming
• Preparing for the prayer meeting that I'm leading on Monday at school

Friday afternoon is the dentist again but then, some fun. CAJ is hosting some interschool volleyball matches, which means they'll feed us dinner (probably hot dogs and curry rice, depending on who you are) and entertain us too.

Saturday morning holds the Cross-country finals. That means another early start and writes off most of Saturday!

Next week is Thrift Shop, which basically means I'm working full-time from Wednesday till Sat lunch time. Oh, and we might have a house guest too! Yes, I believe I've managed to score me a good couple of busy weeks.

More disaster

2011 in my life:

• flooding in our home state in January 
• a cyclone in our home state in February
• earthquake/tsunami/radiation disaster in Japan in March
• senior at CAJ died in a traffic accident in June
• CAJ staff member's son died of natural causes in July

This is a lot, at least compared to my previously fairly disaster-free quiet life.

Now there is flooding in Thailand. Never been there, but OMF has lots of missionaries there and we have good friends there. One of my friends here in Tokyo is from Bangkok. 

Due to a bit of an overload of disaster I've been trying not to look at the images, but several of my colleagues recommended this video. It is by a missionary who's had to evacuate with his family from their home which is at least partly submerged.

So much pain. Again we can only hope and pray that many Thai will seek eternal security in the Lord, for surely recovery from thousands and thousands of rice field's being submerged and more than a thousand factories will be tough going. Never mind the hundreds who have already died.

And I haven't even mentioned the flooding in the Philippines, where we also have friends. And the 18th typhoon of their season which is about to dump more rain on them!