Marugame Branch's Saturday clean-up!

Yesterday we went to the Marugame LDS Branch's recently purchased plot of land to pull weeds. It's a great location right on Route 11, the main highway in the area and easily accessible. Unfortunately the branch has to have an average weekly attendance at Sacrament Meeting of 80 or 85 to actually build the church building. Today was a pretty average day at church and there were only about 50 people. There are more member in the branch boundries but there are lots of less active members who rarely attend. It's sad when you see how diligent these active members are, some who have been attending church in the same rundown old building for 30 years! But the plot of land is a hopeful sign!!

The missionaries pulling weeds and picking up trash. (There wasn't a whole lot to do, I think the plot was recently cleared, but it was nice to be together with the church members on their own piece of land!)
Callan and Fumiyo (our boss) stopped to have a little chat.

After (a little) work Callan and Elder Itakura kicked the ball around for a bit.

Br. Morimura, Sister Yamaji (the Primary president and Branch president's wife) and me picked up a pile of weeds.

Maybe someday soon there will be a beautiful new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on this piece of land and the Marugame Branch will be a Ward!! :)

(By the way, Saturday was a holiday so nobody had to work, includng us! Yippee! Usually we only have Monday off)

The Game of Telephone

Each week for my larger adult classes, we try to play some type of word game.  We have played pictionary, bingo, twenty questions, I never, balderdash, and most recently ‘telephone,’ the game where one person whispers a phrase into the ear of the person next to them in a circle, and then the message is sent around the circle in whispers, and finally announced to the room by the last person.  

Last week in my class at the community center which is attended by several elderly people, this game proved problematic.  First, about a third of the 15 people in the group are so hard of hearing that they have virtually lost the ability to whisper, and everyone in the circle had to forcibly avoid hearing by humming, or plugging there ears as the message was transferred to the people ahead of them.  The second problem was the Japanese fear of making a mistake.  Many of the students, if they didn’t hear the message quite right, insisted on listening again and again until they were sure they had heard the phrase correctly (which, of course, ruins the point of the game, which is to see how terribly off the group can get from the original phrase).

Still, despite these obstacles, I managed to get the entire class with a seemingly easy sentence.  After trying a few simple phrases like ‘the sky is blue,’ and ‘my name is Joe,’ which where sent around the circle in the above described manner, I gave them this sentence: “My pants are green,” and asked them not to worry so much about getting it right.  This was not only a simple sentence in my opinion, but it was also fact.  I was wearing a green suit.  However, you must also know that the word ‘pants’ as it is used in every day Japanese (pronounced pan-tsu) does not mean ‘jeans’ or ‘slacks,’ but rather ‘underpants.’  

All my young students giggle when I show them a picture of slacks and say ‘pantsu’, and even the adults tend to forget the English usage of the word, as was the case during this game.  I watched as these women (and one 88 year old man) whispered the sentence around the room, turned red, giggled, widened  there eyes, cast coy looks at one another, and generally squirmed as if they were telling a dirty joke.  The product of the whispering was priceless.  Not only had they misunderstood the word pants, but somewhere along the line the word ‘green’ had been misheard as ‘clean’ and the final sentence, announced to the class by the oldest and deafest member of the circle was: “My panties aren’t clean,” which caused a general uproar and many more blushing faces.  My announcement of the original sentence was met by another guffaw, a little more blushing, and smiles all around.

Easter

Callan is dancing in a shower of bubbles in the living room right now, a prize from his Easter Basket, and we’re all enjoying a quiet Easter evening. We had crepes fro breakfast, listened to Amy’s concert choir concert on BYU radio over the internet, went to church, took naps, had Montgomery Family Autumn Soup for dinner, and have been helping Callan play with some of his new things.

This week has brought us to the mid point in April, to the first real spring weather, and to the end of Melissa’s first trimester. Yes, if you couldn’t have guessed it from all the talk about her being sick, Melissa is pregnant, and due around Halloween, after we are back in Utah. She is feeling better lately than she was, but mornings are still generally miserable. Ironically, today she has felt better than she has felt in weeks, and instead I have a miserable cold/cough/headache/achy body that has just about wiped me out. Thankfully tomorrow is our day off and I will be able to stay in bed most of the day.

We managed to get out the door in time for sacrament meeting at noon. I took a nap from after breakfast until about 11:15 AM, and then I threw some clothes on and we headed off to church. There were good talks about the atonement and the resurrection by one of the missionaries, an older sister in the branch, and then a talk on how to increase Christ-like attributes in our families by a a member of the branch presidency. After church the branch president released Melissa from the primary and called me in her place (not as organist, just as a teacher). So for the next three months, I’ll be teaching the 8 and older crowd at primary which consists of one girl and three boys from two different families.

Callan’s Easter was fun, except that he woke up at three in the morning to get a drink of water and found his Easter Basket in the living room. He wanted to look at it, and it took some persuading to get him to go back to bed. After a glass of water and a few bites of something to eat, he finally agreed to come to bed (but only in mom and dad’s bed).

At 7:00 He woke up again and there was no stopping him. By the time I had crawled out of bed, he had already opened and devoured the contents of four of the six plastic eggs and would have finished off the rest if he hadn’t talked him into saving some for later.

As part of his Easter basket Callan got a special toy this year. At the dollar store here they sell fairly durable rip offs of the Brio wooden train sets for ¼ the price of the real thing. We’ve been talking about taking some home with us, and we even bought a few of the trains. This weekend I found a store that had all the pieces in stock, so we bought a whole set, complete with six train cars, two bridges, and a little station with a red roof. He has been playing with it all day. It’s a good toy for when a parent isn’t feeling well.

While Callan and I were napping this afternoon an Easter Package came from Melissa’s parents, which gave her the opportunity to open it up and hide the Easter eggs before Callan woke up. It was very cute watching him find the conspicuously placed eggs out in our front yard. It reminded me of Easter’s at my house when I was a child.

Our Easter Baskets were always hid somewhere in the house by droopy eyed parents who had gotten up extra early to play Easter Bunny. There was always a basket in the oven, usually one in the TV hutch, and sometimes one in the dryer. Because there were five of us kids at home, the baskets were labeled with our names, and it was always a bummer to find someone else’s first.

The contents of our baskets were unique as well. With a brother and sister that were diabetic, sweets at our house were a rarity. In addition to the regular choclate eggs and other candies, our baskets contained a box of Fruit Loops, or Lucky Charms, or Captain Crunch—all cereals that our mother wouldn’t let us have on regular occasions. I also remember our mother often inviting strangers to our house for Easter dinner and other occasions. It has been almost six years since I lived at home full time, but I was always impressed and still am at my mother’s willingness to open our home to people who didn’t have family’s to spend holidays with. I don’t know if it was Easter, but I remember mother inviting an older foreign man who worked at the Burger King near her office to come for dinner.

There is a feast prepared for all of us in the mansion of our Father, one that we, through the grace of Christ, have been invited to attend. The invitation is extended to all, regardless of race, gender, or religion. There is always a seat saved for us at his table, and he is merely waiting for us to decide we’re not too busy to show up. Happy Easter!

The cherry blossoms and callan were baring all at the rest stop on our way to Matsuyama this weekend. We took advantage of some time off to visit the largest city on Shikoku. I visited Matsuyama a few times as a missionary, and coming back with Melissa and Callan was a fine treat. Callan is a super traveler and as you will see in this next set of pictures, we did some super traveling. There are more than thirty tunnels drilled through the mountains between Marugame and Matsuyama and a few of them are more than 2000 meters long (more than a mile). The rest of the highway is mostly built on tall concrete stilts, so either you are barrelling through the heart of the mountains, or skipping over the tops of wide valleys, so that though your traveling through one of the hilliest countries in the world, there is little change in the grade of the road. Callan usually likes the tunnels, but he was asleep most of the ride there so he missed out.

Our first stop in Matsuyama after checking in at the hotel was Ishite-ji shrine. It is number 51 on the 88 temple loop around shikoku and was very busy when we arrived. There were a few hundred people scattered throughout the temple complex, some praying, some burning incense, some buying medalions and charms. This Dragon sculpture marks the entrance to the temple grounds and stands at the edge of a quiet koi pond.

Cranes.

Thousands and thousands of paper cranes are folded by school children all over Japan and donated to different shrines as a prayer of peace.

More paper cranes.

Bamboo grove in Ishiteji temple. Just above this grove was an entrance to a small cave that was lined with dim lights and lead worshippers up through the inside of a hill to a meditating garden.

The 150 meter long cave running under the hillside contained statuary like this, as well as wise Buddhist sayings written on plaques that lined the tunnel walls. There was also a scattering of amateur artwork, and a few small shrines. The light was minimal and it was a little spooky, but not scary. It was actually very peaceful throughout the shrine, and it was a pleasure to be among so many devoted worshippers. The chanting and incense really added to the experience.

A pretty mountain road near ishiteji shrine.

Despite Callan's concerned look, he really enjoyed this cave, which we figure was supposed to be representative of the buddhist path to enlightenment.

There was a soccer ball at the park we found, and Callan spent a good amount of time kicking it around the dirt field. He also took a few swings with his basseball bat. He hit the ball five times in a row, and each time he dropped his bat, circled an imaginary set of bases, and slid into home plate head first. he put on quite a show for the onlooking japanese folks at the park.

After visiting the Ishite-ji temple we ate dinner. With a little help from a friendly convenience store clerk, we located a quite, clean park in the center of the city with a slide, swings, and this merry-go-round cum torture device that I somehow managed to squeeze myself into with Callan. We ate homemade pasta salad, banana's, and apple slices.

Melissa keeps teasing me for taking so many pictures of the flowers, but I don't care. The Cherry blossoms in Japan are, in my opinion, one of the wonders of the world, and as the japanese duely note every time I talk at length with any of them about the tree, they make a great metaphor for humanity. They are brilliant, beautiful, and fleeting. The whole country anticipates the 'cherry blossom front' that moves up the country from Okinawa in late March to Hokkaido in Late April and May. Each night on the news there is an official report of the progress of the blossoms, and there are even 'blossom' forecasts for different regions of the country. The Japanese look forward to them like americans look forward to Christmas lights, but with more zeal. When the blossoms do come out, so do the people, along with their bento lunches, their blue picnic tarps, and their beer. At the Park we Stopped at With Callan, there were about two dozen people picnicing under the Cherry blossoms, and their laughter made a pleasant backdrop for our own picnic.

In the hotel room, after Callan's bath, we gave up trying to force callan to get his pajama's on, and let him dress himself. This was the result. The hotel room was small, but clean, smoke free, and inexpensive. The bed left a lot to be desired, but it didn't matter much for me anyway, because I ended up on the floor with Callan half the night because he was tossing and turning so much. Melissa didn't fair much better, and at two in the morning when Callan and I were watching highlights from the PGA master's tournament and eating some sliced apple because he had woken up hungry, we all shrugged, and said, "at least it's not cold."

After waking up and enjoying the free hotel breakfast (which was really just rolls, crossants, and juice) we packed up and drove thirty minutes in awful rain to a small town called Uchiko, which is home to some very traditional japanese dwellings, a kabuki theater, and this large buddha statue. The dark spot on the statues elbow is from the hands of worshippers who rub the statue as part of their prayers.

This huge statue appears to be very new, and the elbow which you can see behind us has a very noticable (to us, not to you looking at the picture) rubbing spot where worshippers rub the statue for blessing and protection.

After visitng the relaxed buddha shrine, we took a walk down the carefully recreated turn of the century street called "Youkaichi." The name means 8th day market, and as you might guess, there used to be a market here on the eighth of every month. The street is more than a mile long and looks almost what it would look like in 1906. Callan is holding a package of cookies that an admiring store keep gave him as we were looking at some fish swiming in a pot outside his door.

The pick up times listed on the side of this old mail drop box said, 'about 7:37,' 'about 11:37', and 'about 5:37' Even Japanese mail boxes avoid being too direct!

Here is an old phone booth. Callan says "Moshi Moshi!"

This incredible patch of tulips were growing on the side of the road, next to a construction site, in a small garden surrounded by collapsing walls and piles of old scrap wood.

Our last stop in Uchiko before returning to Matsuyama was The Uchiko-Za kabuki theater. They only have a few shows a year here, and the rest of the time it is completely open for guests to tour, for a small donation of 300 yen (about $2.50 american).

This is the view from the balcany of the Kabuki theater, which can hold more than six hundred people, who would all have come in traditional kimono and sat on the floor, not in seats. You can see the outline of the circular revolving portion of the stage, as well as two posts, marking the location of trap doors. There are no other Kabuki theaters quite like this in all of Japan. Built, paid for, and filled by the citizens of Uchiko, made wealthy by eleaborate candle making.

We even got to go underneath the stage to see how the old wooden revolving platform and it's many trap doors were operated. There were four poles like this suspended from the under side of the revolving floor that must have been pushed by stage hands. The rocks behind us are the footings for the stage, and the ground we're on is dirt.

Our favorite part of the theater was the Hapi coats that were there for people to try on. This is the Franklin family kabuki rendition of the nutcracker.

This is the main entrance to the famous Dogo Onsen (pronounced "dough go own sen"). It's Matsuyama's main attraction and known all over the country as being the only bath house to be named an important historical site.

The Dogo public spa was the model for the 'spa for the spirits' in the Japanese animated film 'Spirited Away,' which I would recommend to anyone with any political/literary interests. We didn't have time to actually go in the bath house, but we drove by it and did the japanese thing (hop out of the car, take a picture, and hop back in the picture. It was the last stop on our trip besides a rest area somewhere between Matsuyama and Marugame where Melissa forced me to take a thirty minute nap before arriving back at home at about 8 pm tonight. Callan, who fell asleep shortly after devouring some ice cream we purchased at the rest area, stayed asleep after we arrived home, and Melissa went to bed about twenty minutes later. It was a short trip, but a nice break from the routine. If I could go back I would take the time to get the full treatment at the spa, which is only about twenty dollars american and is supposed to be great. Who knows if we'll ever get back there.

Spring Break

We’re off to Ehime prefecture for a short overnight trip to see a castle, an old market, a famous hot springs, and some springtime countryside.  Stay tuned for more!

Spring is here?

You know its spring in Japan when the birds start chirping and the cockroaches start crawling. After a long cold winter its finally starting to warm up. The late evenings are still chilly and the mornings are little cold, but the days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer. This morning there are finches chasing each other outside our front window, and yesterday I found a cockroach. The cherry blossoms are even starting to bloom, despite snow in some of the mountains still, and were looking forward to packing away the heaters and our sweaters. However, every time Melissa says “I’m so tired of the cold,” she also says, “But don’t remind me of that in July when it’s so hot.”

Tomorrow is April First and we will be inside the last four months of our trip. We still have a million places we want to see, and things we want to do, and I’m just starting to feel the slightest sense of urgency about trying to get everything done here that I wanted to while we’re here. When we get back in late July, early August, I’ll be taking the GRE, then going back to school for my last two semesters at BYU, starting work at the PR department at The McKay School of education at BYU and as a writing tutor in the honors department, and applying to twelve different graduate schools. Not to mention getting reacquainted with family, and finding something handy to do at the house (my handyman muscle is so out of shape! I’m dying to cut some wood, or use a caulk gun, or throw a hammer).

The next adventure begins in four months. I think I’ll worry about the current adventure first.