Once again, experimenting w/ picture posting, and I'm way out of order here, but oh well. These are pix of us on the ferry from Kagoshima city to the other side of the bay, to a peninsula called Sakurajima, where the big mountain is. We were going to a hot spring resort, which is very relaxing. The weather was awesome!
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Testing out another layout.

Oh, I think I might like this better than the old way I've been posting pics. Here's Kansha again, in a bit of what I would call a test post.I think I'll type a little more and see if the text wraps around the pic. Which it does. Neato. On to more discoveries! 

And here is Aubrey w/ another pic of Kansha. She's sitting on our couch. We will probably get a larger cage for him soon. Aubrey loves to listen to him sing and chirp and watch him do tricks.
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OK, to switch gears a bit, here's a pic of Aubrey's favorite bird, Kansha. He is a Mejiro bird, which is a popular songbird in Japan, and he's CUTE. He is really hyper and likes to chirp and eat oranges and persimmons. "Kansha" means "thankfulness," to remind us of our thankfulness to God for so many blessings, and in particular of the way He blessed us on our trip to Kagoshima.
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Aubrey, Ke (the baby), Koze, and Takeshi before the dinner began. Speaking of the dinner's beginning, it was a strange mix of traditions. It was held in a home in Japan owned by a Japanese husband and American wife. It was served tapas-style, which is Spanish. It had French wine and Japanese liquor (not my fault, not my house). It featured mostly American food. And before we began, we shared a bit about Thanksgiving's history and then each of the 12 present shared something for which they were thankful and toasted it, which is no less than very Russian! So a really weird dynamic. But that didn't detract from the great taste of the food!
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Nick, Alan, and Satoshi engaged in discussion about Japanese/French/American education. I mostly listened and asked questions this time (I know, swallow your surprise!)
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Here are, from left, Nick and Chieko (other JETs from nearby Amamioshima island), Satoshi (HS English teacher), Tokumoto-san (our friendly librarian friend), Kana and Yuko, at the end of one of the tables.
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And here's the happy couple, taking a break from eating in order to smile for the camera.
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Here are Keizo, Ariana's husband, Shintaro, and Alan halfway thru the feasting. Here Alan's stomach is about half full, but there's a long way to go.
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Here is the first group of guests (those who arrived on time). There were two tables like this, full of food. The kid in the foreground is Ariana's youngest, Shintaro, who didn't want to put on a shirt.
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Ariana and me preparing the sweet potato salad.
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Heavy logistics during cooking time. Ariana is directing traffic. You know, Aub and I are fair cooks, true, but Ariana is a *really* good cook, efficient, organised. So we were really blessed to be able to join forces w/ her for this party.
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Here are Ryujiro, the middle son, Aubrey, and Amami at the kitchen table on Saturday afternoon during preparation. I think we're putting out the stuffing.
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Here is Amami (our friend Ariana's oldest daughter) helping us bring in the dishes. Our dinner was comprised of lots of smaller dishes, so each guest got a small plate and we ate a little bit at a time - tapas style.
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Here is the room where we ate. This is about half full of food. This big room can fit a lot of people, and we had about 25 people total. The tan floor is the rice mat we call "tatami." These tables are low and we all sit on the floor.
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Here's me preparing the gravy. Didn't have a turkey, so had to use packets, but I'd say it tasted quite good.
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Here begin our Thanksgiving dinner preparations. This is Saturday afternoon, and Aubrey is cutting the cornbread, which was one of six breads available for the eating.
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So what do you do in Kikai on Black Friday?

Go shopping, of course!!!!

Or not.
Actually, I was reminded of the lovely phenomenon that is Black Friday by something mentioned by my bro-in-law over the Internet phone. He works for a major consumer electronics superstore company and mentioned that he has to go to work at 3 am on Friday. Ouch. Makes me wonder what the main fad gifts this year are... It's harder to make fun of Black Friday since the days of Furby and Tickle Me Elmo have passed. But in that vein, there are still fights over Xboxes and such, so the pickings are not yet slim.
So this morning, talked to family over the video phone and that was cool. They were...um... I can only think of the French word: soucieux... to mention that there was blueberry pie present at their Thanksgiving feast. OK, soucieux means "careful." Glad I thought of that before I hit "post."
I am also glad that I blogged last time about being thankful for a thankful heart, b/c w/o that, there could have been some upsetting words said about the lack of blueberry pie on this God-forsaken isla... well, I better not go there. I am happy, however, to mention that our recent Foreign Buyers' Club order included a small apple pie, which I intend to consume shortly. It also included some cake mixes, but one of those'll have to wait for my birthday, in just over a week.

Today I'm going to go cook up some tasty food over at the other American's house. She has a fairly well-appointed kitchen, so we'll take advantage certainly.

Last night went out to eat w/ several English teachers and a Canadian friend over here to visit a bit. It must be traditional, when out w/ a bunch of people, to order a TON of food and just keep eating, regardless of the total cost. I ordered the one thing I wanted, but they kept bringing out stuff that became the communal plates. I guess I can understand that - it gives everyone more of a varied dining experience (and hey, we got to taste raw goat meat, so can't complain!) but it can quickly get expensive! And let's not go into how much they who drank alcohol and shochu (which is the local sweet potato rum) paid!

OK, time to go do this day. Love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks to everyone who has sent encouraging notes during this holiday season.
Many, many more thanks to my parents who have put in a lot of time and effort in getting my application for next year's JET Program assembled and sent off. Thanks again, so much. It wasn't easy, but thanks to email, skype, and paperclips, it was all done.

We really miss home right now since from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to the 3 days after Christmas is our favorite time of year. And right now it has begun - I am writing on Thursday morning and it's Thanksgiving. Except noone in Japan is thanks-giving for all they have received from the Lord. Noone but His people, who are few but many of whom are faithful.

That's what I was praying this morning during my prayer walk - I thanked the Lord for many things, but I thanked Him most profusely for a thankful heart. How often do we take the time to examine our hearts to find if we are really thankful for all the things we have? How we never have an excuse to be crabby and unkind and faithless as to our futures? How we lack joy simply b/c we do not look to what He has given us - Himself?

I thank God that He often helps me to live w/ an attitude of thankfulness, not only during this season (though most strongly during this season, that's for sure) but also during the rest of my time on this earth.

Saturday night we have a big English-speaking party w/ some American Thanksgiving-style foods to be cooked and consumed, so that should be quite cool. Looking much forward to it. I'll likely be cooking for hours beforehand on Saturday. That should be cool too. No, it won't be at our tiny house but rather at the other American's house, who has a really nice kitchen and huge house.

Have a great day! Enjoy turkey, sweetbreads, and football, none of which I'll be getting this year!

A singularly good column

I love this guy.
You'll see why, if you read it.

A view of a Chiran street. There are special samurai houses on each side.
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A wider view of the Chiran tearoom.
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And since we're posting these pics all in order (um, right), here's Aubrey inside the Chiran tea room w/ half of our friend Hiro's face on the right. You can see the knee-high table that's so common (you sit on the floor) as well as Aub's tea bowl. And you might note the indispensable dictionary near the right hand.
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Here we are eating our Asian food at the French-themed restaurant. I didn't like the restau's name (Sur la Terre Comme Au Ciel - "On Earth as it is in Heaven") but we did like the restau itself quite a bit. One of our waitresses even spoke a little French, so that was funny.
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Proof that the Japanese (this picture was taken 14 Nov) get into Christmas decorations way before Americans. This was taken inside the Yamakataya store, which is a huge dept. store inside Tenmonkan. I'd guess it's like Macy's in NYC (though I say that w/o ever having been there).
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A better view of the flowers on display. They really were remarkable.
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Aubrey next to one of the flower structures.
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Another shot of the Sengan'en (Iso Garden). The flower tower is right behind us, as is the entrance, and directly ahead is part of the main building complex. To the right are a line of temporary bamboo structures housing cool flowers, big and small. Turn 90 degrees to the left and you can go up the mountain.
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Yet more on our Kagoshima vacation

Another installment of our Kag City vacation log... I got up early this morning and got some schtuff outta the way so I'm rarin' to go.
And we found out today, BTW, that Kaki will come to join us on 29 December! Yay!!! Anyone else who wants to take a long vacation and spend 24 hours traveling, you are welcome here. We've got a nice stretch of floor all ready and waiting. I promise you'll get at least 5 minutes of alone time in the bathroom too. That is an ironclad promise.

Later on Thurs night we hit a Korean restaurant w/ a friend from Kikai. Nearby the Tenmonkan district is what I guess is the nightlife section of town, w/ lotsa clubs, restaurants, and less savory establishments. It took us a while to find a Korean restau, since Aub wanted to go to the one where she had eaten 3 months before. We failed to find it but found another good one and had a good time talking in partly Japanese and English.
Friday was rainy rainy. But fortunately our friends had offered to drive us to nearby Chiran, which hosts really cool 500 year old samurai houses and gardens. Beforehand, Aub and I bussed into town and found a really neat French-themed restaurant in the Tenmonkan district. I had an Indonesian dish and Aubrey a Korean dish - go figure. But there were lots of cool picturebooks of France on the coffeetable, so we had some nice nostalgia time. We later arrived in Chiran and the rain relented a bit so we could take a long walk thru town. There were quite a few other tourists in the neighborhood, but it was still picturesque. Interestingly, quite a few of these houses seem either to be private residences (a few) or restaurants/tearooms (a lot), much like the buildings at the Sengan'en garden we had visited the previous day. It surprised me to see "historical landmarks" made into businesses. We actually took time to drink tea in one of these places, and this is recorded in pic form below - look for the bowl of green frothy concoction, which was green tea powder mixed into hot water. To its right is sthg that resembles a cockroach (thanks Troy), but really it's a crescent of green tea jelly w/ a little flower for ornamentation. Neither tasted all that good, but taken together they were less bad. But later this bad taste was redeemed by a visit to an English museum in the same town, where we purchased fruity herbal teas and apricot jelly. On the hour-long drive back to Kagoshima, we were still making Japanese/English conversation and I asked about politics. Which led for some reason to Mikoko's question: "You're Christians. You believe that Jesus punishes bad people, right?"

Now, let me ask a question of you Christians out there - do you know what you would say when asked a question like that? Give it some thought for just a second. It is a common MISunderstanding about Christian belief that "Jesus punishes bad people," and implication is yet more of a misunderstanding, that Jesus does not punish good people. But if you don't follow what the Bible has to say about it, you're a bit stuck.
At any rate, we thanked God for the opportunity and proceeded to share the truth of what Jesus came for (to save bad people, which we ALL are, every one of us) and such. No, our Japanese is not all that, but w/ dictionaries, a bit of English on the other side, and patience, we were able to make ourselves understood.

That night we got to do sthg that is sorely missed here in Kikai. We went out w/ the previously-mentioned Masumi to a quaint upstairs cafe for dinner and then to Tully's Coffee for late-night coffee. Ah, a late-night coffeehouse - it's a bit of a low priority until you can't go to one, I must say. I don't know why, I just gravitate towards it. Anyway, we had more fun and fruitful conversation, during which we ended up sharing "life slogans." We really felt freedom to share, and so had no fear to introduce Masumi to biblical ideas regarding her 2 life slogans, both of which stand in stark contrast to biblical teaching. Not surprising, but that's what we're here for.
Can't say, despite all the fun that was had, that we were full of energy once the night was done. Ooff. And I'm no longer full of energy for typing, so I'll take it up again soon.

And here is a better view of the garden area. The flower tower, it turns out, is right in the middle of the garden. We took this right before leaving the garden, and we were pretty tired from climbing the nature trail. It was grey and cloudy, but it never rained on us. The next day it rained quite a bit, though.
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Here I am just below the big flower tower (yes, that rhymes. Thanks for noticing.) at the sengan'en (aka the Iso Garden). All of the flowers at this garden were really pretty.
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Look back at that onsen (hot spring) that was mentioned in an earlier pic. It was pouring out of a pipe that I guess was directing the water. The water obviously has a high mineral content, b/c it has discolored the concrete over which it flows and has significantly accelerated the development of rust on the storm sewer grate on the right. I really did taste the water, just for kicks. It tasted normal.
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Here is me looking snazzy on one of the bridges in the middle of Kagoshima. This angle is looking a bit away from the busiest section of town.
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Here are Francisco Xavier, one of his Spanish buddies (on our left) and one of his Japanese converts on our right (I think I got the positions correct). This is just in front of the portico in the last picture.
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This is the front porrtico of the church that was founded in honor of Francisco Xavier's journey to Japan. He landed in Kagoshima in the 16th century. This church was elsewhere in Kagoshima but was reduced to rubble during WW2 bombing, so it was moved to its current location in the 50s. It's a neat monument.
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One of my favorite billboards in Kagoshima City, in the Tenmonkan district. This is similar to the Mos Burger one I posted earlier.
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Here's me a little farther down that same road. I like the cool tree sculptures. And I have one big backpack on my back and the smaller one on my front. Easy to carry but hard to bike!
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Here are lovely flowers all around. Flowers in bloom along the old wall region of Kagoshima. Flowers in hand - birthday present. Flowers on shirt (ain't it cute?) And Aubrey in the flower of all her beauty. Dang, I'm a blessed man!
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Here is a pic of the Kagoshima Tenmonkan cityscape. Somewhere in that mess is a lovely lovely bakery named Toit Vert, where Alan grabbed approximately 2 sweetrolls per day we were there, for consumption at that very moment or for later.
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Here is our first onsen! Thank goodness we could wear a robe!
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We were so blessed to have great weather this day. That's Mt. Sakurajima in the background.
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This is our BEST transportation on the ferry to Sakurajima to take in the mountain and the onsen (hot spring).
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A pic touring Chiran in the rain with a towering hay roof looming in the background.
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A small turn to my right where you find two great views: the beautiful gardens behind the sliding glass doors-and my handsome husband, Alan.
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And this was the stuff (powdered green tea) I was drinking. This city was probably my best imagined idea of what traditional Japan was like.
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November 11th-Chiran, south of Kago-shi
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When we go on vacation, it is a tradition to relax at one nook-and-cranny cafe. We found several in Kagoshima-shi. This is a French cafe where there was Indonesian and Korean food...hmmm but we enjoyed it.
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Alan in front of the huge chrysanthemums at the Sengan-en Gardens. They had all sorts of them!
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Alan 'tasting' the hot springs by the road. The steaming sign at the top does not mean coffee sold here. Pretty hot!
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Alan in front of Amu Plaza a.k.a. Chuo Train Station. The only Starbucks in all of Kyushu is next to the blue tree.
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Hanging out at the Dolphin Port at an outside cafe
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Dancing Amami-Shimanchu (island) dance on my B-day
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Kagoshima-shi, on way to Sengan-en
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