Fifth Japan update.....the other ones I posted elsewhere....heh heh..
I just felt like posting this for some reason....even though the only people who read this I am able to contact on facebook.... oh well..... anyway......
October 10, 2009
This update I will begin with toilets. Yes, toilets. Well, Japanese toilets to be specific. I think I had already established that I don’t like the squatty potties but we won’t go into details there. Instead, I will go into some details about the “Decked-Out” toilets as I like to call them. My first Japanese experience was with one of these so called toilets. I should have gotten a picture….they are insane! I have not tried to use the “wash & dry” part nor do I really plan on it, but it is amusing……a blow dryer for your ……well, fanny…. Hee hee…. Ok, anyway, the other parts I like about the toilets in Japan are the “big flush” and “small flush” options. It makes sense….it saves a lot of water!! Next, there is a little sink on the back of the toilet. It is not to fully wash your hands but just a quick rinse before you open the door or whatever. Kinda nice. It also uses the clean water in the tank instead of some other source. Now, my favorite part of these toilets is the heated seats!! WuWU!!!! Genius!!!! I never realized how nice it is not to have a cold toilet seat!! For real!! It is great!! Ha ha!
Ok, I am done talking about toilets…..unless something strange happens later and I feel I must share with you all…. :-) On to Jello Pop!! Yay!! So before I came to Japan I found on the internet some strange Japanese drinks (for example, a drink that tastes like eel, pig placenta, cucumber-melon pepsi, a drink that enhances breast size but looks like a cute flavored milk). Among these was Fanta pop but it has jello or something like that. I thought it would be safe to try. So last Sunday I was able to try the grape flavor! It was great!! I want to try the orange flavor! It was pretty much pop flavored jello. It was amusing.
This past week we had a typhoon. It was a little unnerving because I haven’t ever experienced one. And then the news kept saying it was stronger than hurricane Katrina…..*gulp*……Apparently they have a tendency to change course quickly or die out at random points in their trip so it was very likely we wouldn’t get hit very hard. School was cancelled just in case it was really bad so we had a day off…..well, I didn’t really; I helped clean the Pastor’s house and do chores and what not…..I was informed by his wife that on days like this I don’t really get it off and still need to work because she and her husband still work……whatever…..sigh…..It wasn’t like I had anything important to do….sometimes it is really frustrating because no matter how much we clean there is always more…..or the stuff we dirty…..everyday, and I mean EVERYDAY, there are dishes to clean, laundry to fold, and floors to vacuum. Ok, I’ll stop… it isn’t bad….just tiring….. usually at the kindergartens I help sweep and do other cleaning at the end of the day (also running around with little kids wear me out) so more cleaning never looks appealing…..A-N-Y-W-A-Y…….. heh heh…… back to the typhoon…. I think our area was the location of the “eye” of the storm because although it was very windy, it was beautiful!! A little bit of clouds but a clear, blue sky!! And it was very warm!! I was quite surprised….. So we were fine……unfortunately, the other countries that got hit head on weren’t so lucky at all… :-(
Hmm, what else…… oh yes, we can add “bitten” to the list of child harassments. No blood was spilt, but I did have a couple of red marks for the rest of the day….. the kid who bit me wasn’t even doing it to be mean…..she is just a very strange child…… there are a few in each kindergarten…..*shrugs* meh….
I saw a wee little kitten running around scared by an intersection!! :-( I couldn’t do anything though because I was in the car…..I just hope I don’t find it dead somewhere…….*sniff sniff*
I don’t think I mentioned some of the strange or different things I saw at the shopping malls….. first thing that springs to mind is the body soap that you could get that smelled like mayonnaise or ketchup and the washcloth that was in the shape of a sandwich….. I am so buying that…..yeah right….. heh heh..yuck….. :-P The shopping malls also have a grocery store attached to them (when I told Kimie and Michyo that they were surprised…. :-) ). They also have a game room….not like video games, but ones where you can win prizes…I’ll take pictures the next time….hopefully…. :-) There are the coin drop ones and the crane-grabber thingy….I can’t think of what to call them….. You can win stuffed animals, ramen noodles (I thought that was funny!). Then they have a bunch of photo booths where you can make stickers and just take tons of random pictures with your friends…..it is seriously something kids go and do on the weekends…..When you take the pictures, you can decorate the crap out of it afterwards before you print it off!! A group of teenagers helped us decorate pictures of the Pastor’s daughter and I. I have to get a picture of the pictures!! Ha ha! The malls also have “hair-tie” shops. I don’t know what to make of this…..I actually want to join in on the hair fun!!! Once again, I’ll have to get pictures!! The food court has FREE COLD WATER!!! With cups!!!! I thought that was AWESOME!!! Also, they have a sink to wash your hands before you eat too!!! Amazing!!.....ok, not so much….I thought it was still cool…. :-P
Wow, sorry for such a long ramble!!! I still have stuff to share!! Muwahaha!
So Japan has a Costco. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is basically a Sam’s club. I haven’t been to it yet but I can tell you they have AMAZING pumpkin pie!!! There is a bakery so they make it there…. I have to say, I don’t think I have had such a tasty pumpkin pie!!!! NUuuuummmy!!!
Hmm….what else…oh yes!! I will NEVER be a Japanese housewife!!! Or a Japanese wife for that matter!! I do not want to spend as much time as the Pastor’s wife does in the kitchen!! I love the food that she makes however, I don’t want to spend my life in the kitchen…..no thank you!!!! Unfortunately, the Pastor and his wife are trying to convince me to stay here forever and marry a Japanese guy…..yeah….umm….no thanks?? Heh heh….I have tried to refrain from mentioning “when I go home” because they joke a lot that I won’t be going home…. Lol (for those who don’t know “lol” is “laugh out loud”). :- P But anyway, I will do what I will do and go where God leads me. Not where they lead me.
I know this is a lot to read, but if I don’t write it all now, I will be behind in updates!! I had my first adult English class yesterday!! It is with some of the mother’s from the kindergarten! We had fun and I have a lot to learn but I think it will be great!!
I can sort of make an origami cat!! Yay!!.....The Pastor’s daughter said it looked scary and more like a wolf or fox than a cat……hee hee…..I laughed…. She is right….it looks a little menacing….I have pictures! LOL So I am continuing my mission to make an origami cat that doesn’t look funky. :-P
Ah yes, the humidity here is unbelievable! For some reason, only MY hair is affected…..yippee….. :-P Oh well, I just find it amusing.
I had to give my testimony last week about how I became a Christian. I was a little worried because it isn’t the normal “well, I became a Christian when….” To be honest, I have just felt God in my life since I can remember. I tell people that my mom raised my brother and I to know that God exists and Jesus died for us because God loves us. I never really worried about whether or not it was true….I just felt it….and I have always felt God in my life. Sometimes I worried that I wasn’t living the “correct Christian” way…..I never went to church on a regular basis growing up. But it never stopped me from talking to God and always feeling a pull towards Him. After I told Pastor Curtis this he told me that my testimony is a very good one just because it isn’t the “normal” one. I felt better after hearing this. :-)
The church has an awesome praise team (they lead the music). The pianist can pretty much play anything he hears once and he plays bass and drums sometimes. The lead vocalist is the lady who took me to the mall with her husband. She has an AMAZING voice!! I love it!! Everyone has a great voice and they really get into the music! It is fantastic!
Yesterday I played freeze tag with some of the children who had to stay and wait for their parents after school and one of the teachers. He is the “free” teacher of the kindergarten. He doesn’t have a class to teach so he helps out around with the other classes and random loose children. We had a great time! I haven’t run like I did since…..well, probably high school….. :-S heh heh….anyway, at one point I am running as hard and as fast as I can to unfreeze someone and the teacher is headed my way!! I wasn’t going to let him get me! Unfortunately, my legs decided to give out just as I was about to touch the kid…..I couldn’t believe it….in all my times of running, I have never run so hard as to where my legs just gave out…..It was a bit pathetic…. LOL I think as this happened, my body tried to turn around to get away and I ended up sliding into the ground…well, wet sand to be exact….and I now have a nice umm…sand-burn on my inner calf of my right leg!! *puffs chest out proudly* And if you saw my “wound” you would probably think I just scratched it on some branches or something……. But nonetheless, I have a battle wound and I am very proud of it even if my legs gave out and I am out of running shape!!!........ hee hee……… I think there is even a little bit of a bruise………..sigh…I know….I am a dork….but you love me!!!!! :D :D
Ok, just a couple of more things and I am DONE!!!! I drink a lot of tea here…. They feed it to the kids all of the time…. I guess they start early with the addiction….. just kidding…lol heh heh Pastor Curtis has a funny saying about certain foods…… “Don’t worry, this *whatever dessert* is zero calories until you put it in your mouth!!”…… LOL I found it really funny :-D
Alrighty, that is it for your Japanese update from me!!!! This one took a long time…..heh heh….. Well, thanks for reading and riding along with me!!!! Take care everyone!!
Much love,
Katie
October 10, 2009
This update I will begin with toilets. Yes, toilets. Well, Japanese toilets to be specific. I think I had already established that I don’t like the squatty potties but we won’t go into details there. Instead, I will go into some details about the “Decked-Out” toilets as I like to call them. My first Japanese experience was with one of these so called toilets. I should have gotten a picture….they are insane! I have not tried to use the “wash & dry” part nor do I really plan on it, but it is amusing……a blow dryer for your ……well, fanny…. Hee hee…. Ok, anyway, the other parts I like about the toilets in Japan are the “big flush” and “small flush” options. It makes sense….it saves a lot of water!! Next, there is a little sink on the back of the toilet. It is not to fully wash your hands but just a quick rinse before you open the door or whatever. Kinda nice. It also uses the clean water in the tank instead of some other source. Now, my favorite part of these toilets is the heated seats!! WuWU!!!! Genius!!!! I never realized how nice it is not to have a cold toilet seat!! For real!! It is great!! Ha ha!
Ok, I am done talking about toilets…..unless something strange happens later and I feel I must share with you all…. :-) On to Jello Pop!! Yay!! So before I came to Japan I found on the internet some strange Japanese drinks (for example, a drink that tastes like eel, pig placenta, cucumber-melon pepsi, a drink that enhances breast size but looks like a cute flavored milk). Among these was Fanta pop but it has jello or something like that. I thought it would be safe to try. So last Sunday I was able to try the grape flavor! It was great!! I want to try the orange flavor! It was pretty much pop flavored jello. It was amusing.
This past week we had a typhoon. It was a little unnerving because I haven’t ever experienced one. And then the news kept saying it was stronger than hurricane Katrina…..*gulp*……Apparently they have a tendency to change course quickly or die out at random points in their trip so it was very likely we wouldn’t get hit very hard. School was cancelled just in case it was really bad so we had a day off…..well, I didn’t really; I helped clean the Pastor’s house and do chores and what not…..I was informed by his wife that on days like this I don’t really get it off and still need to work because she and her husband still work……whatever…..sigh…..It wasn’t like I had anything important to do….sometimes it is really frustrating because no matter how much we clean there is always more…..or the stuff we dirty…..everyday, and I mean EVERYDAY, there are dishes to clean, laundry to fold, and floors to vacuum. Ok, I’ll stop… it isn’t bad….just tiring….. usually at the kindergartens I help sweep and do other cleaning at the end of the day (also running around with little kids wear me out) so more cleaning never looks appealing…..A-N-Y-W-A-Y…….. heh heh…… back to the typhoon…. I think our area was the location of the “eye” of the storm because although it was very windy, it was beautiful!! A little bit of clouds but a clear, blue sky!! And it was very warm!! I was quite surprised….. So we were fine……unfortunately, the other countries that got hit head on weren’t so lucky at all… :-(
Hmm, what else…… oh yes, we can add “bitten” to the list of child harassments. No blood was spilt, but I did have a couple of red marks for the rest of the day….. the kid who bit me wasn’t even doing it to be mean…..she is just a very strange child…… there are a few in each kindergarten…..*shrugs* meh….
I saw a wee little kitten running around scared by an intersection!! :-( I couldn’t do anything though because I was in the car…..I just hope I don’t find it dead somewhere…….*sniff sniff*
I don’t think I mentioned some of the strange or different things I saw at the shopping malls….. first thing that springs to mind is the body soap that you could get that smelled like mayonnaise or ketchup and the washcloth that was in the shape of a sandwich….. I am so buying that…..yeah right….. heh heh..yuck….. :-P The shopping malls also have a grocery store attached to them (when I told Kimie and Michyo that they were surprised…. :-) ). They also have a game room….not like video games, but ones where you can win prizes…I’ll take pictures the next time….hopefully…. :-) There are the coin drop ones and the crane-grabber thingy….I can’t think of what to call them….. You can win stuffed animals, ramen noodles (I thought that was funny!). Then they have a bunch of photo booths where you can make stickers and just take tons of random pictures with your friends…..it is seriously something kids go and do on the weekends…..When you take the pictures, you can decorate the crap out of it afterwards before you print it off!! A group of teenagers helped us decorate pictures of the Pastor’s daughter and I. I have to get a picture of the pictures!! Ha ha! The malls also have “hair-tie” shops. I don’t know what to make of this…..I actually want to join in on the hair fun!!! Once again, I’ll have to get pictures!! The food court has FREE COLD WATER!!! With cups!!!! I thought that was AWESOME!!! Also, they have a sink to wash your hands before you eat too!!! Amazing!!.....ok, not so much….I thought it was still cool…. :-P
Wow, sorry for such a long ramble!!! I still have stuff to share!! Muwahaha!
So Japan has a Costco. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is basically a Sam’s club. I haven’t been to it yet but I can tell you they have AMAZING pumpkin pie!!! There is a bakery so they make it there…. I have to say, I don’t think I have had such a tasty pumpkin pie!!!! NUuuuummmy!!!
Hmm….what else…oh yes!! I will NEVER be a Japanese housewife!!! Or a Japanese wife for that matter!! I do not want to spend as much time as the Pastor’s wife does in the kitchen!! I love the food that she makes however, I don’t want to spend my life in the kitchen…..no thank you!!!! Unfortunately, the Pastor and his wife are trying to convince me to stay here forever and marry a Japanese guy…..yeah….umm….no thanks?? Heh heh….I have tried to refrain from mentioning “when I go home” because they joke a lot that I won’t be going home…. Lol (for those who don’t know “lol” is “laugh out loud”). :- P But anyway, I will do what I will do and go where God leads me. Not where they lead me.
I know this is a lot to read, but if I don’t write it all now, I will be behind in updates!! I had my first adult English class yesterday!! It is with some of the mother’s from the kindergarten! We had fun and I have a lot to learn but I think it will be great!!
I can sort of make an origami cat!! Yay!!.....The Pastor’s daughter said it looked scary and more like a wolf or fox than a cat……hee hee…..I laughed…. She is right….it looks a little menacing….I have pictures! LOL So I am continuing my mission to make an origami cat that doesn’t look funky. :-P
Ah yes, the humidity here is unbelievable! For some reason, only MY hair is affected…..yippee….. :-P Oh well, I just find it amusing.
I had to give my testimony last week about how I became a Christian. I was a little worried because it isn’t the normal “well, I became a Christian when….” To be honest, I have just felt God in my life since I can remember. I tell people that my mom raised my brother and I to know that God exists and Jesus died for us because God loves us. I never really worried about whether or not it was true….I just felt it….and I have always felt God in my life. Sometimes I worried that I wasn’t living the “correct Christian” way…..I never went to church on a regular basis growing up. But it never stopped me from talking to God and always feeling a pull towards Him. After I told Pastor Curtis this he told me that my testimony is a very good one just because it isn’t the “normal” one. I felt better after hearing this. :-)
The church has an awesome praise team (they lead the music). The pianist can pretty much play anything he hears once and he plays bass and drums sometimes. The lead vocalist is the lady who took me to the mall with her husband. She has an AMAZING voice!! I love it!! Everyone has a great voice and they really get into the music! It is fantastic!
Yesterday I played freeze tag with some of the children who had to stay and wait for their parents after school and one of the teachers. He is the “free” teacher of the kindergarten. He doesn’t have a class to teach so he helps out around with the other classes and random loose children. We had a great time! I haven’t run like I did since…..well, probably high school….. :-S heh heh….anyway, at one point I am running as hard and as fast as I can to unfreeze someone and the teacher is headed my way!! I wasn’t going to let him get me! Unfortunately, my legs decided to give out just as I was about to touch the kid…..I couldn’t believe it….in all my times of running, I have never run so hard as to where my legs just gave out…..It was a bit pathetic…. LOL I think as this happened, my body tried to turn around to get away and I ended up sliding into the ground…well, wet sand to be exact….and I now have a nice umm…sand-burn on my inner calf of my right leg!! *puffs chest out proudly* And if you saw my “wound” you would probably think I just scratched it on some branches or something……. But nonetheless, I have a battle wound and I am very proud of it even if my legs gave out and I am out of running shape!!!........ hee hee……… I think there is even a little bit of a bruise………..sigh…I know….I am a dork….but you love me!!!!! :D :D
Ok, just a couple of more things and I am DONE!!!! I drink a lot of tea here…. They feed it to the kids all of the time…. I guess they start early with the addiction….. just kidding…lol heh heh Pastor Curtis has a funny saying about certain foods…… “Don’t worry, this *whatever dessert* is zero calories until you put it in your mouth!!”…… LOL I found it really funny :-D
Alrighty, that is it for your Japanese update from me!!!! This one took a long time…..heh heh….. Well, thanks for reading and riding along with me!!!! Take care everyone!!
Much love,
Katie