As Promised...

Are you in suspense yet? I'm sure you are after that intriguing theater promise yesterday...

Our story starts off in Sagamiono where I teach an English class... will get to that in a moment, but after that, I headed to the train station to meet the rest of the crew to do a street performance. We set up, Joe got some joe from McD's (which I still owe him for, as he was doing the coffee run. oops.) We got our flyers in hand and started passing them out to those who looked interested as they passed by and to those who stopped to listen. To them, we try to start up conversations. Sometimes it's creative conversation as there can be language barriers. I found myself there last night-- first with an old lady who stopped. Beside not being able to hear her, I had no idea what was going on... I did know if she was asking at one point if I was a student. The other girl, a university student, stopped and I talked with her for I don't know how long... 40 minutes or so?

And no. She didn't speak English. But she was pretty interested in what we were doing, and I pulled out every little bit of Japanese that I could squeeze out of my limited vocab. BUT, I'm praying that I'll see her again! At the Fuse....

Speaking of singing, I got my first taste of Japanese style karaoke on Monday. The girls wanted to have a girls day out, and so we went to a local karaoke place, and we had our own room rented, for pretty cheap (since in the evening it is more expensive)... there was also the "drink bar", where you can get all kinds of sodas, coffee, capucchino, all unlimited. A soup bar (only 2 soups), and an ice cream bar. All in all, it was pretty cheap, since we split it up between us all.

We have quite a few singers in our group, and even if they don't normally do singing, they at least know how to sing. I don't. And I don't sing well. But it didn't stop me from trying! All in all, it gave us some good laughs and I enjoyed it far more than I anticipated I was going to enjoy it.

Back to Sagamiono. On Tuesday afternoon, during the hour and a half I had at home to get ready and eat lunch, my bed was pretty full of clothes that I'd tried on looking for the right outfit. I had no idea what I was going to wear, but eventually I did find something that looked kinda professional, but not too much. Eh. I have a feeling I'll be wearing the same two outfits repeatedly.

I got to the place I teach at and met my fellow teacher, who teaches the first part of the class. She basically told me that she was going to teach the text and manual that we get, and I get to do the extra practice and extra activities. I was like... OH. Hmm... what am I going to do??? But, I'm not too bad at improvising and so I came up with a quick lesson plan and got everything ready...

Only to have no students show up. I have two first graders in this class (not much, I know, but it's good to start off small). One's sibling had mumps and the other... well, she didn't show. So. All prepared was I, and my room at home in disarray to have no student.

At least I'm prepared for next week!

So, we all took the train home. One of the things you often deal with on the trains is crowded-ness! Often, it's our bonding time, and we end up with good stories, like the time the train started to stop and I began to fall backward... and having no hand ring to hold onto, I grabbed one of my teammate's jacket collars with incredible force to keep me from falling. What I didn't mention is that she was sitting [read: straddling] the suitcase that carried our mini-amp. If I was going down, I was gonna take her down with me.

We do, when it's not too crowded, like to surf. Like, stand in a surfing position, without losing your balance. However, we try not to be too obnoxious, because most people are sitting, very condensed (arms in and everything), and either reading, sleeping or listening to their mp3 players.

However, I promised you "violence" on here. Taking Hannah down (or trying to) wasn't it: when I don't have a seat on the train, I stand and hold on to one of the myriad of rings hanging. However, when I have to move to accommodate for other people moving, I have a tendency of moving and then letting go of my ring, if needed. I should just let go. But, I did whack some guy in the head as he was trying to get off the train. And it wasn't just like a small bump, it was a full out whack in the forehead. I felt really bad, but I couldn't do much beside call out "sumimasen!" behind him as he was now rushing off the train. Sumimasen means excuse me!

So, yes, those are some of the things you learn to do (or not do) in another country. But it's enjoyable.

Among other things, I think I'll be starting Japanese classes soon-- as in, a couple of weeks, if all goes well with finances, which I'm trusting God that it will. Things are pretty busy with doing outreaches, studies (Japanese, Bible), prayer meetings and planning and trying to make connections with the people I meet. It's all great, and busy. I actually was thinking today that I needed to sit down and organize how I was going to spend my free hours... :) I still want to reserve most of my day off for relaxing/ doing whatever.

But anyway, things will be getting busier, so we'll see how things go!

Stay tuned for more exciting times!

OH- Today, I was ordering some food at the place where we do our Japanese self-study classes, and they told me it would be a few minutes and to just sit down. I replied, Hai! Está bien! which translated is: (Japanese:) Yes! (Spanish:) That's fine!