Once in a great while, I go out for lunch instead of bringing my own to school. Down the road from the school there is a Hokka-Hokka, which is a Japanese take-away place. A while ago I walked down the hill to get my lunch. On the way back to school, I saw an old man outside a barber's shop. I smiled and said "konnichiwa". He extended his hand to show me this diamond of paper cranes. I exclaimed over how beautiful it was. Then he motioned that it was for me!

When I got back to school I showed a couple of the Japanese teachers the origami. They studied it and said that they had never seen anything like it. It was very rare. All of the cranes are made from one piece of paper. I'm not sure how he did it, but they are all definitely connected and made out of one piece of paper. Wow!

(top side)

(bottom side)

Yesterday, I went to Fukuoka to see the Doulos. Doulos is a ship that was built in 1914, making it two years younger than the Titanic. This ship is also in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship. It visits port cities throughout the world, supplying literature resources, encouraging inter-cultural understanding, training young people for more effective life and service, promoting greater global awareness, providing practical aid and sharing the message of hope in God wherever there is opportunity. The Doulos is a ministry of OM (Operation Mobilization).

The crew is made of 350 people from 54 countries! English is the primary language of main communication on the ship. We were able to visit the mess hall, walk through a few halls, and talk with Caroline, an American from Atlanta, for an extended period of time. It was great to hear more about their ministry and hopefully encourage her in it as well. I also talked with crew members from Germany, South Africa, Indonesia, and Finland.

There was a huge bookstore on board and almost all of the books are in English. I was in book heaven:) I had to restrain myself from buying too many books. I was able to restrain myself from not buying more than five. I thought I did pretty well considering I haven't seen so many English books anywhere in about two years, not to mention they were very reasonably priced. All the books have stickers on them with 50 unit increments. Depending on what country they are in the amount of money for the units changes. In Japan, 50 units equaled 150 yen.

Over 19 million visitors have been on board the ship in the 30 years it has been used for ministry. When we were there hundreds of people were on board and during the first week in Japan, she's had over 6,000 guests. I had a wonderful time!!!

Chinese Consulate

China, here I come! Ruthie and I made a trek to the Chinese consulate in Fukuoka last week to apply for tourist visas. We received our passports in the mail this week with our visas. Yay! The plan is to head out August 1 by ferry. We'll visit a mutual friend in Qingdao and then head to Beijing. That's about all we know, but now we can actually start planning:)

Last Sunday was a busy but fun day! Our Mother's Day church service was held at a local park with another church. After the combined service we had a Japanese style barbecue with yakisoba (grilled noodles) and yakitori (grilled meat). The weather was gorgeous; I even have some sunburn to prove it.

Then I headed to a ballet. A fellow teacher invited me to go with her, and I'm so glad that I did. I had never been to a real ballet performance, Coppelia. It was very beautiful and elegant. One of the PE teachers danced in it and several of my students. I always enjoy watching my students do something they love. I get to catch a glimpse of their hearts and souls. The star of the show was a former Baiko student. She is one of the top ten ballerinas in Japan. She studied in Vienna for several years and now she will study at the Royal Conservatory in London. Amazing!!!

My evening consisted of Indian food and karaoke with some friends in Kokura. It was great to hang out and enjoy singing together. Good times!

I took my first ever bus tour with three friends, two Japanese and one Filipino. We went to Aso-Kuju National Park in Kyushu. We had a great time together despite the bad weather. The area reminded me a lot of Wales and England with lush rolling green hills. The weather was in true likeness as well--lots of rain and fog.

Mt. Aso is one of the largest active volcanoes in Japan with a caldera about 12 miles wide. Pretty impressive! I can imagine that this area is absolutely gorgeous on a nice spring/summer day.

(Above: What it looked like. Below: What it looks like on a nice day.)


Besides seeing the volcano we also went to a farm with animals you could pet. Being from Minnesota, this was not a big deal to me. However, for many of the Japanese actually being able to touch a cow, pig, goat, sheep, etc. was a new experience. Some of the animals were even wearing bandannas around their neck!


We also stopped at a winery and a strawberry/melon (cantaloupe) farm. I had my first experience of picking melons. It was quite interesting. They didn't grow on the ground but on rope apparatuses. Now I just have to wait 10 days for it to ripen. Then I get to eat it!


It was a full day (5:30 am-10:30 pm). Thankfully, we had a nice time together even though the weather wasn't good. This is a beautiful part of Japan! It's too bad that it's difficult to get to without a car.

Happy Children's Day!!!

Previously known as Boys' Festival, this holiday is now an occasion to respect the rights of all children, to plan for their happiness, and to give thanks to their mothers. Starting in the Edo period, it was a samurai custom to fly streamers in the shape of carp. You can still see carp streamers flying from homes in honor of children. To honor boys, displayes are set up in homes. Below is an example of a display.

Ruthie and I decided to get off at a train stop and just explore. We ended up going to a temple, park area, fishing area, and the beach! We saw lots of beautiful flowers along the way, too. These are some pictures from the day.

Today was Shimonoseki's festival. Every year hundreds of people come for the reenactment of a battle in Kanmon strait, taiko (traditional Japanese drumming), and food. This year I went mainly to see three of my students play taiko. It was so much to watch them do something they've chosen to do and clearly enjoy. Below are a few pictures from the day.