Here I am in Fujisaki. Tada! Well, I'm to the point now where I know the faces of the church members and investigators, and can usually remember their names after they're gone. These names just don't stick. They are things like Sakata, Shiki, Nagashima, Nakagawa, Nishikubo, Fukuyama, Yamashita, Wataya,Matsuura, Mori, etc. What really got me the other day was two Takeuchi families, which sound the same but have different kanji. I pretty much gave up right there on the spot. Haha, no just kidding. But I did roll my eyes. Haha, like Kanji means anything to me.
My companion's name is Motegi Ayumi. Motegi is her last name and Ayumi is her first name. Yes, even the names are backwards here. I feel like I'm really testing her patience everyday because I have to ask her to repeat the names at least 3 times before I get it. I'm pretty much her shadow that follows her around like a lost puppy. She keeps trying to get me to be independent, but when people talk to me - especially over the phone where I can't see their body language - I really don't have any idea what they are saying. In Sacrament Meeting I just sit there and try to pick out new words. Later I look them up, but only about 1/3 of the words I thought where words were actually words. It's kinda frusterating. I think learning Japanese might be the single hardest thing I've ever had to do. Good thing I have the Lord on my side.
On p-day there aren't really a lot of cultural activities and such to do. I hear there are a ton in Okinawa, so maybe if I'm good I:ll get to go there. Actually, we have done a few things. A few weeks ago the stake president and his wife took the Fujisaki and Fukuoka Sisters to Nodo Island, which is just north of Fukuoka. It was a 10 minute ferry ride. There is a church member family that lives on there that we visited. They take the ferry practically every day I think. Anyway, we climbed to the top and we got to look over onto Fukuoka. It was pretty fun.
Then this morning we woke up early to go to seminary. My companion really wanted to. I was really confused. Why in the world would you like to wake up early to go to Seminary? There was only 1 girl that showed up. There are 2 other students, but they weren't there. It was just seminary for the ward. See, because people don't have cars, they can't ride their bike for 30 minutes to go to a central church building, like we did in Kentucky. So seminary here starts at 5:50am.
I think I have completely lost the value of a dollar. See, a dollar is about 100 yen. That's pretty good because I just imagine a decimal. But the problem comes in that a dollar is a coin here. I didn't realize this, but my sense of a dollar is based on the fact that it is the smallest paper money. But when 100 yen, and 500 yen, is a coin, I just tell myself that it's only a coin so it's okay. Haha. Don't worry, my money is fine, but I think I need to be more careful about what I can justify buying, you know.
Also, my sense of me being an American is slowly fading away. All I see around me are Nihonjin. So I think I'm being to think I look like one too. Occassionally, we see a gajin (foreigner) on the streets and I give them funny looks too. Haha. I must look weird. And when I ride my bike for 40 minutes - like to get to district meeting every week - my cheeks get really red. That's just the way it is. So then people think I have a sunburn. Luckily, Nihonjin people think white skin is beautiful. I:ve seen the most ridiculous things to keep the sun off of the faces. I think I told you about them last week, right? And they think pink skin is cute. Their skin has a yellow tint to it. It's interesting to think about how a culture where they want everyone to be the same thinks that different skin and hair is beautiful. It just seems wrong to me.
One of my investigators is Kamishima - san. She is a 40 or 50 year old woman isn't married and lives alone. Her job is selling weird Japanese food that I don't like from the back of her car. Yep. Needless to say, she is very lonely. She had 3 dogs, but they have since died, so now she has 2 birds, and a pet squirrel. Yes, squirrel. She smokes about 2 boxes of cigarettes a day. We committed her to live the Word of Wisdom (aka not smoke) last week. She is doing is slowly. She has cut it down to 10 this week. Starting tomorrow she is down to 7. As soon as she can stop smoking, I think she'll get baptized.
In random other news, I have eaten octapus. It is really chewy. I probably eat squid every other day because people keep feeding it to me. Yuck. It's also chewy. I have a hard time changing celcius to fahreheit. All I know is between 20 and 30 is somewhere between 70 and 100. I think. I made this cute little conversion chart. Same thing with inches to centimeters and such. Oh, and lbs to kgs. yep, I really have no idea how much I weigh, but it makes me feel better to think about it in kgs.
In the pictures you sent, I think I can see Daddy in the reflection of Mommy's sunglasses. Take a look! Thanks for the pictures. I think I will send pictures either this week or next week, depending on when I feel up to it. I think I have a lot of pictures. Oh, and lastly, Daddy - you are terrible. Mommy didn't tell me about Paul, so now I have to wait a whole other week to figure it out? That's so mean!
Oh, and if you could please post this one on the blog this week for me, that would be great. I sent an email to Jay and John so I don't have time.
Thanks. I think that's it! I'm off to buy normal food.
No comments:
Post a Comment