Happy Belated Birthday to Me

Dinner at Jolly Pasta and then Baskin Robbins… happy belated birthday to me!

A few weeks ago I celebrated my 30^th birthday… only there wasn’t much celebrating, because I had a nasty one-day stomach virus. Spent a good portion of the day in bed, wishing I could just sleep through until the next morning. My wonderful teammates were planning to take me to dinner, but instead they just left me moaning on my couch and went without me. I’m not bitter.

Seriously though, they sort of caught me off-guard this evening after our worship service when they offered to take me out for a belated birthday dinner. They really are so thoughtful. After some difficulty deciding where to go (I don’t get out much), we finally chose yaki-tori (Japanese chicken)… only to find the restaurant closed on Sunday evening! So we ended up at Jolly Pasta – that’s a treat too. They have good pizza (even though it’s not pizza hut…) and the company wasn’t bad either.

Then we stopped off at Baskin Robbins for ice cream and prayer to end the evening. Last week was jam-packed, and so is this coming week… so it was nice to have a fun, relaxing evening with three great friends tonight. Happy belated birthday to me!

Upheaval in the Heavens

The last two days have been overflowing (no pun intended) with heavenly phenomena.

 

Yesterday, I awoke to heavy rains, and lightning. Never seen lightning like that before in Japan… and the rain was so heavy that the flooding seemed to start almost immediately. But it just kept raining! Nearly all day, absolute downpours… The grocery store in Hirao has a very large parking lot, and it was completely under water. The rivers were full and many of them were overflowing. As were the streets and some homes. Unfortunately, landslides are a problem here when we have heavy rains. I heard reports of a nursing home being hit by a landslide, and several people inside were buried alive. I didn’t see the news report, though, because my television only shows snow when it rains. Ironic, huh?

 

Today, on the lighter side, was the heavily talked about solar eclipse. It’s interesting that the characters for eclipse in Japanese are ‘eating the sun’… I wonder if there is some secondary meaning that I’m not aware of. Anyway, the solar eclipse happened about 11am here in Yamaguchi, and it was just as cloudy and overcast as could be. I thought there was no way we’d see it… but the English students went outside to take a look and I could hear them all get excited. So I too went outside to check it out and sure enough, you could see it pretty well! Someone brought safety glasses and we all took turns J I used my camera too… and I think the only reason it worked was because it was cloudy! J Anyway… fun times and everyone was excited!

Regrets

Stank!
I just did a little internet search on my new best friend (see previous post), and found out that his mother died less than 2 weeks ago.

Now I feel bad about my little parody... :(

My New Best Friend...

The other day I was at Nijigaoka for our classes, when a little before dinner the phone rings.
It's the Mayor.

Oh. Hello. Thanks for calling.

Mr. Mayor got right down to business... He was calling Mr. Luethy (who happens to be in America for 6 months) to have him look over a speech that Mr. Mayor would be giving in English to an iternational audience the following day.

Apparently, given Mr. Luethy's absense, just any old foreigner would do.

So, within minutes, Mr. Mayor was at my doorstep, secretary in tow.
A half hour later, we had a pretty good speech, and one very happy Mr. Mayor.

Naturally, I invited him to our BBQ Sunday night...

Ah, gotta run, phone's ringing... maybe it's the governor this time...

Unexpected Visitor

So I am sitting here on my couch, having just finished dinner, watching the news. The windows are all open, as is the front door - it was pretty hot today, and I don't think the humidity could possibly be any higher. But this afternoon the wind really picked up, and we've had a good, strong breeze ever since... makes the weather bearable. Anyway, that's why the front door is open, to let that blessed breeze make it's way through my home instead of just around it.
So here I am, minding my business and watching the news, when, much to my surprise, there is a cat in the room! First I think it's cute, then I think, "It's not mine!" but it sure is in my house... So I stand up and it heads for the door. It doesn't look like a stray, so I bend down to try to 'make friends' with my new visitor... but then it takes off. A short friendship that was! Wish I had a picture for you...
This visitor is welcome to come back anytime - unlike the spiders and lizards that have been seeking domicile here recently... But I don't think it will - I could hear its bell ring as it ran off... it's already got a home. :)