Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"If you are able!--All things can be done for the one who believes". --Mark 9:23

It's been a rainy, rainy week here in Nagoya. I love the rain and it's a blessing because it looks like the hot weather is finally gone for good! It was a rough couple of weeks temperature wise when I first got here. Everyone at the youth center is busy prepping for the bazar that St. Stephan’s is hosting this weekend as a fundraiser. The money is going to help fund different ministries, particularly the school for Filipino students where I teach on Fridays.


On a related note, two weeks ago was the 10th anniversary of the Filipino Migrant Center in Nagoya, Japan. It was a great all-day event. We ate delicious Filipino food, watched Filipino dance and heard a panel talk about the day's topic, "Migrants' Contribution in Realization of Social Integration: Towards the Next Decade". It was interesting to hear what each speaker had to say about the topic. There are relatively few foreigners living in Japan, especially when compared with my hometown of Boston, MA. It is difficult for migrants to get settled here when they don't share a common language or culture with their new communities. This is where the work of the FMC comes in. They provide resources and support to Filipino Migrants as well as cultural events and community. Another resource the FMC provides is translation. Japan has a confusing trash collection system. Where I live trash must be divided into Burnable, Recyclable Plastic, Non-Burnable, and Bottles, Cans and Recycled paper. It’s a better system for the planet, but it’s still sometimes confusing to me and I have instructions in English! The fliers which describe how to sort your garbage were not available in Tagalong which you can imagine would be a problem. The FMC provides translation of this information as well as other pamphlets that contain important information for living in Japan. I was so glad to be a part of the FMC’s 10th anniversary. One of the best parts was seeing some of my students perform a dance at the end of the day. They had been practicing so hard for weeks and did a really great job!

As far as language goes, I’ve had some success this week! This morning I was able to have an actual conversation entirely in Japanese! Granted, it was with a two-year old, but hey—you’ve got to start somewhere right?! I also find that I understand more and more when someone else is speaking. When I first came to Japan I had difficulty distinguishing between words and even understanding words I did know. Now I’m usually able to get the meaning from context and pick out words I don’t know from those I do. Slowly but surely progress is being made!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

"We Will With God's Help"

I apologize (but not really...) for the following service announcement:

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are 10 years old! 

Anyone who know me at all probably knows that one of the most important things to me that comes out of my Baptismal Covenant is the phrase,

"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being"? --Book of Common Prayer, Baptismal Covenant.


Also, if you know me, you may know that I am a big fan of the Millennium Development Goals which I see as an expression of our global community trying to live out the above baptismal promise. 



Photo Source:
http://southasia.oneworld.net/resources/campaign-toolkit-for-mdgs
The goals were agreed upon by leaders around the world 10 years ago this month.  They are specific and have a deadline: 2015.

Here are some great websites for more info: http://www.undp.org/, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ and I especially recommend the Episcopal Church of America website: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ONE

A lot of progress has been made, but there is still much to be done.  I am challenging myself to renew my support of the MDGs and I ask you to do the same.

What you can do:
1. Pray
2. Be informed
3. Act-join one of the many ministries around the world that support the MDGs
4. Financially contribute to a ministry or organization that supports the MDGs.  The recommended amount is .7% of your income.  That's less than 1%.
5. Tell a friend.


And finally, here is an awesome article by Bono about the MDG's.  Because honestly, who doesn't love Bono?? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/opinion/19bono.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

"We will with God's help"
<3

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

"Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs". Mark 10:14

I can't sleep tonight so I've decided to do something useful like blogging about my week rather than staring at my ceiling for hours. 

First, a word about the blog titles.  This year as part of my spiritual disciplines I am reading through the whole Bible.  I'm not doing it to claim that I read the Bible in a year, but I figure that it is a good marker as well as a way for me to get in the habit of reading more scripture.  The blog titles are pulled from something I've read in the past few days as part of that reading.  Sometimes they are thematically related to the post but at other times they are not.  I've started including the chapter and verse just in case you want to look it up in the Good Book yourself!

This week has been a blast.  I've started what will become my regular routine and I can tell already that it's going to be a great year! Two or three times a week I help out in Mitzuba classes.  Mitzuba is a Christian pre-school that meets at the center that is taught in Japanese.  The kids are all two and three years old and they are the cutest little people ever.  They are too young to be afraid of me and too young to realize that I don't speak Japanese.  It's a lot of fun.  We sing songs, play with an awesome train set, dance and of course eat snack.  The kids like to bring me Japanese books to read, which of course I can't yet, so I make up the stories in English and when they finally catch on they give me the funniest looks.

On Wednesdays and Fridays I am in English classes.  I help out on Wednesdays and on Fridays I am the teacher for two classes.  I have about 7 students each Friday and they are all over the map as far as English skills go.  It's going to be important to make lesson plans that challenge and teach all students, while not going over some of the students' heads.  On Friday I also help with PhysEd for the 4 year olds which basically means recess!  They speak a little English and last week on my first day at the school, the kids liked to tell me what to do and where to go.  I was grateful because I had no idea what was going on!

I also help out at a day program for homeless men and women once or twice a week.  This is an awesome place where people can come, take a shower, eat lunch, do laundry and basically hang out and have a place to be for the day.  It's a new but inspiring program and I'm really grateful to be able to help out at all...regardless of the language barrier.  And hopefully that barrier will keep shrinking over time.

Speaking of language, I started my first Japanese class at the YWCA today!  I am so glad that my supervisor recommended this class.  Right now I know a lot of random nouns in Japanese, but this class is going to give me the grammar that I need as well as the ability to make sentences.  Both which are vital for any conversation beyond pointing. 

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from this week.  Hopefully next week I'll have some pictures of my day to day life.  It's funny because sometimes I forget that I am in Japan.  I still feel like the same person I was in Cambridge and some places in Nagoya even remind me of Cambridge.  Besides the fact that the language is different and I look different than almost everyone in the city, it's easy for me to forget that I am half way around the world from where I was this time last year.  But surprisingly, it's the little day to day things that serve as reminders.  Things like doing laundry and taking out the trash and grocery shopping.  You can't believe how difficult it is to buy things like vinegar when you can't read the kanji and there are no brands that you can recognize!  I spent about 10 min in that aisle looking at the pictures on the bottles and trying to figure out what was inside.  Luckily I guessed right!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Monday, September 13, 2010

"For God all things are possible" Mark 10:27

Okinawa Part 2:

1,000 Paper Cranes

One of the first things that I noticed about Okinawa was that there were not as many Americans there as I had thought there would be. With all the facts that I had been reading the past week for example: 75% of the 90 U.S. Military facilities in Japan are located in Okinawa (source: closethebase.org). I was expecting the Island to be filled with Americans.
An U.S. base in Naha. 

However, I didn’t see or overhear anyone who was obviously and American until the second day while we were at the aquarium. Looking back I guess this makes sense, they are all at work on the bases, but for first impressions, I was a little surprised.

Nevertheless, the problem of the bases is clear. In Naha there have been two widely publicized incidents of planes crashing into schools. More recently, on August 4th, 2004 a helicopter crashed into Okinawa International University administrative building where miraculously no one was hurt. However, in 1959 a jet crashed into the Miyamori Elementary School killing 17 students and neighbors and injuring another 210 people.
Memorial at the Okinawa International University. 
This is a tree that was burned in the Helicopter crash.  There is a fountain that surrounds it now.

A memorial at the Miyamori Elementary School for the 1959 crash.

Also, the proposed site for the new air strip isn’t a perfect choice either. Many claim that building the proposed Heneko air base would be detrimental to the Dugong, a marine mammal similar to the Manatee that is on both the Japanese and American endangered species lists.
Flags in protest of the proposed U.S. Air Base.

The bases by nature are loud and the take up land. Also, if they are located in a city like many of them in Naha are, there are dangers with taking off and landing so close to buildings.

As I learned about the situation that weekend in Okinawa, I kept feeling like I was missing something. I couldn’t put a finger on it until the last day and the only question I could think to ask was: Why Okinawa? Japan is allowing the US air bases to be there, and if all sides agree that the bases are not as safe as they could be, why do the US troops have to be in Okinawa? Couldn’t they move somewhere else? Somewhere safer? I felt like the answer should be simple, but as I kept asking, I got different answers: Money, Politics, Security.

Maybe it was a language problem that just wasn’t getting translated right or maybe it was a problem in my understanding of the issue, but I continue to feel as if a large essential piece of the puzzle is missing.

Naha
I am still reading about, learning about and asking questions about the history of the U.S. in Okinawa. As much as I would like to have one, I don’t have any conclusive opinions on the issue. Maybe someday the pieces might all click into place.
Names of those who died in the Battle of Okinawa
Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum

What I do know is this, while I was in Okinawa and surrounded by all the memorials and evidence of a battle that was truly tragic on all sides, the American in me was impressed with people on both sides of the issue. Not only was I proud of the men and women who were serving their country far away from their home, I was also inspired by the men and women who were fighting to protect their cities, the safety of their communities and to have their voices heard over the influence of money and politics. I never once felt like I, as an American, was being blamed for the problem of the bases and all of our Okinawan hosts were gracious and very willing to share about the life of their community.
Monument at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum

I still don’t know if a solution in Okinawa will be solved simply or soon, but I pray that people on all sides of the issue will continue to respect each other and continue to work towards a peaceful solution that promotes the safety and dignity of everyone involved.

Friday, September 3, 2010

"And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age".

Dear Friends,
I got an email this week with my final fundraising amounts.  Not only did I meet my goal of $10,000, but I am overwhelmed with the amount of financial support, prayers, encouragements and well wishes that I received to get me to Japan.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

As of yesterday, I have been in Japan for 1 month.  It's been an incredibly wonderful month of getting settled it, working at summer camps, training, observing English classes, exploring, travelling and frantically trying to learn Japanese!  This week starts the beginning of my "job" here and I am excited to "get my hands dirty" so to speak.  My job while I'm here will be three-fold.  I'll be teaching two English classes and helping out with a third class.  I'll be a presence once or twice a week at a day program for homeless men and women.  I'll also be helping out two or three times a week with a preschool class that meets at the center.  I am largely excited and a little bit nervous to finally begin! 

A large part of my work here falls outside of my actual job description as well.  My missionary work largely involves me being an international presence, mission partner with the Nippon Sei Ko Kai Diocese of Chubu and a representative of the Episcopal Church in America and more specifically, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.  I ask for your continued prayers that I may fulfill this part of my mission as successfully as possible!

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this incredible journey so far!  Blessings and Peace be with you.
Love,
Christen

Up Next:  Okinawa Part II