Christmas at HBC

We feel so blessed to have found such a wonderful church here in Himeji. The pastor and his family have quickly become part of our family and we enjoy our time together on Sundays. The Sunday before Christmas was extra special as they had a baptism and we got to listen to the Children's choir sing a couple of our favorite Christmas songs. These little girls are so adorable and they have beautiful voices. Pastor Haruta shared the Chritmas story and we really enjoyed our time of fellowship with the members of Himeji Baptist Church. A couple days later went to the candlelight service. After the service we all stat around and ate Christmas cake, drank coffee and fellowshiped. Just as we got ready to leave a couple of the little choir girls, whom we have become fast friends with, decided they wanted us to help them decorate a cake in the kitchen. Haruko, the youth leader/interpreter informed us that they had bought a cake for the girls to decorate and that they wanted us to help. Audrey and I, of course were very flattered and looked forward to hanging out with these little ones. We had so much fun as we were able to use some of our broken Japanese and they practiced the English that Haruko would help them with. Thankfully, you don't really have to know the same language when it decorating cakes with little ones, we just kind of went at it. After the cake was decorated there was still a bag of icing that had not been used. Not wanting to be wasteful I grabbed the bag and started squirting some of the icing into my mouth. Now in my family there was rarely a time that we had whip cream in the house and one of us kids didn't grab the can, tilt our head back and fill our mouths with the fluffy goodness. After seeing the looks on these girls faces I'm not sure that they had ever seen anything like that before. I decided that I should share so I started offering it to them. The first couple girls were still taken aback by this crazy maneuver and they backed away really quickly, but one girl was ready! She cocked her head back, closed her eyes and opened her mouth about as wide at it could get. So I squirted a little frosting in there and she popped her head forward and closed her mouth and started to giggle. That moment was priceless. It was a moment of sheer ecstasy. Once the other three girls saw the look on her face they made a mad dash to be the next in line. All three followed suite... head back, mouth open, eyes closed and all three had the same look on their face as the sugar went down their throat and started coursing through their veins. It was awesome! After about 3 or 4 rounds of this, the frosting was gone, but I'm sure the sugar highs lasted well into the night. We each then ate our piece of cake, played for a little bit until Audrey and I headed home for bed and left their parents to deal with the aftershocks. All in all it was a great way to end the night. We feel so blessed to have made such wonderful friends here in Himeji and we will always cherish little memories like this.

The little angels singing

Haruko and the little ones decorating their cake

Everyone loves frosting!!!

Pastor Haruta getting ready to baptise this young lady

The way the Japanese people use space is pretty amazing... they pulled up the floor and underneath there is a small baptistery... Brilliant!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Well, Christmas this year was unlike any we have ever experienced before. They definitely celebrate Christmas over here... just in there own way. We loved walking around the Miyuki-Dori because they had a bunch of Christmas lights and Christmas music playing for the better part of the month. That being said there were a lot of little things that we really missed. Things like spending time with family, decorating our Christmas tree together, going to Christmas parties, 6 weeks of continuous Christmas music on 99.9, driving around and looking at Christmas lights and Mexican food on Chritmas day. Audrey did find some Christmas decorations and we put up a little Charlie Brown tree back in November so it was nice to have a little Christmas spirit in our apartment. We decided not to buy much for Christmas because we knew that anything we bought we would have to pack and bring home with us. We had to pay weight overage fees at the airport on the way over here so we are trying not to add to that. My wonderful parents sent us 3 boxes over about a weeks span of some of our favorite foods we cant get here and also a couple gifts for us. I scored an awesome Cubs hat that has a Japanese flag on the side and some slippers, while Audrey got a sweater, a pair of gloves, a scarf and some really fluffy socks to keep her toes warm.  Audrey's parents sent us some money to travel and we also got a box from a good friend at church (thank you Matt), filled with all of our favorite candies! Audrey and I have been trying to eat better and exercise more since we have been here but all of our good intentions have gone out the window as these boxes continue arriving. Audrey is blessed with a metabolism that allows her to eat a couple pieces of candy every day with out her gaining any weight. I on the other hand, just have to look at a couple pieces of candy and my butt jiggles for a week! Thank you for your thoughtfulness, we definitely felt loved! On Christmas Eve we had a pot luck with a bunch of our favorite people from Shirasagi. We had yakisoba, fried rice, curry, chips and salsa and other tasty cuisines from all over the world. The food was delicious and the time with friends was even better. After dinner Audrey and I watched a Christmas movie together and got ready for bed because we had to teach on Christmas day. Thankfully we didn't have to go to our High Schools, instead we chose to teach community lessons in the meeting room of our apartment complex. Being that it was Christmas day we decided to teach our students Christmas songs, some Christmas traditions back home, we played Christmas Bingo wrapped it up with a Christmas party. They really seemed to have a nice time and we really enjoyed working with them. All in all we had a nice Christmas season, nothing too exciting, but we really enjoyed our time together and the opportunity to build relationships with new friends. We hope you all had a merry Christmas and that things are going well in your neck of the woods. We miss you all and think of you often during this holiday season!

This is just half of the candy that Matt sent...

"Oh Christmas tree Oh Chritmas tree..."

Thank-you mom and dad... We love you very much!!!

....and the other half from Mr. Rotty!

The Holiday Season

Well, the Christmas season is definitely upon us here in Japan. Our first party was on the 10th of December. My Shogai students talked me into letting them out of class a little early on a Wednesday afternoon so that we could celebrate Christmas together. We went to a cute little restaurant around the corner from the school where we enjoyed coffee, cake and a gift exchange. There gift exchange system was pretty great. We all sat in a circle and started singing a song... in this case we sang the classic "one little two little three little Indians." As we sang we passed the presents to the right and when the song stopped we were supposed open the present that was in our hands. I have to admit I hadn't sung that song since the early 90's but it came back to me real fast. My class also presented me with a special gift. It was a huge box full of little heat packs. When you crush the chemicals inside of the little packs it causes a reaction... that reaction makes these little packs warm for hours. It was a very thoughtful gift as Audrey and I have been experiencing cold weather unlike any we have had in Az. The next weekend was our GLORY Christmas party. Glory is a wonderful company here in Japan that offers low cost English lessons to Japanese elementary school students. Audrey and I have really missed working with elementary age students since have been in Japan so we talked to our boss over here and he found a program for us to work with some kiddos a couple Saturdays a month. We started our new job at the right time as we were able to take part in their GLORious Christmas party. We played games, sang songs, had a snow ball fight (with white paper), read "The Night Before Christmas" and passed out tons of presents. It was so wonderful. The kids were so cute and we all had so much fun! A few days later one of Audrey's co-workers asked her if she thought I would be willing to dress up like Santa Claus, or as they call him here in Japan "Santa-san", and visit an elementary school in a neighboring city. How could I refuse such an offer. Unfortunately, the job went from visiting the school to singing a song, teaching them a song, answering some of the letters they had written to Santa and passing out presents. Now I was feeling the pressure! So on Saturday morning they picked us up around 9:00 and we headed to the school. There they had Santa costumes, not only for me, but for Audrey also. Everything seemed to be going as planned until we realized that my pants were about 20 sizes to big. Even after stuffing them with towels and such to help me "look the part", there was still no way those things were staying up! So being the resourceful people they are they quickly jumped into action and started wrapping me in plastic wrap and when that didn't seem to help they pulled out some tape to try to tape my pants up. It was a pretty surreal moment as I stood there in this tiny room in Japan, in a Santa suit, with three little Japanese girls swarming around me trying to wrap/tape my pants up. I'm just so thankful I had left my pants on under the suit or they may have gotten more than they bargained for! Once they were pleased with their handy work it was just about show time. And when I say show time I mean show time... I had a microphone and I was about to walk out into a court yard to serenade hundreds of 3-6 year olds with a classic rendition of "Jingle Bells." It was go time... out the door I went with a rousing "dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh..." Within 30 seconds these little ones started pouring out of their classrooms by the hundreds, screaming "Santa-san" "Santa-san" and I just kept on singing "...over the hills we go laughing all the way" I must have sung that song 5 times before the kids finally calmed down. So then I asked them to sing it with me... so they sang in Japanese as I continued in English... it was so cute! After we finished it was time to sing "head and shoulders, knees and toes" Now this was the song of choice because we wanted to do the motions with them as we sang... both educational and physical. So Audrey and I teach them the song and they follow along as we touch our head and our shoulders and our knees and then... we'll stop right there... remember how I said my pants were plastic wrapped and taped up... well its safe to say that the knees and toes part pretty much undid whatever had been done. The next thing I know my pants are falling down. Now mind you I had other pants on underneath, but that was kind of a blessing and a curse because while it was great that the kids didn't have to see Santa's undies, it was bad because I couldn't feel my pants falling down. Thank goodness I had Mrs. Claus out there with me to let me know that I was losing a layer of clothing. You should have seen the look on the other Japanese teachers faces... you know.... the ones that had tried to plastic wrap and tape me together. We will just say that facial expressions are transcendent of language. I may not know exactly what words they were thinking, but in English it probably sounded something like "WELL CRAP"! So we finished the song with Santa holding onto his pants for dear life and not touching his knees or toes for some strange reason. After the song they read some of the questions that the students had written to Santa and I answered them and they translated them back to the children. After that I passed out some presents and said Sayonara. What a crazy day!

Me and Audrey with my students at our Christmas party

Me and Wayne in our Christmas hats at the GLORY Christmas party

Merry little Japanese Children

Pauls goodbye lunch

Santa-san and Mrs. Claus

Kobe Luminaries

Last Friday, Audrey had a seminar to go to in Kobe, so I snuck out of work a bit early so that I could meet her there. Every December there is a light festival held in Kobe. It began in 1995 and commemorates the Great Hanshin Earthquake of that year. Legend has it that the lights were donated by the Italian Government to help cheer up the people of Kobe after the horrific disaster. The lights are kept up for about two weeks and only turned on for a few hours each evening. It is a huge attraction and many major streets in the vicinity are closed to auto traffic during these hours to allow the multitudes of people fill the streets and enjoy the lights. Before heading for Kobe I tried to get directions to the light display. In true Japanese fashion they would say " just follow the crowd." The Christmas holiday here in Japan is not so much one of spending time with family, but rather with your boyfriend or girlfriend, which left the streets filled with teenage lovers. So as we headed out of the station we did exactly what we were told... we followed the crowd. There were barricades set up all over town and there were police officers with megaphones shouting at the top of their lungs. Now this is one of those times where it was a blessing and a curse not to understand a word that they were saying. So as we "followed the crowd" Audrey and I were trying to decide if we should eat first or look at the lights first. Long story short, we decided that we were pretty hungry and that we should find some food before we embarked on this journey through the lights. Well by this time we had been "following the crowd for about 5 minutes and somehow had been herded in between some gates with no way out. We thought about jumping a fence, but thought better of that since we didn't really want to feel the wrath of a Japanese police officer, and Audrey's fence jumping days have come and gone. So rather than trying to back track through the masses we just kept on going, expecting to find an opening so we could go find some food. Well 30 minutes later we had no opening, nor were we moving. We were stuck! Once we started moving again we realized that it was well worth the wait. The lights were magnificent. It was so nice to just hold hands and enjoy the sights as we strolled down a beautifully lit street. At the end of the street there was a court yard filled with more lights. Then, much to our surprise we stumbled upon a whole line of street vendors. We were so hungry we would have settled for pretty much anything by this time. We both decided that we wanted okonomiyaki and after surveying the 100's of vendors we decided on the type we wanted. Man was it good. Audrey has some kind of sonar for crepes, so once we finished dinner we headed strait for the crepe stand. This was probably the most unhealthy meal that he have eaten in the 4 months that we have been here... but you wont hear me complaining! After desert it was off to the main shopping area where we did some window shopping and Audrey got some more warm socks. All in all it was a great evening. Japan always has something new and exciting to offer and we feel so blessed to have so many new experiences in our short time here.

Our view when we walked around the corner
Halfway through the street of lights
Lovers in Japan
The display at the end of the street
A little taste of home:)

Akashi and Awajishima with the Nakashimas

This weekend we had the pleasure of spending some time with one of my coworkers at Himeji High School and her husband. Audrey and I took the special rapid train a couple of stops down the line to a city called Akashi. There Izumi and her husband Toshi where anxiously awaiting our arrival. From the train station we went straight to the base of the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge which happens to be the longest suspension bridge in the WORLD. Its center span measures 1,991 meters which is 710 meters longer than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Needless to say it was breathtaking! We were able to take an elevator up to an observation deck to take some pictures and get a small sense of the overwhelming size of this bridge. After we took a couple photos and walked around for a bit we decided to get back into the car and drive across the bridge to Awajishima, which is the island that this bridge connects too. Once on the Island we stopped for lunch. The restaurant that we ate at was unlike anything we had ever experienced. There was no counter or workers to take your order, instead there was a massive vending machine with pictures of what you cold eat. I stared in awe as 10 or 15 people funneled up to the machine, put there money in, pressed a button and collected the ticket it spit out and their change. Simple enough right... So I followed suite... checked what Audrey and I wanted, and double checked because one false button push and who knows what we would be eating for lunch that day. Thankfully we both wanted curry and rice so I pushed the button and with a little help from Izumi I was able to order two, and viola, out popped the change and two tickets. We then proceeded to take the tickets up to a counter where we waited for about 3 minutes and out came our food. Not exactly Burger King, but a brilliant concept none the less. After lunch and an ice cream cone we headed into the country side to visit a place that was supposed to have miles of beautiful flowers planted in wonderful patterns. The key word in that sentence is "supposed". When we got there we quickly realized that there were no flowers to be seen... it was the wrong time of the year. We decided not to let that minor detail stop us, so we walked around for a bit, enjoying the country side and good company. Well that was also short lived because it started to rain. So it was off to plan B. There is a museum on the other side of the Island that serves as a memorial to the The Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. The epicenter of this earthquake was was located on the northern end of the island. As we entered the museum we were quickly humbled by the magnitude of this disaster. There were TVs showing news footage from that day. We saw homes and businesses on fire, freeways collapsed, buildings in a heap of rubbish and people running around screaming as they searched for friends and family. It was hard to wrap our minds around some of the statistics. 7.4 on the Japanese Richter scale, approximately 6,434 people dead, 10 trillion yen in damages, 200,000 buildings collapsed, 1km of the express way collapsed, and 120 of the 150 quays in the port of Kobe were destroyed. It is actually in the Guinness World Book of Records as "the costliest natural disaster to befall any one country." Wow, talk about surreal... my heart was in my throat the whole time we were in the museum. As we continued through we saw parts of the earth that had lifted and separated. There is a still a house that was preserved. The fault line actually ran within 5 feet of the home. The kitchen has been preserved and looked the same as it did after the earthquake that day. There were broken plates and cups everywhere, the chairs had fallen over, appliances had fallen off the counter... it was intense. There was a wall out side of the house that had been cracked and parts had lifted and separated. It really painted a clear picture as to how powerful this earthquake really was. All in all it was a great, yet very thought provoking experience. I have a new appreciation for Kobe and the Japanese people as they have learned so much from this horrible tragedy. Even though they experienced this tough time they have now better equipped themselves for future disasters and rebuilt Kobe so that it is now bigger and better than ever. To think that almost 14 years ago the city was in shambles and now it is once again a flourishing epicenter of Japanese life. So after spending an hour or so at the museum we were pretty emotionally drained, so we decided to head back to the main land and get ready for dinner. When we arrived at the Nakashimas apartment we were mesmerized by the view from their 9th floor balcony. We were not even 200 yards from the sea and we had a perfect view of the bridge. Izumi and Toshi needed to run to the store really quick so they recommend that we take a walk on the beach before dinner. So Audrey and I, being the beach lovers that we are, jumped at that proposition. It was a bit cold but we didn't mind. We walked around for about 45 minutes and when it started getting dark we headed back up to the apartment. There we were greeted by a huge platter of sushi (see picture below). There were at least 50 pieces of sushi and only 4 of us to eat it. Now if there is one food that Audrey and I were not sold on before coming to Japan it was sushi. Neither of us were really big seafood fans... especially seafood that had not been cooked. Over these past couple of months our affinity for sushi has grown exponentially. So when I saw this platter of fresh deliciousness sitting in front of me all I could think was "JACKPOT"! We had no idea what kind of fish we were eating most of the time but it was mecha oishii (very delicious). It was so fresh I swear I saw one of the shrimp still moving as it lay there on its bed of rice. After we had stuffed ourselves with sushi we had some cake, munched on some chocolate and called it a night. The Nakashimas rode the train back to Akashi with us and showed us which train to get on to get home and off we went. It was a wonderful day, with wonderful people. We feel so blessed to have these opportunities to enjoy Japan with such wonderful friends. We hope this finds you doing well in your neck of the woods. We miss you and love you.

The view from the observation deck on the bridge
There were supposed to be flowers around here somewhere
It was so quiet and peaceful
A wall that was cracked and broken in the earthquake
You can see how the earth moved and shifted that day
The longest suspension bridge in the world!
Lovers in Japan
Dinner!
New friends

Koko-en Fall

Last Friday Audrey and I decided to go to Koko-en for a date night. The garden usually closes around 5 but they have been staying open late for momiji viewing. Momiji (Japanese Maple) are Audrey's favorite trees and they are especially stunning during the fall season. As we entered the garden we were overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounded us. There were spot lights on many of the trees which beautifully illuminated the intense reds and oranges. It was so nice to enjoy the peace and quite and become immersed in Gods magnificent creation. We feel so blessed to have each other and to be able to experience all of these wonderful adventures together. If you want to see more pictures from Koko-en please visit our Shutterfly page where there is an album full of pictures from the garden.

Audrey and I surrounded by momiji

And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-- trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. Genesis 2:9(a)

It was majestic in beauty, with its spreading boughs, for its roots went down to abundant waters. Ezekiel 31:7

Momiji close up

Lovers in Japan

WHOOPIE PIES

Audrey and I got a wonderful surprise the other day. My mom knows how much we love making whoopie... pies that is. She sent a care package with everything we need for one of our favorite treats. We just had one little problem... our oven. Its kind of a hybrid microwave/oven. By the looks of it its about 30 years old and all of the buttons and nobs are in Japanese so it took us the longest time to even figure out how to use the microwave function. So after living here for three months we had just the excuse we needed to fire up the oven. So on Sunday afternoon it was raining so we put on a movie and Audrey got started on our whoopie pies. When she put the first batch in she quickly realized that this was going to be quite a task with our "easy bake" oven.  The first problem was that it was so small she could only bake one whoopie pie at a time. Then she quickly realized that one whoopie pie takes 20 minutes to bake, which is much longer than the 5 minutes it takes to bake 4 in our oven back home. So her whoopie pie baking ended up taking about 3 hours. But let me tell you... it was worth the wait! They were a great snack for a cold and rainy Sunday evening. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Hey... keep your eyes on your own whoopie pie!
Henderson and Henderson give them two thumbs up!
This picture speaks for itself...

Shizutani School and Bizen City

Another week come and gone and we are left worn out and feeling blessed to have such wonderful friends. This weekend five students from my Shogai class took us away for another day trip. This time we had the pleasure of going to Bizen, which is in the Okayama prefecture. They picked us up at 9 am and we proceeded to follow the same routine as our last trip. Audrey in one car and me in another. While we love spending time with each other it is a great opportunity for us to get to know these lovely people better and at the same time allow them to practice their English in a more intimate setting. The drive to Bizen took about an hour and a half but time flew. Audrey enjoyed getting to know a few of my students and I had the privilege of helping another student write a letter to her pen pal back in America. Our first destination was the Shizutani School. Its primary claim to fame is that it was the oldest free public school in the world as construction began back in 1670. It was a Confucian school, dedicated to family, respect for elders and superiors, and discipline. The school was built to educate the children of the commoners in the province -- not just the children of the samurai class. Audrey and I were amazed by the beauty and history of this place. It is located out in the country side so it is very quite and peaceful. As we walked around I could not help but think of the students that roamed this area over the past 330 or so years. The auditorium is still in immaculate condition. Their pride in craftsmanship is evident throughout the many buildings we were able to tour. Just beyond the main school campus there is a newer building that was built as a museum for the school. They had everything from pictures of former head masters to beautiful calligraphy that had been written here hundreds of years ago. I really enjoyed seeing drawings of what it was probably like back in its glory days. Students filling the auditorium on their tatami mats sitting quietly and respectfully listening to their teachers. It left me in awe of the rich history of this place. The beauty of the school buildings were easily matched by the beauty of the fall colors that surrounded us. After walking around for a couple of hours we decided to go grab some lunch and then meander through the main streets of Bizen. Little did we know, Bizen is a famous hub of pottery here in Japan, and throughout the world. Bizen pottery is an unglazed, high-fired stoneware.  The firing takes place at high temperatures with red pine wood and gives the pieces a natural wild appearance, with red-glaze streaks, charcoal-like patches or iridescent blue-green patterns. By now our senses were on overload. These pieces were incredibly beautiful and very expensive. Due to the nature of the firing no piece is the same. Since they do not use glazes, the potter doesn't know the exact color of the piece until they are removed from the kiln. It was so nice to have our Japanese "tour guides" with us as they were able to show us places we never would have been able to see on our own. The first shop we went into actually let us go into the back and look around the kilns as they explained the firing process. Then my students took us off the beaten path into a nearby neighborhood. They randomly rang a door bell and we were welcomed into the home of a man who we later found out was considered a "Living National Treasure". He and his wife had a small room next to the entrance of their home that was filled with his pottery. It was INCREDIBLE! Many of his pieces were for sale but I couldn't quite bring my self to spend our whole years salary on a vase. After thanking him numerous times for allowing us to view his work we headed back to the main street and into a couple more shops. Only to be even more amazed by the beauty of these one of a kind pieces. By this time it was already 5 p.m. and our friends were ready to head home. Audrey and I didn't mind one bit as we were pretty worn out from a day of new experiences with wonderful friends.

The entrance to the school
The main auditorium
Inside the auditorium
Momiji (Japanese maple)Lovers in Japan
Kiln in Bizen
Inside of a kiln

Shutterfly Account

Hey everyone... we wanted to set up a new website where you can check out some of the amazing pictures we have taken since being here in Himeji.  We hate to flood our blog with too many pictures so now you can see some that may not have made the cut.  We hope you enjoy! Click here

Costco and Osaka

Another wonderful weekend come and gone. On Friday night we had the pleasure of going to our pastors house for dinner with his family. We had a wonderful time filled with laughter, spiritual conversations and delicious food. They are truly the sweetest people we have ever met and they constantly remind us that they want to act as a surrogate family for us while we are over here. Not even knowing it, Mrs. Haruta fixed many of Audrey's favorite foods for dinner that night. We started with a macaroni and cheese and salad, which was followed by soup, then chicken Parmesan, and finished off with cheese cake and Reece's peanut butter cups. It was easily one of the best nights we have had since we have arrived. We feel truly blessed to be a part of their church and family. The next morning we got up and got ready for a day of traveling. It was our friend Taube's birthday and she wanted Mexican food for her birthday dinner. Unfortunately, the closest Mexican food restaurant is an hour and fifteen minutes away in Osaka. When we heard Mexican food we jumped at the opportunity as that was a staple of our diet in Arizona and we were going through withdrawals since we have been here. To go from eating Chipotle on a weekly basis for 3 years straight to not being able to find a Mexican food restaurant or even a single flour tortilla in the grocery store can cause a man to break out into cold sweats! We have been able to find many of our favorite foods here in Japan, but Mexican food is not one of them. We figured that since we were going to Osaka we might as well leave early and stop at Costco in Amagasaki on the way. I know what you are thinking... Costco... in Japan?! Ohh yes... its true folks and its only about an hour away! Our Australian friends told us that there is a free shuttle from the train station in Amagasaki to a mall that is right next to Costco. The only catch was that you have to buy something at the mall and show the driver your receipt or you cant get on the shuttle back to the train station. It has something to do with the shuttle being paid for by the mall and they didn't want people just taking it to Costco. So when I heard the word FREE I was all about this shuttle. So we had it all planned out... take the train to Amagasaki, walk through the mall, then to Costco, do our shopping at Costco and then stop in at the mall for a cup of coffee or something and then hop back on the shuttle to the station and then to Osaka. Sounds easy enough right?! So we had an enjoyable train ride to Amagasaki, caught the shuttle walked through the mall out the side exit and straight into Costco. When we got in I almost turned around and walked back out. I seriously felt like I was at Walmart on black Friday... there were people everywhere! It took about 5 minutes just to get from the front door to the electronics section... it was pure madness. And after living here for 3 months I had come to the conclusion that Japanese people are the most considerate people in the planet... well not at Costco... it was every man for himself. So after about 2 hours of weaving this giant cart though the masses and being battered and bruised from elbows and carts slamming into us we had enough. We got the necessities to last us for a couple of months and we were ready to sit down for a giant slice of pizza and drink. Standing in line for food took another 20 minutes and staring at the sign, with all of the same foods, just written in Japanese kind of makes you feel like you are in a strange alternate reality. I mean the Costco was set up exactly the same at it is in the states, just filled with shorter people and some other random Asian foods... it kind of plays tricks with your mind. You constantly find yourself thinking "where am I." After finishing our lunch it was back to the mall for our coffee and then back on the shuttle. Well instead of coffee we found a Baskin Robbins that sells crapes... and my wife's love for crapes always trumps coffee. So we had our treat and headed for the shuttle. After waiting in line we flashed our receipt and hopped on the shuttle back to the station. For some reason I had a strange feeling about it and when we made a left out of the mall instead of a right. At first I thought we were taking a different way back, but when we continued driving north when the train station was south I knew we were in trouble. About 20 minutes later we stoped at a train station... unfortunately we were at a completely different train station. I proceeded to try to explain to the driver that we needed to go to the JR station in Amagaski and he very quickly and forcefully told us "NO" and then pointed to get off the shuttle. I then tried to ask if he could take us back to the mall and got an even more forceful answer and he pointed out the door. So I motioned for Audrey and we headed off the shuttle in hopes of finding our way. As we approached the station we realized that we were no longer in Amagasaki but in a neighboring city and at a completely different rail line. As we stared at the destinations on the railway map above the ticket machine we quickly found out that this train line doesn't go to Osaka... or back to Himeji. Well Crap! So Audrey found a cute little man that works for the station and asked him about Osaka... he proceeded to take our money and buy us a ticket for the train we needed to be on. It turns out that this station has a stop in Umeda... which is in essence part of Osaka station. As we stood on the platform waiting for a train that we were not sure about and jabbering back and forth about what to do next a sweet young Japanese girl comes over and in perfect English say "can I help you with something?" Thank you JESUS! We explained what happened and she laughed at us but then explained that we needed to take this next train to the 5th stop and then explained where to go from there to get to the Osaka JR station. So we ended up taking a little detour, but found our way to Osaka. When we got there it was 5:30 in the evening and dinner wasn't until 7:30 so we walked around downtown Osaka for a couple of hours. It was incredible, huge building after huge building, bright lights and people everywhere! Audrey said it reminded her of New York. We went from store to store window shopping and found our way to the restaurant around 7:15. We had actually had to order our food a week in advance because we had a party of 30 people so when we got seated we sat around and chatted with friends at our table. Around 8:30 Audrey got her chicken burrito and I had some chips and salsa to munch on while I waited patiently for mine. I figured it would be out soon since we had ordered it a week ago you would think the least they could do was have it partially ready for us when we got there. Well that wasn't quite the case and needless to say when my food came out at 9:30 I was pretty annoyed. Then I took a bite of my taco and it was COLD! One of my biggest pet peeves is cold food that is supposed to hot... or at this point I would have been okay with it being warm... but of course it was cold. So I went for the enchilada... cold too! Now I was not happy. I'm not sure how they even called it an enchilada because it tasted more like a giant piece of ravioli. It was a flour tortilla with cheese in the middle and tomato sauce on top. But seeing how it was already 9:30 and I figured I would just be grateful that I had food to eat. Also I knew if I wanted to complain I wouldn't be able too because they wouldn't be able to understand a word I said. Which may have been a good thing! After I finished up my dinner we hung out until about 10:30 and we figured that we should head home because we had a hour and 15 minute train ride ahead of us. So we said our goodbyes, took the subway to the JR station and hoped on a train back to Himeji. For those of you who have not ridden a train in Japan there are many different types of trains and many different stations (as we learned first hand). One thing that is good to know is the speed of the train. For instance we took a "super rapid" train from Himeji to Amagasaki which took about 50 minutes, and that same train to Osaka takes about an hour and 15 minutes. It is called a super rapid because it only stops at the major cities and not all of the smaller cities in between so you get there quicker than a "local train". So to Osaka its only about 5 stops on the super rapid. So we get on the "super rapid" to come home and find a seat and get out a book for our trip home. So we are cruising along with only a couple of stops and we are making pretty good time when all of the sudden we stop at a station, people get on and people get off and then we take off again only to stop at the next station... and the next... and the next. So I'm a bit confused because we had already stopped way more than we stopped on our way to Amagasaki and I couldn't figure out why. Then I saw a sign that was flashing and scrolling where our next stop would be and it said " you are riding a local train bound for Himeji" WHAT!!! When we got on it said "super rapid" not local. It turns out that our train turned into a "local train" after Kobe so we stopped about 30 times on our way home. Which is understandable if people are getting on and off but by this time it was already 12:30 and no one was getting on, and no one was getting off! I was ticked... really... every stop... you have got to be kidding me. So long story short we got home that night at 1:00 after our 1 hour train ride turned into a 2 and a half hour train ride. Followed by a 20 minute bike ride from the station to our apartment. All in all it was a great experience and we can look back and laugh about our adventures that day. I guess we can chalk it up to living in a foreign country! Sorry for such a long blog this weekend. We hope all is going well in your neck of the woods. We love and miss you all!

Our Japanese family... the Haruta's and our translator at church Mr. Enemoto
The JR train station in Amagasaki
This picture speaks for itself

Hot dog and a drink- 260 yen

Slice of pizza- 300 yen

Chicken bake- 400 yen

Eating at Costco in Japan.... Priceless!

Pure Ecstasy!
Osaka
Giant Crab
Me after my first Mexican food experience in Japan was a major let down

Lovers in Japan