The blog is back!

Hello!

Thank you for your patience everyone. It’s been a busy few weeks, but I’m back!

Things are great at church. I’m looking forward to GraceCity Quiz Night, which was held for the first time last year and is happening again tomorrow. It promises to be a great event! Been swatting up on flags of the world in secret. Just need to make sure I get on the right team now.

The season turned very quickly here and the sudden change in weather has meant that most people have battled some kind of bug in the last few weeks. I would estimate that on any given day, between ten and twenty percent of people are wearing facemasks out and about to stop the spread of colds and other things. It’s not something you generally see in England. Some of the students I teach choose to wear it every day. I have yet to wear one, but so far I have managed to dodge being ill.

Google images

I’ve had a real push with studying language recently. Put my foot in it by telling a Japanese guy that his Japanese was very impressive. Having said that, he did introduce himself as coming from Thailand, which turned out to be a joke. Not very funny if you ask me.

At school, some of the students have been asking about music from Britain. So, I’ve taken on the delicious task of making a CD that represents Britain. I’m hoping that we can use it in lessons. Maybe learn the words to some of the songs and sing along, like karaoke. I’ve been trawling my music library thinking about what to include. I’m still not completely happy with it and feel I’m missing some essential names, but this is the final track list. Take care everyone.

1. U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

2. Take That – Shine

3. Oasis – Wonderwall

4. Amy Winehouse – Love is a Losing Game

5. The Cure – Friday I’m in Love

6. Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen

7. Coldplay – Yellow

8. The La’s – There She Goes

9. Leona Lewis – Run

10. David Bowie – Starman

11. Spice Girls – Goodbye

12. The Beatles – Hey Jude

I'm an alien, a legal alien, I'm an Englishman in Japan

This week, I went to my school’s annual cultural festival where I watched, amongst other things, a Junior High School performance of the story of Peter Pan. It was actually really good, made all the more special by the addition of Pikachu as one of the main characters.

Also, an extraordinary sequence of events to tell you about. It started with me going to the Naka Ward Office to pick up my Alien Registration card (Yes, it really is called that), which is a card that foreigners staying in Japan must carry with them. It’s very shiny and official looking, but rather disappointingly confirms once and for all that I am definitely Stephen Morris and not a famous football icon. Not that kids need to know that of course.

Then on Saturday, Dave, Nils, Michael and I went to watch a really good 'folky-sounding' band play. Towards the end, the band played a cover of song by Sting, in which the chorus goes 'I'm an alien, a legal alien, I'm an Englishman, in New York', although the singer changed New York to Japan for our benefit.

Then lastly, today I was reading through part of the book of Ephesians and read ‘In Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ’ and a few verses later ‘So then, you are no longer foreigners or aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.’ 

Crazy, huh?! Anyway, I was reminded that although I may be an alien in Japan and be far away from home, I am not far off from God. This certainly cheered me up and the timing of it reminded me of my favourite Proverb: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.

Anyway, have to go now because Nils and I are about to catch up on Spooks. We’re on episode 4 and loving it! Take care.

PIKA…CHUUUUUUUUUU!

Kung Fu Handa

Impromptu judo fight in the corridor between a very large teacher and a plucky kid I have got to know called Kai. Very good fun. Noone batted an eyelid. I love Japan.

Happy Cow, Happy Steve

Back to writing again this week…

and with some very good news to share - Milka Happy Cow is currently on the shelves at the International Shop! SO glad that I dropped in before doing a big shop. This more than makes up for their stunt with the Weetabix last month.

So… I’ve been here a few months now. I guess that this is the time when my blog becomes in danger of dying. I mean, I can’t really just keep updating you with news about the latest item on sale in Calvis… can I?!

I continue to thank God every day for the opportunity to come to such a wonderful country to be involved with church plantning. That’s right, ‘plantning’. Actually, we’ve had a great time this weekend as a church. Peter Brooks came from Sydney to be with us for a few days and he served us brilliantly. In particular, he spoke really well at our men’s breakfast about ‘What Real Men Do’, where he addressed some of the silly ideas that are out there and encouraged us to take responsibility, show our emotions, be faithful to everyone, be kind and compassionate, and be people who pursue God…and then we all drank beer and arm-wrestled for several hours (joke). I was happy that a few of the friends I have made through playing tennis came along and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

I had a good day in school today. Was with the special needs class after lunch, which is always fun because it’s a very small class and you can really enjoy the kids in a way that’s just impossible with a class of thirty-six. Arrived early because I usually get a game of table tennis in with one of the kids before class starts. There were only three kids in class today because the other four were outside practicing for their sports festival. The teacher had asked me to show some pictures of England, which I did. After this, we played some more table tennis. There were more than enough bats for everyone and I wanted to teach them ‘Round the table’, but I couldn’t persuade one of the girls or the teacher to play. Wanting to squeeze language out of every situation, I tried to get the students to keep score in English, which they did reluctantly. After this, I went outside to see how they were preparing for the Sports Festival. During the brief period I was out there, about hundred students were working in groups of four, each group carrying one student up on their shoulders. Upon command, they all ran into the middle of the pitch and started whacking one another over the head, much to the joy of staff and students alike and to the bewilderment of me with my western brain. Everyday here is still full of mystery and surprise, but that’s all part of the fun!

So, that’s the main events of my week reported, and maybe that’s all this blog needs to do. I don’t know. Answers on a postcard…

Pictures galore...

Hello! Yesterday, I went to into town to watch the main parade for Nagoya's annual festival. Here are my pictures... 

And if that's not enough to satisfy you, I've also noticed that pictures of the barbecue are up on our church website, within the Media section. The link below should take you there.

http://www.gracecity.jp/index_en.php

Have a good week!

Boys will be boys...

Hilarious lunch time today. Was sat opposite a group of bold and brash teenage boys, all of whom were eager to practice speaking English. It wasn't long into conversation before one of the boys unveiled an electronic language translator and they began excitedly looking up the most unwholesome words the translator would permit. The whole scene was so predictable, but very funny nonetheless. Thankfully, their poor pronunciation allowed me to escape each time with my dignity intact and after many tried and failed attempts, they finally gave in and pummeled the poor boy with the translator.

It just goes to show, no matter where you are in the world, boys will be boys.

There are some nice pictures of the barbecue we had in the park on facebook. Just visit my profile page. Unfortunately, I can't post any here because the photos have lots of people in, so sorry if you don't have access to facebook. The weather was beautiful and many people came. We played cricket and ultimate frisbee and enjoyed plenty of good food and drink. In other news, I've started meeting people through playing tennis. I am playing three times this week, which makes me a very happy bunny, and at the same time I practice conversation. Long may the good weather last!

I have to go, but finally, I have had some very nice messages recently from different people, so thank you everyone (you know who you are!).

Oretachi o Tamashii!

Today I met a student who has recently moved back to Japan having lived on the outskirts of Liverpool for many years. He soon made it quite clear to everyone that I was definitely not Steven Gerrard. Felt quite disappointed by this news. Was starting to believe that I was.

On the subject of football, I had my first experience of a live game on Saturday, which was very exciting. Went to watch Nagoya Grampus win 2-1 against Vegalta Sendai at the Mizuho Athletic Stadium. Nagoya are having a great season this year and are now nine points clear at the top of the J-league. I’ve been told that in Japan, the city whose team wins the league celebrate by having a huge sale across all stores, on all items. Thought this was a very good idea.

In other news, we have yet another national holiday next week (oh, the hardship!). So, instead of going to work, we (GraceCity church) are holding an ‘English style’ barbecue in the park. Whether this English style tag means picking the wettest day of the year and all huddling under one umbrella remains to be seen, but we hope to gather lots of people and I’m certainly looking forward to it.

Hope you are all doing well. Speak soon.