No culture shock yet!

Hello, 

It's Carmon speaking!

Culture shock has not been the slap in the face I expected. We’ve been here three weeks, and in all honesty, I really like it here. What makes things hard is obviously the language barrier. It seems a little too late when you’ve poured that awesome bowl of cereal, taken a big spoonful, and gag at the realization that the white carton you bought last night is NOT milk. Or your eczema getting so patchy because you are failing to find body lotion and mistakenly buy face wash (I assume) instead. Or, how about going to the cell phone company for the 4^th time due to previous miscommunications, only to be re-read the sales pitch and asked the same questions again and again and again. 

"have we offered them this money trap yet?" 

Even so, the good out weighs the difficult by far. This culture is so kind. One woman noticed we couldn’t find our bus and directed us to the right one. 20 minutes later, we got off to go into a grocery store only to find that same lady had also gotten off the bus, followed us in, introduced herself and then expressed her concern in assuming we were lost. Turns out, we thought we knew where we were but we were at a completely different place than we thought. How she knew that… I don’t know. But we were glad she was there to get us home.

I don't think this is Tokyo...

The stores & restaurants have INCREDIBLE service. You would have to pay $80 for a steak to get this kind of service in the states. We were in an Indian Curry restaurant last Sunday, for example, and I had hardly got my coat off when the waiter (and owner I believe) brought over his kerosene heater to sit right by my chair. He did his best to communicate with us, smiled the whole time, and insisted on bringing us things to try.

...like delicious curry! 

After purchasing anything, many stores have employees walk with you to the exit and carry your stuff to the door so they can bow as they hand us our bags and say, “Thank you for coming.” Perhaps this is also to verify that we don’t slip anything in our bags on the way out, but based off what I have experienced thus far I think it is simply hospitable service.

Very hospitable.

As for the school, I feel blessed to be where I am. ALL of the teachers are nice and make me feel that they would like to communicate. Some are more courageous than others in practicing their English around me, but none make me feel as though they think lowly of me or want nothing to do with me. I am excited for the time when they all feel comfortable around me to allow me to practice what little Japanese I speak, and they can practice what little English they know.  Enkais (drinking party) are coming up. I hear that this is when the teachers really open up and show their true colors. I’m looking forward to it.

Please pray that God would use us at His will. Right now we are not sure how to minister. This culture is very caring, but not very personal –at least in quick encounters. We can easily freak someone out by simply inviting them over to our home for dinner. So right now we are trusting that God is using us when we are unaware of it, perhaps. 

We're here!

So we made it. After an 18 hour day of traveling we arrived to Japan on Friday. Our first weekend was spent traveling around Mito with our AET "Buddies".  Casey and Trey are two awesome AET veterans who spent their time showing us the ropes.

Saturday we all went to Mito station, which is pretty much the center of the city. From there you can take a train or bus literally anywhere in Japan. While we were there, our buddies took us out for some for realz sushi. Kore Wa Oishi Desu. After lunch we traveled around all the different cell phone/internet providers. There's pretty much two main carriers for us to choose from. We're going with the one least like AT&T. It's likely we'll get iPhone 5's!!!!

....and you think I Instagram too much now...

Now it's Sunday.  This morning we got to visit Mito Church. Everyone was super hospitable and Carmon got to meet one of the teachers from her school. So far we haven't done much relating to our jobs (we start training tomorrow) but we've been able to get familiar with our new apartment. Not to toot my own horn (this is MY blog) but it's pretty amazing. We have a button that fills up our bath tub. All of our lights and heaters are controlled via remote. There's a call button like on Seinfeld except we have a camera too!

KONICHIWA KRAMER

Anyway, without further ado, here's a video of our new place. Enjoy!

Hey Y'all!

What a country-like title!

I've been the worst at keeping this thing updated. As you can guess, this last few weeks has been crazy busy. 

I just wanted to post real fast and let everybody know we aren't dead and we'll be posting awesomely fun, exciting and very Japanesy post oh so soon!

Like, we move in freaking 3 days!!!!! 

Today I just got done saying my goodbye's to my family in Tulsa and now the wife and I are hanging out with hers.     

Ok. Shortest post ever. I'll make up for it later I'm sure. 

Chow. 

Saiyonara!

15 days and counting...

Hello there! (this is Carmon speaking)

Two weeks from now we will be spending our last full day in America, scarfing down all foods we will miss and dreading our final goodbyes. We have been very busy traveling to and from Tulsa to see his parents, and we recently took a quick trip down to Louisiana to say goodbye to my grandparents. Whew! The emotions are strong.

While we were in Louisiana we got to Skype with the couple I told you about in our "mansions" blog. Ben and Erica Berry have been living in the same apartment that we will be moving in to. Their time in Japan has come to a close and we will be filling their shoes, so to speak, as we not only move into their apartment, but also to the schools they have been teaching at.

It was so relieving to speak with them about what our positions will be like at our designated schools. As an elementary teacher, Mason's job is to help make the kids comfortable with hearing a foreign language and getting them excited to learn! By the time they get to junior high (where I will be teaching), they will know a few phrases and be prepared to start learning how to write and speak in English. Whew, I can do that!!

Mason doesn't know it yet, but he will be so good at working with the elementary kids. He is comfortable with being silly and is very creative. He will do a great job coming up with educational activities that are engaging.

As for me, I'm not so great at the silly. I like to have fun with the kids, but it takes me a while to get loose and goofy with the little ones. I will be much more comfortable in the junior high setting. I'll spend a lot of my time following along with the students in their text books, and planning activities that help them apply what they are learning. Ben and Erica made us feel much better about things and gave us a new confidence in our ability to teach well.

As for now, this week has many more goodbyes in store. Thursday night our college group at church will take a moment to pray for us, Sunday the church body will give us a send off and I will see my step-family for probably the last time, and there are a few dates in between where we will be saying "ta-ta" to friends/family.

Please be praying for our travels, the people we are going to meet, and our families.

Keys

Keys- something I have a lot of. In fact, I've on more than one occasion been questioned about perspective janitorial service. Despite my array of keys, I am NOT a janitor. But if I were, I'm almost positive I'd be one of those really good looking, MIT math genius janitors.

I can totally connect the dots!

A day ago it occurred to me that very soon and for a brief period of time I, for the first time that I can ever remember, won't have a single key to own. Notta one.

For as long as I can remember I've always had keys. And I'm not just talking about the occasional collection of unnecessary keys that have built up over time. No, for the last year I've claimed as many as 11 keys, all of which were necessary to have on my person.
Car, wife's car, apartment, Tulsa home, trailer hitch, church, work, mailbox, drum key (for tuning), band room and one top secret one I can't tell you about.

mmmhmm

So, there I was, sitting in my car staring at ALL of those keys and realizing that in a few weeks I won't need one of them. Actually, for a brief time on the flight to Tokyo, I'll be in key limbo till I receive the keys to our new mansion.
Keyless! I never new there'd be such a place -even in heaven there's gates.

(Presumably locked) 

All joking aside, the more I thought about it the more sobering it turned out to be.

Those keys aren't just keys... They're symbols or representations of past commitments, relationships, memories, people, places and things. Having a key to something is having the privilege to be opened up to something, whether it be employment, a ride, a safe or home. Keys can be comforting too, in that they affirm our ownership of our possessions. Look, this is my key and that is my car, see? It's proof it belongs to me. Keys, in one sense, give you the right to be there.
Sadly, what I've come to realize is that in deciding to move to Japan, Carmon and I are (in a way) giving up those rights.
When we move, we don't have that option of taking a weekend trip up to Tulsa to visit my parents. Nor can we jump in our car to take a random road trip with my brother in law. The band room will no be expecting my late night wood sheds, and my church will have new interns to lock up the place.

Of course there's an optimistic way of seeing things, too. We aren't just throwing away our lives or anything. We're just...exchanging keys. Trading in for a smaller, more simpler set.

"Noooooo!"

Japan: Where teachers live in mansions

As of this morning, these two Okies know where we'll be teaching in Japan!

Mason will spend most of his week at Ishikawa Elementary School. Every other Tuesday he will teach at a separate Kindergarten/Preschool.

I (This is Carmon by the way. My turn to post) will be teaching at Daigo Junior High School. This is a good thing because the kids will (hopefully) be better with English than Elementary students, but it also makes me nervous because it's a lot easier to win the affection of a second grader than it is a sixth grader.

かわいい
(kawaii)
Japanese for cute

According to Google Maps and a rough idea of where our apartment will be, it is a 26-28 minute walk for Mason and a 16 minute walk for me. Throw in a couple bikes and this will be a piece of cake!

We'll make sure to turn on the "find friends" app. 

As for our apartment, I believe the development is called the "Sinhara Mansions." Well, doesn't that sound spiffy! Turns out, "mansions" in Japan often refer to what we would call a condo. It's generally larger than an "Apato," and is built with more of a long term family friendly use in mind. We have been told that ours is one of the bigger apartments in the program which is a super big blessing because we plan to bunk our family and friends that visit.

We're looking at YOU Stacy and Charissa! 

Our mansion is located near Horihara Sports Park which has a baseball field, ball game field, stadium, and one of the largest gymnasiums in Japan. The park itself is open 24-hours. Now we have no excuse to not exercise! Ben Berry and his wife (the AET's currently in that apartment now) have said that we will only need to buy a couch!! WOOHOO!!! That is so good to hear! That means we will have a bed to sleep in on our first night there and limited shopping to do.

Just don't eat their meat. 

Anyway, Mason and I are going to do our best to keep you updated on how life is going in Japan while we are away. With pictures, videos, and entries we should be able to keep everyone at home informed on how things are going. Please pray for the people we are to meet, our safety while traveling, and success in sharing the gospel. We leave the United States on Thursday, April 11th, arrive Friday the 12th, and start work on Monday the 15th! This is going to be insane.

And just in case we ever wonder why we chose to do this. We will just watch the following video and everything will make sense. 

The Fox and the Hound

qualifier - (qual·i·fi·er) 

- A word or phrase that limits or qualifies the sense of another word or statement.

Like, "The Dark Knight Rises was the best super-hero film of 2012". In this sentence, "super-hero" is used as the qualifier. It allows for "The Dark Knight Rises" to be considered the best film of 2012, so long as we are talking about super-hero films. I would argue that such a sentence needs no qualifier but that's just me.

Best Supporting Actress

Sometimes, 'qualifiers' don't need to be vocalized. Some are just assumed when speaking. Let me give you an example.

The phrase "Everything's bigger in Texas" is often spoken in the lone star state. Taken at face value, this of course isn't true. Not everything is bigger in Texas. For instance, just look at the Allen High School 60-million-dollar football stadium.

Clearly, not the biggest. I believe the 49ers have a 61 million dollar stadium. 

So, the understood qualifier in the phrase "Everything's bigger in Texas" is that "everything" isn't meant in the literal sense. Even though it isn't stated verbally, both Billy-bob and Earl understand that what is really being said is actually something like, "[most things, many things, some things] are bigger in Texas."

The following statement has such qualifiers.

The Fox and the Hound is Disney's most relevant and moral animated film for today's American audience. 

Note: There are two main qualifiers on that... I said, "it is Disney's most relevant and moral animated film." No doubt there are countless other relevant and moral films the company has produced, but none, I shall argue, is as important for children (and adults) to watch then this one. 

And the second qualifier is that I've limited the statement to just animated films... no computer animation or live action here.

I think Disney Pixar has exceeded expectations on how to create beautifully rendered stories while delivering rock solid content to it's audience. 

Toy Story wrestles with the vulnerabilities of losing your identity, being replaced and unused.
The Incredibles dealt with a family who neglected the marital tensions between  husband and wife.
A Bug's Life made an effort to convey the importance of breaking from tradition.
Finding Nemo portrayed the parental struggle to "let go," and...
Wall*E, rather overtly, touched on climate change and the Nation-wide obesity epidemic.
It's safe to say that Pixar always delivers excellent, moral, relevant messages. 

Cars was about exploiting children's innate desire to buy car toys. 

Back to the Fox and the Hound.

I think it's the most relevant Disney animation film for two reasons. 

1. It deals with the universal experience of having to assimilate to what culture tells you to do.

Todd and Copper (the fox and the hound, duh) were best friends. They loved each other. "We'll always be best friends," Todd says, "no matter what." Sadly, after the two spend a season apart from each other they meet with a new-found sense of cultural norms. "He's a hunting dog now" Big Momma (the owl) says, "things have changed." Despite their true feelings, Todd and Copper ultimately abandon their friendship out of obligation. How can a fox and a hound be friends? 

Today, kids are asking the same questions. 

When I was in junior high, the third day of school, a group of boys (the "popular ones") came up to me and told me I needed to hang out with them. "You seem pretty cool" they said, "Be friends with us." Hmm..."This was odd," I thought. Odd because it was a command directed solely at me and not the others I was hanging with already. The group wanted me to make a decision right then and there about who it was I would associate with. In their minds I was a "fox" like them and they wanted to tell me I couldn't be friends with the "hounds." 

This happens so often amongst kids you wouldn't believe. If you're a pretty girl, you're friends with the pretty girls. If you're an athlete, you're friends are supposed to be athletes. If you're in band, you only hang out with band geeks. 

Unless you're a drummer ...then you're totally like the most popular guy ever. 

My High School experience. 

Back to the fox and the hound...

2. It has an optimistic, yet realistic conclusion. 

Unlike most children's movies, this one didn't end with everything being gung-ho and happy. It was an optimistic ending, like I said, but Todd and Copper never ran off into the sunset playing hide and seek. 

"Found you!"

In the conclusion, the two remain friends but only at a distance. The actions the two have taken in the film have consequences that simply don't allow for the shared life they both want. They leave each other to live their own lives. Friends, but friends that must go separate ways.

It's a great movie. Incredibly sad in some places and quite funny at times. Roger Ebert wrote, 

"For all of its familiar qualities, this movie marks something of a departure for the Disney studio, and its movement is in an interesting direction. The Fox and the Hound is one of those relatiely rare Disney animated features that contains a useful lesson for its younger audiences. It's not just cute animals and frightening advetures and a happy ending; it's also a rather thoughful meditation on how society determines our behavior." 

So, for whatever reason, if you've actually ended up reading this post all the way through and need a good kid flick to watch with your niece, nephew, son or daughter... go netflix The Fox and the Hound. 

And after you've watched it. Instantly watch this.