Happy New Year!

Stef and I are enjoying some room-temperature Martinelli's out of plastic dixie cup-sized Winnie the Pooh cups. Ah, Japan.

If I wasn't afraid of ticking off the neighbors, I'd be outside banging pots and pans right now. We stayed up 'til 12 watching LOST, expecting some kind of loud celebration outside. But alas, all our neighbors seem to be asleep. Oh well. Happy New Year, everyone.

PS-Dad, if you're reading this, I ate a spaghetti sandwich today.
PPS-Sorry Mom.

A little late, but still

With all the commotion, I haven't yet taken the time to write my own thoughts about Mia and how she came to us. It's been almost three weeks since she was born. Dad suggested that I should do it before I forget the feelings that I had that day.

Saturday night, I had the hardest time sleeping. I spent most of the night restless in bed, angry that I wasn't sleeping. In all, I probably got somewhere between two and three hours of sleep Saturday night.

When Stef got up for church early Sunday morning, she asked me how I felt. Since I hadn't slept, I told her that I should probably stay home and rest. While I felt guilty for not going to church (I hadn't missed church since I got to Japan), I just didn't have the energy to make the voyage. So, I stayed home with Kelsey and gave Stef a day to herself.

Right after Stef left, Kelsey was up for the day. Since I was taking care of her, I didn't get to rest during the day. In Imabari, some of the church members gave Stef some interesting Japanese maternity clothing. Sister Ochi gave Stef a ride to the port after church, but stopped at the 100 Yen shop so that Stef could get some goodies to send home to family for Christmas. Stef said that she could walk to the port from the 100 Yen shop, but Sister Ochi had a strong feeling that she shouldn't let her walk. Stef came home at a quarter-to-5 and showed me all the stuff she had picked up in Imabari. She was so glad to have gotten a day to herself for once.

At around 7, we tried to put Kelsey to bed, but she wouldn't have it. Stef was laying in bed, feeling a bit of discomfort, while I tried to soothe Kelsey. I read her various books, rubbed her face, tucked her in, and read more books, but Kelsey seemed distraught and wouldn't go to bed. I closed her door and went back to our room. When 8:30 rolled around and Kelsey still hadn't fallen asleep, something told me to be prepared for a very long night.

Stef's discomfort got worse, and she said that they reminded her of Braxton Hicks contractions, which she shouldn't be having at that stage of the pregnancy. She was very worried, so I gave her a blessing. During the blessing, I wanted to tell her that she would take the baby full-term, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt like I was being told specifically not to say that. I blessed her so that she and the baby inside would both be strong. We decided we'd call the doctor the next morning and travel to Imabari to see him. The contractions went away soon after, and we went to bed at around 8:45.

At 11PM, Stef woke me up and asked me to time something. I was in a deep sleep, so I didn't really have any idea what was going on. I stumbled around to find some kind of clock, and then timed her pains. Stef was very worried, so I said I'd get the island doctor and call a rescue boat to take us to Imabari. When I got to the doctor's house, there was no response for about 3 or 4 minutes. When the doctor finally came to the door, I told her that Stef was having a lot of pain and that we needed to call a boat. She ran to the clinic to get a stethoscope, and then we hurried back to our house.

Stef called her mom and told her what was going on, and asked her to pray for us. I called my mom and did the same. We also called some friends in Imabari to let them know we were coming and might need their help. The doctor called the rescue boat at about 11:40 or so, but said it wouldn't get to our island until about 12:20. Stef's pains got progressively worse. At this point, I had no idea if her pains were labor contractions or some other serious problem. Either way, I knew we had to get to the hospital quickly. The doctor asked me for some string, and I ran upstairs to get a ball of twine that was left by my predecessor. I gave her the twine and she used it to hang an IV for Stef from the curtain rod.

I started packing a backpack with all the stuff we would need for the next day, and decided we'd get Kelsey up when the boat came. I knew that I needed to keep her calm, and that she'd be a source of more stress for Stef if she was upset. My supervisor, Tanago-san, showed up to see if he could help. Stef went into the bathroom while I was scrambling to get everything ready, and then I heard her cry out hauntingly, "Jesse, I'm bleeding!" I raced to the bathroom, where Stef was clearly distraught at the sight of blood. I knew that something was seriously wrong, but really had no idea what it was. I told her that everything was going to be all right and gave her a blessing right there. In the blessing, I said that if the baby did come early that she would know what to do. I blessed her body with strength and blessed the baby so that if she did come she'd be able to be strong and make it to the hospital.

I finished preparations while we waited for the boat to come. At about 12:20, when it finally came, I put on my big backpack, woke Kelsey up, folded her porta-crib up and took her out to the docks, holding the crib in one hand and Kelsey in the other. The paramedics rushed by with a stretcher, and I walked down to the emergency boat. I told Kelsey that we were going to go for a ride in a boat, and that mommy was going to be laying in a bed.

The boat was pretty small--not much bigger than a pleasure boat in America. It had a rectangular cabin with a bench on the left side, and just enough room for a stretcher on the right. Between the bench and the stretcher area, there was about a foot or two of aisle space for the medics to get back and forth. It wasn't much bigger than the inside of an ambulance.

I waited in the boat with Kelsey for what seemed like forever while the medics got Stef in the stretcher. When they finally returned with Stef, I held Kelsey close to my chest and tried to keep her distracted. The island doctor decided to ride with us on the boat. We set off for Imabari, and I overheard the medics say that we were going to arrive at 1:30, which was about 50 minutes later. I repeatedly prayed that Stef and the baby would be okay, and that we'd be able to make it to the hospital.

Stef's pains got progressively worse. Since the medics needed to walk through the small aisle between me and Stef, I couldn't do much to help her but keep Kelsey calm. I tried to hold her hand every now and then and let her know that I was there and that everything would be fine. As the pains got worse, though, Stef started crying out in agony. Kelsey got a bit upset as she saw her mom in pain. I did my best to distract her and assure her that everything would be okay. Kelsey did surprisingly well. I watched every minute tick by on the clock. 1:30 could not come soon enough.

The medics looked nervous, and I'm sure the fact that they spoke no English had something to do with it. Luckily, the doctor spoke English and was able to help Stef and give direction to the medics. She held Stef's hand as the pain worsened. At this point, I still wasn't sure what was going on. I knew that Stef had pain and that she was bleeding, but not much else.

Suddenly, Stef's water broke. I knew that the water breaking meant that the baby would be coming within the next few hours at most, but I hoped that we'd be able to make it to the hospital to deliver the baby. At 12:55, I turned to Kelsey to comfort her as Stef cried out in pain, when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a baby. I didn't know that the baby was coming, or that Stef was even pushing. She had mentioned that she felt the need to push, but I assumed it would take a while. Little Mia was motionless and purple, laying on Stef's abdomen while the doctor got some equipment ready.

I prayed that Mia would be all right. Stef and I had talked about different scenarios with the birth, and we had said that the worst case would be having the baby on a rescue boat in the middle of the ocean. It turned out that we hadn't even factored pre-term labor into the equation, and Stef was only 26 weeks pregnant. When I looked at Stef to see how she was taking everything, she had a big smile on her face as she looked down at her tiny little baby.

The doctor put a tube in Mia's nose and throat to suction out moisture, and then she started moving. Stef held her close as gently as she could, and the medics got out a an oxygen mask and set it over her head. Her whole little head fit inside the bulging, rounded part of the mask, and Stef held the mask in place. As Mia did her best to breathe, I prayed continually that we'd be able to make it to the hospital to get her the care she needed. Stef talked to Mia and told her to stay strong and hold on, and that we loved her so much. Mia tried to cry, but the only sound her tiny lungs could muster was a kitten-like squeak.

Even though we were a half-hour away from Imabari, and she was tiny, we didn't panic. I had a calm assurance in my heart that everything was going to be all right. Still, I watched every minute tick away until we finally arrived in Imabari. The doctor and our friend were both waiting at the port as we got off the boat. I asked the island doctor if she'd ever delivered a baby, and she answered that she hadn't. The medics also had never delivered a baby. It was a miracle that everything went as well as it did on the boat.

The doctor told me that they planned on taking us all to the hospital in Imabari to make sure that the baby was stable enough to be transported by ambulance to Matsuyama. We traveled together to the hospital in an ambulance. I had to fill out new patient paperwork at the Imabari hospital while they took Mia off into another room. Stef hung around for a while, but then she was transported to the clinic where she had originally planned on having the baby.

The doctors checked Mia and decided that she was strong enough to go in an ambulance to the Ehime Prefectural Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (in Matsuyama), which was about an hour and a half away from Imabari. They told me that I should go there as soon as possible. I was willing to go immediately, but our friends were tired and were our only mode of transportation. They told me I should take the first train in the morning, and rest from 4AM to 6:30AM with Stef. I wasn't able to sleep.

I didn't have a jacket, and I was disheveled, but I walked in the cold to the train station to take the first speedy train to Matsuyama. I waited in line for the fast train to come, but it never did. There had been snow at one of the stops, so they canceled the train. I went from being first in line for the fast train to last in line for the slow train. The slow train took over an hour and a half, instead of 35 minutes. I took a taxi to the hospital and went to see Mia. With my Japanese and the doctors' English, we eventually communicated enough to where I understood Mia's condition. I stayed with Mia for a bit, then grabbed a taxi back to the train station.

After taking a fast train back to Imabari (it was back up and running), I ran to the port and hopped on the first of two boats to head back to Uoshima to pick up some stuff we'd need in the next few days. After changing boats in Yuge, the Uoshima ferry arrived at our island at about 4:40. Our grocery delivery came in on the same boat. I ran home, threw some stuff in a suitcase and, with the help of my supervisor, unloaded the groceries into the fridge. I got back on a boat at 5:20 and headed back for Imabari.

In less than twenty four hours, I watched my wife give birth on a small boat in the middle of nowhere, and traveled from Uoshima to Imabari, to Matsuyama, back to Imabari, back to Uoshima, and back again to Imabari. It was, by far, the most eventful day of my life.

At one point, our friend John, who was waiting at the hospital in Imabari with us while we waited to find out if Mia was okay to be transported by ambulance, asked me how I wasn't freaking out. He said that if he were in my shoes, he would be yelling and screaming and demanding answers. I told him that even though everything was extremely new and disorienting, I knew that everything was going to be okay. Throughout all this, I was able to keep my sense of humor. I firmly believe that I drew strength from the many family members who were praying for us back in America.


Thanks to everybody who's prayed for us or sent us good thoughts and vibes. We really appreciate it. I'll give you an in-depth update of our situation in the next couple days.

Update

First, we just want to thank everybody for the kind thoughts, words and prayers. We have felt uplifted.

Mia is getting stronger every day. It's still a long uphill battle, but we feel grateful that she's doing as well as she is. Being 14 weeks premature, her heart, lungs, skin, and other vital organs were all underdeveloped when she was born. Because her heart was underdeveloped, one of its arteries wasn't quite closed up enough to maintain steady blood pressure without heart medication. Her artery has started to close, and they no longer have to give her the heart medicine. She still needs to be sedated to keep her heart rate and blood pressure normal, because she likes to move around so much. She has a bacterial infection that she's receiving treatment for, and she's getting better each day. They had to give her oxygenation and electrical respiratory stimulation so that she could breathe normally. They no longer have to give her the oxygenation. Her jaundiced skin is improving every day.

She was improving so much that they decided to try to give her some of her mom's milk through a feeding tube. She couldn't digest it yet so they had to stop, but they tried again last night. We still haven't talked to the doctors, so we're not sure if she was able to digest it this time.

Stef found an apartment in Matsuyama that's about 20 minutes away from the hospital on foot. We can't move in until December 18th, but we lucked out and got an offer from a Canadian couple to stay in their apartment while they're on vacation. It's about 5 minutes from the hospital, so we're going to stay there until we can switch over to our new apartment.

The new apartment is very expensive, but the church is helping to pay for it since we can't afford it. We hope to only have to be there for three months. It's a one-room apartment that's pretty tiny, but it's furnished and utilities are included. We can even get internet, so Stef and I will be able to Skype once I go back to work on the island. It's a huge blessing.

I went back to the island two days ago to pack some more suitcases. I was worried about having enough vacation time to cover the days I would miss and still have some for early next year (so that Stef wouldn't be alone all week in Matsuyama). My boss told me that they were giving me the rest of December (until January 5th) off, paid--and I didn't have to use my vacation time. When I got home after hearing this, I fell to my knees and wept. I thanked my heavenly father for all the help. I have enough vacation time to take every Monday off for the next few months. I plan on working Tuesday through Friday, then making the 4+ hour trek to Matsuyama to be with Stef for the weekend. I'll go back to Uoshima every Monday in the afternoon.

Before we could leave the clinic where Stef was staying, we had to pay our hospital bills. I wasn't sure what I was paying for, but emptied out our accounts to pay the doctors. When I showed my receipt to the people at the Uoshima Town Hall, they said that I had been wrongly charged for the delivery of the baby. The doctor didn't even deliver the baby, yet I paid him $1600 for delivery alone. I still have to pay the island doctor for the delivery of the baby (only $250, but still, I shouldn't have to double-pay). The island doctor is outraged and is reporting him to some kind of better-business-bureau-type-thing. We're hoping that we will get our money back.

Insurance doesn't cover childbirth in Japan, but the city will pay you a lump sum of cash that usually covers the expenses of childbirth. In Imabari, you can walk out of the city office with cash the day you register the birth, but on my island you have to wait 1-2 months to get it. We'll be a bit strapped for cash until then, so it would be really nice to get that $1600 chunk back. They want Stef to open a bank account, but I don't know how we'll be able to split our money up into two accounts. We have a lot to think about.

I've been filling loads of paperwork out in order to get insurance for little Mia. Since she was so premature, most of the costs will be covered by insurance. We still have some costs, but we're much less worried about being able to afford the medical care than we were at first.

I was told to go the the embassy as soon as I could to register Mia's birth and get her a passport. When I contacted the embassy, they told me that the whole family had to be present, including Mia. There are no exceptions. We won't be able to go until she's healthy enough to leave the hospital. After stressing about it a bit, I've decided that it's not that big of a deal. She was born this year, so we can still claim her on our US taxes even if we don't have a social security number or passport for her. Rest assured that I'll be filing my tax return as soon as possible next year. We'll need that money to be able to afford a family trip to Tokyo or Osaka.

We finally had to buckle down and buy cell phones. We didn't need them on the island, but we'll need them out here. It's free to receive cell phone calls in Japan, and our family plan allows us to call each other whenever we need to for free. Calls to the same network are free from 1AM to 9PM (almost the opposite of the U.S.), but calls to other networks and in-network calls in from 9PM to 1AM cost about 42 cents a minute. I had to purchase the phones with cash--the plans where you get a free phone cost much more per month than the one we signed up for. I spent a total of 3-4 hours (in three separate trips) at the phone store trying to communicate with the salesman (without a translator) and understand what I was buying. I hope I got it right.

It's nice to have phones, even if we just use them to talk to each other and receive calls. My package included $60 of prepaid calls, so I have two SIM cards with different phone numbers. When I need to make calls, I pop in the pre-paid card. Once I'm done calling, I put the regular SIM card in. It's a bit of a hassle, but it will save me a bit of money over the next couple months.

Stef's dad is flying out here tomorrow to be with us and help with Kelsey. We're extremely excited for him to come, even if the apartment will be a bit of a tight fit. Hopefully we'll be able to spend time outside of the house.

I'm going to miss our house on Uoshima ('til I go back). We have a whole lot of food there that needs to come out with us. I'm not sure how I'm going to transport it to Matsuyama without it going bad. We may have to give some of it away and just eat (Ha!) the loss.

Again, thanks to everyone for your support. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. It really helps lighten the load.

Mia Noele Stout

For those who don't know, Stef gave birth to Mia Noele Stout 2 days ago on a rescue boat. She's 14 weeks premature, so we're praying for her to continue developing. For a more detailed account of the situation from Stef's perspective, go to jessenstef.spaces.live.com. We appreciate all the prayers on Mia's and our behalf. We need them. If you click on the slideshow, you can get a better look at the pictures.

Cool Video

Here's a really cool video. Scott, if you've got my blog address, I'm hoping you'll see this here.

Pictures

I'm posting some pictures from our typical Sunday trip that I wrote about today (look below this post to read it), as well as a few from the Thanksgiving activity at church.

Today our school was invaded by a swarm of flies on the second and third floors. Souji (cleaning) time was spent spraying flies with bug spray and watching hordes of flies spin around on the floor like tops. The bug spray somehow messes with their equilibrium before killing them.


Made with Slideshow Embed Tool

Sunday Trip

Saturday night, we do the ironing, prepare our backpacks with diapers, scriptures, church manuals, and any other things we need to take. We prepare food and put it in the fridge for Sunday's lunch. On Sunday, we get up at 5:45 and get ready for church. We get Kelsey up at around 6:20 or 6:30 and eat breakfast as we make the final preparations. While she's eating, I take her porta-crib down and put it on a fold-up dolly. Once we've eaten and gotten Kelsey ready, we put on our backpacks and run down to the harbor to catch the 7AM ferry to Yuge. I put the porta-crib and dolly in the cargo hold of the ferry while Stef pushes Kelsey's stroller up a ramp and into the boat. Depending on Stef's mood, we either sit in the front of the boat or in the back. Lately, we've sat in the back due to the smoother ride.

For about 40 minutes, we travel northwest through the inland sea, crossing the wakes of gigantic shipping vessels. Kelsey's usually pretty well-behaved on the first boat. She's in a pretty good mood in the morning and enjoys running around from seat to seat and playing with people. We stop at Takaikami, a small island with a population of 50 or so, and another fishing island that has some expensive condos that famous people like to use. The sea is wide, and on a clear winter day, you can see its mountainous borders far in the distance. When we approach Yuge, we ride through a channel with tree-covered hills on both sides. At first, little Japanese houses are sprinkled throughout the trees, but the closer we get to Yuge, things change from quaint to industrious. Old rusted shipping yards, reminiscent of something off Star Wars' planet Tatooine, pop up all around. Arriving at Yuge, we pass under a bridge and head for the dock. Off in the distance, massive ship-building cranes line the shore.

Stef and Kelsey wait with our stuff on a bench under a brown metal arbor while I head up to the port office to buy tickets for our next boat. At 7:55, it shows up and I struggle to hand over our tickets to the boat worker while Stef pushes Kelsey up the ramp and into the boat. I have to lift the dolly and turn it sideways to fit the crib through the door. We usually sit somewhere up front. This boat turns around, goes around one island, and heads back southward, stopping a few times along the way. A few of the stops have big shipyards with gigantic boats in different states of the building process. The hour-long ride takes us along the coast of many different islands in the inland sea. On our right, we see beautiful forested mountains and hills. On our left, nothing but the sea and ships on the horizon.

Kelsey's patience (or perhaps our own) starts to grow thin with about 20 minutes left to go on the second boat. She tells Stef that she has to go to the bathroom. Stef has already taken her to the bathroom twice. It turns out that Kelsey has already filled her diaper this time. Stef changes Kelsey's diaper while we both try to shield Kelsey from sight and smell. Kelsey's got one diaper left after getting a fresh one, and I begin to wonder aloud whether that will be enough for the whole day. Stef assures me that things will be all right (she was right). It's not that I don't trust her motherly instincts. In fact, she's almost always right. It's just that I'm very cautious and always wanting to be prepared. Sometimes I let my good intentions get in the way of being a good husband.

We get to Imabari at 9:00 or so and pull all our stuff off the boat. I hand the boat attendant the receipt portion of our tickets and squeeze out the door with all the stuff. Stef puts Kelsey in the stroller and we head off to church. Typically, we walk straight to the chapel, which takes about 15 minutes. This time, we stop at Imabari Castle to take some pictures. We make it to church at 9:45, and the members are surprised to see us. We usually make it to the chapel by 9:15 or so, so they figured that we had missed our boat or otherwise couldn't come to church.

Kelsey usually naps through the last two hours of church. This time, however, she doesn't go to sleep. She screams and screams until Stef gives in and gets her up. Stef lets her play with the other kids while we attend out classes. We dread the trip home with a napless child.

Church ends, we get home taught by John Scott, and then the Scotts take us back to the port in their car. I buy tickets for the ferry home. Kelsey runs around the waiting lobby while we wait for 2:35 to come around so we can board the boat. Kelsey grows restless, so Stef takes her outside on a walk. The boat lowers its ramp and lets us in for the second half of our trip. It's all the same, but for a few differences. Kelsey is extremely tired and restless, but we've got the whole front section of the boat to ourselves. I see this as a blessing. Kelsey can run around and scream, and it won't bother anybody. To our left, we see the islands. To the right, the sea, with ships on the horizon. The weather has been very favorable, so the ride is smooth. We feel very fortunate.

Stef is surprised when we arrive at Yuge, because the ride somehow seemed shorter this time. We load our stuff off the boat, I hand over my ticket stubs and squeeze out the door. The Uoshima ferry is waiting across the same dock. I roll the crib up to the boat and toss it in the cargo hold. We'd like to lay in the back of the boat, but a group of elderly people are sprawled across the floor, napping. We go up front to find a place to sit. One of my coworkers from the town hall gives Kelsey a mikan (mandarin orange), and hands me another one. Kelsey gets excited and shouts "Ma-tan! Ma-tan!" She loves mikans. Stef peels it for her, but she only takes one bite of each slice and hands the remains to Stef. She's been doing that a lot lately. I finish off the uneaten halves of her mikan slices.

Kelsey is a bit restless, but rather than being cranky, she's wacky. We finally make it to Uoshima at 4:40 or so and head back to the house with all our stuff. Church back home seemed inconvenient sometimes--especially when I had to scrape ice off the windshield during the winter. But compared to this, that was cake. Somehow we find the strength to do this every week. It costs us about $100 a week. But we don't just do it to get it over with. We gladly go. No matter how grueling the trip is, deep down we know that we need this. Somehow, though it is physically draining, it is mentally, emotionally, and spiritually uplifting. I almost didn't go on Sunday, as I got almost no sleep Saturday night. Kelsey certainly would have napped had I stayed at home with her while Stef went to church. But I'm glad I went.

Thanksgiving

So, I've been to the future, and it's fantastic. Thanksgiving is November 27th, but we had our Thanksgiving on Saturday. We got up at 5:45 on Saturday to make the trek out to Imabari for Stef's prenatal appointment (and church on Sunday).

John spent all day preparing food for a branch Thanksgiving dinner. The Scotts made all the good stuff you're used to: turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, stuffing, and more. Other people brought mashed potatoes, cheesy scalloped potatoes, drinks, Pringles, rice, and sushi. Stef made brownies and an eggplant-noodle dish.

A whole bunch of people showed up to the chapel. There was plenty of food to go around. Before we started eating, John took a moment to explain the tradition of Thanksgiving in America. After telling the revisionist story that we all learned in school, he said that the food we were eating was the same food the pilgrims ate for their harvest festival of Thanksgiving. I wondered aloud how grateful the pilgrims must have been for Pringles.

The food was great. It was neat to eat all the traditional Thanksgiving foods with chopsticks.

We used to do grocery shopping on the weekends, but now we go through a catalogue and order food online. Stef writes down the code numbers and quantities for all the items that we want, and I input them on a website by Tuesday night at 7. The next Monday, our food is placed on the Uoshima ferry and arrives at 4:40. Items that need refrigeration come in a styrofoam box with dry ice. Everything else comes in cardboard boxes. It's very convenient, even if the prices aren't always the best. It's worth not having to travel, and I'd actually guess that we spend less this way.

I had Monday off, so we stayed with the Scotts on Sunday night so that we could get some shopping done in Imabari. The boat ride was pretty wild; the wind was so strong that they weren't even sure if they'd let the boat leave. We needed to get to Yuge in time to reach the boat that arrives at 4:40 in Uoshima. Otherwise, we might not have made it back on Monday and our food could have spoiled. Even though the waves were high and the ride was bumpy, we got home safely and got to put our groceries away. One of these days I'll give a more detailed account of our trek to church. It's quite grueling.

On a different subject, when we were decorating for Halloween, on the window Stef stuck little rubbery goo stickers in the shape of ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, witches and cats. She also spelled out HAPPY HALLOWEEN for passersby to read. Kelsey found them. One by one, she would climb up on the couch and grab one while we weren't looking. At first, we got mad that she was ruining the decorations. HAPPY HALLOWEEN slowly turned to HAP HALLOW, or some other such nonsense. But then, we realized that they weren't that important, and we had only spend a couple bucks on them anyway. It wasn't a big deal. By the time that Kelsey had whittled our decorations to HA LOL, we had already learned to laugh at the situation. Kelsey really is a cute little girl. We'll be happy if her little sister is half as cute.

That's right. We're having a girl! :D

Blog posts? It's time for "nuh-one"

So, Kelsey's talking quite a bit now. She can say a ton of things: boat, movie, 'nanas, I love you, treat, poopoo, shoes, slide, drink, juice, bing (the sound the toaster makes), toast, running, me, you, yep, yes, no, no-no, choo-choo, Mommy, Daddy, blue, Nemo, cat, kitty, Mama's sleeping, and pretty much anything we ask her to say.

As a linguist, I'm fascinated by some of the things she says.
Backpack: It's hard to say the velar stop consonant /k/, and much harder to say it directly before moving to the bilabial stop /p/. Even though she can say "cat" and "kitty", she hasn't figured out how to produce the /k/ when it comes at the end of a syllable. She omits the first /k/, and turns the second /k/ into the closest voiceless stop consonant she can say at the end of a word: /t/. Kelsey loves her "bapat".

Kelsey likes to point at things and tell us what they are. For example, on the ferry ride, she points out the window at a passing freighter and says, "Boat!" If another boat passes, however, she'll say, "nuh-one!" If she wants another piece of chicken, she'll point to ours and say "nuh-one!" Every additional cat she sees after the first is a "nuh-one!" Her love of pointing out "another one" of everything she sees has subtly influenced some other words she says.

She hasn't yet figured out how to say /r/ or /l/, which is normal for her age. When 2+ syllable words end in either /r/ or /l/, she'll often pronounce it as an /n/. Pillow becomes /piwwone/ ('one' pronounced like the number), shower becomes /showone/, towel becomes /towone/. It's very cute.

Before Kelsey started talking a lot, she would follow Stef around with her arms up, wanting to be held. Stef would ask Kelsey, "Do you want me to hold you?" And Kelsey would say "Yep!" When Stef was cooking, Kelsey would beg for attention, putting her arms up and whining to be held. Stef, preparing the food, would say, "I can't hold you right now."

Kelsey heard "holdyou" as one word. Up until recently, when she wanted to be held, she'd walk up to Stef and say, "Holdyou! Holdyou!" While very cute, Stef and I wanted to make sure that she understood that she should say say "hold me!" instead. So, after a week or two of drilling it into her, she now says, "Holdyou..........me! Holdyou..........me!" She's very entertaining.

Kelsey now says "'scuse you!" when someone passes gas, including herself. It's very cute. I'm sure that, before long, after passing gas she'll say "'scuse you.........me!"

Drumroll please

So, we're having a .....................................................................................
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............................................................baby!

Ha, just kidding! I know you want more information than that.

O.K., the gender of the baby is ...................................................................................
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..............................................................something that we're not going to find out for another 5 weeks!

So, the doctor was too lazy to wait a minute for the baby to flip around during the ultrasound. "It's too early to tell" is Japanese for "I don't want to have to take the time to find out the sex, and I don't care if you really want to know. You're in my country, and you're going to do things my way. Deal with it, buddy."

The Killer Bingo Instinct

So, the kids here love to play bingo. I remember playing bingo, hangman, and all sorts of other games as a kid. But bingo is where it's at in Japan. As part of a lesson, I created a bingo game for one of my students. The squares of a 5-by-5 board were filled with pictures of different foods and depictions of different actions. Below each picture was a phrase, such as "Do you like...?" (under grapes, pizza, etc.) or "Can you drive a..." (under a car, boat, etc.) Each square had a spot where you would guess the answer of the person to your left. After guessing the other person's preference or ability, each person would ask one question per turn. The object of the game was to guess correctly on five consecutive spaces, resulting in "bingo". The middle space was free, of course.

This bingo game was actually the second such game that I played with my students. Only having one student the first time hampered things a bit (I wonder who's going to win?)*, so I included sheets for the other teacher and me. I figured that I'd take it easy and give the student a chance to win. This was my downfall. She avoided, at all costs, any kind of victory. When she had three or four in a row, she would change rows and go for another random square. I had to lie about what I thought she would answer so that I wouldn't win. I expected the game to last about ten minutes. Twenty minutes later, when we were still playing bingo, I decided to put her out of her misery and win the game. I feel bad winning, but there was really no other choice! We would still be playing the same bingo game today, Stef would be wondering where her husband went, and I would be clawing Japanese swear words into my skin.

What happened to the killer bingo instinct? Why would she not try to finish the game? Her shyness had nothing to do with it, as she could have gotten out of the game more quickly by winning. Is it a Japan thing? I have yet to complete a bingo game that the kids won (after a huge sample of 2 games). Are they so worried about standing out that they don't even have the killer bingo instinct? Will I ever understand the Japanese mind? The world may never know.

*The answer: nobody. Nobody won, because of unseen forces that caused fiery darts of imaginary pain when he considered going for the fifth square.

The language

I'm still struggling a bit with Japanese. I'm understanding a lot, and I can say quite a bit now. I've even had multiple effective phone conversations in Japanese. But the sheer amount of implicit information in Japanese daunting.

The other day, I was leaving class after teaching a lesson. Goda-sensei, with whom I team-teach Tetsuya, told me that Maegami-sensei was holding a math lesson for Tetsuya. Nice, I thought.

What I didn't understand was that the Japanese equivalent of "Maegami-sensei is holding a math lesson for Tetsuya" actually means "All of the teachers from the school are obligated to attend this math lesson for reasons that nobody can or ever will explain. If you don't go, the principal with seek you out and give you a look of shame and an invitation (summons) to the aforementioned class."

I sat through the class, which didn't appear to be any different from any other class I've seen in Japan. None of the teachers participated, and everyone just watched Tetsuya's normal, everyday lesson. I'm still not sure why I had to go, but I'm sure I'll soon be blogging about how I didn't know that I was supposed to write a 15-page report on Tetsuya's math lesson.

Souji

I have a confession to make. I used to hate cleaning. Wipe that baffled look off your face--it's true. As recently as 2 weeks ago, I hated all types of cleaning. Today, I find myself a changed man.

Every morning, I lumber up a hill to school. Upon arrival, one of the teachers is always ready to pop a Japanese pop CD into the school PA system. The music signals the beginning of souji, our cleaning time. Rather than hiring a janitor, many schools in Japan leave the cleaning to the teaching staff and students. In the morning, we usually clean the school grounds by weeding and raking. At first, I didn't know where to go. I'd look around to see what other people were doing and try to make myself as transparent as possible.

Morning cleaning had nothing on afternoon souji. The music would start and everybody would disappear. Sometimes I'd go the whole session without seeing another soul. I'd grab a rag and start scrubbing something.

I'm pleased to announce that I've changed. Do I hate cleaning now? Yes. But at least I know what's going on. It turns out that there's a cleaning schedule written in kanji, the elaborate writing system borrowed from Chinese. Even after this revelation, I still struggled to know where I should clean. It always seemed like people were just cleaning the same things over and over, even though they weren't dirty. Luckily, I have an advantage that helps me find new things to clean: I'm almost two meters tall. I no longer have to search for places to clean; I just clean the hall walls and windows where nobody else can reach them!

As for the outside, I found that they don't really care what you're doing as long as you look busy. Every morning, I trudge up the hill, grab a hoe, and head off to a corner to yank weeds. As I crouch down and hack at the ground, I take a few minutes to meditate about lessons, future plans, and anything else that's pressing. Okay, so I still hate cleaning. But souji time is actually pretty therapeutic now.

Don't fear the reaper

Ryan, I love you.

Our First Hike

So, we went on our first real (well, as real as it can get with Kelsey) hike here in Uoshima. We walked about halfway around the perimeter and then back. It really is beautiful out here. Here are some pictures of the hike. Click the picture to see the rest.

Uoshima Hike

Thanks, Stef!

So, I was going to blog today, but Stef already posted a lot of what I was going to say! Check out her newest post at jessenstef.spaces.live.com.

So many thoughts, so little time

The other day, I was outside, weeding the school grounds with the staff and students. Suddenly, a bee charged at me, sending me flying into the air in a hoe-swinging panic. I ran around for two minutes, flailing at the bee that followed me as though it had some sort of fear-seeking lock-on technology. I finally lured it away when another bee came at me from the other direction. After evading it, I went back to weeding. Of course, a third bee felt left out and came at me with the furor of a thousand suns, and I scrambled to safety. Cleaning time ended and we were allowed to go back inside for the morning staff meeting.

During staff meetings, the teachers take turns making announcements in a very formal manner (bows and everything). Since I don't speak much Japanese yet, I always sit quietly during the morning meeting. This time, I waited until everybody had made their announcements, and when the person conducting the meeting asked if there were any other matters to discuss, I raised my hand, stood up, and said with a straight face, "I just got chased by three bees. It was not fun. That is all." I sat back down as though nothing strange had happened. The other teachers chuckled.

At church last week, we were sitting in the back row of Sunday School singing a hymn, when I realized that the whole congregation--with the exception of Me, Stef, and the American missionary--was singing in unison. I thought of the Japanese beliefs about social harmony and not wanting to stick out, and realized how plain it can seem sometimes. While, the Japanese don't have to deal with as many insurgents, they often appear to be devoid of their own personality. Just as our alto, tenor, and bass voices added color to an otherwise drab chorus, so do we, as Americans, add a bit of color to Japan. Whenever I start to wonder why they pay me to be here, I can just look back to Sunday School.

This weekend, we had a pretty cool festival in town. I performed Highway Star for the first time, and I think I did pretty well. Sure, it's a lot of screaming. But it's much easier to have some stage presence when you're rocking out to Deep Purple than when you're singing about how you can make your baby smile.

That same night, Ryota, Tetsuya's brother, danced and sang on stage with my young students. Japanese music tends to borrow phrases of English, such as in the following, "watashi wa anata o I LOVE YOU FOR EVER BABY" or "sumimasen, wakarimasen, kono yuubinkyoku de HIT THAT GIRL YEAH!" For some reason, they always write the English in these songs in capital letters on the CDs.

One thing that makes these songs a bit funny is the fact that Japanese phonetics are not like American English phonetics. The letter "I" is pronounced like the latin "I", so words like "hit" and "his" sound like "heat" and "he's", and so on. Imagine my surprise when the emcee announced the next song to be sung and danced to by Ryota and the gang: "IT'S MY SOUL!" I know that the Japanese can seem strange sometimes, but I had no idea that they were that morbid. I couldn't help but chuckle every time the chorus came around, and Ryota told us all about how "something-something-EATS MY SOUL! YEAH!"

Gotta go teach! But first, here's some video of the festival, as well as a little video of Kelsey running in town.

Update

Tonight's the first part of the omikoshi festival in Uoshima. The mikoshi is a heavy little portable shrine on beams that people put on their shoulders and carry around all day. They wave it around wildly and sometimes even take it into the water. That part doesn't take place until tomorrow, but tonight we have a party up at the shrine. There will be chicken, yakisoba, and lots of people. Oh, and Uoshima'X's second performance. Tonight I sing Highway Star for the first time. We'll see how that goes. I'll try to get some pictures of everything.

As for the ad for Exclusive Exteriors--I'm trying to get the site onto the search engines, and that's one way to do it.

Landscaping in Sacramento

If you ever need landscaping or concrete work done and you live in the Sacramento area, check out Exclusive Exteriors. Rory Merrill does a great job and offers all sorts of services. I'm impressed by how much he loves what he does, and how clean the job site is.

You can contact him at (916)987-8929.

More Video

Here you go. I'll write soon.

Videos

Here are some videos. I wasn't able to get as many up as I wanted, but these will have to do for now.

Relay Champion

So, it's been a while. Things have been pretty busy, even if I haven't exactly been teaching often. I teach between zero and three classes a day, but it's usually either one or two. I've still managed to stay busy, though. Every day, for two hours, all the teachers and students would get together and rehearse a dance that we were to perform at Undokai, the sports festival. In addition, we practiced for some relay races and other fun things.

Undokai was on Saturday. The whole town came out to watch and participate in the festivities. At the school, tents were set up on both sides of an oval-shaped running track. The school and town staff (including the mayor of Kamijima) sat on one side, while the rest of the townsfolk sat under the other tents. After each event (usually some kind of competition), the participants received some kind of prize, like a bag of chips or a curry rice mix.

Our dance was the 14th event of the day. Before we got to show off our moves, we got to participate in some of the other events. In one, called the centipede (mukade) there were two three-foot two-by-fours placed side by side with three leather straps on each to hold feet. Three people would stand on them together and try to walk in unison. Two teams raced against each other, each team having six groups of three people (in relay fashion). Occasionally, someone would try to go too fast and all three people would topple over into the dirt. It was pretty amusing. I took it nice and slow and didn't fall. My team won the mukade race.

In another, Stef and I had to run to a designated spot with a rugby ball between our chests. Once we got there, I put the ball on a catapult and launched it into the air. Stef had to scurry, but she got to the ball and caught it in a basket. Our team (which was, again, like a relay with five or six couples to each team) won. It didn't really matter, since we all got the same prize anyway. But it was fun to compete.

When my turn to dance finally came up, I put on a shiny red robe and a thin, red bandana and ran out to the middle of the field with noise-makers tucked into the back of my shorts (underneath the robe). We clicked the noise-makers and twirled around the field to a non-traditional version of a traditional song. Our performance went pretty smoothly, and I didn't embarrass anybody.

Even though I was tired and sweaty from the dance, I had to participate in the next event: the relay race (normal, everyday running). When my turn came, my team was in the lead. I ran as fast as I could, extending our team's lead. In the end, our team eked out a victory in the relay. I was presented with the top prize, a case of beer. I laughed it off and gave it up right away.

In another relay, the mayor and the principal matched up on the last leg. The principal, running in his normal work clothes, had a short lead as he approached the last turn. The mayor, trying to push ahead right at the end, lost his footing and tumbled to the ground right before the finish line. Poor guy--I felt pretty bad for him. He was a good sport, though. Undokai was fun; I'm glad that I was forced to go.

A week earlier, I had my first band performance at the festival for Respect for the Aged Day. As we hurried to set our equipment up after the previous act, I noticed that my microphone wasn't working. I tried to get the attention of the band, but nobody paid attention. Twenty seconds into the song, when everybody realized that my mic didn't work, all the event staff started freaking out. They scrambled to get me a working mic, which slightly distracted me (as we were still performing). When they got me a working mic, it was much too loud, so I couldn't sing with the right dynamics. Nobody seemed to notice, but I'm extremely critical of my performance. I shook my head afterwards, and the band members encouraged me to look forward to our next performance, which is in less than two weeks.

Now that Undokai's over, I should have more time to study Japanese (and update my blog) at work. Unfortunately, I have to stay after school if I want to exercise. If I can get them to figure out how to lower the basketball hoops in the gym, I'll have something to do even when it gets cold.

I took some video recently of some common people and places in the town. I'll post that, along with some video of our dance rehearsal, as soon as I have time.

One thing that really stinks is our inability to watch English programming on TV. We don't even turn the thing on that much. While that may seem like a good thing, we'd love to be able to watch the Office and Stef's TLC shows (John & Kate Plus 8, Little People, Big World). My work blocks the port used for bittorrent. So, any people that want to send care packages that also understand bittorrent could hook us up with a DVD full of stuff that we could watch on the computer. Divx and xvid files are wonderful.

Be sure to constantly check Stef's blog at http://jessenstef.spaces.live.com for more information about our time in Japan.

You're welcome, Uoshima!

So, it's Saturday, and I'm at work. We had this Monday off, but have to work on Saturday to make up for it. Work is a bit of an overstatement, though. I don't have anybody to teach, so I'm just sitting at my desk, watching the time tick by. I left for work at the perfect time today. Right as I neared the foliage-covered incline leading up to the school, it started to pour. I managed to avoid getting rained on. I guess it didn't really matter, though. Within seconds of arriving at school, I was drenched in sweat.

Today will be my first performance with Uoshima'X. We're playing in front of a bunch of elderly people. As you can see (if you watched the dismal rehearsal video), our song is in English (sort of), so they aren't going to have any clue what's going on. The pressure's not too high right now. The mayor of Kamijima is coming to the festivities, though, so that adds a little excitement. It's pretty low-key, though. I don't mind that I don't have a rock star voice; I like the fear-management aspect that comes with performing.

I found a Netflix-like service out here that has a surprisingly good selection of American TV DVDs. We made a list of shows we want to watch that are available (it's about 15 shows deep at this point). We're going to start with Lost and Stargate SG-1 (and maybe one more) and work from there. Being immersed in Japanese culture is cool and all, but sometimes you need something to remind you of home.

Wow

Look what I got myself into. That's all I have to say for now.



Untitled from Jesse Stout on Vimeo.

Some pictures

So, we still don't have many pics. I promise that we'll take some pictures of the house and surroundings soon. For now, these will have to do.

This is me with Brett Gilbert in Tokyo before I came out to Uoshima:















This is a random street in Shinjuku (in Tokyo).



Subway ride from Shinjuku station to Meguro



Random pictures from the festival in Yuge:





I wanted so badly to buy this ice, but I had to settle for regular ice because I didn't know the difference.



A sign that made me chuckle (yeah, I'm 12):



Ash tray in Yuge:



Welcome party in Uoshima:



Ethan and Sarah at the welcome party:



My town hall work desk:



Beach close to our old house:



Uoshima from a little island just outside:



Zoomed view:



Kelsey at the rock island:



A couple Uoshima sunset photos to finish up:

Internet's back!

Well, we actually had it the whole time--we just didn't know. Feel free to call us at our Utah phone number (it rings here and doesn't cost us anything).

My Inner Struggle

I'm having a real tough time coping with something.

Apple makes a mean computer. Components work together, software usually works very well, and everything is extremely streamlined. The new magnetic power adapter is an engineering marvel. If you trip over the cord, it won't jerk the notebook off the desk. The magnetically secured cable automatically detaches, averting all sorts of impact-related problems. Most hardware problems that one might encounter are covered for free during the warranty period (and sometimes even after the warranty period). Yep, Apple's pretty awesome.

So, why the stress? My Macbook, which has been great, had its first problem this last week. The awesomely designed power adapter stopped working. The metal pins that are held together magnetically are backed by springs to help absorb some of the impact caused by the very same magnetism. Well, the two outside pins' springs broke on me, and my laptop now fails to charge. This is not the first time that I've experienced problems with Apple brand power adapters. On my old G4 Powerbook, I constantly had to wiggle the little cable that ran out of the power brick. On the old iBook, I had similar problems with the small-cable side of the brick (which eventually warranted the purchase of a replacement power adapter).

So yeah, I'm a little irked about not being able to use my computer. The real conflict comes with Apple's awesome service. Even though I'm living in Japan, I had no problem ordering a free replacement power adapter. Apple's got English language support in Japan, and their Japanese warehouse will ship it out within a week, even though I live on a tiny island that takes hours to reach. That's service. In essence, Apple won't allow me to be ticked off about faulty awesome engineering because they're replacing it for free in a super-short amount of time.

Those of you considering the purchase of a Mac: know that the adapters can be a little finnicky. But buy the Mac anyway, because the product and service are amazing.

First day of school! First day of school!

Every day, Kelsey begs us to put on Finding Nemo. Whenever we do, we skip the tragic first scene and start with Nemo's first day of school. On his way to school, Nemo somehow strays from the rest of the class. Today is my first day of school. Since we're living in a new house in another part of town, I had trouble finding the path that leads up to the school. With some help, I was able to locate the right path. Ethan, my predecessor here in Uoshima, had warned me about the hike up to the school. All the teachers came to school dripping with sweat every day because of the long, steep concrete path that weaves through the cemetery and up to the school. I had walked it a few times with the kids, and hadn't had any trouble with it. For some reason, today was different. That hill is a beast. My whole outfit was drenched in sweat by the time I made it up to the school this morning. I need to carry a sweat towel with me to school.

Up until now, I worked at the Yakuba (town hall) here in Uoshima. Since I don't really do much outside of teaching, I have spent the last month sitting around and trying to help out with paperwork filled on my behalf. I didn't have any tasks to complete, so it was really just a place to put me until I was truly needed. The teachers were out of town, too, so I wasn't able to communicate with anybody about what the students understand or how I can help meet their needs. I still have no idea how I am going to teach these kids. One of them has a text book that I can use, but the others are all my responsibility.

I teach Tetsuya, the 2nd year junior high student, starting tomorrow. This week, I teach Tuesday during 6th period, Wednesday during 1st and 3rd period, Thursday during first and fifth period, and Friday at the kindergarten. This week is nothing but Tetsuya. Starting next week, Thursdays will be my class for Kana (usually during 5th period). Once a month, I will teach the other three kids who are in elementary school. I still don't know when that will start. If you include my four kindergarten students that I teach for 20-30 minutes every Friday, I actually have 9 students. Even with 9 students, I don't do much teaching out here. 2-3 hours a day, max. Some days I teach for as little as one hour.

When I got to the school, I put on my clean, new inside-shoes (you can't wear shoes inside that have ever been worn outside) and walked into the staff room, greeting everybody as I entered with a healthy “Ohayou gozaimasu”. I shuffled over to my desk--bowing slightly as I passed the principa--and plopped myself into my seat, wedging my western hips into a non-western-size desk chair. After sitting for a minute, the morning meeting started. One of the teachers stood up and said something, after which all the teachers immediately stood up, arms to the side. Surprised by the efficiently violent way in which they all stood up, I tried to do the same. The chair stuck to my hips as I tried to get up, so I half-stood there for a second and yanked the chair away so that I could stand fully upright. They laughed and brought me a wider chair. The morning meetings are extremely formal. It's hard to know how to react. I'm afraid to move my arms from my side to wipe my sweat away, as it might be a sign of disrespect. I don't really know.

Today is my self-introduction in front of the school. I will do it in English, because that is much easier. Besides, I'm supposed to bridge cultural barriers and all that jazz. I'm not quite sure what I'll say.

…

We just got back from the first assembly of the school year. The self-introduction was short and sweet. I just said a few things and sat down. After the Japanese teacher of English (JTE) translated for everybody, we went on with the rest of the meeting. We went up to the fourth floor of the school building (it's a full-size school with only five students) and stood around while the students set up chairs for the teachers (after being commanded to do so by one of the teachers). The five students sat in the middle of the room (facing the chalkboard) while the six teachers sat in chairs facing the sides of the desks. The principal sat next to the teachers while the vice principal made announcements from behind the teachers. Apparently on behalf of all the students, Tetsuya made a formal introduction to me and we bowed at each other. Each of the students then got up and gave a speech that apparently stated their goals for the year.

There were some moments of silence, one at the beginning and one at the end of the assembly. Since I didn't understand what they were saying, I didn't know how long the silence would last. There was a lot of bowing. Everybody sang the Japanese national anthem, as well as the school anthem. After the assembly, we went to clean the school for about twenty minutes. The JTE told me where to clean and showed me some rags. Everybody else had brooms, so I didn't really know where to start. I wet down a rag and just started wiping things, hoping that I wouldn't seem foolish.

After cleaning, we came back to the staff room and sat around for a while. All of a sudden, we had to get up and evacuate the room and go outside in some kind of earthquake drill. When we got to the front door, I asked if it was okay to wear my shoes outside. They said yes, and we all ran out to a designated spot in the schoolyard. The students stood still while the principle gave them instructions for possible future emergencies. Or maybe he was talking about how delicious octopus is. I guess I don't really know.

The day is long. I'm sure I'll have more stories to tell. Or not. It looks like my first day is a half-day. Whee!

Before I go, I just want to mention that our neighbor gave us a raw half-octopus the other day. I had no idea what to do with it, but didn't want it to go to waste. I fried it up with some soy sauce and seasoning and tried to eat it. The small pieces weren't that bad, but it got pretty hard to stomach as I got past the tentacles and up to the fat part of the arm. Awesome.

Oh, also--we won't have internet at home for the next two weeks. While I can reply at work, Stef won't be able to check her e-mail and the Vonage phone won't work.

Oh, what a night

Unicorns. All the video games in the world. The ability to fly. Hitler in a tutu singing theme songs of 80's sitcoms. These are the things that dreams are made of. Stef went to bed last night at at 7 after a tiring day. While she was dreaming of Almond Roca-paved streets, I was hunched over the computer, fervently typing code for a friend's website. After a grueling day spent verifying table cell widths and CSS properties, I was ready for dreamland at 10. But I didn't get to hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth, save the world from the jellyfish men or miss every three-point shot while my teeth fell out. Not at 10, anyway.

We're moving to a house in town that's got more rooms and more privacy. Yesterday, an electrician from another island came to our apartment to remove our air-conditioner and install it in the new house. No longer able to enjoy cool air in the apartment, we tried to compensate by spreading the hot air around with an oscillating fan. I tossed and turned from 10 until about 12, when I finally got on the escalator to dreamland. An escalator to nowhere!

I was awakened by the sound of Kelsey whimpering. Stef and I moved the porta-crib from Kelsey's room into ours, and she went back to bed--for a few seconds. Suddenly, she started groaning again. Stef got up and soothed her with a soft back rub. Every time Stef took her hand away, Kelsey cried. It wasn't clear if Kelsey was awake, but Stef thinks she might have had her first nightmare. I can see it now: dancing and twirling around in a land of plentiful toast, where the juice flows like water, and every wall and window is a TV with an endless loop of Finding Nemo. Without warning, the toast disappears. Water flows like water. Nemo runs away with another fish (..and his name was Lamar!).

Lucky for me, Stef was willing to help Kelsey through her rough night. I boarded the slow train to bliss and eventually made it there. As I enjoyed my bottomless rootbeer float in heaven, I started sinking into the clouds. The sky abruptly opened and I torpedoed back to Earth.

"Wake up!" Stef said. It's 7:45 and you have to leave for work in a half-hour. Crap. I felt like I could have slept for another hour. In a daze, I hurriedly showered, threw my clothes on, and wolfed down a bowl of corn flakes. I heard a ferry horn in the background, which was odd for that time. I thought that I had heard a coworker say yesterday that most people wouldn't be at work today. Maybe that horn was for some special kind of ferry, like one that had come during the week from another island. A half-hour later, I remembered that it was Thursday, and that I had to take the non-burnable trash to the trash plant. Three massive bags festered on our little back porch. The next day for non-burnables was next Tuesday. Tuesday was not an option.

I jumped into my shoes, gave Kelsey a kiss, loaded the trash bags onto a dolly, and started running to the trash center (which is in the opposite direction of the town hall, where I'm working). I tossed the bags into the disposal truck and walked briskly past the apartment, throwing the dolly against the fence as I passed. A few minutes later, as I neared the town hall, I glanced up at the town clock to see how late I was. Being late is much worse in Japan than in America. People really look down on you for it. It was :28 after, so I was looking okay. I turned the corner and walked through the automatic doors at the town hall, and greeted the only other person there. "Nobody's here today, eh?" I asked, assured that I had understood what my coworker said the day before. "Oh, they're all coming in today, my coworker said. At 8:30. It's 7:30 right now."

When I opened the unlocked door to our apartment, Stef jumped. I ignored her quizzical look and approached her. I pointed to the clock, my head tilted to the side and my eyes staring off into nothingness. "I'm so sorry!" Stef said. "I swear I thought it was an hour earlier!" So that's how she gets me to take out the garbage. John Wayne will just have to wait until tonight to twirl that red-licorice lasso while riding through the sky on a twinkie.

Quick notes

Stef has updated the family blog with a couple posts about her first few experiences out here. You can read them at jessenstef.spaces.live.com.

Loren Noel, the driver of the car that Kaleo was a passenger in, wrote about the accident. It's a heart-wrenching and touching account. I also recommend reading the other post on that blog.

My prayers are with the families of those involved.

They're finally here!

Japan loves Sarah Jessica Parker. Don't ask me why. Soda cans, posters, commercials, plastic fans--her image is plastered over all of them. She appears to be seen as the consummate American beauty, which is strange, considering the fact that I've never met someone who thinks she is attractive. Okay, I lied. Bryce does. But that doesn't make it any less weird to me.

Last week, I had a conference in Matsuyama. It had nothing to do with Sarah Jessica Parker, which is good. I took the ferry to Imabari, after which I had my first solo train ride. I understood the symbols for both my departure and arrival cities, so I had an idea of what I needed to buy. When I got to the ticket machine, there were three kinds of tickets that I could buy, so I wasn't quite sure where to start. The three options: non-reserved express ticket, standard ticket, and both tickets. I wasn't sure if there wouldn't be room for me on the express train, so I just bought the standard ticket. The express ticket was actually cheaper than the standard ticket. When the standard train arrived, the conductor stood by a window next to the entrance. I walked up to the door, but it didn't open. The conductor pointed to a button, which I pressed to open the train door. For the next hour-and-a-half, I rode the train through the coastal countryside to Matsuyama. It turns out that my 90 minute train ride would have been a 30 minute trip had I bought the express ticket. You buy both tickets if you want to ride the express train. They sell the express tickets separately in case you already have a standard ticket and want to upgrade. I saved about $5 and got some nice views, so I don't regret taking the slow train.

I wandered around Matsuyama and explored some of its many electronics shops. There's a store called Hard Off, which causes me to chuckle every time I see it. I found my hotel and checked in. When I got up to my room, I opened the door to a dark room. I frisked the wall for some kind of light switch, but nothing I did turned on the lights. I opened up the curtains, which were actually much closer than I had anticipated--the room was not much bigger than the bed it housed. The room had a remote-controlled air conditioner, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to turn it on. I sat and watched TV in the blazing heat, but eventually grew tired of making sweat angels in my bedsheets. As I searched for some way to turn on the AC, I found a mysterious little slot near the front door that contained no instructions. I stuck my card in the slot, and the lights in the room magically turned on. I was finally able to turn the AC unit on as well, though I didn't quite understand it. After accidentally turning the heater on for a minute or so, I figured out how to get it to blow cold air. Finally comfortable with my room controls, I changed my clothes and set out for a bite to eat.

I found a McDonald's restaurant in one of the long, covered shopping centers in Matsuyama. I ordered my food in Japanese and took it up to the second of three floors. Some teenage girls sat in kimonos, eating fries and texting their friends. As excited as I was to try McDonald's in Japan, I found that it still is just McDonald's. It wasn't nearly as good as I had anticipated.

The girls were dressed up in kimonos because of the continuing celebration of Bon. In Matsuyama, the shopping centers (long covered streets with shops on both sides--like outdoor strip malls) were roped off on the sides, while hundreds of groups of youth paraded in the middle, performing elaborate dance routines behind slowly-moving, amplifier-toting trucks. Thousands of people came out to see the festivities.

I checked out some more shops. I eventually found a book store with a small selection of English-language books. I bought all four Frog and Toad books in English for under twenty bucks. It'll be nice to have these when Kelsey gets old enough to really appreciate them. After checking out the shops, I went back to the hotel and watched some TV before going to bed. Has anyone else ever noticed the striking resemblance shared by Billy Ray Cyrus and George Michael (the singer/songwriter, not the Bluth)? It's uncanny.

I also ate at a little bakery in Matsuyama, as well as a little joint called Freshness Burger. Both places' offerings were pretty tasty. I saw a Baskin Robbins, and can confirm that they still sell the Daiquiri Ice flavor here.

Friday Morning, I skipped out on the second day of the orientation to pick the girls up from the airport in Tokyo. I left on a bus at 7AM, and flew from Matsuyama airport at 9:30. The plane took me to Haneda, the airport that's in the middle of the Tokyo metropolis. Stepping out of the airport terminal, I saw buses ready to take me anywhere I wanted. The bus to Narita airport (where Stef and Kelsey were arriving) was directly in front of me, about ten feet away. An hour and a half later, when I arrived at the airport, I rushed around the airport looking for all the places we'd need to go before switching planes. I found the baggage shipping service, the check-in counter, and the arrival lobby. I grabbed a drink and waited at the arrival lobby for my girls to come through. In my mind, I played and replayed the scenario of Stef and Kelsey walking out the door, seeing me, and us running to meet each other with big bear hugs. I looked at the arrival screen to see if their plane was on time, and to my surprise, it was about an hour early. They would be coming out those doors within the next 15-30 minutes. 15 minutes passed. 30. 45. I asked one of the American-looking people if they were coming from San Francisco, and she confirmed my hunch. After having waited an hour, there was still no sign of Stef and Kelsey.

I began to ask myself if they'd missed their flight, and if they had, how I would possibly know. I thought about going to an information desk to ask if they could check flight records to confirm that they made it on the plane. She wouldn't know how to contact me, and I had no way of contacting her. Suddenly, I heard my name over the public address system, and began walking around looking for the information desk to which I was being summoned. As my eyes scanned the room, they passed a pair they recognized: Stef's. They were filled with tears, showing the stress of being in a foreign place, unable to find her husband who should have been waiting for her. She had apparently come out another door that was completely unmarked, separate from the "arrivals" door where everybody awaited their loved ones.

From the moment she got her luggage off the baggage carousel, she had to push a cart full of suitcases, push Kelsey in the stroller, and pull a suitcase, car seat, and a bunch of carry-ons (basically, the luggage capacity for two adults, with a baby and a car seat to boot)--all by herself. Poor Stef. I gave her a big hug and kiss. Kelsey looked up from her car seat at me, and stuck her arms out toward me. I picked her up, and she wouldn't let me put her down, even though I had a lot to take care of. We took the luggage over to the shipping service and shipped all but a couple things. We then checked in for our next flight and waited a couple hours to board the plane. Though layovers are usually annoying, it was nice to finally spend time with Stef and Kelsey. We really missed each other. After some good conversation, we finally boarded the plane to Hiroshima.

A family from Mexico city was on the same plane. Chatting with the dad, I found out that they have lived in Hiroshima for the past 5 years. They have a few kids, ranging from 7 to 16 years of age. We talked briefly about the Spanish language, after which I told him of my desire to learn Japanese. He thought that Japanese was easier to learn than Spanish. As an English-speaker, I have to disagree. I understand a lot of what is said out here, but I took 3 semesters of intense Japanese courses. My 3 years of high school Spanish don't even equal one semester of university Japanese. Still, my Japanese is pretty rough. I feel like I could transcribe what people were saying, but that I don't know what the words mean. I hear each syllable and pick out phrases and grammatical structures, but I just don't have the vocabulary I need. I guess I shouldn't expect to after only 3 weeks.

The flight landed in Hiroshima and we took a taxi to the hotel. We were famished. There weren't any restaurants around, so we had food brought up to our room. It was expensive, but worth it (since Stef was so exhausted). Kelsey somehow managed to be hyper and spry, even though she hadn't slept much and it was 4AM to her (we went to bed at 8PM or so). We set up her portable crib and put her in it, and she fell asleep pretty quickly.

The next morning, we had the hotel's delicious breakfast buffet and set out for Uoshima. From 9AM until about 2PM, we rode the buses, admiring the beautiful green landscapes along the way (when Kelsey let us). After our last bus stop, we went grocery shopping and then waited for the ferry to Uoshima. We caught the 3:30PM ferry and arrived in Uoshima at about 4:30. Exhausted from all the travel, we went home to rest. Stef and Kelsey were asleep by about 6PM.

The next morning, we got up at 5 to get ready for church. Four more hours of travel. As exhausting as it was, it was really nice to go with the whole family. They made us get up in front of the congregation for ten minutes and share self introductions and our testimonies. The Japanese have a "thing" for impromptu speeches. Everywhere I go, I find myself having to do a formal introduction. I'll have to get used to it.

We're back on Uoshima now. Today's our first real day here. We'll keep everybody posted with all the details. I'd love to take some time to really describe our new home.