Saijo

After a 12 hour drive down from Tokyo, we arrived in our new town, Saijo, on the island of Shikoku. We are working with the Saijo Alliance Church. What makes this place particularly special is that Jesse’s grandparents co-founded the church when they were here as missionaries in the 1950’s. In fact, the same Japanese pastor (Misaki-san) that worked alongside Grandpa Town is the same man we will be working with as well. As you might imagine, he is an elderly man (80 years young). Despite his age, surviving both stomach cancer and a stroke, he is remarkably genki (healthy): it obvious where he gets his strength from. We are excited to work with a man that has so much experience serving God. His description wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging his other half; an adorable woman with such a contagious chuckle it resolves even the most awkward of situations.

We are living in a cute one story house on the church property (Misaki-san's house is also on this property). Already we feel so blessed that God has provided not only shelter but also a dishwasher and heated toilet seats. Our house is on a hillside with a great view of the mountains and when the wind blows from a certain direction we can smell the ocean.

As we mentioned in one of our last post we will be teaching English classes at the church as a way of building new relationships with those in the community. Our classes most likely will not start until March, so we have lots of time to prepare. In the meantime we will be assisting with Sunday school and other youth programs that begin. We will also spend these next few weeks building relationships with other church members and our immediate neighbors. I’ve already made a few batches of cookies in order to meet the neighbors.

On the side, we are hoping to get to know the other few foreigners in the area and potentially start a Bible study with them as there are no English services in the area.

Although we haven’t had that active of a time here I did manage to break my toe. As those who have broken bones in less dramatic ways would understand, I would like to say it happened while I was doing something either heroic or at least adventurous. Unfortunately, the first bone break of my life happened when I stubbed my toe on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I am fortunate that it is just my toe. Needless to say, my movements have been limited lately, however I am able to walk around slowly with out crutches after only 4 days.

Time with the Towns

Well, we’ve been in Japan for just over a month now. We spent the majority of the month with Jesse’s parents in Tokyo and up at their cabin in Nagano. Although there isn’t any snow in Tokyo there was plenty up at Nagano.

One of our good friends, Tim, suggested that we all build an igloo and sleep in it as a way to remember this Christmas break (so it doesn’t blend in to all the others). Jesse and I jumped on the idea and the very next day we began. I had built and slept in an igloo when I was in middle school so I was declared the experienced builder. I’m not sure if I really knew any more that they did. We worked all day (with a short nap after lunch) and were able to complete it just before dark. As it was New Year’s Eve it was decided that it would be fun to bring in the New Year in the igloo. I wasn’t up for a night in the cold, but Jesse, Tim and our other good friend Nick had a great time.

Thailand

On our way to Japan we spent two weeks in Thailand. After being in Korea it was a very nice change of pace. We spent the first week in a shared villa, on Ko Samui Island, with Beth (my mom) and Melani (my sister) and Chris (Melani’s friend). The villa was a great place to relax and update each other on the past 4 months of our lives.

We rented scooters to bum around the island. Jesse and Beth particularly enjoyed the scooters. One afternoon they took off for a joy ride – only to discover the map they had wasn’t quite accurate and the official detour routes included steep gravel hills and sketchy looking paths. Fortunately they arrived safe and with just enough gas to make it home. Needless to say it was good mother-in-law son-in-law bonding.

Another afternoon we decided to do the touristy thing and go hiking through the jungle on elephants. Jesse and I love elephants. It is an amazing sensation to feel their muscles moving under you while sitting bare back on their necks (we sat on a bench on their backs for the majority of the trek).

After Beth, Melani and Chris left Thailand, Jesse and I took off for another island (Ko Phangan) that was recommended to us by our seat neighbor on the plane to Ko Samui. I had wanted to make a tentative schedule for the week while we had Internet access on Ko Samui but Jesse discouraged me – saying we’ll just figure it out when we get there. We took the ferry across and arrived well after dark. Our plane neighbor had recommended a particular beach to us, so upon arrival we sought out a taxi that would take us there. The taxi driver seemed to be charging way too much so we went looking for another taxi only to find out that they had all gone because no more ferries were arriving that night. We decided to get a cheap hotel by the ferry port so we could get a taxi early the next morning. Let’s just say the room was cheap for a reason – it was clear the sheets hadn’t been changed in a while and the walls were quite grimy.

By this point I was quite frustrated and blaming Jesse thinking that if we had planned better this wouldn’t have happened. Nevertheless we decided to go for a walk to find some food and backpackers information centre that we say advertised on the ferry. The backpackers’ information centre was great! Jesse was thinking about getting his PADI while we were on the island and the attendant was incredibly helpful. By the time we left her office Jesse was booked into a 3 day course starting the next day with transportation to the other side of the island where the diving school was. We realized then, that if we had made plans in Ko Samui we would have gone to the other beach that was in fact very expensive and difficult to get to. Instead we got a great deal on a scuba course and free transportation to the beach. I apologized to Jesse for being upset that we didn’t plan and learned my lesson that sometimes things do work out with out a plan.

Leaving the information centre we went looking for dinner. We came to a cute whole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant. As we were looking through the menu before committing to enter we were reassured by an Italian gentleman leaving the restaurant that the food was delicious and tasted authentic. We were convinced and he was right.

We got picked up at 8am in the morning, Jesse went straight to dive centre while I walked along the beach looking for accommodations for the 3 nights we were planning to stay at that beach. I eventually found a quaint little group of bungalows (North Beach Bungalows) 20 feet from the ocean for $9 a night. The place wasn’t that fancy and there was no hot water but the view and the atmosphere was unbeatable. The first night we ate the North Beach restaurant where we discovered our Italian friend from the other night was staying in these bungalows as well.

While Jesse went to his Scuba classes I lounged around in the hammock and walked along the beach. On Jesse’s third and final day I joined him for his final open-water dive. The visibility was a little poor but there were hundreds of fish. There was even a little chimney you could swim up though if you aren’t to claustrophobic. By the end of the day we were both convinced that we need to do more scuba diving.

We loved the bungalow so much we decided to spend the whole week there. The beach is actually part of a fishing village, which was actually great as it didn’t feel too touristy. We got several Thai massages and ate some great food.

There was another popular beach near by that was only accessible by foot or by boat. Feeling adventurous we decided to take the hiking route. Unfortunately we somehow got on the wrong path and what was supposed to be a fairly simple hour and fifteen minute hike was in reality a three and half hour up and down the mountain hike. Thankfully we were able to hitchhike a ride back on a boat with another group of tourists.

All in all our Thailand experience was awesome. We highly recommend it.