hibiki.

well, folks. it’s official. i’ve lived in japan for two months. it’s been a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and a rollercoaster of emotions since i arrived at the narita airport in early april. actually, i think 2010 for me as a whole can be defined as just that – the year of change and challenges, yet unforgettable moments and memories. yes, life is unpredictable but can be ever-so-sweet. i think i’m learning to embrace the journey instead fight every single step along the way. just ride the wave, right? feel the wind on your face. something like that?

to be completely honest, sometimes my heart isn’t in the right place. i know, i know… natalie is human? what? shocking. i don’t always feel like being nice. i don’t always feel like being here. this is where the peace of the lord comes in. i have to really just take it a day at a time. nothing more, nothing less. not looking to the past, not looking ahead to the future. focus on the present, be at peace and be all there. allow the lord to work with me where i am right now… mentally, physically, emotionally.   

“and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds…” – philippians 4:7

in our team bible study, we’ve started going through timothy keller’s “gospel in life: grace changes everything” and it’s been surprisingly encouraging. that sounds awful but i’m not always a fan of study guides. i get bored and never finish them. BUT, the first session was about jeremiah 29 where the jewish exiles were forced to move to babylon and God told them to settle in the new city, become established and to trust His plan because it was for the good of the people. i tried to put myself in the shoes of the exiles and my first reaction would have been a negative, bitter or probably hostile one. i mean to be thrown into a new environment and to be out of your comfort zone by force. eek. and then it dawned on me, i am in a new environment, facing a new  set of challenges and it’s not always easy being in japan but i’m supposed to be here. God was asking patience of them and to really trust His plan. and, He’s asking the same of me. 

okay, so some days in japan are more challenging than others and so i’ve become slightly obsessed with chocolate-covered almonds. and, by “slightly” obsessed i mean “entirely, overly, completely, eat-an-entire-package-in-one-sitting”  kind of obsessed. so, that ridiculousness needed to stop immediately . i hope you don’t mind, but i feel it’s my duty to take a moment to thank my former companion for the good times we’ve shared. it seems most appropriate.

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dear sweet, delectable, bits of heaven:

i want take a moment to say thank you for keeping me sane the last two months. your milk chocolatey goodness has helped me cope with the not-so-fun, uncomfortable, forced-to-adjust, i-feel-like-hiding-from-the-world or punch-something-or-someone-in-the- face kind of days while living in another country. we will have to part ways for a brief season due to my desire to fit comfortably into my jeans. but, please know this hurts me far more than it hurts you. we will meet again in the future when i can practice self-control and not consume your entire contents in a day –  i mean hour. please know you’ve been instrumental in my life over the last few months and, now, we must part ways. no tears will be shed as we will only remember the fond memories shared between us.  

loving you from a distance,
natari

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so, goodbye chocolate almonds and hello cute, blue, 1950s vintage-looking cruiser bike. she’s so adorable and it makes me deliriously happy to have my very own bike to zip around to the grocery store, to the nearby river and mountain, to the train station, to go on little adventures with. aww, i just love it. now if only paisley were here to ride in my basket… *le sigh*  i’m still taking a poll on what i should name her. my honda accord back home is named “lafonda” and so naming my bike is definitely a must. suggestions thus far: trudy, betsy mae, noodle, fred, frednoodle, natmobile and some other gems. all wonderful names, but i think i’m leaning towards “hibiki.” and why “hibiki” you might ask? well, because “hibiki” is the name of one special alpaca who stole my heart at the nasu animal kingdom this past weekend.  that’s why.

i went on a much-needed, random road trip with my friends ashley, travis and emi to a town called nasu to visit the strangest, yet coolest, zoo i’ve ever been to in my life. there was an entire building filled with different breeds of cats (even the bathrooms had creepy pictures of different kinds of cats on the walls). you could pick them up and play with them. some had teeth, some did not. then there was a section with all kinds of different dogs and then rabbits, birds, penguins… so on and so forth. there was an animal show where birds, boars, goats were all performing… even “hibiki” the alpalca. all these animals were running out from backstage and performing these cool tricks and such and then there was hibiki. the crowd chanted his name, he came out and did NOTHING. absolutely nothing. he trotted out, ran to the other side, showed some sass, ate a treat and went back to where he came from. annnnnnnd, that’s how you instantly become my favorite: you do nothing and you’re awesome. after the show, i saw hibiki with a trainer, took his picture and then he attempted to eat a little girl’s bag. helllllllo, SASSY PANTS! what a little diva. i think that’s another reason why i like him/her/shim… that alpaca is sassssy. so, yeaaa, i think my bike should be called hibiki.

i recently got a cell phone and can you guess what my cell phone charm is? yep. you’ve got it. it’s none other than the loveable alpaca, hibiki. YATA.

my food adventures are going strong. i eat school lunches pretty much every day. i’ve come such a long way in just a few short months of being here. if i don’t recognize a meat or food on my plate, i don’t really care, i’ll eat it. behold the beauty of imagination! i just don’t think about it too much anymore. fishy smell and slimy texture? ah, no worries. wash down that weirdness with some stout coffee. done and done. however, i did get a little insecure when i was eating lunch with some students and a few of them made me stop eating so they could show me how to properly use chopsticks. i didn’t eat lunch with them a few days after that so that i could practice. in the corner. by myself. i will not be defeated by the hashi (chopsticks) nor the ichinensei (7^th graders). i rejoined the class for lunch after some time and the students actually cheered when i walked into the room and fought over which table i should sit at. boo yah.

a few weeks ago the students participated in a city-wide sports competition. the junior high that i work at is the largest and so we pretty much dominated. but i spent the day watching kendo and table tennis matches (they don’t call it “ping pong” here – they say “ping pong” if you get an answer right). i LOVE watching kendo. ah, it soooo cool. sometimes i slip away from my desk and watch the students practice in the afternoon during their club activities. it’s a very graceful sport, i think. i mean it’s loud and the two competitors are yelling back and forth but the movements are graceful. they wear these robes and masks and sort of dance back and forth, swinging their wooden swords. the japanese-english teacher, iwamoto sensei, that i work with is the kendo coach and one of my ichinensei female students got first place in the competition. bravo.      

ohhh something crazy. i’ve experienced my fair share of tornados growing up in oklahoma but never an earthquake. i was in line at starbucks in koriyama yesterday, happily ordering a caramel frappuccino when i looked out of the window and the lamp posts were literally swaying back and forth. ah, so strange. i just froze. i don’t even know what you do during an earthquake… put a mattress over your head and hide in a closet? wait, that’s not right. stop, drop and roll?? no, no. do nothing but look like a deer in headlights and continue drinking your frozen beverage? done and done.

on, on onnnnsen. our bosses, encho sensei and kawaai sensei took the team to a beautiful onsen to welcome all of the new teachers. i’m not going to lie, i was a little nervous about the whole ordeal. i would like to think i’m a pretty secure individual but walking around nudey during the day around complete strangers and new friends is a little, well, … awkwarrrrrd? but, it was quite an experience. the different baths had different temperatures and locations. to sit and talk with some  friends (that were girls – let’s be clear about this) was relaxing. there’s definitely something beautiful about the japanese onsen experience. i’ll totally do it again.

i hear the little frogs croaking, rain drops hitting the tin roof of the house next to me and i do believe it’s my bedtime.

oyasuminasai,
nat