haley's great blog of fun: August 2006

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Update on Japan!

On the roof of our church building.

Views.

And if you climb up a small rusty ladder onto this dangerously slippery precipice...(that was for you, mom)

Later that day we went shopping at a super delux 100 ¥ store, and then to this arcade.

Am I the only one who thinks it's not creepy to take pictures of other people's kids? He's super intense playing this game where you battle bugs. Japanese kids here are obsessed with bugs (mushi). They have bug stores where they can buy this huge ugly beatles (which can run up to hundreds of dollars each), and then they pit the bugs against each other, and whoever's bug rips the other bug's head off wins. Cute, huh?

This is Michael, Pastor Tommy's youngest daughter. She is my coolest 5th grader friend.

My roomie Nicki! She's way cool, and she would never ram her head into her family members' butts when she was little. Just in case you were wondering.

This past Monday Pastor Tommy took us out to some historical sites around Ginowan. They actually believe that this door is the gateway into the next life. Lots of people died in this area during the war, so it's considered a hot spot for spiritists to come and invoke the dead.

Incense altar and gifts people leave for dead family members.

We walked up into some Okinawan jungle and checked out some caves.

During the war many Okinawan people hid in these caves. The Americans tried to coax them out, but when they wouldn't come out the Americans blasted the caves up with bombs. You can still find bits of bones and artillery laying around.

This spring is where people used to come to wash and drink long ago.

The legend that goes with it is...once upon a time...there was a very beautiful woman who lived in the heavenlies, and she wore magical clothes that enabled her to fly. Well, one day she was taking a bath at this very spring, and a man happened to stumble upon her. He saw her clothes hanging near by, so he took them. When she realized her clothes were gone, she saw him and told him to give her back her clothes. He replied and said, "I will only give you back these clothes if you marry me."

So she agreed to marry this dude, and she ended up having two sons with him. Years passed and one day she found her clothes hidden in a closet. So she put them on, flew away back to the heavenlies and was never to be seen again. Her two sons, however, ended up being the first two kings of Okinawa. So the Okinawans believe themselves to be "the people of the gods". The end.

And here's the Ginowan lady herself. Shweet.

I tried to climb up this wall without shoes and almost died. Doug climbed it like a champ though, and Yoshi made a really valiant effort too.

You could slide down this huge...slide...thing. Totally fun.

Yoshi is amazing.

Mark is reading his precious moments Bible - so sweet.

Back at the Ruiz pad.

The guy's dorm slash the Ruiz garage.

Everything in Japan is pink, bubbly and cute. Even the sunsets.

We were so blessed to go to Sandra and Damien's pad for dinner on Monday night. They're leaving Okinawa to become full time missionaries in Italy. So cool. I didn't get any pictures of them or their cute kids. Just Bonnie, the crazy girl who kept jumping in all my pictures, body slamming herself on me, and eventually tried to claw all the skin off my arms. Yikes.

Kay, more to come! I'm exhausted, so oyasumi nasai to all.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

first japan post

Hey from my new home in Japan!!

I'd like to begin by saying the Japanese are probably the weirdest people on the face of the earth, but also some of the most lovable. I've gotta also say that I've been so richly blessed by the Lord, and He has been providing for all of us in every way, almost even miraculously, since the beginning.

Flew in by myself, but ran into one of the students at Osaka airport. He found some kind of tea drink that tasted like liquified burnt meat. :/ And I found this crab. It's a sign on the glass elevator door, haha.

They took those of us that had arrived out to catch the low tide. Jeremy...

Uh, the wind blew my hair into an accidental buttcut.

Aaron...

Mark...

Wednesday night we had a Bible study, and it was also Natsuki's birthday! She's going to be our Japanese teacher.

A few more students arrived, and we spent the next day snorkeling at the coral reefs.

The girls.

The group.

Couldn't take my camera down there, but think like tropical fish, paradise, you being jealous...We swam to this cave in the cliffs, and it was all coral so you could climb pretty high up the side and then fall off into the water. Nothing else too eventful happened, except I stepped on a poisonous spiny urchin and have to limp around. Oh, and I peed in the ocean. Sorry mom and dad, but at least Jeanette will be proud.

Then we went to suicide cliffs. When the Americans were coming into Japan the leaders told the public to kill themselves or else they would be torchered by the Americans, so tragically many Japanese people jumped to their deaths off these cliffs.