I have been remembering a time when I was younger and totally depressed that I would never find a boyfriend.  Come on.  You know you’ve been there too…unless you’re a guy reading this…sorry this is for my girls.

For some reason, I have been indulging myself with some great chick flicks, which is fine, but always makes me reminiscent.  Not to mention my eating Sour Cream & Onion Pringles, cross-stitching throughout most of the day and listening to music online.  Yes, my summer vacation is turning out real eventful.  But it’s alright, I don’t really mind it.

I was thinking about my current “single” status and how I’m pretty content with it.  I mean, if God decided to change that today, I’d be game for that as well…but as is, I am fine. 🙂  Not something I could have said a few years ago.  Especially when I was younger and in that sometimes awful institution called High School, I remember complaining to my mom about how there were no Christian guys who were really worth their salt.  She would remind me that they were out there, and that God was in control.  She also said that when I got out of high school, I would have to beat them off with a baseball bat, which always kind of frightened me…but I never really believed her.  There was always this doubt in my mind that, regardless of what mom knew about life, I probably knew more than her and I definitely knew more about boys than her.  I was assured that I was correct in the scarcity of worth-while guys.  I even had older friends who were in college and I listened to their stories of love and loss and despite the growing evidence that Christian young men are out there, I stood resolute in my assumption that none would cross my path and I would turn into a woman like Mother Teresa or Amy Carmichael.

Even my first few years of college produced few solid Christian guys and just fed into my misconception that there aren’t really any out there.  But, then my girl friends started dating really awesome Christian guys and then some of them got married.  And after a while, I couldn’t deny that some mysterious void was producing great guys.  Could it be that Mom was right afterall?

As of now, I’m not even 25, but I can single-handedly attest to knowing several stellar Christian guys of all sorts: languages, cultures, nationalities, etc.  I am not hopeless, though I am content right now.  As I’ve traveled half-way around the world I have met some great guys too and I am so pleased to call them “Dear Brothers.” 

So, to my younger Sisters and to my 20-something single Sisters…do not give up hope.  Do not give in to the thoughts of isolation and do not – I repeat – DO NOT compromise your standards and settle for some guy who is less worthy than the best.  There are young men of principle and morals (although they are tempted just like we are…so have mercy on them and encourage your Brothers in holiness) and they are waiting for you as much as you are waiting for them.

And to my Brothers who have decided to read to the end…I won’t leave you out cold either…just because this is a message of hope to my Sisters, I hope that you won’t throw it away as no worth to you.  There are so many young ladies who are waiting for young men who will stand up for what they believe in.  Young men who will be leaders and guardians, and most of all, lovers of God.  Please don’t make us feel like our waiting has been in vain.  Step up, have courage, and be bold in your love of God and for His Family. It won’t be wasted.

I got this off of another blog:

You enter a cafe. The cafe is deserted but on the table, you see: a glass of water, a bowl of soup, a dish of dessert, and a piece of meat. What you didn’t know is in one of this food is a drug that’ll make you do as you’re ordered: for example: someone orders you to dance like a monkey, and you’ll dance like one. So what do you think is the drugged food?


Well, there’s no right and wrong answer. Depending on the answer you choose, it’ll show what type of person you’ll be, how you’ll change when you fall in love.

Dessert: If you chose dessert, then when you fall in love, you’ll change according to the person you fell in love with. For example: if he/she likes Linkin Park, you’ll start to like Linkin Park. If he/she likes tennis, you’ll start to be interested in tennis. And so on. Your likes will change to be in accordance with him/her.

Soup: If you chose soup, then you are the type of person who doesn’t show your love, but you love deeply. You’ll act like you’re cold-hearted, but your heart is fuzzing with all the warmness. (Like Shin Goon from Goong. :P) You’ll think that you’re able to control your feelings, but other people can see through you. 😛

Water: If you chose water, then when you’re in love, you become quite serious about it. After you are in love, you are not able to show the dark side of you anymore. You spend your time seriously thinking about how to express your feelings, and the other person will not know how you’re feeling, and they will feel irritated.

Meat: If you chose meat, then you’re the kind of person who’ll feel like you’ve gone to heaven when you fall in love. And you won’t be able to contain your thrill and excitement, so others will start to get annoyed of you and think, “Hey… what’s the big deal lah”. You’ll want to show off your love to the whole world.

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I don’t know what I am.  I was torn between dessert and the piece of meat.  So maybe I’m an amalgum of the two…but after reading the descriptions, I think I’m more of a bowl of soup.  I hold a lot of my emotions inside, but I do have a ton of them swooshing around in my mind and whatnot.  I think I generally date desserts and glasses of water.  The guys I date immediately decide that they are in love with me and seem to change their whole selves just to match with me so that I’ll want to be with them…but then when I don’t show my emotions as quickly, they get bored and move on.  🙂  Which I’m ok with.  I don’t want someone who always agrees with me…or is in love with an idea of me.  And I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t know who they are themselves and just wants to be in a relationship.  I want our relationship to be a challenge (in a good way) and to be loved for who I reeeally am.  I always thought that the “1/2 + 1/2 = 1” description of marriage was flawed…and then I heard someone say that “1 + 1 = 1” and I really think that’s more accurate for a relationship.  I in no way feel incomplete as I am right now…and I don’t want to date or marry someone who does feel that way.

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credit to dawn_1o9 for translating from Burmese to English

Today was a pretty laid-back kind of day.  My sunflowers are doing amazingly, and now the leaves are getting so close together that I think the bloom will come out soon!  So excited!  I can’t wait.

I was invited to go swimming at Nishigawa beach again, but after our last fiasco there (remember the showers), I chose to skip out and have lunch at Quixote instead.  The invitation was from Hitomi, a woman who pastors a church in Osaka.  She’s super-sweet and will be staying in Shimonoseki as Nakayama-san’s guest through Tuesday.  She and I will probably make a visit to Shimo City University, her alma-mater, before she leaves, so I’m hoping I can see some of my new friends from there.

I went to Quixote, and I usually try to take something with me to have translated…not really translated, but to have the kanji written out into hirigana or even romaji (English letters for the syllables), just in case there aren’t a lot of people there to have a conversation with.  I don’t usually have a problem, especially when Satsuki-san is there, she loves to shaberu (chatter).  But today, only Mitsui-san and Tanabe-san (I finally learned the name of the Too-Tired-Teacher-Who-Used-To-Be-In-Yakuza) were there, so things were pretty low-key…especially as well all sat and ate and watched a Japanese mystery tv-show.  It’s so comfortable there…I really feel like it is my hang-out now.  They have no pretense of show or formality…I am one of the gang now…an unusual member who can’t understand everything and has blonde hair…but a member no less.  After Tanabe-san left, I asked Mitsui-san if he really had been in yakuza…to my disappointment, he said no!  it was a joke.  🙂  Oh well…I guess he really wanted me to think he was exciting.  Instead, he teaches jyu-ku (a type of martial arts).  Alas.

I came home and cross-stitched for a while and then decided to get my yukata on.  I was kind of embarrassed to take the train in my yukata and be seen, walking all the way to the station and on the train and whatnot…I’m already a spectacle.  So, I took a taxi, from the taxi company right next door, to Shin-Shimonoseki Station.  It was pretty expensive, but I felt much more comfortable.  It was funny…I don’t know if Japanese taxi drivers are as talkative with their riders as American cabbies are, but my driver was stand-offish at first and then began asking me all sorts of questions.  I did my best to keep up.  I listen for key words like, “Japan….come…when?”  and “Japan…like?”  and “…eat…?”  I think I did pretty well as there was little awkward silence and whenever I just didn’t have enough clues to give any kind of relative answer, I resorted to my “wakarimasen. Nihongo-wa mutsukashi-desu”. (I don’t understand. Japanese is difficult. (to which the driver, and anyone else, would retort, “Mutsukashi-ne!” trans. Yeah it is!))  The “eat” question was a shot in the dark, but when I started listing things I like to eat and don’t like to eat, the conversation kept going, so I think I was alright.

When I arrived to Shin-Shimo-eki, I called Mika-chan and we walked around the station until we found each other.  Then Ruthie and Amy (teachers from Baiko) arrived via train and then we hopped into Mika’s car and drove out to Toyoura district of Shimonoseki.  We bought this really great carbonated drink where you have to pop the top and release this carbonated ball into the bottle, so it gets super-fizzy.  We also got Yakitori and then found a good spot for the fireworks.  Little did we know that the firework shows usually last about an hour.  We watched them through the second “finale” and then discussed the varying images of different countries and cultures we have based on multi-media, and how it is such a skewed vision of what the culture really is.  We decided that people are the same wherever you go in the world, but because of the media, people develop a kind of  exotic view of other cultures.  The fireworks had by this time gone through their 4th “finale” and we decided we were hot so we bought snowcones.  Mine was peach flavored.  We taught Mika-chan how Americans view fireworks with the standard “OOoooooOOOo”‘s and “AaaaaaAAAAAahhh”‘s.  We did that a couple times for fun and Mika got a kick out of it.  By the time we finished our snowcones, the fireworks were in their 10th’s session, about to go into the finale when suddenly, from behind us, we heard a great commotion.  We turned to see a large number of black-suited men surrounding a person.  People were commenting all around us and the black-suited men were shouting out orders and pushing people away.  Ruthie thought it was a celebrity of some sort.  I thought it was the yakuza.  We finally distinguished that it was Shinzo Abe!  The former Prime Minister of Japan!

  Someone must have told him that there were gaijin standing nearby because without looking he bee-lined to us and shook our hands asking how we are doing and where we are from.  He even stopped long enough for a photo-op!  I didn’t notice, but Amy said that other people were taking our picture too!  Hah.  After just a few minutes, he moved on, but then we saw his wife and talked with another younger man who spoke great English.  I think he was one of the entourage.  By the time the initial shock of what had happened wore off, we realized that we missed the final finale of the fireworks show.  Oh well…we had a much greater show!

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=133255&l=c287d&id=500635206