One more anecdote before I turn my computer off for a day…

My father sent me two cans of Gold Star chili, Cincinnati-style chili, to enjoy while I’ve been in Japan.  I’m not a huge chili fan, but since it was a taste of home, I was glad to have it.  My friend and I enjoyed one can during an all-nighter we had.  The other can, I decided to gift to my friends at the local restaurant, Quixote.  I’ve been having lunch there on Fridays every week since the second month I’ve been here (that makes 11 months of Friday lunches).  The food isn’t excellent or anything, but the company is great, and they are dear, dear, dear friends of mine.  Saying goodbye today was extremely hard and the only time that I could not control my tears.

I had given them the can last week, as I was purging all my goods and “gifting” as many things as I could to various people.  I asked them today, my last meal with them, if they had tried it.  They said it was delicious!  Yatta!  But then, I noticed that the lunch they placed in front of me had an interesting characteristic in the sauce.  Mistui, the cook, made me a plain omelette, and had put his typical squirt of ketchup on it.  However, the ketchup looked a little darker than usual, and I saw that there were little chucks of meat in it.  He had mixed the chili with the ketchup and made a sauce!  It was very interesting with the egg.  I grinned and said that it tasted yummy, and he made a point to tell me that he used some of my chili!  Haha.  Not quite Cincinnati-style, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!

In 10 hours, I will be leaving Japan and heading to Egypt!  Wow!!!  Talk to y’all soon!

Three words:  I HAVE INTERNET!

It’s so nice. 🙂  I’m so dependent on my networking sites…it’s sad.  To think, I only had the ability to check my email, and that was a sporadic grace from God.  I was actually forced to send people thoughtful emails rather than just pass by them unannounced via FB or Xanga.  So weird!

Today, is my last Sunday in Japan.  It is so strange to think that this time next week, I will be in Egypt…and then one week later, I will be in Ohio.  The church is throwing me a little going-away party after the service, and then I’m not sure what will be going on.  Tomorrow, my friend and I are travelling to a city pronounced “oo-sah”.  When they spell it in the romaji (with English letters), it looks like “Usa” though.  I’m pretty excited.  There isn’t supposed to be anything there, but that’s alright…it’ll be fun to be in USA while in Japan.  Heh.

I put off my packing until this week, so that I wouldn’t be overly frazzled.  I don’t like to do things too far in advance.  Plus, I still have two class notebooks to finish for the new teacher.  Sometimes I forget that I’m leaving and I have to repeat to myself, “You’re leaving in less than a week. You’re leaving in less than a week,” just so that I keep on myself to get things done.  Well, I’m off to get ready for church!  Everyone have a great day!!

So, we haven’t had the internet at the Center since Sunday afternoon…and so then, my realization that I have an addiction to the internet (mostly, Facebook) has come back to me full-force. 

Sunday night, my friend and I stayed awake all night and walked to the top of a nearby mountain to watch the sunrise.  The sakura were blooming as well.  It is really beautiful, and in a week and a half, I will be leaving it to embark into the dessert of northern Africa.  A week and a half!  It’s unreal!

Time to take care of business and then get my email update out.  Have a great day!!!

Sarah ><>

I thought it was a national phenomenon.  I was lookin for any possible explanation, but any excuse I found for them just didn’t seem to fit.  For instance, I thought that maybe my blonde hair and blue eyes had something to do with it…that they made me frightening and unusual.  And then, I traveled around to other parts of the country and found that the standard I had drawn didn’t apply anywhere else.  The only conclusion was that, for some reason, dogs in Shimonoseki, Japan, just don’t like me.  Dogs in Hiroshima, Tokyo, Ube, were fine.  But Shimonoseki dogs cringe away from me, or start barking maniacally.  It’s extremely disconcerting, especially since I am a full-blown dog-person, and I’ve been living here for a year!

But yesterday, the legacy changed.

I went to lunch with a friend, Yukiko, from a local uni, and then we went for a walk to the top of a mountain nearby and around.  It was really nice, a beautiful day, and even though there were no flowers (except for a lonely magnolia tree), the park was still lovely with all the greenery.  As we were walking, I told her about the general loathing Shimonoseki dogs have of me and she just laughed.  We came around a bend and there were some people walking three little long-haired dachsunds.  They were so cute, and even though I know that it will end in sadness, I can’t help but try to pet them.  I moved forward, asking if it was ok to pet them.  Per norm, one dog shied away, another started barking crazily, and the other just stood there staring at me.  Disappointment must have fallen on my face because the woman walking the only calm dog walked a bit closer to me and the dog actually approached and let me pet it!  I was overjoyed!

It didn’t last long as the parents did not have the patience to indulge a love-sick foreignor for more than 30 seconds, but it was enough.  Yukiko was laughing at me and commented that it must be a miracle!  I told her it was a very special day indeed.  We continued on our path which led us right along the oceanside.  We started to sit down, but I noticed a woman walking a little shitzu, wearing a sweater and blue bows in his ears.  I moved over and asked if it was alright for me to pet him.  She consented most heartily and the dog leaped over to me, licking my hands, and jumping into my lap as I squatted down into a more efficient dog-petting position.  The woman began to talk to Yukiko and ask her questions about me and where I was from and such, but I was only half-listening.  I was enraptured by this adorable dog (I don’t usually like small dogs at all) that seemed to be just as enamored with me.  I looked up just long enough to realize that the woman had asked me a question directly, so I asked her to repeat it.  She was wondering where I had been in Japan.  I told her and she continued the conversation with Yukiko. 

After some time, Yukiko asked the woman what her name was.  The woman simply replied that the dog’s name was “John” and went on from there, asking me if there was any place in Japan I still wanted to go to before I left (Yukiko had explained at some point that I’m leaving soon to go back to America.  I said the first city that popped into my head, “Nagasaki.”  She got an overwhelmed look on her face and then mentioned that it was much too far!  But Beppu, or Yufuin, were much closer and very nice, as there are some very good onsens (hot springs) in those areas.  I just smiled and said that in a couple weeks a friend of mine and I are going to Usa, Japan, which is on the way to Beppu. (I didn’t mention that the reason we’re going there is because it’s the same spelling as USA)  After some time, Yukiko seemed to get annoyed by the woman who wouldn’t tell us her name, but only the name of the dog, and I think she was just tired in general.  So, she asked where the nearest bus stop was and then if I wanted to go inside a nearby old-style Dutch windmill.  We parted ways with the woman and she kept muttering something about Beppu and Yufuin and then laughing.  I didn’t understand because my Japanese isn’t really all that great.  Turns out, she was offering TO TAKE ME to Yufuin…but Nagasaki was much too far; she couldn’t take me there.  Yukiko was kind of amused by the whole thing.  She said that we had no idea who the woman was, only that she was “John’s mother.” 

All in all, I would say it was a pretty successful day. 🙂 

And here are the answers to the Trivia questions I posted a few days ago.  Let’s see how you did!

1.  What are the six most popular books by Jane Austen?
     Pride & Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Sense & Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey

2.  What are the names of the heroines in each respective book?
      Elizabeth, Emma, Anne, Elinor, Fanny, and Catherine

3.  How old was Jane when she died?
      41 years

4.  How many strings does a standard violin have and what notes do they make?
       4 – G, D, A, E

5.  On the violin, what is the “frog”?
       The part of the bow that you hold in your hand

6.  What are the complementary colors of red and yellow?
        green and purple

7.  The only two atomic bombs ever used during war in history fell one what two cities in Japan?
      Hiroshima and Nagasaki

8.  What other cities were considered as targets and why were they not chosen?
      Kokura, Kyoto, and Yokohama.  These sites were ruled out on the day of the bombing due to cloudy skies.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki, however, had very clear skies, so the pilots could be sure of the impact.
      * side note:  Kokura is less than 15 minutes by train away from where I am living in Japan.  Hiroshima is around an hour away by shinkansen (bullet train).

9.  What time did the bomb drop in Hiroshima on the morning of August 6th, 1945?
       8:15 am

10.  What popular TV show today uses these numbers as great significance during the program, repeating them several time throughout the series?
       J.J. Abrams’ LOST

11. (These are for kicks)   In Japanese, what does “buta” mean? (boo-tah)
          pig

12.  What is a “fugu”?
           blowfish/pufferfish
        * The fugu fish is the mascot/symbol of Shimonoseki, where I live now.  They have it on everything; the city signs, the peoplehole covers, and they even have Hello Kitty! dressed up in a fugu costume as a keychain!

13.  How quickly can a person die from eating fugu meat that has not been prepared properly?
         between 4-24 hours.
        * I have eaten fugu several times. The Japanese are very skilled in preparing it.  Oh, and I did take a before/after photo of my first consumption. 

14.  A popular Japanese expression, especially among younger people, is “KY”.  In America, this has an entirely different connotation than in Japan, however, much to my relief.  What does it mean in Japanese?
        it means to be “socially awkward.”  It literally comes from the phrase “kaku yominai” (kah-koo yo-mee-nigh) which means, “can’t read the air”.  It was popularized by a recent prime minister of Japan who was well known for not saying the right things.

15.  How much taller is Tokyo Tower than the Eiffel Tower (which inspired its construction)?
         13 meters or almost 43 ft

I was listening to my podcast from BBC News and very often, while listening to some of the stories they consider, a tumult of emotions come over me.  Today is no different.  Apparently, the Vatican, which has no real bearing on my life, but does represent a “face of Christianity” to the world…so, I must argue against it when I feel it is not rightly dividing Scripture.  The article includes three quotes pertaining to Darwin’s and the Bible’s view on the origins of the world and Life.  I am going to argue against these representations, because none are correct according to Scripture.

The first:

Pope John Paul II said that evolution was “more than a hypothesis”.

  I do agree that evolution is more than a hypothesis.  It is a theory.  This, however, does not give it any more weight than a speculative guess.

The second:

A leading Catholic Cardinal, Christoff Schoenborn, of Vienna, a former student and friend of Pope Benedict XVI caused controversy by saying that Darwin’s theory of natural selection was incompatible with Christian belief. 2006. [emphasis mine]

Darwin’s theory of natural selection is not incompatible with Christian belief.  Darwin’s theory of evolution is.  Natural selection is something we see very easily in genetics.  It can’t be argued against.  Survival of the fittest is natural, and something that God put in the order of life.  Some refer to natural selection as “microevolution” but this is not correct.  There is no evolution in natural selection.  What I mean is that if a pair of dogs with genes for long hair and short hair are placed in a certain environment, say, the tundra, and they mate and produce a litter of puppies.  Some of those puppies will be born with short hair and some with long hair, maybe even some with medium hair.  The puppies with the short hair will die quickly because they do not have the necessary gene to protect themselves from the cold.  However, the puppies with the long hair…or I guess I should say fur…will survive to maturity (granted there is no other genetic problem or disaster in their location).  This means that those puppies will grow and be able to produce offspring, and as those without the long fur characteristic continue to die in that climate, only those with long fur will be able to survive and pass on their gene of long fur.  Conversely, if those two original dogs are placed in the hot, dry climate of central Mexico, the puppies with long fur would overheat and die.  Only the dogs with short fur would be able to survive in that kind of climate.  Essentially, though, it is not an addition of information to the puppies genetic make-up, but rather a loss of information, as the surviving dogs lose the gene capable of producing the other length of fur.
  Evolution, however, implies the adding of information to the DNA of a creature to change it so that it can survive in a new climate.  There’s no way that this could be so, though.  I mean, honestly, it’s ridiculous when you think about it.  A giraffe, for instance, has a great long neck, and its heart is massive and so strong so that it can pump the blood all the way to the giraffe’s brain so it won’t die.  Now, when the giraffe lowers its head to get a drink, all of that blood would rush to its head, causing its brain to hemorrage and the giraffe to die.  So, did the giraffe think…”Oh, I better do something to fix this problem…I’ve died.”  No, God created it with a series of valves in the giraffe’s neck that, once the head begins to be lowered, cuts off the flow of blood to the brain.”  But then, when the giraffe raises its head again and needs to take off running because an enemy is coming, there is no blood flowing to the giraffe’s brain and therefore it passes out and dies.  So, the giraffe must have thought, “Oh no!  I’m dead.  I better evolve something to help me cope with that so I won’t die.”  No.  God put a special muscle in there so that as the giraffe raises its head again, the valves open and blood can flow through at a rate that won’t overload the brain.  It speaks of design and not chance or survival.

And three:

A leading American scholar of biology, Prof Francisco Ayala, plans to tell the conference that the so-called theory of intelligent design, proposed by Creationists, is flawed. “The design of organisms is not what would be expected from an intelligent engineer, but imperfect and worse,” he said. “Defects, dysfunctions, oddities, waste and cruelty pervade the living world”.

I will admit that the world we see today is full of defects, dysfunctions, oddities, waste and cruelty.  However, God did not create it to be this way.  He created it perfect and whole and without defect.  But man sinned in the garden, and through that sin, death entered the world.  The Bible says, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the reavealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” (Romans 8:19-22; emphasis mine)  All of creation is falling into a whirlpool of decay and destruction because of the sin of man and the entrance of death into the earth.  Well, not even just the earth, but even to outer space (the destruction of stars and black holes and such).  And as we get closer and closer to the time that Christ will come back, things will continue to get worse.  This is why I think global warming is inevitable and unchangeable.  Of course, I will do my part not to contribute as much as I can to it, and to take care of my environment, but there really isn’t much that can be done.  This world is on a fast track to destroy itself and nothing but Christ’s return will stop it.

I know that some people will read this and think me uneducated and narrow-minded, but I hope that some will read it and consider that there might be truth in it.  It’s not truth because I say it, or even present a good argument (if you think it is good).  It’s truth because it’s in the Bible.  We look at the science through the lens of the Bible, not the Bible through the lens of science.  Science, as pertaining to origins, is completely hypothetical, and every equation and calculation we use to pull fact from history is subjected to our own personal belief.  Some people do not want to have to answer to an Almighty Creator God and therefore draw their calculations to purposefully exclude Him.  They throw millions of billions of years into the equation and so the answer will include millions of billions of years.  However, if you just look at it through the lens of Scripture, things make perfect sense.  Science, by way of evolution, has so many gaps and question marks, it’s a wonder that it’s still a valid take on origins and life history.  The Bible’s take, however, has no question marks or gaps where things can be explained.  Whatever happened to the idea that “the simplest answer is usually the correct answer.”

Here is the full article for you:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7920205.stm

So, to go along with my newfound obsession with this radio show called Ask the Professor from University of Detroit Mercy, I decided I will submit my own trivia questions.  So, here goes my compilation! 🙂

Feel free to post your answers in a comment.  I’ll post the answers in an entry in a couple days.  Enjoy! 🙂

1.  What are the six most popular books by Jane Austen?

2.  What are the names of the heroines in each respective book?

3.  How old was Jane when she died?

4.  How many strings does a standard violin have and what notes do they make?

5.  On the violin, what is the “frog”?

6.  What are the complementary colors of red and yellow?

7.  The only two atomic bombs ever used during war in history fell one what two cities in Japan?

8.  What other cities were considered as targets and why were they not chosen?

9.  What time did the bomb drop in Hiroshima on the morning of August 6th, 1945?

10.  What popular TV show today uses these numbers as great significance during the program, repeating them several time throughout the series?

11. (These are for kicks)   In Japanese, what does “buta” mean? (boo-tah)

12.  What is a “fugu”?

13.  How quickly can a person die from eating fugu meat that has not been prepared properly?

14.  A popular Japanese expression, especially among younger people, is “KY”.  In America, this has an entirely different connotation than in Japan, however, much to my relief.  What does it mean in Japanese?

15.  How much taller is Tokyo Tower than the Eiffel Tower (which inspired its construction)?

I really like the Bible.  In fact, I’d go so far to say that I LOVE it. 

There, I said it. 

I love the Bible.  🙂