August 2, 2014

This week I decided to take you on a bit of a tour of the lifestyle here in Sendai.  One of the unique things about living in Japan is how to handle the trash.  It is a bit complicated.  Tuesdays and Fridays are days to put out "burnable" trash.  One Monday a month is for "cardboard".

You can also put out cans and bottles on Tuesday.  They have these nets that are put out.  You put your bag of trash behind the net either that morning or the night before.  But not too soon.  The nets are to keep the animals away.  You purchase the trash bags at the market.  Green writing on the bags means it's burnable.  Red means it's plastics.  Apparently the cost of the bags goes towards paying the trash pick up fee.  Sometimes it's hard to know what pile to put it in, but like one elder said "eventually it all gets burned anyway."

Some of the markets also have trash / recycling locations.

We said farewell to another missionary on Monday.  Sister Kakuda worked with us in the office.  She will be sorely missed (especially her Japanese abilities!)

This is with Elder and Sister Taylor who now work with us in the office.

These elders live in the apartment upstairs from the office.

With President and Sister Smith

Sister Uchida (on the left) drove Sister Kakuda to the airport.  In the center is her sweet mother who has recently begun attending church.  Also, another sister from the Nagamachi Ward.  Sister Uchida is my visiting teacher.

That night we had another Family Night at the Mission Home.  We were having such a good time, that I forgot to take any pictures.  Anyway, Pres. Smith had us introduce ourselves to someone that we'd never talked to before.  I had actually met Reiko at the festival last week and she had been to the family night before, but now I know that she likes to eat strawberry ice cream at midnight so no one will bother her!

This is Brother Tanaka.  He and his crew came to work in the yard and clean the office.  I told him I like his pink apron.  They cleaned up the place really nice.

These flowers are in the yard next to the Mission Home.  Absolutely beautiful lilies.

We stopped at a bread shop.  The Japanese word for bread is "pan."  Same as Spanish!  Elder Noonchester explained that when the Spanish explorers came to Japan, they introduced bread here for the first time, thus, it has a Spanish name.  Anyway, we heard these children playing in the wading pool.  It must be a day care or something.  They were having a great time.

And they all were wearing these cute little hats so they didn't get sunburns.  We also see women wearing long gloves to keep from getting too much sun on their arms.  That has to get very warm.

I had to have a root canal a couple of weeks ago.  This week I went back for part two of the treatment.  I think there's going to be four visits in all.  Anyway, when we arrived for the appointment, the receptionist came out with this display table and read a little paper to us - "Will you please enjoy my performance?"  Sure!  And here it is:

Pretty fun!

We were just wondering if the rainy season was over.  Then at noon one day, we heard thunder and the rain started up.  We went outside to see, and the street was like a river.

The man in the black behind the flag just pulled his car over and went wading through to find the drains.  Then he pulled all the leaves and debris out so the water could drain.  

The man across the street is doing the same thing.  He has a little shop with bonsai trees.  Then a couple hours later, you couldn't even tell that it had rained.  Everything was all cleaned up.  So we were still able to drive out to Kakuda for our English group.  They talked about their fathers this time.

For our little kids at Tagajo, we had them trace circles.  We brought all the round things we could find in the apartment.  They all had fun doing that.  Two parents told us that they were too tired to come, but their children insisted on coming.  So, I think we'll start doing more art projects!

Well, now that Sister Rollins and Sister Kakuda have left, we asked the elders to help us.  They carried the furniture over to our apartment.  So we are finally getting settled.  Here is a quick tour.

This is the washer / dryer and bathroom sink.

The shower is just opposite the sink.  The shower head is hanging on the water heater.  We don't use the tub.

And here is our tiny room for the toilet.  Yes, the seat is heated, and yes, that is a water faucet at the top, so you can rinse off your hands.  This will be the only heat source for this room in the coming months.  It cost about $200.00!  It also has a bidet function.

This is the spare bedroom / office.  We have a couple of racks to hang suits and coats on.

This is our bed room.  That's about all you can get in here.  The sheets are in the washer, since I now have a washer.

This is looking through the bedroom door, across the kitchen and into the living room area.

Kitchen table

And, looking back at the stove, kitchen sink and refrigerator.

The sofa is a sectional (obviously)

And the front door.

On Saturday, we decided to go and visit the Sendai Museum.

This is a Tanabata decoration.  The streamers hang from a stick of bamboo.  It has letters hung all over it too.  This celebration goes back hundreds of years.  It will be celebrated here next week.

We didn't take photos inside the museum, but we did meet a very nice man who asked if he could explain the displays to us (in English!)  We were happy to have him help us.  He said he has been asked to give a tour to some visitors in a couple of weeks in English and he wanted to practice.  We told him about our English practice groups and invited him to come.  I gave him a business card with our phone number.  When he read it, he said "Sister" Anderson.  Does that mean you are a daughter of God?  What a sweet thought!  I hope he will come to English.

This is outside the museum.  The guide told us that this area was once part of Sendai's castle area.

This is a statue of Date.  He was one of the first rulers here in Sendai.  Back in the 1600s.

The symbol on his helmet is a crescent moon.  It is the symbol for his family.  We see him all over town.

I think this is the first time I have noticed a Japanese flag.  It was quite a warm day today.  (Sunshine all day.)  So we had to wait for a little breeze to get a view of the flag.  Looks like I got a view of my thumb too.

Later, we went to Ikea.  This new store just opened two weeks ago but it's our first time to go.  It is still pretty busy and crowded.  One neat thing they have is at their food court.  You pay at a machine that gives you tickets for what you order.  Then some girls give you either a cup for coffee (50 yen), a hot dog (100 yen), or an ice cream cone (50 yen).  Then you go get in line to get the ice cream for your cone.  100 yen is about a dollar.

Do all the Ikeas have this?  Or is it just in Japan?  Anyway, it was pretty fun, and good ice cream.

That's about all the news for this time.  Today marks two month since we entered the MTC.  But who's counting?