Nagano - updated

Sipping my afternoon decaf tea from my beloved Nagano mug today, as I ponder all the photos I have seen on FB recently of friends who are at Nojiri Lake. (Nojiri is many things, but to me it is a collection of rustic cabins, some without flush toilets, on the mountainside above a lake. This has long been a vacation spot for missionaries and expats in Japan and has its own culture from the era when expats escaped the city for a month or longer each year.) 

Nagano Prefecture in Japan is perhaps most famous for hosting the 1998 (& upcoming 2026) Winter Olympics.  

I first visited Nagano mere weeks after arriving in Japan as an 18 year old, and mistakenly took the wrong train from Tokyo. Unable to speak a word of Japanese, I found myself at the end of the train line, with all other passengers disembarking and the cleaning crew ushering me off.  The station master could only say, "Karuizawa - one hour - bus," so I had no option but to trust him. To this day no one knows where I was. :) 

I next visited Nagano during the 1990 New Year's holiday on a young adult ski trip with my Japanese church.  (That was my first & next to the last attempt at skiing!)

Over the years, I visited Nagano several times ... at least three times to Nojiri Lake (twice in summer & once in winter), several times to Karuizawa for retreats, conferences, language study, weekends away, and visiting friends, and one wintry weekend in Iiyama. 

To me Nagano represents mountains (not unlike my beloved Appalachians), cooler air, freedom from the city, and the spiritual refreshment of Christian conferences or concentrated Christian community.  Nagano means monkeys, onsen, pine trees, volcano, tunnels, and a reminder of generations of missionaries who went before me. 

Where would you like to have afternoon tea today? (Although at Nojiri Lake, it was always afternoon iced mugicha.)

Posts I have written which mention Karuizawa

Post about the missionary cemetery in Karuizawa

Language learning

When did you first learn another language? 

Latin I as a freshman in high school opened my eyes to a love of foreign languages! I had the best teacher, the best classmates, and the best textbook! We recited noun declensions and verb conjugations. I had numerous "Aha!" moments as I realized how English worked (by studying Latin!).  All the vocab I memorized definitely boosted my SAT score. :) We translated (simplified I'm sure) selections from Homer and the Odyssey.  We had quizzes with a sentence in Latin to translate and also had to answer the question: "Who said this to whom and under what circumstances?" I have discarded all my textbooks ... except Latin I and Latin II.  ❤️

I also took Spanish I and Spanish II in high school, but hardly learned a thing. (And that reminds me we had 9 weeks or so of a pilot Spanish program in middle school.) Spanish is definitely not my thing.

From 1989 - 2009 I studied Japanese in many ways, mostly through daily life, but also through 1:1 tutors, a local language school in Chiba City, four weeks at Karuizawa Language School one summer, 8 weeks of immersion at Middlebury, Vermont, and a year of Japanese II at Virginia Tech.  

It was such a hodge-podge, which means I had LOTS of gaps.  I could explain intricacies of theology and use old-fashioned biblical terms (think King James), but I didn't know the colors for years! 

This past summer, BK and I started Duolingo, and we currently have a 125 day streak.  (Some days he does chess, and some days I do Japanese, but we both use the same app on my phone.)  I am LOVING my 10 minutes a day 2-5 days a week of speaking and listening to Japanese! ❤️

Last week in Sunday School, I noticed that when I take notes, some are Latin words and some are Japanese. :) 

Learning other languages gives me such joy! What about you?

10-4 (April)

Abby at Akers of Love is hosting her monthly 10-4 blog link-up.  It's pretty simple ~ ten questions on the 4th day of each month.

Head on over to Akers of Love to read the other participants' 10-4 posts.

1. What is your favorite vacation spot?

So many!  The cabins in Karuizawa hold many memories.   The beach is becoming a favorite since I met Jim.  The Smokies will always be near the top, though.  The common thread is a comfy cabin (or condo) with a pleasing view, people I enjoy, some good books, and intermittent forays into God's beautiful creation right outside the door.


2. What is the first record, cassette or cd you remember buying or receiving as a gift?

It was a cassette ~ of the panpipes

 

3. What is your favorite picture from last month {March}? 

Fog out my backdoor

4. Last month, I asked you what your favorite piece of furniture was.  What is your least favorite piece of furniture in your home?

the stereo stand ~ It's like the rolling cart my elementary school teachers used with the filmstrip projector on top.

5. What was your first job?

milking cows for my dad; non-family first job was junior staff at the local Bible camp (drying dishes, sweeping and mopping floors, and cleaning restrooms)

6. What is the last thing you purchased on-line?

a book (no surprises there!)

7. Does your family have any nicknames for you?

nope

8. What is the newest blog that you have discovered that you love?

Rescued Remnant  ~ I can't wait to get her book!   

9.  What is your favorite post that you wrote last month?  

Safely through another week

10. What is one thing that most of your readers don't know about you?

Although I'm a morning person, I sleep in most days now.  

Thanks, Abby, for hosting!  Remember to head on over to Akers of Love to read the other participants' 10-4 posts.

 

From the Random Files department

While searching for "white socks" on my computer, this file came up.  I'm not sure if I sent it with my Christmas cards in 2007 or not... but it sure was a walk down memory lane!

(The "new favorite hymn" is currently taped to my bathroom mirror. So powerful!) 

My Best of 2007

Favorite memories from vacation in Tennessee: 

·      going to the library with my book-loving nieces!

·      riding the twilight hayride at Cade’s Cove with my parents

Not-so-favorite memories from vacation in Tennessee:

·      that it turned into my “Club Med” vacation with 11 doctor’s visits (the Japanese call it “human dock,” like a ship going into drydock)

·      not being able to see everyone I wanted to see

Heart-tugging moments:

·      hearing my nieces’ “See you when I’m 5!” and “See you when I’m 7!”

·      5-year old girl on our team exposing my control tendencies when she asked, “Aunt J-, but why don’t you want the others to get there before we do?”

·      3 ½ year old boy on our team saying, “But, Aunt J-, you are nice!” upon hearing me exclaim to his parents that I want to be a “nice old lady.”

Best experiences catching up over the years and miles:

·      Kuala Lumpur, September, Asia Area Retreat: late night conversation at Starbucks and in a hotel hallway with a former teammate now in another country in Asia

·      South Carolina, August: cousins converging for less than 24 hours, with stories of the past months in Fiji, Japan, China and New Mexico

Most momentous life occasion: 

·      attending the high school graduation at our missionary kid school (The class of 2007 was a class of one, but that one graduate was a month old when I first arrived in Japan, so it was a pretty special occasion).

Best sporting event I attended (of course the only sporting event I attended, and that, rather accidentally!):

·      Karuizawa International Curling Championship 2007

New favorite hymn: 

·       “Hast Thou Heard Him” (http://www.igracemusic.com/indeliblog/?p=21)

Best discipline of this past year:

·      keeping a 1000 gifts journal, in which I list the everyday gifts God gives me   (I’m at #1615 and counting, counting things like the early morning mist rising from the pond I like to walk around)

 Newfound brain exercises:

·      Codeword puzzles

·      Free rice vocabulary game

Favorite airport trips of the year (driving to Tokyo/Narita airport an hour away):

·      finding a new back road to the airport, a 2-lane tollroad with “Watch for Wild Animals” signs

·      driving one of the vans to pick up a new short-term missionary family in August; the wife is one of the missionary children I taught my first year here!

·      getting to listen in as I drove Dr. D.A. Carson and my two conversationalist “plants” to the airport, after he spent a week teaching in Japan

Farthest out-of-my-comfort-zone experience:

·      interpreting from English to Japanese

·      learning to park the “tank” (very nice van) I’m driving for six months while friends are away

New phrase:

·      “white socks,” referring to a long-ago friend who saw God provide everyday things for her family, such as white Sunday socks for her little girls.  Looking for “white socks” this fall has shown me more of God’s care and provision for me.  So far, my “white socks” range from a jar of special jam to the car above.  Looking for “white socks” has opened my eyes to God’s deep care for me.

Greatest lesson God has taught me: 

·      His perfect plan is just that.

Hardest experience moving that truth from my head to my heart:

·      an allergic reaction to the Japanese sweet olive tree in early October, recovery from which included steroids, antibiotics, a nebulizer machine, and two months later, a visit to a highly-acclaimed medical center near here.  Today I feel great, and I trust it continues. 

 

Summer in Mitford

I have spent summers at Bible camp.

I have spent a month of summer out West.

I have spent a summer at my uncle's camp in the North Georgia pine woods.

I have spent a summer in Karuizawa, Japan, a summer on the island of Hokkaido, and a summer in Vermont.

I am spending this summer in Mitford, a fictional village based on one a few hours from where I grew up. 

In the spring, I saw that the Kindle version of the first Mitford was on sale for $1.99 and justified purchasing it by thinking, "If I need a gentle read sometime while I'm waiting, I'll have it on my phone." 

I'm not sure why, since I had never gotten into the habit of reading on my Kindle or Kindle app.

One night before bed, I wanted to read something familiar and comforting, and remembered that I had Mitford at my fingertips. 

When I finished it, I did something new and checked out the Kindle version of book two from the library website, immediately downloaded it to my phone, and was off and reading book two!

When I finished book two, I downloaded book three from the library.

I'm waiting now for book ten (apparently the other digital copy/ies are already checked out).  Let that sink in.  How many Mitford books have I read in the past month?!?  Spending the summer in Mitford has been so pleasant.

I think it's safe to say that I've finally become a Kindle reader. :)  And I've learned that downloading from the library is quick and easy.

I'm already planning my reading list after I finish the Mitford books.  What do you recommend?

Oh, the places you will go!

Places where I spent one or more nights in 2009:

Ichihara, Japan (home)
Ichikawa, Japan
Nerima, Japan
Karuizawa, Japan
airplane over the Pacific*
Pearl City, Hawaii
Charlotte, NC
Kingsport, TN (home)
Oveido, FL
Maitland, FL
Lawrenceville, GA*
LaGrange, IL*
Richland, MI
Grand Rapids, MI
Lebanon, TN
Tunica, MS
Draper, VA
Blacksburg, VA
Hopedale, IL*
Charleston, WV
Athens, GA
Fairmount, GA

(*stayed there on more than one occasion)

The list is in rough chronological order. No new countries in 2009, but four new states (Hawaii, Michigan, Wisconsin and Mississippi ~ and Minnesota, too, if airports count) and several new airports (Honolulu, O'Hare, Detroit, Minneapolis, Peoria, Springfield, Sanford, FL, Grand Rapids).

Where did you go in 2009 for the first time?

As your days ...

Five years ago this January 1st (in Karuizawa - sniff, sniff), I began writing in a 5-year diary. Bookstores in Japan have many choices when considering such a purpose. By January 13th, 2011, I still hadn't purchased a new 5-year diary, and was eager to find some alternative to help me record the moments.

I love writing what happened on Nov. 14, 2010, for example, and glancing up the page to see what happened on Nov. 14, 2009 and Nov. 14, 2008 and ... well, you get the picture. 

And that is why I was inspired by this idea.  I knew mine would no doubt be different (VERY different), but this lady's sample started my creative juices flowing.

On January 13th, we were driving by a bookstore, and I asked if we could stop.  The clerks had no clue whether or not they sold 5-year diaries.  I looked and looked and was resigned to select a blank book with enough pages, when I spied this tiny little book!!

(I could not rotate this photo, but you can get an idea.)

"...as your days, so shall your strength be."