11 WEEKS TO GO!!!

I can't believe that it is only 11 more weeks till I'll be in America again.


It's that time of year again. . . It has almost been 2 years since I first came to Japan. Last Saturday it was abnormally warm. . . something like 24 degrees in Tokyo (that is 75 degrees F). We opened the windows and let the sounds of Saitama sweep through our humble abode. Maybe it was the warm day, the wind through our house, the smell of sun through the windows but I was suddenly sent back 2 years when I first came to Japan. I easily remembered how it felt to first be in Japan and all the romance and thrill of being in a foreign country. As I say goodbye to this wonderful country I realize how lucky I've been to get to live here in Japan for 2 years. I wonder how I'll look back on these 2 years. . . will I stay in touch with the people I've gotten to know here? Will I remember the smell of tatami mats? Will I forget about the amazing little fruit and vegitable stand, in Warabi, I'd bike to every Saturday and Monday? Will I lose my litte British accent I've apparently aquired by living with a British roommate? Will these memories fade?

Probably some but not all and the exciting thing is that I'm always making new memories and that it's okay to forget some stuff. As they say when God closes a door He often opens a window. Well, I don't necessarily feel like He's CLOSING a door but He's just ushering me into another room in this HUGE house called life.

Just turning 26 (and loving it) time is wizzing (great word) by. With little time spent with my youngest niece and my first nephew on his way (yes, it's a boy! I firmly believe this. :)) I just realize that being near my family and being a part of their lives is sooo important. I'm just wondering how the Lord is going to help me with my 3 year itch becuase I'm pretty sure that heading home is for a good while. He heard the cry of my heart and is sending me home. Sometimes. . .nope, scratch that. . .all the time He knows what is best for us and knows our hearts better then we do.


But what I'll miss most about Japan a List

1. Bernice (also Charlene's faces)
2. Yukiko (even if we live far apart)
3. My school and students
4. My fruit and vegitable stand
5. My hairdresser
6. My old lady bicycles/ public transportation
7. Starbucks at the Shinjuku Southern Terrace exit/ Starbucks in Omiya.
8. Bumming with Bernice. . we're very good at it.
9. Indian food
10. My bedroom. . .it has been my sanctual and hide-hole. I love it and it is a great room. Minuse the easily steamed up windows but easily taken care of when you open the curtains during the day.

What I look forward to moving to Oregon

1. Being near my family
2. Being near Aubrey
3. Being near my friends ( Bean, Katie, the Hughes, the Wieggands, my parents old time friends, etc)
4. Watching my nieces and nephew grow up
5. Starting my photography business
6. Living in the North West again
7. Finding a good home church
8. The convenience of American grocery shopping
9. Watching new Harry Potter with Aubs and or my mom.
10. Starting new hobbies when I come home; back packing with my sister and her husband (don't know if they know this) and Glen, biking with my brother, Jason (again he doesn't know this), learning more arts and crafts stuff other then knitting, and etc.


Again, both of these lists are just short 10 point lists. . .there are many more things I will miss and many things more I'm looking forward too. Just because I didn't list it doesn't mean I'm not thinking it or feeling it.

Well, there is my 2 yen. Thanks for following this blog for 2 years. I know it's not the most exciting and I keep up with it very poorly but I've enjoyed our time together. I pray you all are doing well and I can't wait to see you if you're State side and I hope we can say goodbye if you're here in Japan. Loves.

February 11, 2009. . . It's the Age of Aquarius.

So I am officially 26 years old and am already loving it. :) Seriously love getting older.

Today I had a total sloth day with my roommate and my friend, Joy, from CA. We all watched the good Pride and Prejudice (BBC version) and then Bridget Jones. We had Pizza and loads of snacky food. I am in pain. We are all in pain. Ugh. . . . here are some nice pics.



The night before :) We started early actually



We made Puppy Chow for the cake instead of a traditional cake.



Bernice has never had Puppy Chow before.



Me opening my presents.



Me and Joy in the morning.



She caught me



Yay, for shakes in the morning





This is a special cake thing that Aubs, a friend from Paraguay, sent me. Sorry Aubs. . . I didn't really care for it :*(





Relaxing and digesting



Okay, funny thing with these pizzas. . .we ended up with 3 medium pizzas and a large because they kept messing up our order (being delivered for free). They had to come to our place 3 times. Sad but we had a lot of pizza in the end.



I love my Roommate :) She's sooo cute. Even if she's eating a pizza with bacon, potatoes, and mayo on it. Weirdo. :)


Well, that was my b'day in a nutshell. Oh, I finished knitting a slipper set and did some more on my sweater. It was very productive feeling on that side of it all but we did just bum around in my room with futons layed out across it.

I'm soooo excited about coming home soon!!!! Yayayyayay.

May 4th

I am coming home MAY 4th!!!!!

Yup, my ticket is bought and I am heading home May 4th and will arrive at PDX around noon. I am soooo excited and can't wait. I know I'll miss things about Japan and it will be hard to adjust to life in America but I am also looking forward to being near my family, starting my business, and finding a good home church. Yayyayaya!!! I will miss the food here, the public transportation, the bicycles, and the hair dressers here :) But it will be great to be at home and be able to celebrate birthdays, holidays, etc with my family and to be near my nieces and soon to be nephew (well, I think that Wendee's and Paul's newest one will be a boy) as they grow up. So . . .yayayyayy to new things and changes in life. I love you all and am sooooo grateful for your prayers and support!!! Blessings and if you're an Oregonian. . .see you soon.



My new haircut

February 11th I'll be 26!!!

Update 101 or something like that. . . :)



Me and my roommate. . . we aren't in a sauna but she was cooking.

I can't belive that I've almost been in Japan now for 2 years!!! I came February 22nd, 2007. My roomate, Bernice, and I actually met eachother the first day we came to Japan. We came in at the same time and were in the same group traveling together from the airport. We also ended up having training together at Nova. Its been a good 2 years. The first year and second year were completely different though. I'm really glad I stayed for the second year. A lot of stuff I would have missed out on and I've learned a lot while living here. I also am glad I was able to work as and ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in a Jr. High School. It was really worth it. I wish I had done that from the beginning now. My Japanese would be a lot better if I had.

Just to let you all know. . .I am heading home, Oregon, in May sometime. I haven't purchased a ticket yet but that is in the works. And actually if you want to know what to give me for my 26th b'day coming up I'd love money to help pay for that ticket since it will be around 1,000 dollars to fly me home. You can just send it to parents (make it out to Helen Lewis ) in Oregon. The address is

Helen Lewis
405 Central St.

Silverton, OR 97381

It would be a lot of help too.

Yes, I am turning 26 this year. . . feels a bit weird but good. I enjoy getting older. I feel like my body is an older person's body (maybe because it's sooo soft and squishy :)) sometimes. 26 doesn't feel much different then 25 except . . . I feel like 25 is still sooo young sounding where as 26 is only 4 years away from 30. . .which I look forward to also. 30 does sound old though. hahahhahhahha. Well, 25 was a great year and I'm sure 26 will be too. I plan to be in the US for my 27th so that should be nice :)

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Love you,


Melody

More Christmas

Hey everyone!!!

here are some more pics of me from Christmas vacation. Here is me opening a gift (Mom :) ).

These were awsome slippers from Joy and Brian





My gifts to them (Japanese rice cakes from Disney Sea and a movie)



A normal day in the Barker house :)



From December 22-24th I stayed at my friend's, Yukiko, house in Aichiken. Here we are in the local mall :)



As my students would say, " 2 megane" which is English and Japanese. "megane" means "glasses" in Japanese. Hehe.



We sat and listend for awhile. They mostly played Christmas music and anime tunes :) "Ponyo, Ponyo"



Us at a park near her house



They had this huge tower in the center of the park and at the top you could look around at the city.



Yukiko, she's pretty cute :)

Christmas and New Years

Hey Everyone!!!

Sorry it has been forever in updating but here are some pics from the last few weeks here in Japan. I've had a nice break for the holidays. I spent 3 days in Aichi with my friend, Yukiko, who I met at NOVA. I also spent around 2 weeks with my friends, Brian and Joy, who live near a Navy base in Kanagawa. Enjoy

Merry Christmas morning!!!! Actually Brian had to be on his ship by noon so we had a special Christmas breakfast and then headed to the base.

It was a yummy breakfast

Merry Christmas dog.

Now that's an ugly ornament

Yeayyayayyay for ipods

(sorry mom. . . . no pics of me opening. I'm sorry. . . )


That night Elizabeth, a friend from church, Joy, and I all baked away for the next day.

Here is Beth making her grandma's rice pudding

Me making crust for the pie. . . much easier with a box crust then having to make it by scratch

The final product :)

The next day we all just hung out and played games and cooked up dinner

Beth and I freezing in the Barker's house

Brian and his foster dog.

Playing games

Time to cook the turkey

I've never stuffed a turkey before. . . it was very interesting. . .

Oh, we had sooo many problems with Joy's stupid oven too. . . . it's different then the ovens back home where for some reason you have to light it each time you want to use it and it doesn't always catch for some reason. . . . so we though we'd lite it when we put the turkey in but apparently we hadn't and an hour and a half passed by before we realized this because the oven would be warm but it wouldn't heat up all the way. In the end we turned the gas off and on again and that did the trick. But their oven really is a pain.

We didn't have a thermometer that worked so in the end we cut it to check that the meat was cooked. . . none of us died so apparently it was :)

New Years Eve we went bowling. . .actually the day before new years eve we went bowling because Brian had to work on New Years eve so we celebrated it early. It was a lot of fun.

Joy and me watching "Penelope" on the real New Years Eve. She fell asleep off and on from 10-11:30 and ended up going to bed at 11:30pm. Oh, well. . . I stayed up way past that time. . oops.


Well, my 2008 was a good one. . . a lot has changed and gone by in this one year. Strange to think that my time here in Japan is coming to an end too but if all goes well I'll be back before too long. Please keep me in your prayers and thanks for all your emails and updates. It means a lot ot me while I'm over here in Japan. Blessings and God bless.

Melody

Baking in Japan!!!!

Evening everyone!!!!


How are you all doing? November went by so quickly!!! I can't believe it is already December . . . not only that but the first week is already over and we are in on to the next week. Wow. . . soon it will be Christmas already. I will be spending Christmas with my friends, Joy and Brian, in Zushi. I'll probably spend New Years with them too which should be fun. Actually I went down this weekend to stay with Joy while Brian is out on his ship. We baked some chocolate chip cookies and snickerdoodles. It was an interesting event :) Here are some pictures.

Hee hee hee . . . we had no mixer or any real bowls. . .so we ended up using pots. hahahhaha!!!!

Here is a great example.

So. . . the Barkers live really close to the beach. And on our way we ran into a RED LOBSTER!! I've never seen one before.

Here is the beach adn we could see Mt. Fuji too. It was MUCH bigger in person too.

we are cheezy