Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! I don't have a whole lot of
time to write in this post so I have added some pictures to speak for me.
As you can see to the left, it is getting cold, evidenced by the monkey warming himself by the heater. I got to visit a school last week and play games with 2 classes of 4th graders. Did you know that they have unicycles at Japanese schools? It is an integral part of their recess time. We hiked up to a waterfall this weekend, it was the third largest waterfall in Japan. While we were there we spent some time in a tunnel waiting for an elevator to go to a lookout. After the lookout we hiked across the river and then up to the top of the falls. There were some great views of the farmland around the river that fed the waterfall. Good times were had by all.
Since Thanksgiving is not a national holiday in Japan, a group of us will be celebrating our own version of a Thanksgiving feast Saturday night. It is good to have a group here to share time with over a roasted turkey. Unfortunately due to a scheduling error on my part I am foregoing an opportunity to go rock climbing, but I know the rock will be there a lot longer than the home made chess pie.
Since it is Thanksgiving my roommate and I made a video for you last night. It is not high quality but it is the second such video I have produced. I hope you enjoy it. With that I will leave you to view some pictures and the video. Keep checking back, I would like to discuss some of the spiritual aspects of this journey. I hope you are all full and happy.
Peace and Love
Mike
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The participants just got back from a two week tour of Western Japan so there has been much music and merry making tonight. We played guitar for about two hours before everyone ran out of energy. There is a Tom Wait's song called I Don't Wanna Grow Up, and it has been stuck in my head for some time now. Towards the end I looked up the above mentioned song and played it for the group. When I played the recording some of the folks asked if it was me singing (Tom Waits has a very raspy voice, as if he was raised on Whiskey and Cigarettes, and apparently so do I (aka my AC/DC voice)) So I decided I should just sing it and claim the song as my own.
It is rainy here at ARI and the trees are dripping water. This morning I was going to try to travel to Utsunomya to the Anglican Church (a 40 minute train ride, and the closes to ARI.) I could not find the directions and I was running late so it was suggested that I wait until next week. Instead I spent some time with my BCP and went searching for sermons from familiar priests online. I settled on a sermon by Father Mike formerly of San Angelo and currently located in Arizona. He used a story about his daughter's early arrival into this world to discuss preparedness and the coming of Advent, very nice. I then found a podcast that my good friend Ryan Kuratko was involved with, it was a post from December last year but it was great to hear his thoughts on Mary's reaction to the news that she would have a baby. These words of wisdom, coupled with a conversation with my roommate about church and community, were very comforting to a young Texan so far from home.
This afternoon we went rambling through the woods around ARI and into town because it was too wet for bikes. I found an old logging road and followed it up into the hills. I decided to take a non-path back and spent some time bushwhacking my way to civilization. It reminded me of my time in British Columbia and my heart was happy. I have been doing some personal study on simplicity and attitudes we can adapt for our life that will help us be more aware of our connection wide web of nature. It has been an enlightening mental journey and I have been able to evaluate my natural patterns and perceptions of life from a distance. I am learning a lot about my life and how I want to fit into this world. One of the books I am reading was published a few decades ago, but its discssions are very relevant to todays issues. It is called Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher, a study of economics as if people mattered. It talks about our recent engrained acceptance of greed and jealousy as nescessary components of a "healthy economic system," and the current assumption that unlimited growth is possible in a finite world. Heavy implications but the alternatives he brings up are enlightened and promising.
Because the participants were gone for two weeks I got to spend a lot of time in the kitchen "training" for the winter when we would have to cook more often. This weekend I introduced several of the community member to the now world famous Heavy Cake. Of course as luck would have it I burned the whole thing by putting too much trust in the oven. After some doctoring and a heavy dose of icing we salvaged most of the cake. One of the volunteers was so impressed he thought the burned layer was actually a third type of chocolate. Good times. Last night I made southern style biscuits from the Perini cookbook and they went over very well with scrambled eggs. I am making my way through the kitchen and learning a lot of the standard dishes, mainly miso soup, scrambled eggs, sauteed veggies, and rice. I have gotten some good response and mild acceptance, so I consider it an overall success. Food is obviously a big part of our lives here so it is fun to be involved in all aspects of the process.
Last week, after some consultation, we decided we should put up a rope swing. In keeping with the Austin Greenbelt style my roommate and I decided it should be over a drop so you could really get the feeling of air under your feet. So we found a good sturdy tree overhanging a hill, and in less than half of an hour we had a very sturdy swing set up. We have only used it a few times and gotten a weary acceptance by the staff. Now that the participants are back we will see how it goes, I think they will enjoy it as much as I do.
Faith is a funny thing here. ARI is built and largely funded by religious groups. Every day we pray before meals and in the mornings, there is a very boisterous prayer group on Monday nights, and a shuttle to churches close by on Sundays. Most of the participants have faith traditions, some more fundamental than others. My peers, the volunteers, are a typical young adult crowd with mixed opinions and hesitant affiliations. It is fun to discuss religion and ideas of faith with the community members. We have a variety of opinions and experiences. I have shared when asked and tried to keep my mouth shut re it was prudent. It is sometimes difficult to feel like a missionary in this dormitory environment, and I often find myself saying "ok I am here, tell me what you want now." As could be expected the answer is hard to discern and mostly interpreted as love your neighbor and try to be nice. So here I sit, thousands of miles from home with with my veggies and chickens, doing what I can. I can only trust that I am supposed to be here and that by living my life and sharing it with others, I will contribute something to the lives of those that I encounter.
I hope you are all well, and that your lives are full of joy and good food. Peace Love and Merriment.
Mike
It is rainy here at ARI and the trees are dripping water. This morning I was going to try to travel to Utsunomya to the Anglican Church (a 40 minute train ride, and the closes to ARI.) I could not find the directions and I was running late so it was suggested that I wait until next week. Instead I spent some time with my BCP and went searching for sermons from familiar priests online. I settled on a sermon by Father Mike formerly of San Angelo and currently located in Arizona. He used a story about his daughter's early arrival into this world to discuss preparedness and the coming of Advent, very nice. I then found a podcast that my good friend Ryan Kuratko was involved with, it was a post from December last year but it was great to hear his thoughts on Mary's reaction to the news that she would have a baby. These words of wisdom, coupled with a conversation with my roommate about church and community, were very comforting to a young Texan so far from home.
This afternoon we went rambling through the woods around ARI and into town because it was too wet for bikes. I found an old logging road and followed it up into the hills. I decided to take a non-path back and spent some time bushwhacking my way to civilization. It reminded me of my time in British Columbia and my heart was happy. I have been doing some personal study on simplicity and attitudes we can adapt for our life that will help us be more aware of our connection wide web of nature. It has been an enlightening mental journey and I have been able to evaluate my natural patterns and perceptions of life from a distance. I am learning a lot about my life and how I want to fit into this world. One of the books I am reading was published a few decades ago, but its discssions are very relevant to todays issues. It is called Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher, a study of economics as if people mattered. It talks about our recent engrained acceptance of greed and jealousy as nescessary components of a "healthy economic system," and the current assumption that unlimited growth is possible in a finite world. Heavy implications but the alternatives he brings up are enlightened and promising.
Because the participants were gone for two weeks I got to spend a lot of time in the kitchen "training" for the winter when we would have to cook more often. This weekend I introduced several of the community member to the now world famous Heavy Cake. Of course as luck would have it I burned the whole thing by putting too much trust in the oven. After some doctoring and a heavy dose of icing we salvaged most of the cake. One of the volunteers was so impressed he thought the burned layer was actually a third type of chocolate. Good times. Last night I made southern style biscuits from the Perini cookbook and they went over very well with scrambled eggs. I am making my way through the kitchen and learning a lot of the standard dishes, mainly miso soup, scrambled eggs, sauteed veggies, and rice. I have gotten some good response and mild acceptance, so I consider it an overall success. Food is obviously a big part of our lives here so it is fun to be involved in all aspects of the process.
Last week, after some consultation, we decided we should put up a rope swing. In keeping with the Austin Greenbelt style my roommate and I decided it should be over a drop so you could really get the feeling of air under your feet. So we found a good sturdy tree overhanging a hill, and in less than half of an hour we had a very sturdy swing set up. We have only used it a few times and gotten a weary acceptance by the staff. Now that the participants are back we will see how it goes, I think they will enjoy it as much as I do.
Faith is a funny thing here. ARI is built and largely funded by religious groups. Every day we pray before meals and in the mornings, there is a very boisterous prayer group on Monday nights, and a shuttle to churches close by on Sundays. Most of the participants have faith traditions, some more fundamental than others. My peers, the volunteers, are a typical young adult crowd with mixed opinions and hesitant affiliations. It is fun to discuss religion and ideas of faith with the community members. We have a variety of opinions and experiences. I have shared when asked and tried to keep my mouth shut re it was prudent. It is sometimes difficult to feel like a missionary in this dormitory environment, and I often find myself saying "ok I am here, tell me what you want now." As could be expected the answer is hard to discern and mostly interpreted as love your neighbor and try to be nice. So here I sit, thousands of miles from home with with my veggies and chickens, doing what I can. I can only trust that I am supposed to be here and that by living my life and sharing it with others, I will contribute something to the lives of those that I encounter.
I hope you are all well, and that your lives are full of joy and good food. Peace Love and Merriment.
Mike
Monday, November 3, 2008
One Month
Well, I have been here for a month now. I was trying to decide when I would call it a month officially. Thursday was the end of the fourth week, Saturday was the first day of the new month, Sunday was the anniversary by date, but by the time I actually got around to posting a blog about it I was already into month two and behind schedule by a day. Some things never change.
Our weather is changing, and the temperature is dropping. We have harvested a lot of food and begun planting some of our winter crops. The food is wonderful and warm. I always look forward to meal time.
Speaking of food, I have had some culinary adventures both inside and out of ARI. I have eaten fried crickets served as a snack during dinner. We regularly get a side of baby fish in a crunchy sweet sauce, the was a restaraunt where you pick sushi from a conveyor belt, fresh sashimi at my roomates house, fish guts served in a kind of gravy, cow guts that are regularly served with beer to cure hangovers, the largest bowls of Ramen noodles I have ever seen , and a myriad of variations along these themes. To tell you the truth I haven't find much that I don't like to eat. I am getting especially adept at using chopsticks .
This weekend we got to go fishing at a little river aout 40 minutes away. We used little worms from the bottom of the rocks as bait and caught 31 fish in about 45 minutes, I have included a picture of one of the largest of our catch. We brought them back to ARI with us and they got cooked up with some of our farm raised fish and served a dinner, whole.
As a recap for the month, I have gotten very acquainted with our chickens, harvested rice, climbed three mountains, started learning Japanese, gone fishing, visited Tokyo, dried my clothes on the roof, soaked in an Onsen (hot spring) , adopted three bicycles, eaten crickets, and eaten sushi from a conveyor belt.
Thank you for all of your support. I hope you enjoy these little updates. I will add more pictures later. If you click on the pictures it will take you to a full size version and my online photo folder. Peace, Love and good food for all.
Mike
I feel like I am growing and learning here. I am thinking a lot and asking myself all kinds of questions. There are so many amazing and varied things in this world, and so many people with different ideas and dreams. Our community is diverse but we all have the same concerns about our families, our communities and the future. We are all separated from people we love in a new home trying to learn to live together. Some of my fellows are getting reports from home about turmoil or unrest. There governments are split or under attack, or even attacking. When they leave this place in a little more than a month they will have to go home and to hostile governments and business interests that don't have any love for rural leaders that would encourage the masses to stand up for themselves and take back their lives and their food. Or their countries are split in a struggle for power, a struggle that is leaving their families in harms way. But while we are here, we are safe and inspired. I pray that these wonderful people will be able to take what they have learned here back home with them and share the love and compassion that they so ably display here.
Our weather is changing, and the temperature is dropping. We have harvested a lot of food and begun planting some of our winter crops. The food is wonderful and warm. I always look forward to meal time.
Speaking of food, I have had some culinary adventures both inside and out of ARI. I have eaten fried crickets served as a snack during dinner. We regularly get a side of baby fish in a crunchy sweet sauce, the was a restaraunt where you pick sushi from a conveyor belt, fresh sashimi at my roomates house, fish guts served in a kind of gravy, cow guts that are regularly served with beer to cure hangovers, the largest bowls of Ramen noodles I have ever seen , and a myriad of variations along these themes. To tell you the truth I haven't find much that I don't like to eat. I am getting especially adept at using chopsticks .
This weekend we got to go fishing at a little river aout 40 minutes away. We used little worms from the bottom of the rocks as bait and caught 31 fish in about 45 minutes, I have included a picture of one of the largest of our catch. We brought them back to ARI with us and they got cooked up with some of our farm raised fish and served a dinner, whole.
As a recap for the month, I have gotten very acquainted with our chickens, harvested rice, climbed three mountains, started learning Japanese, gone fishing, visited Tokyo, dried my clothes on the roof, soaked in an Onsen (hot spring) , adopted three bicycles, eaten crickets, and eaten sushi from a conveyor belt.
Thank you for all of your support. I hope you enjoy these little updates. I will add more pictures later. If you click on the pictures it will take you to a full size version and my online photo folder. Peace, Love and good food for all.
Mike
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