June 9th 2014 Eating my way through Korea town!

Well it's official, Tsuyu (rainy season) is upon us and with a vengeance this year! It's been a pretty much steady rain for the last five days! My sister bought me new shoes when I went home but I can't wear them because I don't want them getting wet, so I'm wearing my old tennis shoes instead! Still and all it is cooler outside but I could use a little sunshine hopefully this week to do some laundry!
In other more interesting news, on Saturday, Aya and I  pretty much ate our way through korea town! We stopped at a grocery store first and sampled a bunch of different kimchis and bought a few groceries. There were at least 12 different kimchi samples, some with seafood, others with cabbage or seaweed or cucumbers... you get the idea. Delicious! The store also had a street side grill making tasty treats. Aya had kimchi chijimi which is like a veggie pancake, I had a taste and it was  very good! I bought a couple to take home and fry up later!
                                                                       

I chose to have Hotteok with cheese in the middle!

First, he took a handful of yeasty dough and put some cheese into the middle .

                                               

Then he put it on a hot griddle and let it sit there for a few minutes.

(Around this time he turned away from us and did some bending exercises by the window for some reason, maybe he was bored. That made Aya and I laugh, but I didn't take a picture!)

Then he flipped the hotteok and squished it down!

After a few more minutes on the griddle it was HOT and ready to eat! It was delicious! 

There were other filling choices as well, including honey, kimchi, and sweet red bean paste. Being from Wisconsin, I opted for the Cheese!

After that, we walked and explored some of the local shops which turned out to be mostly K-pop souvenir shops for teenage girls!

Then we decided to find some more food! (of course) We ended up at a korean bbq place called Tonchang and that's when the real fun began!

We had  Samgyeopsal, delicious grilled pork belly and kimchi with many side dishes that you can pile onto a piece of lettuce and stuff the whole thing in your mouth.. preferably in ONE bite!

 (Pretty soon it looked like this picture I stole from the internet because I was too busy eating to take a proper picture!)
                                       

 
                  Aya was moving so fast trying to eat it in one bite that this picture came out blurry....

  We were making quick work of our porky feast!

Soon it was gone... but that wasn't the end, the grill was cleaned and the final course begun!

                                         Udon noodles were thrown onto the hot grill

                         Kimchi , green onions and other goodies added (not sure what all it was to be honest)

                                                                  Some fried tofu

                                           and finally, bonito flakes danced to the heat on top!
                                                            (it really does look like it's dancing)

It was all very delicious and fun! 

And as if that wasn't enough, as we headed back to the train station we found a cool "icecream stick" shop and had to try that too!

Finally, we waddled to the train station and I was so full that by the time I made it to Kichijoji train station, got off and was waiting for my bus, I didn't even mind the rain anymore!

June 6 2014 Mushiatsui desu ne!

Mushiatusi desu ne! It's really humid and hot!  This last week the temperatures have hovered in the upper '80's and 90 degree range with LOTS of humidity as is normal here. I'm not really going to complain though because I ultimately prefer it over cold weather any day! Starting yesterday though, I think rainy season has officially kicked in! Temperatures have dropped comfortably, and there is the steady pitter patter of rain all day. Glad I did my laundry early in the week when the sun was shining!
This last week has been a busy one, things are ramping up with church activities and settling back in to the day to day chores and routines.
 One of the harder things aspects about pioneer missionary work is doing everything on your own without any other people to help out.  You become head cook and bottle washer!  I miss the days when I had help with the church cleaning, now it's just me, so I put on some music or a sermon and get to work!  Since it's been so warm outside and we don't have our air conditioning installed yet, I've been going to clean in the evenings.    Here's a few pics just in case you have some delusion that being a missionary is glamorous!                                       Japan is a dusty city, everything needs to be wiped down.
                                                                   The chairs...

                                                                The Pulpit

 
                                                                         The equipment

                                               Random trash picked up...who put THAT there?!

                                                                     Wood work

     
                                                The windows ..have you seen ALL our windows?!

                                            And of course the bathrooms....
                                                                 The toilets

                                                      The urinal...ewwww

                                                                  And the floors..
                                                                    sweeping

                                                                          mopping

                          Yup, being a missionary is every bit as glamorous as you imagined!


On the plus side, tomorrow I'm headed to Korea town with Aya from church to have some fun and explore...so some parts are exciting too! Hopefully the next blog will have more interesting pictures than todays!                                                            

And here's a picture of me modeling the really cute apron my Mommy bought me when I was home!
                                                                       

May 24th 2014 Wisconsin and back

So I have returned...12,000 miles in just over a week is too much! I have a major case of jet lag which is why this update is late and I blame all grammatical errors in this post on that!
The trip itself went smoothly though and for that I'm grateful... I really do hate flying!   The memorial service for my brother was nice with one of the finest military honors, put on by the local VFW, that I have ever seen. I was able to see several long lost relatives that I haven't seen in many years and also some Aunts and Uncles. It was especially nice to see my Dad's brother, it was like listening to Dad when he talked and joked around! Two of my brothers arrived earlier in the week and went to work on Mom's house, straightening her very crooked deck and then along with some of my nieces and nephews they stripped and painted it as well.
                                                          They did a great job!

 They also took care of several other fixer uppers that Mom needed doing.  There were eight or nine of us in Mom's little house, we were sleeping in the guest room, living room, garage and a tent. I slept with Mom so I was spared the camping out! During the evenings, a fire was lit and we would sit around and talk.  
                                                                       

                                                               
Wisconsin doesn't generally have the drought problems that are common out West so bonfires are very popular ... that and we're hicks ... it's what we like to do! lol
Sometimes we were civilized though and would gather around the table in the house; sitting on my great-grandmother's chairs that have held several generations around tables.
                                                                 

During the day I liked to walk in the woods in the park near my Mom's house.  

                                    If you look closely, you can see Mama swan sitting on her nest!

                                               Papa swan came to see what I was up to!

All was fun and games until Mom and I ran into some very fresh BEAR poop! (of course I stopped to take a picture before we evacuated the area)

 It was a very long hard winter and the bears are out in force. Just after I left, Mom called to tell me that a Mama bear and her three cubs were spotted in her neighborhood, and that her garbage can that was set out for the collectors was ransacked. A well armed police officer came out to check on her and he kindly collected up the mess. Mom said she almost went to pick the strewn garbage up herself and then thought of the bear!

I spent several evenings at my sisters house, eating delicious venison brat wursts and other goodies. We also sat around a fire there (I tell you it's what my family does) and also enjoying the view from her back yard. Her property is up against the Chequamegon National Forest so it's very rural and nice. She has a funny dog that spends all day long running in the fields off in the distance. I only saw it up close a couple of times as it was always a blur running around in the field! I renamed it Forrest. "Run Forrest Run!"
                                                                 

Having hogged up all of the interior decorating genes in the family, her front porch looks like a Pinterest dream!

            Before my brothers and their children headed back out West we got some family photos taken.
                                                Here I am with two of my brothers.
                                                                             

                                                                 The Clan (only a few of us)

While I was gone Gary had the church's sign installed, it looks great!

That's it for today, you probably know more about my family and stuff than you ever wanted to by now, but that's what my last week was like! Gary laughs at what a hick I become (or return to being actually) when I visit my home state. I have all sorts of animal and wild life stories, he thinks it's funny. But hey,  if the truth be told, I'm just a country mouse living in the big cities!

That's all for now! Until next time!

May 7th 2014

So, I'm a little bit late getting this weeks blog post up.  I was out and about both Monday and Tuesday this week so I'm finally just now getting off a quick post before heading to the church to clean and have our weekly Beginners Bible Study.   Also  I'm trying to et things collected, washed and prepared for my trip next week. Thanks to some very generous brothers and sisters from our home church in Las Vegas, New Mexico I will be able to fly home to Wisconsin for my brother's funeral next week.  This would not have been possible without their very generous hearts and I am so grateful that I have people who care about me and are praying for me during this difficult time.  I will be flying out next Tuesday and be gone for one week. 
On Monday, we were quite rudely awakened by an earthquake! It was around 5 a.m. and it was shaking pretty good! Gary got up to stabilize the glass fronted bookshelf that was threatening to tip over on us but I was so groggy that I just sat there. If the "Big One" they are always predicting for Tokyo ever happens while I'm in bed I'll probably just die from confusion since it takes me a while to wake up and think clearly!                   
Later on, I did some running around Kichijoji. Since it was Childrens day and still Golden week it was very crowded!  I managed to take care of my errands though and get back home in one piece!
I discovered the new bakery in Kichijoji is of the same franchise as the one Gary and I really liked in Fuchu.  This is exciting and terrifying at the same time. Exciting because now we can get our delicious favorite bread treats when ever we want... terrifying because now we can get our delicious favorite bread treats whenever we want!!!
                                                                                

 

                                                                    
Yesterday we had a lovely visit with a family in our church. They invited Gary and I and our new girl to visit their home and enjoy a Filipino meal. I was very excited to try the dishes and they didn't disappoint!    

 

We had adobo, pancit, lumpia and a delicious fruit salad accompanied with a very nice lemon grass tea! My first foray into Filipino cooking was a delicious experience!

 

The next few days are going to be busy with church stuff and also a dentist appoint and then my trip. Lord willing, I will be back after the 21st to update you on all things 'Lisa in Japan' and also with some fascinating 'Cheese News' from Wisconsin!

 

Toodles!