CNY in Japan, year 2

This is what you do to celebrate Chinese New Year in Japan when you're alone.

First, you start in early December, when your friend brings you stuff that is meant for eating before Chinese New Year, but you hoard it until CNY.

Thanks Hui and Auntie June!

Next, when CNY comes around, eat some of the hoarded stuff.

No Picture Available, but as you can see above, most of the hoarded stuff has been eaten.

Talk with your pastor about how you celebrate CNY, and listen to his confessions as he tells you of the number of pineapple tarts he's eaten.

Re-enactment:
Pastor S: Did you celebrate CNY?
Me: No, not really. I ate a few things I hoarded though. Did you eat a lot of pineapple tarts?
Pastor S: Yes. I ate a lot.
Me: Oh. I see.
Pastor S: I'm also training for marathon, but at my age, it's hard to burn off the fat.
Me: Nah, I'm pretty sure it's the tarts.

Wait for your parents to post you some stuff.

A present!

Open and examine the contents.

Wow!

Be happy about the stuff you got.

Thanks for the bubble wrap mom! All these years and you still remember how much I like the stuff!

Not that you fool.

Oh. Right. Wow! Thanks for all the stuff mom and dad! And brother and sister too!

The End.

NTBI #7

Krispy Kreme: May cause gastric if you eat only this for dinner.

Was down at Shinjuku today, and I was thinking maybe I shouldn't eat such a heavy meal for dinner, since I might need to move around a bit.. I know! I should eat Krispy Kreme!

So off I went to Krispy Kreme, and my goodness, were those donuts nice to eat!

Then I hung around there for a bit reading books, then decided to go back home. On the way back to the station, I met a couple of Australian tourists who got lost, so I helped them out.

And then, on the way back to the station, I realized that my light meal had been too light, and I got gastric.

So, Krispy Kreme: Good for snack, not so good for dinner.

#notthebrightestidea

Prayer Stuff #15

Hi! It snowed this morning! Snow!

Prayer Stuff:

1. According to an anonymous poster on one of the Japanese forums (I think it was 2channel), he will go to Shinjuku and do random acts of violence at 9 pm tonight (11th Feb). I'm not sure whether it's a hoax or it's real, but we can all pray can't we?
2. Have a short-term worker staying with me now, his name is Paul, and he's from the Netherlands. He'll be with me for 6 weeks (almost 2 weeks have passed) before heading north to Aomori. Which reminds me that the last time I had short-term workers stay with me was almost a year ago (Tim and Jeremy)
   
3. Shinjuku HC: Japanese Alpha has finished, and now we're intending to start a series on cults. We do need wisdom to understand the difference between what is a cult and what is Christianity, not just for preparation, but also after that. So pray for wisdom for us. Chinese Alpha continues as usual.
   
4. Also Shinjuku HC's leader Karen has been had by her university. Apparently, they want her to pay ¥50,000 for them to review her Ph.D thesis. This cost was not reflected in her initial contract(?) and needless to say, she doesn't quite have that much money on her. Pray for God to provide a way out, whether it's through the waiving of the fee, the provision of money, or some other divine intervention that I have no idea about.
   
5. Some thanksgiving, Taira (Tokorozawa HC, Shinagawa Kai) has been much better recently. After taking 3 months of no-pay leave, he's back at work now. But he says that although he still hates work, he's found a lot more energy and joy while there. In the past, he had to struggle to get just enough energy to get through the day. So praise God for that.
   
6. Urawa Bible Study: Miki, one of the ladies there, seems to be getting more and more interested in the Christian faith. She brought a bible with her last week (she says it's so she can check the reading of the kanji, but that's still a good step right?) and she also asked where she could find a CD on hymns. I'm guessing right now it's still just a secular interest in these things, but let's pray something develops from here.
7. Coco's English Corner is having a New Year's Party on Tuesday. Yes, I know it's really long ago, but we weren't able to find a common time till now.
   
8. E-moms on Thursday and Kid's Club on Friday, pray for God's provision there.

Ok that's about it. Really long one this time but well, that's good for you (also cos I keep on forgetting to update. Sorry). Also, it's good for me to remember what God has done and what we need to depend on him to do. Thank you!

Pack

SuperBowl XLV Champions. 'Nuff said.