Blessings on our house

After dinner tonight, Grandma and I drove around the areas hit by the tornado that his June 11, 2008. Even though it has been almost three weeks, I was still in shock to see the amount of destruction for this town that everyone swore would not get a tornado. I drove by the house of some friends from church because she had spoken to us about their steps to survival. It was simple things like putting a crib mattress in the window that kept them safe in the basement. I was shocked to see their house. There was extensive damage, not as bad as some, and especially not too bad considering that the house right next door was leveled. Gone, nothing left. Grandma and I were shocked to see how the tornado flattened some houses, yet left others untouched. Or to see an entire street leveled except for one house.
It was nice to hear about the amount of community service people are offering, and the comradery neighbors have toward each other.
I think what was so eye opening was that almost everyone you talked to said that Manhattan was the safe place in Kansas to live because we live in a bowl and therefor tornadoes just skip over us, or hit the hill tops, but not the areas that are low. NOT TRUE! It didn't matter where on the hill your house was, if it was in the way of the tornado, it was eaten up.
I looked on youtube and there is some great footage. Especially the news report from the local station. It shows the tornado off in the distance and you can see it touch down on the west side of town and make its way to KSU then take out the camera. Amazing 7 minutes of footage and well worth watching. Just type in Manhattan, Kansas tornado June 11th and you will get lots of video clips.
I think the best part of today was driving by the dealership that was hit really hard and seeing a sign that said, "Heck yeah We're Open!" What a great since of perseverance.
Even thought it was about 2 blocks from my house, I was not as close as some. Just down the road is a cute little house that is still in perfect condition, flowers in the yard, yet all the houses around it are destroyed.
I feel blessed that my house and family are safe and that I was able to come home from Japan and stay in Japan knowing that Grandma and my animals were fine.

Home sweet home and REAL food...

Well after 30 hours of being up and many many hours on a plane, I got home around 11p.m. on Thursday. The flight back from Tokyo got so turbulent that the overhead bins started to shake and the food cart next to me was rocking back and forth. Terrifying!!! The flight back from Chicago was turbulent also, so as Grandma says, I got off the plane looking white as a ghost.
As our Tokyo trip started to wrap up many people were talking about what they were craving for food. It didn't hit me until the last week that I really wanted to go to Chillie's and have some REAL food. As you can see, I got the only thing I order there. Baby back ribs!!! Very very oishii (delicious to you westerners). Hit the spot. It was great to order in English and from a menu that had only English. It also was nice to order something and know what you were getting and hat it would taste like.
The following picture are some of the people I had dinner with from my school. From left to right is David who was my para and who Brooke and I are fighting over for next year. :) Next to him is his daughter-in-law, Billie, who is our secretary and equally AWESOME!!! I worked with her last year and I have never met a more patient person. Next to Billie is Sara, who taught 3rd grade at our school. Next to Sara is Brooke who also taught 3rd grade last year. These are just some of the very wonderful people I work with and it was very nice to see them. I really missed them.
There are also two pictures of my house. I wanted everyone to see the hard work Grandma has put into our garden. It is thriving and can't wait until the crops come in. More good eating. :)
I included a picture of me and the animals to show you how much they all missed me. The black cat is Wesley, the Orange and White cat is O.C. (Orange Crush) and our dog Reiner. The three of them never left my side. It was great! In fact as I sit here on the couch they are still in the room with me, but I think they are more hungry then wanting attention from me.

Last day in Tokyo

For the last breakfast in Tokyo we decided to meet together as a group and eat together. Some people didn't who up, but most of us at least sat and said our goodbyes. The fist picture is of me and Jeff. We both have our Japan shirts on. Mine says the Tsukiji Fish Market and his says Kamakura. He was also one of the 7 or 8 of us who had the same camera, so I could always give him my camera and know that he would take a good picture. He works with the year book committee at his school, so he is an expert. He also wrote a grant to get 10 or so of these same cameras for his year book staff.
The second picture is of Chris, Bryan and I. I wanted a picture of these guys because the night before the three of us along with 9 other people went out and sang Karaoke. It was SOOOO much fun! One of the highlights of the trip. In Japan you don't go sing in a sorry bar but instead you rent a room that has a t.v. with the Karaoke on it. We had so much fun that we stayed for 3 hours, and racked up a $360 bill. Granted everyone else was drinking also, so I got out pretty cheap. I sang the entire time and woke up with almost no voice and a throat that was on FIRE, but well worth it.
The last picture is just part of all the luggage that was involved in 160 people bringing down two pieces of checked luggage. Can't wait to get home!!!

Empirial Palace

On Wednesday a group of us went for a walk in hopes to see the Imperial Gardens. Unfortunately we got there and realized that the gardens had closed about 40 minutes before we showed up. But here are two pictures of me outside the gardens. As for many things in Japan, I couldn't tell you who the statue is because it was written in Japanese, but he looked cool.

Shibuya

One one of the fist days we were in Tokyo, David Satterwhite told us all to not go to three places because the "police" had said not to go. The funny thing is that they told us the places not to go, and practically were they were. After going to Kamakura we saw that Shabuya was on the way back to the hotel so we decided to stop there. It was very cool. It is Japan's version of Times Square. The pictures I am included is a street where the cars have a turn then the people have a turn to cross. There were mass amounts of people crossing the street. I couldn't believe how many people were in the area and apparently this was not the total volume of people that the street carries.

Right near the Beach BOYH!

Knowing that the Pacific Ocean was in Kamakura, Bryan and I had full intentions of going swimming. We couldn't get any other takers. Once we got there, it was almost 7pm and getting colder. We also didn't expect the water to be as cold as it was nor as dirty. We didn't end of swimming because I forgot a towel and Bryan just grabbed the hand towel from the hotel. Neither of us wanted to freeze the entire way home.

We did get some nice pictures though. The first picture of me is pretending, doing a bad job at that, of surfing. Many of you may notice that my left wrist doesn't look that great. Well in Japan it is customary to be beaten on the wrists while participating in the junior high. Just kidding. I played volleyball with the junior high girls and was wearing my jewelry, and I bruise easily.
The second picture is surfers trying to surf itty bitty waves. The pictures of the signs I thought were funny and I hope you enjoy them. The last picture is of Sheree and me.

Kamakura

On Monday we flew from Matsuyama to Tokyo to join everyone else and wrap up our trip. Thankfully we got in a little early and a group of us went to Kamakura which holds Japan's second largest Buddha. It is called the Kamakura Daibutsu which was a temple that was completed in 1252. My Japan book says that "the statue was housed in a huge hall which was washed away by a tsunami in 1495. Cast in bronze and weighing close to 850 tones. The statue is 11.4 meters tall. It's construction is said to have been inspired by Yoritomo's visit to Mara after the Minomoto caln's victory over the rival Tiara clan. The Buddha itself is the Amida Buddha worshiped by the followers of the Jodo school as a figure of salvation."
The dinner picture is the hot Buddha face noodles.
I included the last picture because I thought it was a nice message.