ministry amid mishaps

...in no time at all, the task of learning japanese has yielded a rich stream of opportunities to build relationships with new friends...and also opportunities to make blunders and create some serious miscommunication...

...take for example one funny miscommunication this afternoon...as we were learning japanese culture and conversation with two of our friends -- tadanao kodaira-san and yoko...

...with fascinating detail, yoko was explaining the japanese custom of sending salutary postcards to friends and family at the beginning of the new year (nengajoou)...under this custom, a person can send (and receive) postcards in the hundreds, even thousands...and get this: each postcard you receive has a lottery number on it....so the postcards you receive serve as lottery tickets because on an assigned date (i think it's jan. 15th), the local newspapers publish winning numbers and those who have those numbers can claim a prize at the post office (e.g., television, stamps)...

...anyway, wanting to shift the spotlight to american culture, yoko asked about green tea cards...claire and i were perplexed..."oh, no, we don't send green tea cards in america"...yoko was surprised..."really (honto)?!?!?!"....no green tea cards?....it took us a minute or so of pained surprise and silence to realize that yoko was asking about greeting cards....we got a good laugh out of that...

...we experienced lots of these funny mishaps, enough to fill another blog...but the truth of the matter is, as we laugh at (and with) each other, language learning -- with all its aaaahhs and blunders -- has been an awesome way to bond with dear members of our church family, like tadanao and yoko...

...as part of our initiation into japanese culture, tadanao and yoko introduced our stomachs to a favorite dish in the osaka-kobe region...

...it's what one popular restaurant chain (fugetsu) calls the "japanese pizza"...better known as okonomi yaki...it's cooked and eaten at your table on a sizzling hotplate...

...pizza with your own personal spatula and chopsticks...

...ingredients vary, but okonomi yaki consists of a mixture of egg, onion, cabbage (lots of it), batter, red ginger, fried batter crumbs, bonita flakes, mayonnaise, and topped with the special sauce of the eatery you're in...with this mixture as the base, you can add beef, shrimp, oysters, or a wide variety of things...and this all comes out in bowls at your table (like the one below with oysters)...

...ready to be mixed and grilled table-side...

...add the dancing flakes (the bonita flakes shimmy all around under the intense heat)...

...when you come visit us (hint! hint!), one of the things we'll definitely do is take you out for some pizza, okonomi-yaki style!...as a token of our pledge to you, we'll be trying out different flavor combinations in anticipation of your arrival!