One Last Lunch

On February 3rd, Juhee's class had another "Observation Day" for the parents (mostly moms, but there was one dad!).  We were given instructions in a letter (written by Haru-chan, one of the older kids) and 4 "tickets" to purchase items with...

There were tickets for snacks, accessories, dolls, and decoration.  The kids were told to keep everything a secret and I could tell she was bursting to tell me everything.  She was very excited! :)

When I got there, I was greeted by this sign on the door of the school's "Hall", which said "Tsuyukusa (name of Juhee's class) Town".

Unfortunately, upon entry, I wasn't allowed to take pictures but I was in for a wonderful surprise!  The kids were split up into the four categories listed above and they pretended to be workers in shops selling those items.  They were so cute!  They even had little bags for the little items that they'd made.  They'd made all sorts of things out of origami paper, felt, yarn, beads, toilet paper rolls...  And it was pretty good stuff, too!  I got a bracelet, "purin" (a Japanese pudding type dessert), a laminated decorative piece, and a doll.

After the "Tsuyukusa Town" bit was over, they put on a talent show.  They sang a few songs together - a song about the donkey that carried Jesus, one about housework (laundry!), and one which has "bang bang bang" in the chorus and the kids absolutely love - which were super cute.  Each child also had an individual piece.  The younger kids went up on stage one at a time to show and explain what they made and some of the older kids did things like hula hoop, acrobatic moves, etc.  It was fun!  I was very impressed. :)

Afterwards, the moms and some of the younger siblings, went to eat lunch together at a Japanese-y pasta place.  I'd never been there and was surprised at the fancy Japanese-y atmosphere of a pasta place.  They also had a kids' play room next to the room we were in which was nice.  Sungjae and I shared a lunch set.  It was salmon and bacon with basil in some sort of Japanese-y oily sauce.  It was yummy but very, um, oily... ㅡㅡ;  Sungjae loved it, ate most of it, and got his hands very oily. ^^;;;

My friend had the one below.  A sea urchin, seaweed, and fish eggs pasta... Definitely one you won't find in Italy!

 Most of the moms got their drinks toward the end of their meal, including me.  I ordered ice yuzu tea (유자차) as I'd never had an iced version before.  The moms were all shocked that a Korean had never had it before as most Japanese people think of yuzu tea as being a very Korean thing. :)  Again, Sungjae loved it and drank most of it. :)

Below is a picture of the English speaking mom (right) in Juhee's class that's been translating for me during Juhee's first year of Japanese schooling and another mom (left) I got to know pretty well.  I am eternally grateful to her for the huge amount of help she gave me.  I thank God for placing her son in the same class as Juhee.  I definitely could not have done it without her!  Not sure what's going to happen next year when she moves to Yokohama 'cause of her husband's transfer... ㅡㅡ;

The moms of Juhee's class for the 2011-12 academic year minus a few.  They were very gracious, patient, and understanding to a mom who was often lost. :)

English Time - Hallelujah

“What does Hallelujah mean?”, I (Jenny) asked. After practicing “Happy New Year!” in English and Korean, counting from 1-10 (easy) and 10-1 (not so easy), and then reading them the suspenseful ;) kids’ story, “Ten Little Ladybugs” (thanks Stoutamores, they loved it!), I posed the students at Juhee's preschool this question and received very unexpected answers. :) “It’s a nice day!” and “Sunshine!” were just a couple of them.

Each month, Juhee’s preschool has 4-5 new songs that they teach to the students. At the end of previous month, all parents receive a plethora of paperwork which includes the sheet music for these songs. I guess so that the parents can familiarize themselves with the songs their kids are being taught at school? I don't know. Anyway, :) one of the songs for January, was “Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord”.

(This is part of the standard paperwork that I receive monthly from Juhee's preschool. The top left song is the one I sang with them. The song underneath is about mochi. :) The one on the top right is called the "Calendar March" (as in ka-len-da ma-chi) and goes through the months. The one below it, is about kite flying. If you look really closely (or click on the pic to enlarge), then you can see my notes. The word for kite is the same as that of octopus. :/)

As I know this song in English (obviously ;)) and Korean as well, I decided to sing this with them during my English Times with the three classes this month. It was a great way for me to teach them the meaning of the word Hallelujah, a word that they often hear in a Christian preschool (a group of about 40 moms sang the whole Hallelujah Chorus for the 3 Christmas services!) but don’t know the meaning of. I told the teachers in advance and by the time I went to do English Time with the three classes on the 25th and 30th, they knew the song well. We sang the “Hallelu/jah” parts together and then I sang the parts in the different languages. The kids and teachers were fascinated. I asked them which parts of the song were the same and which parts were different.

(Close up of the Hallelujah song. We only sang the first verse together. After the class, a couple of kids pointed out to me that there's a second verse too... =D)

And now, hopefully, they’ll always know what “Hallelujah” means. Hopefully one day, they will truly praise the Lord when they hear/say/sing it. Small steps, small seeds. :)

Baking Together

When I have the time and energy, I like to bake (cake mix out of a box!!!). And when I have a big dose of motherly love and patience on top of all that, I try to bake with the kids. It was great when it was just Juhee and me. Now, it's a bit complicated, 'cause Sungjae wants to get in the action!

These are pics from when we were baking brownies for one of the single brothers at one of our churches who speaks English and helps us a lot with lots of things. He loves chocolate. Brownies were a rare treat (and a Korean spicy pork BBQ dinner too). :)

They were taken with my iPod so apologies for the poor picture quality...

Juhee's turn to mix while Sungjae waits (not so patiently).

Break for a quick picture.

Sungjae doing his v-sign (can't do it yet so always does it with just one finger :)) but his mind (and eyes!) are elsewhere...

OK, enough with the pictures already...

I want to mix too...

Not my turn yet?

It is now!

Juhee proudly showing mommy / the camera their nearly finished brownie mix while Sungjae starts to get upset that it's not his turn anymore.

Juhee pretending to eat it, Sungjae getting more upset 'cause he wants to mix again.

=DDD

Had to stop taking pictures so I could take Sungjae off the table and give him one more turn before I shoo-ed them out of the kitchen. :)

He likes standing right next to me while I'm chopping and likes standing really close to the gas stove and playing with it too.

Cooking is definitely an interesting challenge these days... :/ Hopefully I'll at least be able to bake with the kids now and again and it'll become more fun, less challenging as we do it together. We all love cake, it's expensive here, and it's something (potentially) fun that we can do together. Trying to create fun memories... :)

New Year's 2012

Just in case you were wondering, they don’t celebrate Lunar New Year here (anymore), but there’s much festivity around January 1st. It’s a great time for families to get together. Our regular Sunday School at 9am was cancelled and worship time was even pushed back from 10:30 to 11:00 so that people could enjoy the morning together with family (note: Christmas Day service was at 10:30, Christmas Party was straight after, lasted till 3pm!). Many people were traveling so were not there that Sunday but there were also some new faces of family members who live elsewhere.

How did we celebrate New Year's as a family?

Well, on New Year's Eve, before dinner, I actually started making Korean kimchi pancakes (김치전) and Korean seafood pancakes (해물파전) for us to eat on New Year's Day for lunch after church. But it all got devoured that evening... ^^;;;

Jess came over and we had a great time together eating Korean food (I think there was something really random on the table too but I can't remember what it was...) and watching Kungfu Panda 2. It was so funny!!! =D Apparently Jess had fun watching me watch the movie too. -__- I think I surprised Juhee at one point 'cause I got really excited, squealed and squeezed her a bit too hard (she was sitting next to me). =D

New Year's breakfast was a quick toast, sausages, and eggs and then we rushed to get ready for church. After service, those that could stay a bit longer enjoyed a bowl of red bean soup with mochi inside, a staple in the Japanese New Year's menu. It's kinda like Korean red bean soup (팥죽) but it's (really) sweet, more soup-y, and instead of small round pieces of rice cake, there's one big rectangular chunk of sweet rice cake (mochi). Koreans eat it with a spoon, Japanese people eat it with chopsticks. Koreans spoon it out of the bowl, Japanese eat the mochi with chopsticks and slurp/drink the red bean soup out of the bowl. It's really hard to feed kids without getting messy and sticky. Thankfully, they had a few spoons available for those with kids - phew!

We (Oh's + Jess) slurped it up and then all came back to our place for the most basic, the most staple of Korean New Year's food - rice cake & dumpling soup (떡만두국)! I'd only made it once before so it was slightly experimental but it turned out delicious (if I say so myself). :)

I had so much fun during those two days and was so busy relaxing, I forgot to take pictures of us. :( At least I got one of the soup... ^^;

It was really nice to have someone to celebrate New Year's Eve and Day with, especially while being able to enjoy delicious Korean food like 김치전, 해물파전, and 떡만두국 together. ^^

Kids in Hanbok 새 해 복 많이 받으세요~ ^^

새 해 복 많이 받으세요~

아이들이 한복 입고 찍은 사진 몇 장 올립니다... ^^

우리 공주님과 왕자님 ^^

"절하는 방법 가르쳐줄께~ 잘 봐~"

"이렇게 똑바로 서서..." 우와~

이렇게? ^^;

마음을 따뜻하게 하는 해맑은 웃음 ^^

공주마마의 잠깐의 휴식시간~

한복을 제대로 입었을 때는 둘이 동시에 절대로 안 하더니만
결국은 걸리작 거리는 건 다 벗고 놀다가 드디어... ㅡㅡ;

2012년, 새 해 복 마~~~니 받으세요! ^^

(여기에 클릭하시면 더 많은 한복 사진들을 보실 수 있습니다.)

10-11월 소식지

10-11월 소식지의 일부분입니다. 이메일을 전체적으로 읽어 보고 싶으시면 연락주세요. 감사합니다~ ^^

Wednesday December 28, 2011

감사합니다!

안녕하세요!

지난 추수감사절은 저희가 받은 많은 축복들을 생각하며 하나님께 감사드리는 기간이었습니다. 저희의 일본 도착 일주년, 아사미나미 개척교회의 기공식, 일본운전면허 딴 것, 미국에서의 친구들 방문, 많은 사역 기회들 (사진: 10월에 주희의 반 아이들이 “I love you”라고 하고 선물 받는 것, 아래 "사역 업데이트"에 자세한 내용있습니다)등, 감사드릴 일들이 너무나도 많았습니다!

저희를 그 동안 계속 기도와 후원으로 함께해 주신 모든 분들께 큰 감사를 드립니다. 그리고 많은 분들께서 저희가 여기서의 사역이 가능하겠금 해주심에 하나님께 감사를 드립니다.

우리 구세주로 이 땅에 오신 예수님의 탄생을 기뻐하는 크리스마스를 보내셨음을 믿고, 주님과 더욱 더 친밀한 관계를 즐기는 새해가 되시기를 기도합니다.

신실하신 주 안에서,
Peter Oh 선교사 가정 드림

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Card

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is the card that we gave to everyone at the two churches that we work with, Koyo Chapel and Kabe Chapel. Peter did the whole thing. Pretty cool, right (yes, I'm slightly biased)? :)

Last year, we gave a New Year card (Japanese give out New Year cards, giving out Christmas cards is a fairly new thing and not something commonly done) to just a few people, but this year, we decided to give it to everyone. And amidst all of the craziness, we just about managed it. Last year, our card was in English, even the names. But this year, the card was in Japanese and I even wrote some of the names in Chinese characters too. They looked like a kid's drawing and I gave up trying to write everyone's but it was progress... :P

THANK YOU everyone for your love and prayers during the past year. We seriously would not be here without you!!! May your Christmas be filled with much joy and your 2012 filled with much love and laughter, knowing that the babe in the manger died and rose again for us. May God bless you with much adventure, health, and wisdom too. May you keep your eyes on Him during the thick and thin.

Thankful for you and thanking God for you... :)

English Time - Christmas

In December, English Time (what I'm going to start calling it from now) at Juhee's preschool provided me with an opportunity to tell the kids the nativity story in English - twice! :)

(The one student not sitting down is a child with autism. There is at least one in each class at Juhee's preschool and a teacher's aide per class for these special students. This boy is actually from Sendai, where he and his parents survived, but his home, school, everything was ruined by the tsunami.)

I read them two books, “The Rinky Dinky Donkey” (thanks Murrays!) and “Peek and Find Christmas Story” (thanks Jeeyun!). One of their favorite songs during Christmas time was a song about Christmas from the donkey’s perspective. The lyrics are about how the donkey is not the strongest or the fastest, etc but was the one chosen and is happy (honored?) to be the one to labor for God. “The Rinky Dinky Donkey” was a fun way of reading them an English version of that song, was easy for them to try to follow, and fun to listen to as it's all in rhyme.

The “Christmas Story” book was also like that as the older students performed the nativity story as part of their Christmas Service. The kids were fascinated that an English book had the same story and also that there are different pronunciations of the same name, for example, that “yo-se-fu” is “Joseph”. They had fun calling out the Japanese name of the characters of the story and the older kids would sometimes put up their hand if it was the role that they played.

After reading them the books, I told them that we should be thankful to Jesus. I wish I could have explained more, but alas... :( I taught them all to say “Thank you, Jesus”, and after a few practice runs, everyone received a slice of gingerbread as they lined up by the door and said it to me one at a time.

When I told the kids that it was gingerbread, most of them made a face ‘cause they don’t like ginger! Ginger’s used a lot in Japanese cooking so I explained to them that it doesn’t taste like the taste that they’re used to. I also asked them to share with their moms as some moms lamented that they didn’t get to taste the pumpkin bread I gave out in November. :)

Oct-Nov Newsletter

Here's a snippet from our Oct-Nov Newsletter. If you would like to receive the full email, please email us or sign-up on the right hand column of this blog. Thank you! :)

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Giving Thanks

Thank you!

This past Thanksgiving season has given us an opportunity to reflect on the many blessings for which we are thankful: our one year anniversary of arriving (and surviving!) in Japan, the groundbreaking of the new Asaminami Church Plant, many ministry opportunities, obtaining our Japanese driver's licenses, encouraging visits from friends from America - and much more!

A BIG “Thank You!” to you, our friends and family, for your continued prayer and financial support. We thank God for you and for the vital role you play in reaching out to the people of Hiroshima, Japan.

(Picture: Tom helped with Kids' English Club during his visit; Jenny with her new Japanese drivers' license; our Team Leader, Scott, "breaking ground" with a wooden hoe.)

May your Christmas be filled with joy celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, and a New Year full of the blessings of an increasingly intimate relationship with our Lord.

God bless,

Time with Friends

We had more friends visit us in December - yay! :)

Vincent & Bonnie came for a few days after Vincent's business trip in Tokyo. We were so happy they decided to tag on a few more days to their trip and fly down to Hiroshima to spend some time with us! :) Many of our Japanese church members were so surprised and happy to see Bonnie again (Bonnie came for VBS in August). Bonnie was able to reconnect with a couple of the young adults here and even went to a monthly English praise night downtown. Vincent got to meet some of the people that Bonnie and the summer missions team reported back on and see the churches too. They got to experience a normal Japanese worship service which was a first for Bonnie too as the Japanese churches had made changes to their normal service to accommodate for the American visitors. They even joined us for a team meeting and provided the corn bread to go with the meal! :)

Jessica T. (in pic with us) and Anita (in pic below reading with Juhee) came down to visit us from Tokyo, where they were missionaries with Cru (CCC). Jessica's grand-mother's grave site is in Hiroshima so it was a meaningful journey for her as she ended her many years of service in Japan and returned back home to CA.

It was great to be able to chat with the ladies till late at night and swap stories and experiences about being missionaries in Japan. Despite having traveled all night for two nights straight in night buses, and walking/hiking mi~les from early in the morning, they were still willing to keep me entertained. :)

Juhee and Sungjae loved playing with them too! Anita actually read a book to Juhee that we'd received months ago but hadn't read to her as it's in Japanese. XP

Jessica & Anita actually answered a prayer request too... A few days prior to them coming, I randomly really craved bagels. They're hard to find here and expensive so we haven't had any since moving to Japan. They were supposed to bring dessert for dinner the evening they arrived but they brought dessert in the form of omiyage (souveniors) from Kyoto (where they'd just come from) and lots of different kinds of pastry for breakfast the next morning - including a bagel! Guess who ate the bagel. It was heavenly. :) (I shared - a little bit. ;))

Juhee was over the moon that Jessica went to the bus stop with her early that morning. :)












As always, it was wonderful to have real friends that we could really connect with and communicate with. Times like these are precious and an immense blessing. :)