Hello From The Future!

That’s right…I am officially in Asia. 

We landed in Japan on Wednesday night and went right to the center where we stayed until yesterday afternoon. We had orientation which included a Japanese lesson by native tongues. It was amazing. I absolutely love the Japanese language and cannot wait to practice. We learned a lot about the culture here in Japan, a culture that is very different from that of America or Latin America, where we have spent the last four months. I absolutely love it! All of it. This blog is mostly just to share with you some of my favorite things of Japanese culture thus far (Stay tuned for my next blog which will outline our ministry for the month).

First of all, my favorite cultural aspect of Japan has to do with my feet! Yes that’s right, my feet! Feet are actually quite dirty parts of our body. The Japanese understand this more than any culture I’ve been a part of yet. Therefore, you must take your shoes off before entering most places. While this sounds uncomfortable and kinda cold, it is actually the opposite. Why, you ask? HOUSE SLIPPERS! Yes…anywhere that you are required to take off your shoes provide complimentary house slippers. I love them and haven’t taken them off all day! (See pictures below) They even have separate slippers for the bathroom. So you must switch your normal house slippers for these when in the bathroom! Praise Jesus for a clean culture! woot woot! 

Secondly, a really great thing about Japan is….their toilets! There is quite a range of toilets here in Japan. One option being the squatty potty (of course, pictures below). This is not my favorite of the options. My favorite is a little bit on the fancier side. You walk up to the toilet only to have the seat top automatically open for you. You sit down and realize that your tush is just a little warmer than it was before…yes heated seats. Then before you can start your business, you realize that sounds of streams are coming from your toilet. Whaaat? Then you get up and it flushes and shuts all on its own. Pure glory. And the best part? You can flush the toilet paper! 

Third, the food. I love Asian food! Turns out, I really enjoy Salmon and seaweed, two things I thought I would never eat! I also really love eating with chopsticks. I could eat everything with chopsticks and probably will for the next four months!  The hardest bite though is the very last bite…especially when you’re eating noodles! 

So, these are some random and not-at-all serious topics that I have really been enjoying over the past three days. While these things aren’t super important, I have really enjoyed them and wanted to share them with you that you might also really enjoy them! 🙂 

Ohhh, did I forget to mention…IT IS FALL HERE! Changing of the leaves is a real thing. I get to experience a fall at Thanksgiving. Jesus loves me a whole lot. 🙂 

Thanks for listening as I get super excited about super random things. I really do love it here! 

As they say here in Japan…