あけましておめでとうございます: Happy New Year!

At the beginning of the new year here in Japan, it is common to greet one another with bows and special phrases that can be roughly translated, "Happy New Year! This new year also, please think well of me and let's have a good relationship." I always receive some kind of perverse pleasure watching my students' faces as they come in for the first English lesson of the new year, try to think of the translation of the Japanese phrase, panic for a moment, give up, and hurriedly rush through the phrase in Japanese. After which, I console them by saying that truly, there is no good English equivalent for the Japanese New Year's greeting, and we share a laugh and a simple "Happy New Year!" all around before settling into the lesson.

Eric enjoying Japanese New Year's food

For Eric and I, the winter break between 2013 and 2014 was a pretty special time. Eric's mother, aunt, cousin, and cousin's wife all came to visit for about a week, and we so enjoyed the time together. Our four travelers braved sickness, late planes, trains, pay phones with no connection, sleeping on futon, strange and unusual foods, bathing in public, and sharing one toilet and one sink for a whole week...to spend time with us! :) And we were very blessed by it. Here are some highlights from the time together:

Together in Tokyo, finally (after hours of flying and trains)!

Practicing kneeling/sitting on tatami floors

Celebrating Christmas!

A second Christmas celebration with friends in a mountain onsen (bath) village

In the bath
(We have laughed and laughed at this picture, taken by our Japanese pastor. It's illegal to have cameras in the baths.)

Bilingual carol-singing

Playing games

Visiting a nearby castle and history museum

Enjoying the flavor of green tea and sweets in a relaxed "tea ceremony"

Thank you for a great visit! 

Eric and I are anticipating that 2014 is also going to be a special time for us, for a big reason: we're both finishing our work here in Japan and planning to return to the States in the spring/summer of this year. The decision to move was a tough one to make--there are so many people and things we love here in Japan and so many reasons we'd love to be stateside as well--but we are thankful for the time that God has given us here and confident of His continuing love in our future. Right now, we are praying for smooth transitions at our jobs here and "good" goodbyes...and guidance and blessing on the many details of our next steps, such as schools, jobs, housing, etc. We welcome the prayers of others as well!

We're excited to share more with you guys as plans and details become more concrete! And we've already starting putting together "Top 10" lists of things we'll miss dearly about Japan, things we're looking forward to, and more...blogs coming soon!