Lost in Translation

I am currently 0 for 2 in saying the phrase yoroshiku onegai shimasu in front of a Japanese church congregation. Back in the fall, we went to Japanese church in Ann Arbor for our orientation class and I butchered this phrase (its used when you introduce yourself) after Lori and Mike said it perfectly. Then yesterday, I did the same thing! Fortunately, the Japanese are very loving and thought it was funny. Or maybe they thought I was an idiot and were just pitying me.

The service was all in Japanese, except for Dr. Shin's sermon which went back and forth between English and Japanese. Even though I couldn't understand the majority of the service, it was still wonderful to see God's word being spread across the globe! Afterward, there was a potluck lunch where we introduced ourselves and talked about our first impressions of Japan and the people. We all could say with sincerity that we've had a great time so far and have felt so welcomed by everyone we've met.

Today was our first day working with the kindergartners. Boy, was it exhausting! We started the school day at 8:45, but I was up at 4:45 am again and ended up going for a run once the sun finally rose. As students came in with their parents, we greeted them while we swept the street, which was a bit silly since the streets were spotless to begin with. Lori, Mike and I are supposed to rotate in classes helping teach English, but the English teacher couldn't make it today so we mostly just played on the playground with the students at recess time. Here are some playtime highlights for the day:

1. We tried to play Duck, Duck, Goose but this one little boy would just follow the ducker around and pat everyone on the head and then run around when it wasn't his turn.
2. The kids would just chat like crazy in Japanese and ask us questions, but we had no idea what they were saying!
3. Lori tried to make conversation with the students, but they would just turn to each other and laugh at her.
4. Mike was surrounded by a group of girls jumping up and down. I told Lori that Mike was "pimpin' it."
5. Mike got farted on by one of the many little girls wrapped around his legs. Poor guy couldn't get away from the smell fast enough.
6. At lunch, I went to a class and was taught Japanese by the kids I ate with. They would say the name of each food and I tried to say it back. They'd have to correct me and sound out each syllable until I got it right. Then when I said it back in English, they would get it on the first try. It was very humbling.
7. A couple of the girls were fascinated by my blonde hair and enjoyed pulling it and braiding it and holding it up to theirs to compare colors.
8. The school has assemblies every Monday where the teachers and students sing and dance to songs. Mike, Lori and I tried (and probably looked really awful) to copy the dance moves. We also got about 100 high fives afterward.
9. There was one little girl, probably about 3 years old, who just giggled at eveything we said to her. At one point, Lori and I were with her and a few other girls just jumping up and down laughing and yelling "Ahahaha!"

After school, Mike and I went to Dr. Shin's church. Mike helped out in a kids club for 6-11 year olds and I went to the nursery to help with kids under 5. Lori stayed at the school and helped with another after school program. In the nursery, I mostly just played more with kids and showed them flashcards of the alphabet. I couldn't believe that 20 kids under 5 were silent and payed such close attention for a whole 15 minutes as I showed them the cards. It was amazing!

Even though we interacted with so many kids and teachers today, the only understandable conversations we had were with each other!