adventures in nihon

no nasu in Nasu! = no eggplant in Nasu! (the town Calvin and I are living in for 6 weeks) It’s a Japanese pun. We actually haven’t eaten any eggplant (nasu) since being in Nasu…very unfortunate.

We arrived in Nasu, Tochigi prefecture for the second time again on Tuesday night and we were welcomed with a wonderful meal of Risotto and vegetable soup. It was great to get back to the Nasu Base staff again—I missed them for the few days that I was gone! 

Yuji, our Logistics Manager and head cook. He’s pretty crazy ;)

Matt, our Operations Chief—also crazy! Calvin and I introduced him to Friday, and now he’s always singing it!

Wednesday we had a neighborhood trash cleaning up party! We were a little late to it, but we probably found the most trash in the forest, including an old rice cooker. We had fun meeting all of our Nasu House of Rest neighbors, and they all got a kick out of the fact that I was from Saitama! Cal and I went to the old warehouse and tried to build 10 Chinese bikes, but realized that we didn’t have the right tools.

Thursday we received training and instructions from CRASH Headquarter’s Makoto-san and then our base leader, Scot, about how to manage the warehouse. Calvin and I will be receiving shipments, ordering shipments, and then transporting them to the bases/churches when there are needs. Tomorrow the new warehouse will be paved and an office will be installed. According to Scot, we will pretty much be designing the job as we are the first ones. 

Please pray as I begin this new role as co-manager of the warehouse. I feel very inadequate and there are many unknowns. 

Tonight, Calvin and I made dinner! We made 親子丼 (Oyakodon), a dish over rice called “Parent-Child over rice” because of the two main ingredients: chicken and egg! It turned out well, because of my new cookbook and help from Yuji and Yoko-san. 

Went to the onsen (hotsprings) again tonight. Ready to call it a night.