A Swift September

September is over and gone and harvest time is upon us!

The sunset over the rice fields in my neighborhood.

Classes are moving quickly along and I am starting to feel like I'm finally getting the hang of teaching. While teaching full time is demanding, I am finally able to keep up with weekly schedules and tasks.

On September 30th I went to a teacher's conference in Osaka, about an hour away by train. The conference was encouraging, and provided great resources and teaching ideas. It was unfortunately very rainy as a typhoon passed through the whole day and I got quite wet going to and from the conference.

And now a bit of culinary culture. What kind of candy do you think this is?

If you're like me, you probably thought that this would be some kind of sweet candy. However, due to both my lack of language and of cultural prowess, I chose a candy that was incredibly salty and bitter! The candy is in fact flavored like seaweed.

Sounds strange I know, but in the western world we also have our rather odd flavored jelly beans.


The brand responsible for these seaweed candies, Ninja Meshi Candy, makes chewy snacks for the 'modern ninja.' Earlier this summer I tried the energy drink flavor, which I enjoyed. This prompted me to try out the ninja candy again, with very different results, as the two were not quite the same.

And so ends my small tale of branching out to try foods in a foreign land. I will keep trying them of course, but don't be surprised if you see another lighthearted diatribe on something I just can't wrap my mind around. I also still have the rest of the candy in my desk if you want to try it and find out what ninja cats eat...

Please keep the following in your prayers:

• Physical health as I deal with stress and try to get back into exercising daily.
• Patience and wisdom as I interact with my students.
• Praise God that the weather has cooled down, but please pray as colds come with the cold!

Thank you for your support of God's work in Japan!
-Thomas