December 2023
My husband and I slipped on our shoes and hurried out the front door. I adjusted my jacket to protect myself against the cold air, grateful that we didn’t have to walk far. My heart beat fast. From the brisk walking, but possibly more so from the anticipation.
I reached for Shujin’s supportive hand. He turned to me as my hand held his and I smiled. We continued down the street and were soon at the village club house. A very familiar building for me as it’s where I come for crafting, ukulele lessons and other events.
Shujin pulled open the heavy door and stepped aside for me to enter. We slipped off our shoes and stepped into some slippers. The scent of the kerosene heater hung in the air. The three people sitting inside at the table all stood to greet us. Mrs Obara (the smile-ly village lady who holds the keys to the Prayer House), the Baptist Church pastor, and an elder. Of course they all turned up early!!
Yes, we were finally sitting down to have the meeting with the Baptist church pastor and elder. The Tokyo Baptist Church owns the “Prayer House”, the house just next door to the club house we were meeting in, and they wanted to give it away. Like, for free. The church members were all aging, and coming for weekend retreats wasn’t as easy as it used to be. They were wanting to pass the house on to someone else, and wanted to know our story and why we were interested in the house.
So here we were, sitting with the pastor and elder and sharing our story. At least, Shujin was sharing our story. I said about all I could in Japanese with our greetings and introductions! If I was directly asked why we wanted the house I may have blurted out: “because our son can’t stop harassing his grandma and I need some space!”
Thankfully Shujin kept that part out! Instead had a great time sharing the story of our family suffering through covid in Australia, and then how we came to live here to care for Okasan: because his father had died leaving Okasan who had dementia.
They recorded all of Shujin’s thirty minute story. I assumed it was so they could take it back to the church to share with them. I sat there and looked pretty. Haha!!! Or more realistically, I sat there trying not to look bored! At the end, they asked a few questions and it seemed their responses to Shujin’s answers were very affirmative. Both men were compassionate to our situation and were more than happy for the Prayer House to be given to us. They would take the recommendation back to their Church Board where it would need to be accepted.
WOOHOO!!!!!!
After the meeting concluded, the elder started talking in fluent English. What?!! He speaks English??!! It was very clear already that he loved to talk. I actually thought he was the pastor, since he seemed to be the one leading the meeting! I now found out he wasn’t. The pastor joined the conversation and also spoke a bit of English. It was nice to actually converse with these two men and inwardly I felt much relief. Relief because I hadn’t said something inappropriate to Shujin, thinking that no one else could understand me! Haha!! Yes, one should never assume that others can’t speak your language!
So now we wait. The church will not be able to have a Board Meeting until the new year. So my dad was right. It’s going to take awhile if it’s got to go through a church board!!
New Years was only a few weeks away though, and I knew the time would fly. I had lots going on as I had added into my life teaching English classes and ukulele lessons, and incubating chicken eggs. Yes, my life was revolving around turning eggs in the incubator every 2-3 hours! For twenty one days! They were set to start hatching on Christmas Eve!
Christmas was fast approaching and my children had a dilemma. Their last day of term was Christmas Day. On a Monday. Finishing at 11am... Would I make them go? I did have to wonder, Why bother going?! I was torn between keeping them home - who needs 2.5hrs of school on a Monday morning, the last day of term? Or, making them go - it’ll be a good cultural experience of what other countries live like!
Christmas Day is not a public holiday in Japan. Christmas is recognised and sort of celebrated, but like many holidays, it’s highly commercialised, and the Japanese have put a romantic slant on it, making it also a day for lovers. So Santa still comes to give gifts to the children in the morning. Then everyone goes about their ordinary daily life. But come dinner, chicken (KFC style) is eaten, closely followed by Christmas cake (strawberry and cream sponge cake. None of this rum-soaked dried fruit steamed in puddings). And then lovers go out and do what lovers do.
The next day all the Christmas decorations and merchandise in the shops will have disappeared and are replaced by Hot Cross Buns, Easter Eggs and cardboard cutouts of the Easter Bunny.
Oh wait, I’m getting mixed up. That’s Australia. HAHAHA!!!
So, back to Christmas in Japan. I received a message from my best friend with a screenshot of a jigsaw puzzle and the question, “Would this be a good present to send the kids for Christmas?”
My kids enjoyed puzzles but I thought about our house. We have just one table. It’s the size of a coffee table (and low like one too). If they started doing a puzzle on the table, we’d have nowhere to eat. They could do it on their bedroom floor, but their room was a throughway between the front door and the rest of the house. It was just a bit too impractical for me! Maybe next year, when I would be living the Prayer House (all going well!) with space to have a spare table for a puzzle, it would be great!
It was a nice thought from her, but I had to decline. We just didn’t have the space.
About a week later Shujin went shopping with Bob. They came back with a Christmas present for Missy...
Like we have room for THAT!!! First the jacket scenario, and now this! I can only hope the Prayer House will be our’s! Then we’ll have space for the trampoline!!!! And if we’d be out of her house, Okasan could fill the spare space with as many jackets as she liked!
For those who may not have read the back-stories on the Prayer House you can catch up with them here:
When I first got itchy feet to leave the house-built-for-two
When I first heard about the Prayer House being available
The first time I looked through the Prayer House
When our whole family inspected the Prayer House
hot cross buns are better than (looks around making sure there are no italians around) colomba. ... one can never be too sure people can't speak italian, especially down here!!