A Busy Week!

Well, that was a busy week!  There were a number of items on the "To Do List,"  ok, maybe not a number of items, but the items that were on there, would take time to complete.  One item was finalizing the Middle School report cards.  Our new report cards give parents detailed information and that information had to be checked for each student.  That took multiple days. 
After finishing all the editing of the report cards, a friend and I went out for Indian food. YUM!

Salad, nan, rice, butter chicken curry and vegetable curry along with lassi. 

Friday, the Gakugei Special Ed. school came to visit CAJ.  I volunteered to plan and run the activities for the students.  Here are some of the activities we did together.  I apologize for the blurry pictures. 

Playing Duck, Duck, Goose. 

Some more Duck, Duck, Goose.

More Duck, Duck, Goose.

Running to get to the space before being tagged. 

Red Light, Green Light (1, 2, 3)

We had 4 games of Red Light, Green Light.

Another game in one corner. 

A fourth game. 

A group picture

Saturday we had Futsal games against the British School and Nishimachi International School at the British School.  The British School is actually located on the Women's Sowa University's property.  They had two Futsal fields.  Interestingly enough the fields are artificial turf.  I have yet to find real grass.  It seems real grass is not common here.

This is a close-up of the turf.

 Some have asked what Futsal is.  Futsal is a modified soccer game.  Usually they play with 6 - 8 players per side (depends on the number of players available).  The field is considerably smaller, maybe a quarter of a full sized soccer field.  The goal is also smaller.  When the ball goes out, it is kicked back in, rather than thrown in.  Usually when we have games, some of the other rules are reviewed before games begin.  I have found there is not a consistency on some of the other rules.  Here are some pictures of Saturday's games. 

January is already over!  It's hard to imagine that we are in February already!  In one sense, I'm glad.  It means we are getting closer to warmer weather.  During the winter months, my feet tend to get cold.  I have used the foot warmers and wear wool socks.  I did not have a pair of warm boots, so I splurged and bought UGG boots online.  My friend has a membership to this website that offer items at a lower price.  It may be because they are last year's style.  Finding my size is difficult, but we were able locate a pair and they fit well.  I have worn them most days.  One day I thought I'd wear my regular shoes and my feet were cold, so I decided to stick with my new boots.  :)

My new boots!

Sunday I went to the International Community Chapel of Saitama again.  It was communion Sunday.  It seems that a number of the churches follow the practice of having communion on the first Sunday of the month.  I do find the service is a little longer, but much of the service is in English and Japanese.  Many of the songs we sing in English and also a verse or two in Japanese.  I have felt welcomed there and plan to continue attending. 

Pastor Daniel and the translator for today, I didn't get his name. 

The weekend is coming it its end.  I sometimes wonder why do weekends go so quickly, but I guess they are only two days long and the week is five days.  I'm glad God gave us a sabbath, so we can rest and be rejuvenated for the week.  I hope and pray you have/had the opportunity for a sabbath during this week.