Japan and Ethiopia

一昨日懐かしい友達と再会しました。日本で一緒に働いていたネーヴダル先生ご一家です。私の方からはヨーン・ネーヴダル先生、奥さんのヘルボルグさん、ヨハネス君とエディット・マリエちゃん。前はクリスチンちゃんとクリストッファー君です。子供たちはみんな立派な青年
になりましたね。
For to dagar sidan traff eg igjen kjære venner frå Japan. Familien Nævdal har feira jul på Sunnmøre. Ståande ifrå meg til venstre ser vi Jon, Herborg, Johannes og Edith Marie. Framme f.v. Kristin og Christoffer. Alle fire borna er blitt flotte ungdommar!


ヨハネス君は少し私の子供でもあります。
Johannes er litt min gut også, sidan eg er fadder på han.



１９９４年１２月２５日。ヨハネス君の幼児洗礼の日です。私は今と同じセーターを着ていました。
På dåpsdagen til Johannes 1.juledag 1994. Johannes er blitt 15 år eldre sidan den gongen, men eg bruker samme gensaren...




ヘルボルグさんの弟さんのスヴェッリルさんは家族でオーレスンに住んでいます。だから私はヘルボルグさんたちと会うことができました。
ヘルボルグさんとスヴェッリルさんはエチオピアで育ちました。ご両親も宣教師でした。お祖父さんとお祖母さんは中国で宣教しましたので、３代の宣教師ですね。すごいですね！
Bror til Herborg, Sverrir Olafsson, bur med familien sin i Ålesund. Herborg og Sverrir har vakse opp i Etiopia, der foreldra var misjonærar. Besteforeldra var misjonærar i Kina. Misjonærarar i tre generasjonar, ikkje verst!


これはヘルボルグさんたちの家族の方ではありませんが、ご両親と一緒にエチオピアで働いておられた宣教師の夫婦です。教会の集会が終わった後私たちを家に招いて下さいました。カール・ロット先生と奥さんのインゲボルグさんです。お招きともてなしを感謝します！エチオピアの話もいっぱい聞かせてもらいました。
Etter julefest på Misjonssalen inviterte Etiopiamisjonærane Ingeborg og Karl Roth oss heim til seg. Det vart fullt hus, 14 personar til saman. Tusen takk for invitasjon og gjestfridom!

Merry Christmas!!

Go, tell it on the mountains
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountains
That Jesus Christ is born!

Merry Christmas, everybody! And thank you for all Christmas cards, letters and e-mails. I haven't written this year's Christmas letter yet, and I don't know if it will be written either, but I'll at least try to update my blog. I had to make a choice: Should I write it both in Japanese and Norwegian? I chose the middle way - English. Sorry about that...




My sister's cat played hide and seek with me yesterday. After much searching I found it behind the Christmas cards! Obviously a curious cat.




At 4pm today I went to church. Even if people traditionally go to church on Christmas Eve even if they don't go other times of the year, I was surprised to see all the cars lining up far from the church. I had to walk quite a bit from where I parked my car.
When I entered the church, it was full of dressed-up children, young people and adults. Outside church I also met my neighbour at home, who had come home for Christmas. -Did you come a long way? he asked. Afterwards I understood that he thought I had come home from Japan for Christmas. I think I have to meet my neigbours more often...




Wonderful music from the pipe organ with a trumpet.


View from the gallery. It's difficult to take a picture in a big, dark church.




As a postludium the organist played a brilliant arrangement of "Go, tell it on the mountains". I wanted to sing along!

I wish everybody who was in church today could understand what Christmas means and that they could sing the hymns from their heart!

This year there were no presents under the Christmas tree, as the custom is here in Norway. That doesn't mean that there were no presents, but my sister, my brother and I took some food and the Christmas presents to the nursing home where our mom is, and spent Christmas Eve together there.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

Yakiniku

一昨日久しぶりに御客さんを呼びました。自分のために日本料理をあまり造らないので、お客さんを読んだら私も懐かしい日本の味を味わうことができます。友達も焼肉が美味しそうに食べてくれましたが、お箸の持ち方でちょっと苦労していたようです。

今度はすき焼きを作りたいです。だれを呼ぼうかな？今日は残りの野菜から一人分のすき焼っぽいご飯を作りました。次のお客さんが来る前に味付けの練習をしなければなりません。

Eg lagar ofte ikkje så mykje japansk mat berre til meg sjølv, så når eg ein sjeldan gong har besøk, får også eg ete japansk. På måndag var det yakiniku på menyen (steikt kjøt og grønsaker, duppa i yakiniku-saus). Maten smakte visst godt, men det var verre å få til eit godt grep med bestikket!

Neste gong har eg tenkt å lage sukiyaki, så i dag øvde eg med å lage noko sukiyaki-liknande av grønsakrestane frå måndag. Det smakte faktisk japansk. Både soyasausen, sukkeret og det rå egget gjorde smaken!

Skal tru kven eg skal be på besøk neste gong? Nokon som har lyst å komme?

Not Snow in Japan??

Many people seem to think that only Norway is a snow country.
- There isn't snow in Japan, is there? some of my students asked yesterday.
I had to remind them that Japan has hosted the Winter Olympics at least twice (Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998). But even if I haven't lived neither in Hokkaido nor Nagano, I do have experienced winter in West Japan.

First some pictures from Matsue, a small city on the west coast, where I lived from 2006-2009:


6 December 2008


A friend from Matsue just told me that the snow hasn't come yet this year, but here I will show you some pictures from last winter and the year before that.


14 February 2008



17 February 2008



17 February 2008



17 February 2008



18 February 2008



29 December 2006



29 December 2006



29 December 2006



29 December 2006


And some pictures from Hiruzen, about 80 kilometers south-east from Matsue, up in the mountains:


1 January 2009



28 January 2008



25 February 2008



25 February 2008



26 February 2008



26 February 2008



1 January 2009


Snow in the Bible:

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:9

Hit by a Snowball

Vestborg High School seems to be a quiet and peaceful place.
But it's not always like that.


Who threw the snowball that hit my forehead?? Any suggestions?