Cross-Cultural Cookie Baking

Church potlucks around the world are universal.  Lots of food, lots of people, lots of laughter, and lots of full tummies by the end! 

This past Sunday at ICA Tokyo, we held our monthly church potluck with many guests present due to the Phil Stacey concert held that morning (an evangelistic outreach to bring many new people to hear about God's love).  It was my solemn duty as a new pastor to bring something very American to this largely Asian food mosaic.  I chose what any good American girl would choose: cookies!  Oatmeal chocolate chip, of course!

Now, this being one of my first forays into the baking world outside of US, I was fairly confident in my ability to whip up a batch of cookies while armed with my box mix I brought from home.  Add eggs and butter, mix, bake, done.  Right?

No.

Why?  Because this is Japan.  Not America.

I had neglected to purchase enough butter required for the recipe and ended up Google-searching a substitution: vegetable oil.  Good, I had that.  Now, on to the actual measuring.  One half-cup of oil.  Now, where to find US measuring cups in a Japanese kitchen?  Back to Google: "metric conversions". Got it.  Measured the oil, mixed in the egg, and things are looking great.  Crisis averted.

Now, something about most Japanese kitchens in Tokyo is that they are generally too small for ovens.  Most don't have large ovens like American kitchens.  They have nifty microwave/convection ovens that function as both a microwave AND oven!  Very handy!  But there's a catch.

Everything's in Japanese.  And Celsius. And that size baking sheet fits only 9 cookies at a time. And it doesn't pre-heat... that I could find. 

Stay cool.  What do I do?  Okay, think this through:

Whip out Japanese dictionary app to figure out which button works the oven (NOT the microwave) and how to set the temperature. Back to Google for more conversions.  350 degrees Fahrenheit equals 175 degrees Celsius.  The microwave oven only sets to 170 or 180 degrees.  Take the dark cooking sheet into consideration.  Adjust approximate cooking time.  Rethink cooking time to factor in lack of pre-heating feature. Set oven to bake for 1 hour just to be safe.  Oven shuts off after only 10 minutes.  Reset oven.  Cookies done after 4 additional minutes.  Stop oven, remove cookies, replace with new cookie dough, reset oven.  Oven shuts off after 10 minutes.  Reset oven again.  Cookie batch #2 complete.  Reset everything again. Repeat.

It took me 3 hours to bake 24 cookies.  But they were the best-tasking cookies I've ever made in a foreign country!  Needless to say, they were missing from their plate by the end of the potluck. 

One cross-cultural experience down, with many more to come!

Thank you again to everyone who is supporting me!  You are all amazing and your thoughts and prayers keep me steady though the crazy days.  Thank you, thank you!

~ Amanda

Culture Culture Culture!

Over the past week, I have been steadily pulled into the undertow of Japanese culture - often without knowing it. 

For example, I have ceased to count it an accomplishment when I arrive at the correct station on time without mishap.  This level of skill is a triumph for me since last time I was here, getting lost was a semi-regular concurrence.  I have now also upgraded my level of independent cooking by successfully making rice, fish, and miso soup the other night!  Grocery shopping is becoming easier as well now that I know most of what is available.

Other things are more culturally prominent - such as a funeral.  I had never been to a Japanese funeral until this past Monday.  Everyone wore all black with pearls which is the traditional funeral attire in Japan.  The person being remembered was a Christian, so the ceremony included some scripture and hymns as well as some things that were purely Japanese.  Some things stood out to me, like the covering of the deceased with flowers after the first part of the ceremony and the customs surrounding the cremation.  It is common for people in Japan to be cremated and for the second part of the ceremony to take place at the crematorium.  We (all of the pastors and family) were part of a custom I had never head of before.  We helped transfer the bones from the ashes to the urn with chopsticks.  This is as unsettling as it sounds for someone's first time at a Japanese funeral.  However, God was with me.  Nothing too awful happened and I survived emotionally intact. 

Tomorrow is a holiday only celebrated in Japan (and some other Asian countries) called White Day.  Valentine's Day here is primarily when ladies give chocolate to the men in their lives.  White Day is when the men get to reciprocate by returning the favor with white chocolate or other sweets.  We are having a White Day prayer night at ICA tomorrow night where we will thank God for loving us so purely - and eat white cupcakes as well!

Hopefully I will have more pictures for you soon! 

Thank you for your continued prayers for Japan!

~ Amanda

Super-ficial!

I've been going around the last two weeks getting everything all set up here in Japan and let me tell you - there's a lot to set up! 

Luckily for me, I have a wonderful missionary next door to me who speaks perfect Japanese and who has taken this fledgeling missionary under her wing.  We've been to the Kita-ku ward office to register my residence card, to the stationary shop to order and pick up my hanko (a carved stamp with my name in Japanese that serves as my unique signature on legal documents), to the post office to set up an account (the post office here serves also as a community bank for savings), and to the phone store to get a cell phone.

I have so many official documents in my possession right now, there's no doubt that I'm legal!  In fact, I have so many official things, you could say I'm SUPERFICIAL!  Haha! 

Our last stop on our official tour was to the bike shop to pick out my brand new mint green cycling machine! 

 

The fantastic youth at Calvary Church in my hometown raised funds for STL as well as this bike!  Now I get to pedal my way around Tokyo in style!

Besides my awesome bike, I also get to travel to Chiba and teach English at a church there.  Last Thursday, I went to meet them and we had a great time!  I'm looking forward to the relationships to be built there and the fun times!  Here are some of the junior high and high school students who come to the church after school.

 

My other adventures include successful grocery shopping, making it to several destinations on the train *without* getting lost, and hanging out with my friend Christina from SEU in Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Harajuku!  Check out my facebook for pictures of that adventure!

I'm off to get ready for the Japan Assemblies of God Bible School graduation ceremony.  As this is the end of their school year (the new one starts in April), the graduates are getting ready to be put into full-time positions.  I'm glad I get to witness their transition from student to pastor!  

One day at a time, 

Amanda