Medieval Festival

This weekend there has been a medieval festival in Caceres. What puts it over the top is fact that is in the old own with buildings FROM medieval times...

It's a ferris wheel!!

Chocolate covered grapes.

Some armor for sale.

This is were I go to class. The door on the left there.

The plaza mayor.

A Little Something Old

It's been a while so I thought I'd but up a little favorite of mine for you to enjoy.

The Shirt Adventure

Initiation for the Freshman at University

Baptism

Canary Islands

Got back from the Canary Islands on Sunday. It was a good trip. Filled with good meetings and successful egg drops. (Well at least our egg drop was successful...) It was my first time on an island. I say that knowing full well that Japan is an island, but it was my first time on something that felt like an island if you know what I mean. Some of the beaches were rocky (like hurt your feet rocky, not fun to climb on rocky) but my favorite was a black sand beach with super soft sand with very clean water.

The biggest adventure was the journey back. Paul, Timon, and I, along with another lady, were flying back to Madrid. (Although the flight was never delayed on the big board, the plane didn't arrive at the gate until 5 minutes after we were suppose to depart. Turns out someone had smoked in the toilet, meaning he had to be arrested when the flight landed.) The actual flight was uneventful, til the last 10 minutes. We were close to the ground, going in for the landing, when the pilot jetted the engines and we shot back up. The PA system come on saying this was very normal. (Ha ha yeah.) turns out the tail wind was "just outside the safe" landing speed. So we circled around and landed going the other way on the other side of the airport, which meant about a 10-15 min taxi to get to the gate we were suppose to go to.

Thankfully we had a hotel reserved for the night that had a shuttle service. (We didn't get in until 1am.) The next day we got out of Madrid with no problems. And the ride back to Caceres was smooth (although I finished my book 10 min in, and my DS died, so I had nothing to do the last part.)

The lesson learned on this trip was that Timon doesn't like to ride the little animals that you put the coin in to ride at the mall, even with 2 girls asking him to every time we pass one. BUT he did right one of the spring loaded animals in the airport when I rode it with him (it was a 4 person one).

Pick Up in Madrid

The Adventures of Frustration

Today I took the DVDs I had checked out, back to the library. Question. How do you turn materials back in on a Sunday when the library is closed and there are no apparent return slots outside the building? Good thing I turned it in today, a Friday. Also, we went to the sports store. There are some brands I'm going to have to research because I have never heard of them, but they are still kind of expensive. Happens that right next door there was an Aldi's. Got some excellent canned peaches. Cookies were ok.

Ok now for the frustration. I have restarted my computer 10 or so times in the last day. I have uninstalled and reinstalled itunes now 7 times in that same day. Several calls to apple and a couple of emails and we will see if they keep the overall positive feeling I've had for their support in the past. "The registry settings used by the iTunes drivers for importing and burning CDs and DVDs are missing. This can happen as a result of installing other CD burning software. Please reinstall iTunes." This message gets more and more mind numbingly disheartening each time I reinstalled iTunes. I open it up and bam! Message still there. Of course my CD burner IS working. And I can import music WITH ITUNES. Yet message still there. Artichoke...

On a positive note I am liking these songs right now:

Back on the Chain Gang - The Pretenders
Dead Sound - The Raveonettes
The Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone
Hoppípolla - Sigur Ros
Moving - Macaco
Everlasting God - Chris Tomlin
Fugitive - David Gray

August 13 - Hitchcock's Birthday

Today is Hitchcock's Birthday. And that has nothing to do with this post...


Today Paul and I went out to play some basketball. First we went to the gym a block from our apartment. There are "paddle" courts. Like a combination of racquetball and tennis. Then a couple of basketball courts. All that is outside. We went into the pro-shop and looked around. Some shoe brands I'd never heard of. Then I asked the lady if she spoke English. Definitely no. I did ask her how much to restring my tennis racket, and best I can tell it is the cost of the strings (ex. 15 euros) and the restringing is free. Then we went out to the court to see if they were open. They were locked. So we walked several blocks down the street where there was a public court and shot some baskets. I was lights out the first 1/3. Then we played a revised version of a game called 42 (normally 2 on 2 but we did 1 on 1 and halved the score to 21 but as to not confuse you with the actual game 21...). I lost 21-19. Then the last part we did the talk while shooting thing, and I hit basically nothing except a few bankers.

So all in all a good early afternoon.

Cuadros de Caceres

Germany Revisited

Germany

Alright guys I'm back. I'm in Germany in the mountains, and yes it is beautiful. Tomorrow, the plan is to head to Spain. When I get there I will be putting up goodies. Words, pictures, maybe video, never know. This week in Germany has been great. Good talks, good music, and meeting great people.

Hope God is blessing you all.

Daniel

Driving again

Well I don't have a car any more. And there aren't any trains or accessible buses in Decatur. And I can't fly everywhere (although I've been trying). So that leaves walk, bike, or borrow a car. So basically be abnormal, be more abnormal, or be annoying. So far it hasn't been to bad. I had my first Icee since I've been back. Half cherry and half coke. Excellent, yet over priced. I also watched the movie Penelope with James McAlvoy and Christina Ricci. I thought it was good, and apparently so did my Mom (she rehashed the whole story to my Dad at dinner). Yesterday, I rewatched Lost in Translation, with a couple of fast-forwards. It was cool seeing the places I have lived the past 2 years in a movie, so obviously lovingly captured. Tokyo is a beautiful, and now familiar place.

Alabama

Just to clarify for everyone...I am back in Alabama. This blog is not going away. I'll keep some updates going while in Alabama, and the plan is to continue this while in Spain. If something changes I'll let you know.

Please pray for the Visa process. Some hiccups are brewing.

Thanks for the prayers and the interest =).

I've had Chick-fila but not catfish yet.

Last post from Tokyo

The following is a running diary of my last week and a half in Japan. Couple of things. It’s long. I know. Hopefully its enjoyable. The yen to dollar rate is about $1 to 100 yen. If you don’t know what a word or food is. Just put it in google, yahoo, or wikipedia and it will tell you. This is designed to be an adventure. If you can’t stomach the whole thing just scroll down to the end.

Monday, April 20 – Got up at 7:30. Wow that’s early for me in Japan. Went to Dokkyo University. My first time there. Nothing like doing something new right before you leave. I met two friends there. Ate lunch (McDonalds in the school cafeteria). Shared about the Bible. Then I went to a huge shopping mall a short train ride north. Came home (about an hour train ride) and watched The Dark Knight with Brian. He hadn’t seen it. We packed some CDs with tracts.

Tuesday, April 21 – Got up at the more reasonable hour of 8:30. I finished off the bread this morning. (Better replenish.) Took the new train line to Rikkyo. I love the new line because I always (well except that one time) get a seat. People just haven’t discovered it yet. I went to English club. The media intern went with me and got some video. After the meeting 4 of us went to lunch. Josh and I had a heated discussion about movies, and the 2 Japanese couldn’t keep up. (One described me as “enthusiastic”.) Then I hurried home to change for basketball. I tried out my new shot form which is still a work in progress. Stopped by the supermarket for that bread (and bananas and orange juice and Vitamin Water the best Japanese sports drink.) It was POURING down rain so I was soaked. (I was riding a bike and can’t hold an umbrella while riding like Japanese people.) I decided to go ahead and do laundry.

Wednesday, April 22 – Went with Melissa and Audrey to TGI Friday’s to use that point card I’ve been carrying around. On the way there I went to BookOff (oh yes!) to sell off some clothes/shoes/knickknacks. Gotta lighten the load for those suitcases. They didn’t give me much. (Big surprise.) At Friday’s I went with the Hamburger lunch special. Fullsized. The girls went with half salads. Typical…At 3, I met the guys from the office and we went bowling. I put up a pathetic 83 the first game. (1s in the 5th and 6th frame will do that to you.) I rebounded with a slightly more respectable 126 the second game. I dominated in some Mario Kart action. When I got home I decided to pack up the first suitcase. (Watched Undercover Blues with Dennis Quad and Kathleen Turner. Decent.) All loaded up it comes in at 51 lbs. Hope it gets through at the airport. All those DVDs and the Mangas I’m bringing Mom.

Thursday, April 23 – Went to Shimokitazawa where Kuni’s is, where we have house church. But he is getting back from America today, and it’s his day off anyways. So I’m not going to his café. Going to Osho’s for some sweet gyoza action, and then to sell off the last of my cds and a video game. They gave me 1400 yen ($14) for the cds and 300 yen for the game. Not bad. I was hoping for more from the game. I go back home and kill some time with Bill Simmons and Madden. At 7:30 I go meet my friend for some Mexican in Shinjuku. It was actually where we first met. I didn’t realize that till they brought it up. We ordered the fajitas.

Friday, April 24 - Back to Rikkyo for English club. Then hang out with some students till about 2:30. Then me and 3 guys go play some pool. At 4:30 one has class, so the rest of us go to Otsuka, which is a station on the main circle train loop in central Tokyo, one stop from Ikebukuro (which is where Rikkyo is). See I’ve never been out of that station (through it many times) and it’s the only station on the Yamanote (the main loop) that I haven’t been out of. Plus it’s where Josh (my old roommate and former jman) used to live. I had heard it was a pretty sad excuse for a station, but actually it turned out pretty good. Has a BookOff (with some American video games no less!), McDonalds, and a 99 yen shop, which is like a dollar store but focuses on food. Then after that, we went back to the school to meet everyone for the first party of the semester. It was going to be an expensive party (3000 yen each, go back to my former conversion if you need it =) but they told me not to pay because it was my last one. So many freshmen came, plus a couple of older students that hadn’t been coming because they were job hunting. They gave me a poster card with notes on it and a ninja sword (which may or may not have been plastic). Also one girl gave me a singing, “dancing” (I use that term loosely) Daisy Duck, because she is the most awesome traditional Disney character (Jasmine and Ariel are the best princesses). I drank some Calpis Water because we don’t have that in the States. By the way it was a little cold today.

Saturday, April 25 – Slept in till 10. (It is my day off after all.) I listened to the Braves beat the Reds online, while hearing the rain outside, knowing that it is cold today and I’ve already packed up all my pants…I made some biscuits and sausage for lunch. Watched some Seinfeld. I met 2 friends in Shibuya to do some Karaoke. It was pouring down rain so there were some rivers to maneuver around. Sang some Disney, Queen, Beatles, ABBA. Only the essentials. Had gyoza for dinner. Finished off the night with a goodbye party for Trent, Lindsey, and myself.

Sunday, April 26 – Listened to some NFL draft coverage, while drinking OJ and eating toast. Didn’t shave my head this morning. Went to Kawasaki to meet a friend. We had okonomiyaki. Then I went with Richard and his family to California pizza kitchen for my last supper with them. Then back to their house for my last house church. Said goodbye to the kids.

Monday, April 27 – Got up and listened to a bit of the Sox-Yankees game. Had a meeting from 10ish-12:15. I thought it was suppose to be a training time, but it turned out to be a time of sharing what God has been doing. Really good. Took Melissa to the bus station to go to the airport. You know how on the elevators they have a sign with a ridiculous number of maximum people that will never actually fit on the elevator? Well this particular elevator said 15. There were definitely 16 people in there when we got to my floor. Nice. Went out to the “pink poodle place” (not it’s real name =), which I have spread the rumor that it’s the best burger place in Tokyo, with a bunch of missionaries for lunch. After Brian and I went to the 50 yen arcade. I was shocked to see the Marvel vs Capcom machine had been changed out of the basement. But then we went upstairs and there was Marvel vs Capcom 2, the single greatest fighting game of all time!!! I played and my 50 yen lasted till the final stage where I lost a close one. Met my friend for dinner at Gold Rush, my official favorite restaurant in Japan. It is 2 hamburger steaks, baked potato, veggies, and rice. Plus you get a drink (normally melon soda). At lunch only 680 yen, for dinner 900.

Tuesday, April 28 – Got my Suica Train card down to 1yen today. Oh yes. Went to Rikkyo University for the last time. It was probably the saddest time yet. It was cool because a lot of the Seniors I’ve known my whole time there, came to METS (English club) today, and then to lunch with me. I’m pretty sure they came because it was my last time. Normally you would never have more than 2 or 3 seniors, ever. On a side note, I got tons of hugs today. More than I’ve gotten in over a year and a half with them. That was pretty cool. On the way home I nailed the trains perfect. I got the right car and door for the exit at the switch (it’s difficult sometimes because there are 8 and 10 door trains and they stop in different places). Then was the first one up the stairs going to the other line. Walked down the platform and on to the train. I went to basketball for the last time today. I actually got frustrated in the first game. But after that I had fun, and played pretty well. I actually had one of those “oh wow” blocks. Where as I normally just tip it so it’s an air ball. Came home. (Still light out! Last week it was pouring down rain remember.) Did laundry, made biscuits and sausage, and watched Seinfeld. Had a tussle with Itunes/Quicktime. Stupid apple. (That’s right. I lowercased it.)

Wednesday, April 29 – Last full day in Japan. Did the last expense report in Japan. Met Maiko for Tonkatsu lunch. Let me just say that Tonkatsu is amazing. We fry everything, even pickles, in the South, but not pork. Why oh why? Makes no sense. Came back home and I am now writing this. I will pack and cook supper. I’m down to 111 yen. Today was sunny and warm and there was a 24 hour special on the Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal.

People often ask me what my normal schedule is. This is not it. This was special and unique. Just wanted to give some insights.

Thank you so much for the prayers. Wouldn’t have made it otherwise.

Daniel Pirkle
Jman
Tokyo
(for the last time)

Psalm 13 - Ending days in Japan

"How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, "I have over come him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD for he has been good to me."


My time in Japan is drawing near, and often I have felt far from God. I fail even more often. But he is always good, and he does have unfailing, unconditional love for me, and for you, and for the Japanese.

My friend Ryuta's tap dancing video

Kuni Talks

Miyoko on Prayer

Tokyo Marathon

Prayer for Japan

Central Park Team Tokyo

Police Report "Funness"

so on monday i went to get my police report for my spanish visa...since the probability of my having all the stuff i needed was 1 to 1,276, needless to say i didn't. so tuesday i went back with all the things i needed. here the story picks up:

the best part was when i got there the guard didn't speak any english (or so he pretended!) and it took about 20 minutes to get into the police station, where as the first time, with my supervisor, who is fluent in japanese, it took 23 seconds. by the time i got in, the police report people were on lunch break, so i had to come back in an hour. so i went to get some vittles myself. only it was 3 blocks just to the nearest convenience store! then another block to some reasonably priced restaurants (aka yoshinoya, which you may not know, and mcdonalds, which...). i mean what are these poor government officials doing for food?! (and to clarify, the main police station of tokyo, is in the middle of the government district. diet building, department of the interior (not design), etc.) so once i ate (and they got my order wrong, which almost NEVER happens in tokyo) i went back and was let right in and it took all of 10 minutes to finger print me and fill out the application. so a little bit of stress there. but on a good note it was beautiful outside and i wore sandals (although there was a stiff wind, probably coming from oz).

now if i can just get into the building next time to pick it up. oh and fingers crossed they don't turn up any dirt on me...

Osaka

Ok I know you are all hungry for some video, and while I did consider doing some video at one point on my trip to Osaka, I decided it was too loud there, and forgot to do any more. So I'll give you a picture run down.

Well I decided I shouldn't very well leave Japan without visiting Osaka. So I found out there is a train pass you can use 5 times (any 5 days within the college break here, but you don't have to use them in order, so that was great) and it's only $115. So that is pretty cheap. So I boarded the train at 8am Sunday morning for a 7ish hour train ride to Nagoya. I would stay with 2 of our missionaries, Hank and Linda, there. Here is Hank and I eating some Ramen (which is not just noodles, it's a whole production):

The next day we went to an amusement park trickily called Spaland:

Then the next day on to Osaka. Here I stayed with some more of our missionaries, the Seelens. They took me to their favorite Okonomiyaki place. Kind of like a pancake looking thing, but much better and not breakfasty:

We hit up some recycle shops, or second hand stores, or whatever. My favorite store chain in Japan is bookoff. So of course we had to go there:



What is a trip to Osaka without going to the Castle. It has moats and kindergartners!















By the way I went with some of my Mom's former students and they got me to try on some armor:



Here is the castle:



After wearing some armor and becoming a certified professional takoyaki (fried octopus ball) maker, I was passed off to another of my Mom's students and we went to the golden temple:




So I had fun, and I really like Osaka. The people there didn't seemed to be scared of me! But in Nagoya they would get away from me =(.

Sumo Fun

Ms Gloria, Ms Eva Nell, and Ms Pat's Class

Wendy and Amy's Class Questions

Signs in Tokyo

This is an excerpt from one of my friend Matt Miller's films. Enjoy

Culture Shock 202

Culture Shock 101

Yes Japanese dance...sometimes

Seinfeld

I was thinking. Since I've been in Japan I've gotten 2 roommates hooked on Seinfeld. So, at some level it has played a role in my time here. Also I've gotten 3 new seasons as gifts since I've been here, which brings my total up to Seasons 4-9, plus one disc of Season 3. Don't worry, I've owned 1 and 2, and they aren't that good. But anyways I thought I'd give you 10 that would be worth your time, along with a quote. Maybe you too will become a fan:

*The Marine Biologist (Season 5) "The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about fifty feet out and suddenly the great beast appeared before me. I tell you he was ten stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow. I said, "Easy, big fella!" And then, as I watched him struggling, I realized that something was obstructing its breathing. From where I was standing, I could see directly into the eye of the great fish." "Mammal""Whatever." - George

*The Junior Mint (Season 4) "Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint -- it's delicious!" - Kramer

*The Chicken Roaster (Season 8) "The greasy doorknob, the constant licking of the fingers. He's hooked on the chicken, isn't he?" - Jerry

*The Package (Season 8) "It's a write-off for them." "How is it a write-off?" "They just write it off." "Write it off what?" "Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything." "You don't even know what a write-off is." "Do you?" "No, I don't." "But they do. And they're the ones writing it off." "I wish I had the last twenty seconds of my life back." - Kramer and Jerry

*The Race (Season 6) "There are no delicatessens under communism." "Woah, why not?" "Well, because the meats are divided into a class system. You've got pastrami and corned beef in one class and salami and bologna in another. That's not right." "So you can't get corned beef?" "Well, you know, if you're in the Politburo, maybe." - Kramer and Mickey

*The Puffy Shirt (Season 5) "You're going to be the first pirate!" "But I don't wanna be a pirate!" - Kramer and Jerry

*The Shower Head (Season 7) "If I don't have a good shower, I am not myself. I feel weak and ineffectual. I'm not Kramer." - Kramer

*The Wink (Season 7) "I still can't believe you're going out on a blind date." "I'm not worried. It sounds like he's really good looking." "You're going by sound? What are we, whales?" - Jerry and Elaine

*The Letter (Season 3) "I sense great vulnerability. A man-child crying out for love. An innocent orphan in the post-modern world." "I see a parasite. A sexually depraved miscreant who is seeking only to gratify his basest and most immediate urges." "His struggle is man's struggle. He lifts my spirit." "He is a loathesome, offensive brute. Yet I can't look away." "He transcends time and space." "He sickens me." "I love it." "Me too." - Unnamed older couple

*The Ticket (Season 4) "Yes, I admit I was speeding, but it was to save a man's life. A close friend. An innocent person who wanted nothing more out of life than to love, to be loved, and to be a banker." - Newman