Roy and Electra are at a 10-day silent meditation retreat from Dec 22, 2011 until Jan 2, 2012 and will not have internet or phones. Feel free to email or leave a voicemail to contact either of us if it is not an emergency, and we will respond when we return the first Monday in January 2012.

If there is an emergency, you can contact the organizers of the retreat via the location (Cedar Ridge Retreat & Conference Center) at (503) 429-2801 and they will forward your message to us. Please refrain from doing this unless it involves life/dire illness/death situations or something that requires our immediate action.

Cedar Ridge phone (for use the day the course begins (12/22/2011) and for emergencies during the course): (503) 429-2801
Organizers email: registration@or.us.dhamma.org
Oregon Vipassana Association

Some might wonder why we’re disappearing into silent self-reflection instead of gathering with loved ones. It’s important to know that Roy and I have been trying to find a structured way to learn mindfulness meditation for some time now. The mindfulness and self-awareness that we cultivate helps us to be better counselors and doctors, and so it’s very important to our professional development. It also helps us to be better family members and friends, so hopefully our absence this year will be a blessing in years to come.
Here’s a little more info about Vipassana mindfulness from practitioners of it: Practicing Vipassana: Meditator Experiences

To learn it properly requires guidance and no distractions (much like doing Yoga for the first times), and it requires about 10 days of no interruption to practice it enough to make it stick. Organizations like the Oregon Vipassana Association and Dhamma Kuñja in Washington provide the guidance, time and place for that training.

The only consecutive 10-days of intersecting schedules between these training organizations, Roy’s work schedule, and my school schedule was this one, so it’s either commit to this one or wait another full year or more.

So! Wish us luck on our journey into ourselves! It will be challenging and maybe harrowing, but it will be so worth it!

Another note: When we first got here, we searched the grocery stores for teriyaki sauce. We couldn’t find it anywhere. No one offered it. Much later I realized that it’s because it is made from a simple combination of 2 parts soy sauce, 2 parts mirin (rice cooking wine) and 1 part sugar. When Japanese people arrive in America and see teriyaki sauce for sale at a grocery store, they probably think “why the heck would I pay money for teriyaki sauce?!”

Incidentally, Roy and I are planning to be in Portland this summer. We are flying into Seattle on either July 22nd or 23rd, and flying out of Seattle on August 15th or 16th. We’re on a waitlist right now, which is why we don’t know the exact dates.
Thought you should know!

Someone needs to tell that group that it is quite depressing to have the largest text on your notification card say 不合格 FAILED

Roy and I, after talking to our friends here (some of whom are from Portland) and our friends and family back home, and watching the economic situation, and using financial calculators and payment plans, and comparing our work environments and situations and general feelings of satisfaction, etc., etc., etc….
After giving it a lot of thought and research, we have decided to re-contract and work in Japan for another year after our current contract. That puts our estimated date of return at late July 2010. We’ve signed the paperwork and everything.

You know what that means?!
That means you have until July 2010 to visit Japan or meet us somewhere in SE Asia! Wooo! How exciting!
You know, barring American economic collapse and whatnot.

P.S. The photo is from Roy’s birthday party in a fine pub called “Beer Hall” or rather 「ビアホール」. It is a small brewery, and they learned their technique in British Columbia, so the beer served is fine Pacific NW artisan style. It’s Roy’s small piece of heaven.

ふぅっ！受けた！
日本語能力試験二級を終わりました。合格したかどうか2月まで知られません。これから、心配するまいと思います。
Phew! Took it!
We finished the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam 2nd Level. We won’t be told whether or not we passed until February. Henceforth, we don’t intend to worry about it.

We spent a lot of time these past few weeks worrying and studying hard. The test is quite challenging.
For example, Roy started studying Japanese in August 2007, and took a test to see if he knew about as much (official) Japanese as a Middle School 2nd Grader in December 2008. I think he passed. His literacy is amazing! His devotion to learning kanji is very impressive. I have a head start on Roy, but I haven’t studied kanji as stoically as he has, so my literacy is a bit weak. This came up a lot in the 読解 section. There were several reading excerpts in which I didn’t know the kanji for the main ideas. Therefore, I didn’t really understand the entire thing. (T.T)
But anyway, we’ll find out in February whether or not we’ll be retaking it in July.
As for now, we’re off to read Manga!

We managed to get a ride to the train station that could get us back to Sapporo and to bed. More Halloween-y goodness will probably ensue!

P.S. High heeled boots suck if you wear them to chase genki young Japanese boys and girls around a gym for several hours.