9 years ago when I first came to Japan, I made friends with a small group of Jr. High students at the school I was ministering in. They invited me to go to the zoo with them and I agreed to go even though we could barely communicate with each other. The zoo has some small "rides" like we have at carnivals in the states and we enjoyed a day of walking around looking at animals and riding the rides together. Near the end of the day the girls took me on one ride where you sit inside a large cylinder, and the cylinder rotates around you making you feel like you are moving all kinds of crazy directions. This type of "fake" motion always makes me motion sick. I FELT horrible after riding this ride, but was unable to communicate to them what was wrong with me. I guess in an attempt to make me feel better they thought I should eat something. They also thought this would be a good time to introduce me to a new Japanese food, it is called 
"takoyaki" (pictured right). Takoyaki is small bread balls, with octopus meat in the middle, topped with a brown sauce and fish flakes. I was not used to these fishy smells or flavors yet, not to mention the fact that I was feeling terribly motion sick. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience and I was forever ruined for eating takoyaki.
There is another food in Japan that essentially the same thing as takoyaki, called okonomiyaki. I LOVE okonomiyaki and have no problems eating it. But it doesn't matter what I do, I can not eat takoyaki, and I always begin to feel nausious if I smell it or see it.
Tonight, Rocky had a craving for takoyaki and we went to get him some. When he got back in the car with them, I again felt nasious and could very vividly remember the sights at sounds of being at the zoo that day 9 years ago, riding that ride with my 5 little friends.
The mind is such a powerful thing. On Saturday night at a revival service where we sang, part of the speakers message talked about this same thing. The speakers daughter has a hearing impairment, not because of any physical dissability, but because of a tramatic experience as a child that mentally has her blocking out certain vocal frequencies. She can not hear low voice tones. I was amazed at this, another example of the power of our brains.
This pastors daughter is relearning how to hear to vocal tones she is mentally blocking. Can I relearn how to enjoy takoyaki???
Just a random thought...
"takoyaki" (pictured right). Takoyaki is small bread balls, with octopus meat in the middle, topped with a brown sauce and fish flakes. I was not used to these fishy smells or flavors yet, not to mention the fact that I was feeling terribly motion sick. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience and I was forever ruined for eating takoyaki.There is another food in Japan that essentially the same thing as takoyaki, called okonomiyaki. I LOVE okonomiyaki and have no problems eating it. But it doesn't matter what I do, I can not eat takoyaki, and I always begin to feel nausious if I smell it or see it.
Tonight, Rocky had a craving for takoyaki and we went to get him some. When he got back in the car with them, I again felt nasious and could very vividly remember the sights at sounds of being at the zoo that day 9 years ago, riding that ride with my 5 little friends.
The mind is such a powerful thing. On Saturday night at a revival service where we sang, part of the speakers message talked about this same thing. The speakers daughter has a hearing impairment, not because of any physical dissability, but because of a tramatic experience as a child that mentally has her blocking out certain vocal frequencies. She can not hear low voice tones. I was amazed at this, another example of the power of our brains.
This pastors daughter is relearning how to hear to vocal tones she is mentally blocking. Can I relearn how to enjoy takoyaki???
Just a random thought...
