Misunderstandings

There are just some things we'll never understand about Japan (things that probably shouldn't be understood)...

for instance, the "pimped" mini-van. though we wish this were a rare sighting, it is actually quite common here to see these sweet rides cruisin' the streets of Hirosaki. These are the Escalade of Japan.. since they don't have SUV's, these are the biggest vehicles they have!

Following the pimped out ride is the unusual playground equipment that we sometimes stumble upon. Of course they have the regular swingset and slide, but every park almost always has some unknown-never before seen- awkward structure to which to play on somehow (usually we don't quite understand what you are actually supposed to do on these structures, so we just make it up as we go!)

Here we are demonstrating how to play on these "alien ships" connected by a "dangerous walkway"

Easters

Last Sunday we had Easter...again! Hence "Easters."

(Can you find the egg in this picture!)

This time we had Easter with our English Club. We had a joyous time with all of the Easter paraphernalia. The rain held off just long enough for our Easter egg hunt. To receive the candy in the egg the students had to answer a command such as "Run around a tree," or "How old am I?" Yes, the question refers to the questioner which was us. Not only did we hide the eggs from the studnets but also from the roving hungry crows that managed to open and eat the candy in two of our eggs!!

Our Easter lunch consisted of a mixture of goodies: shepherd's pie, lil' smokies, rye bread, quiche, carrot cake, chocolate cake, chocolate peanut butter eggs, eclair cake. Thanks to all the good sales back in the States, we managed to get all the Easter goodies before we returned to Japan: Cadbury eggs, jelly beans, peeps, reese's pb eggs. We make fat little children out of our students, that's for sure. (Go America!)

Most importantly we talked about what the Easter holiday is truely for: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. We read the Easter story and the students had to put the story in order, which they did handily in all English!

We also decorated eggs and made cool little Cross crafts. We all had a blast, but the students definitely don't have the years of egg decorating mastery to which we have all attained and so they proceeded to get it everywhere: clothes, table, floor, socks.

Overall, we all enjoyed our first and only Easter party. We were glad to have the opportunity to share the significance of Jesus' life, death, and re-life to our students!

The Joys of Japan

We (meaning Angie) have officially decided that Angie's music is far better than Travis' because all of her classic favs have made it all the way to Japan!! Of course, this means more dancing in the supermarket...

Expectant Year

Well, we've made it back to Japan and are ready to start our 3rd and final year here! We are excited for all the opportunities God has prepared for us, and to insure that we don't waste a single day we figured it was crucial for us to "journal" our activities everyday.. but don't worry it won't be on here (that would be rather tedious and monotonous maybe, though we hope not!). We have decided to follow the advice of a good friend of ours back home, and we made a paper link chain to count down the days! But, it doesn't stop there.. we plan to write a few important things that happened each day on the back of the chains as we tear them down in expectation for the final day!

Only 355 days left.. not a minute to waste!