1 yr. Wedding Anniversary

Today was our One Year Wedding Anniversary, June 23rd! We are so thankful that this year has been good to us. We have learned a whole bunch about each other and feel like this year in Japan has really been healthy for our marriage. To celebrate, we made reservations last night at 8 p.m (June 22nd) and went out to this great Mexican restaurant called Pepe Gonzales. The food was awesome and the atmosphere was just want we were in the mood for. It's not very typical to go out for Mexican for your first anniversary, but we didn't care, we're in Japan and were craving Mexican! There was this great Mariachi band playing and they even sang two special songs for us. The first one was "Fools Rush In" and the second was a Mexican tune called Besa me mucho! Dan speaks Spanish, so he translated this for me. For those of you that speak Spanish, you'll know that it means, "Kiss me, ALOT!" Dan loved this song and so did I!! It was perfect.


Pepe Gonzales Restaurant
This was the same dress that I wore for our wedding/rehearsal dinner one year ago. It fit even better than it did last year, I was thrilled!
The Mariachi band
These were some people that came in while we were there. They were so funny, putting on the sombreros, we had to get a picture!


So today (June 23rd) we exchanged gifts and went out for some Starbuck's frappicino's.

Dan bought for me, Birkenstock sandles.

He also got me this awesome handbag! I had been wanting one of these for quite some time. He picked this out on his own. Sweet taste!

The last thing that he gave me were some Japanese Sori and Tabi that are worn with a Kimono. I was given a silk kimono last month by one of my former students. Now I will be able to wear an entire outfit.

I gave Dan a new Seiko watch. He had a watch already, but it had a leather band and he wanted one with a metal band, so I thought he'd like a different style. Besides, this one won't be so hot with all the humid weather we have here. He really likes it!

At first I bought Dan a new leather baseball glove and got a cheap one for myself so we could play catch in Japan. Also he loves baseball and softball and cannot wait to get back to playing in the USA. But, the Japanese size glove was too small for Dan's hand, so we have to return it. We decided to buy the watch that he wanted instead.

Reunited in Japan

Six years ago I moved to Northern Japan to teach English. When I was there I made to really great friends, Amanda Barnes and Sara Talsness. This past week Sara came back to Japan for 40 days to do some "gap" teaching for two of the churches in Akita. While one teacher is on the way home and the other one is on the way here, the program needs a fill-in occassionally. This year that "gap" teacher is Sara. So, on her way to Akita, Sara, got to stop for a night in Sendai and see us. It was really fun to be in the same country again where we really became friends. She was only here for abut 12 hours, but we were able to snap some photos.

Here is Sara the night she arrived. We ate dinner at 1 a.m. in the morning because of all the mix-up with trains and late airplanes. By 2 a.m. we were all konked out.

Here is the two of us in front of the Sendai church on the morning of her departure to Akita.

ZAO Mountain

This past weekend our friend, Yoshi-san, took the two of us to Zao Mountain. It was one of the last places that we wanted to visit in Miyagi Prefecture (Miyagi State) before returning to America. IT WAS GORGEOUS! We saw mountains that went on for miles, waterfalls and lots of green trees. It was my (Christine's) first time to ever be at the top of a mountain. Why has it taken me this long? NO IDEA! It was the most beautiful site I have seen, next the the Fjords in Norway. I was literally breathless at a few places.

This was one of the waterfalls that we stopped by to see on the way up the mountain.

We were so glad that we had such sunny and clear day!

This is one of the many beautiful sites you can catch in Japan if you are traveling. It was absolutely gorgeous! We could see for miles and see six different mountain ranges.

This is the site we had been waiting to see. This lake is at the top of mount Zao and was the remains of a volcanic eruption years ago. This site is quite famous in Japan and lots of tourist visit it everyday. We even ran into tourists from Taiwan there. They spoke English to us too!


Here are the three of us at the top of Mount Zao. Thanks Yoshi-san for taking us there!

This was the last waterfall we stopped to see as we were making our way back down the mountain.

We stopped at a little park area and Dan found lots of interesting bugs to play with. Right up his alley.

We stopped at this delicious Japanese resturant after coming down the mountain and ate soba and udon with tempura. SOOO Good!

The last place we stopped was Shiroishi Castle. "Shiro" means White and "Ishi" means stone. We went up to the top and got to overlook the city.

Welcome to our NEW place!

Welcome to our new place! We thought it would be nice to give you all a tour of our new apartment. This is our entryway! Under the staircase there is a nice storage area for suitcases and extra bedding linens. And as you walk in you will notice that we always take off our shoes. To the left of the door there is a large shoe/slippers closet. It's great!

Once you've reached the top of the staircase, you can go left, right or straight. First I will take you to the right. You can see a closed door on your left, that's the toilet room (Only a toilet, nothing else!)

At the end of the hall you walk into a small bedroom. Right now we have a semi-double bed in there. It Japanese size, sort of like a full-size bed in America, just a bit smaller.

From the top of the staircase, if you turn left, you walk into our master bedroom.

Here is our bedroom. We can't really decorate because we can't put holes in the walls. SAD!

If you are standing at the top of the staircase and head straight you walk right into our dining room. Off to the left you can partially see a door. That's our laundry/handwashing sink/shower room. In the far back left is our kitchen and off to the right (what you can't see) are some double doors that open into our living room.

Here is the laundry/handwashing sink/shower room off of the dining room

Here is the kitchen. It comfortably fits one person, but two is a tight squeeze. P. S There's our beautiful new fridge!!

Left side of the Living Room

Right side of the Living Room

All Moved In

What a day! We are exhausted and our feet are really sore. I am all ready for bed, I just wanted to update our blog to show you some pictures of our busy moving day. This morning at 10:30 a.m., three of my English students showed up and helped us move over lots of boxes. After about 2 hours and two seperate trips, they were hot and tired. We sat down for a little snack and chatted. Throghout the whole day Dean and Dan were moving the furniture and larger items. At 6:30 p.m. I made an easy dinner at our new apartment. That was fun! The boys did such a great job and by 9:00 or so, they were totally whipped out, so we all went our seperate ways and crashed.

"The moving Ladies"

Moving things into our kitchen and trying to make space for everything! It's small, but it works for us.

Noriko was our door guard! After moving everything into the apartment we needed a little break.

Finally the hard working men get a break and enjoy some relaxing moments.

Packing....

Who really enjoys packing? We are in "packing mode" today and will be moving tomorrow morning through Friday. I guess it's not so much that I don't like packing and moving, it's all the sorting that comes with it. Yuck! But, I can't complain too much because I am looking soooo forward to the new place we are going too! It's great! Book, books, books....who really needs 100's of books!

Sealed Deal

Yesterday we got the keys to our new apartment, so we got to move some things over there. The coolest thing that happened though was that our boss, Dean Bengtson surprised us with a new refridgerator for the apartment. The one we have been using was quite well used and the one we were planning to use was going to be an 80's style, green refridgerator. Well, Dean found a great deal on a two year old refridgerator and scooped it up! What an awesome guy! We were so excited and very thankful! Here are the picture of our old refridgerator and our new one being moved into the new apartment. This is the old one....
Here's why we needed a new one....
Here's the beautiful NEW one!!!!

On Their Way to Akita

Carol and Becky left yesterday, so we had to grab a picture of them in front of our house. This is the last week that we will be living in it....just when it's starting to look all nice and plush!

Carol Sunde's Here!

This evening Carol Sunde and Becky Olson arrived from Fergus Falls, MN. Carol was born raised in Japan and has come back for a visit along with her friend, Becky. They both gave their testimony tonight at Bible Study and did a great job! Carol translated and did very well. After Bible study we came back to the house and stayed up for a while talking.
This is a picture of me, Dan, Becky (in blue), Carol, Yoshi (in gray) and Keimei. These two guys are a part of our small group Bible study that we have every Thursay. The story behind this picture is awesome. Years ago Carol gave this rocking chair to her sister-in-law, Sue Olson. Sue and her husband, Roger, used to live in this house and they couldn't take the chair with them, so it stayed in this house. The stone Carol is holding is a painted rock that Carol's mother painted YEARS ago when they lived in Japan and somehow that rock ended up here. Also, the footstool was one that Carol's mother painted a very long time ago. It made Carol feel right at home to come into our house and see all these things that were at one time or another a part of her family.

We got an apartment

So, besides all the paper work getting done, we offically have a new apartment. It's so cute and only 5 minutes by bike to the church. It's the same picture that I have in the blog from the other day. I'll have pictures of it once we move in next week.

Apartment search

The search for an apartment has begun. We were able to tag along with Dean Bengtson and see some of the options for housing. He looked at four different houses/apartments, but hasn't made a decision yet. Hopefully we will know more by the end of the week!! Here we are out for lunch at a ramen shop, enjoying our lunch after a little house searching.

Grasshoppers?

What a better way to start off June....than to eat grasshoppers. I hope you are as grossed out as I was! Today, in English class, one of my students brought in dried grasshoppers that were covered in soy sause and brown suger. No matter how good those two ingredients sound together, they sound TERRIBLE when you add grasshopper into the mixture. UGH!!! Anyway, I was dared to try one, so I did. CRUNCH! Let's just say, I won't ever eat them again.

Chinese Gyoza

Today 5 of my students came over to my house to make chinese Gyoza. I have one chinese student, Cho-san, who is taking English from me, she speaks zero English. Right now I am teaching her the ABC's. We communicate through Japanese. Well, today she taught me and 4 of my more advanced English students how to make chinese Gyoza. It was really fun! Gyoza is something like pot-stickers, but they are boiled and very healthy!
This is one of my students Masayo and her son. He came with her and was able to make gyoza also. He had fun time, even though he was with all ladies!
Not everyone could stay to eat, but after we finished making the gyoza, we sat down at about 4 p.m. and tried them out. They were awesome! They were so soft and tasted delicious! The whole process took about 3 hours.

Freaked Out!

Today I was working out in the front garden, as I was cutting away at some leaves I looked down in the soil and saw something that didn't belong. I jabbed whatever it was with my clippers and it was SOFT, not hard, meaning it was alive! I totally freaked out, screamed and ran over to Dan while he was teaching. I ran in saying,"There's a HUGE head of a snake in my flowerbed!!!!" He and his boy student ran over to the house. They were asking, "Where is it? Where is it?" I pointed it out and Dan used a hoe to try and move it around. Welllll.....he did move it around and low and behold was a TOAD!! not the head of a snake. I was so worked up, I couldn't relax for over an hour! I am petrafied of snakes and apparently toads too. ;) Here's a picture of Dan and his student laughing at me and holding the toad.