MYN Christmas Party!

Today we had my ladies classes Christmas party at MYN church. Dan and Zenniya Sensei were also able to be there which was really fun! We had a potluck party, sang Christmas songs, played Christmas games and had a gift exchange. I got a very cute red travel mug and Dan got some candles and a fun game. Our Sr. Pastor's wife was there and she is one who recieved Dan's present. It is a beautiful flower in the Orchid family. He even picked that out all by himself! He has great taste! We really had a nice time and were happy to make such a fun memory with these ladies.

Cute Kids!

These are some of my cute 6 year old students. Today we were doing some fun Christmas coloring projects! We were having a great time! One of the seminary students, Manami, does chapel for our kids classes and here is a picture of her in action!

Ladies Christmas Lunch

My Tuesday ladies class had their Christmas party today. We had English class for one hour, then went out for lunch to a yakiniku (yaki=grill, niku=meat) resturant. During class time we played some fun Christmas games. We had a fun time playing Christmas song pictionary! The ladies in this class range from their mid-thirties to seventies!

Dinner at Sasaki's

Tonight we had dinner with our pastor and his family from the Seminary church. His wife prepared a very delicious meal and one that is also a traditional Akita meal (her hometown). It was our first time having dinner at their home, so it was really fun to see their home. Over dinner we talked about the possiblities of having an Alpha course at their church. We had a very positive response, so we were pleased! Hopefully one will start up in April!

Baking Apple Pie

Today we conquered the difficult task of making an apple pie. We had Christine's mom's crust recipe and Betty Crocker's apple filling recipe. It turned out delicious and it didn't even burn!! We had so much fun!

Matsushima

Today after church we went with our new friend, Yoshi, to this beauitful place called Matsushima. It's one of the top three places to visit in Japan, so it was really great that we finally got there. The view was so beauiful! It's so famous because there are so many clusters of pine tree covered islands in one area. If you ever come here to visit us, we will take you there!

First Snowfall

We had our first snowfall and it was beauiful. It didn't really stick, but it was so fun to wake up to see white flakes falling! The crazy thing is that one of our bushes is still flowering!

Kenny Tunick

If you haven’t met our beautiful new nephew, here he his. His name is Kenneth Daniel Tunick. He is now about 6 weeks old and getting more and more handsome by the day. We were so thrilled to be asked by Dan’s sister and husband to be his godparents. His baptism will be on December 17th on Long Island, NY. We are looking forward to meeting him too! Kawaii desu ne!! Of course the proud grandparents will be there to be a part of this guys special day!

Brotherly Love

Though we have yet to meet him, our little nephew continues to grow. He is about 6 weeks old now even though this picture is a couple of weeks old. (and I noticed Christine also posted it)I just thought he looked so cute in it that I just had to add it. How many people were thumb suckers when they were little? Come on, raise your hands. I know I (Dan) was. I sucked my thumb so often I caused a gap between my baby teeth when they came in. I eventually out grew it... a few years ago.
His Baptism is coming up soon and we hope to get to see it over the Internet. My sister is hoping to set up a web cam with the church laptop so that Chrisine and I can be there all the way from Japan. We are Godparents to Kenny after all. Isn't technology great?!?!

Kenny also has a new best friend!!

Big Brother Ryan and his Little Bro Kenny are getting along great. Ryan loves his little brother and from what we understand he is really great with him. He loves playing with him any chance he gets and even when Kenny is fussy Ryan picks him up and calms him down. Amazing. He is a great help to my sister Kristi.

I just wish I could be there with them. But for now pictures and the web cam are great.

English Teachers

Here are all the English teachers that are currently in Japan with us. Starting from the left is Jon, (Minneapolis, MN) Brian (Oklahoma) Dan, Erika (Canada) Christine, Sarah (Wisconsin). Each of us come from different backgrounds and have lots of fun when we are together! It is really fun when all of us can get together and have a good time with each other. We look forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Art Museum

This past Saturday our Japanese teacher took the two of us to an Art exhibition in Sendai. Paul Klee, a swiss artist, was being exhibited. We had never been to this museum and we were glad to go and see someplace new. The best part of the museum was the outside of the museum. I know that sounds strange, but there were beautiful gardens, a Koi pond, and a long hall of mirrors that duplicated you! It was so cool to walk around outside the museum. Of course the exhibition itself was very good,but the outside gardens were beautiful!

Sendai City

I was looking through some of these pictures and realized that
there weren't any pictures of the actually city of Sendai. I love
taking pictures, it's actually one of my hobbies, so I thought I
would throw in some of these pictures I had taken of the city.
We just love this city! It is located right on the Pacific ocean and
surrounded by mountains. Recently I learned that Sendai is
called "the watchtower" of Japan because it's the highest city
located on the Pacific side of the island of Japan. It's the first city
that would see enemies coming from the Pacific side of the sea.
Pretty cool, huh? I live in a well protected city because of those
reasons. The other great thing about Sendai is that there are
over 1 million people living here, so it's never quiet (unless it's
New Year's, then everyone's at home). We always see people
out and about and have all the conveniences that a large city has!

Yamadera

Our Japanese teacher, Nobuko, and her husband took me, Dan and their chinese friend to this area called Yamadera. It's famous in Japan because there are three temples that were built high up on the side of a huge mountain. There are over 1000 steps that you have to climb to get to the top of the mountain and see out over the beautiful valley. We climbed all of them, then went back down! It was a good challenge! Dan ate it up, he loves climbing. I bought this Japanese umbrella at the base of the mountain as a remberance of this trip. We had a nice time!

Changing Shoji

We have a traditional Tatami room in our house. We recently decided to change the paper on the Shoji doors and make them look like new! It was a big project, but we were up for the challenge. We were so happy with the results and are glad that our tatami room is now completed.

Korean Dress-up

One Sunday afternoon one of the ladies from church invited me and some other ladies over to her house. She is from Korea and married to a Japanese. She thought it would be fun to dress me up in her traditional Korean dress. It was fun, but very hot!

Thanksgiving in Akita

It was a happy Thanksgiving here in Japan for the two of us. We went to Akita, about 4 hours north of Sendai for a nice celebration with the other English teachers and the Bengtson's. We were about 10 in all and we had a great time being altogether. We took a bus up to Akita, so it was a nice chance to see all the colors of the changing leaves. The Bengtson's prepared a big Turkey that they got from the states and all the fixins. We ate like true American's yesterday, it was sooo nice! Linda even made pumpkin pie! After our noon time feast we played Risk, Pit and chatted. Everyone had alot to be thankful for. We hardly had a chance to miss our families, so it turned out perfect!

Pizza Party!

On Sunday evenings there is a young adult youth group. One evening Dan and I invited everyone over to our house for pizza. It was a hit! We had about 18 people come and it was packed. We had one of our friends bring 4 of his friends with him. They all like trying to speak English and really like being in an American's house. We had a fun evening and enjoyed pizza.

The Seminary Church

Here is a picture of one of the church that we serve. It's right across the parking lot from our house, so it's nice and easy to get to classes. On a typical Sunday there are about 30-40 people that attend. Some are seekers and many are members. The sanctuary is not huge, but the whole church is a pretty good size. Every Sunday everyone stays into the lunch hour and has lunch together. We usually stay for lunch unless we are at the other church we serve. The congregation is about 50/50 for younger and older people. It's a pretty lively church bunch!

Lunch with Asami

This is our new friend, Asami. She is from Northern Japan, but has recently moved to the Sendai area. One Saturday the three of us got together and had lunch in Sendai. She brought us to this great authentic Japanese restaurant. The servers wore kimono's and we were given a very private booth. Each booth is seperated by high booth back and hanging curtains. (like the one you see behind us) We really had a great time together. I added a picture of what our lunches came out looking like because I was shocked. They were so elaborate and decorative. Inside each small container there was something different. It was a new experience for us!

Sushi Resturant

One of the first resturants that we visited with our Pastor was a sushi resturant. Japanese people LOVE sushi and if you tell them that you like it they will serve it to you one way or another. Dan can eat many kinds of sushi and I can only eat one or two kinds.
This type of sushi resturant is called Kaiten sushi. It's a big counter with a sushi track that constantly goes around the counter. It's really great and very cheap! Each plate of sushi is 100 yen or 105 yen. It's about $1.00. So, if you like sushi, this is the place to go!