English Circle Christmas Party

Hello all,
Just thought we'd share some videos from one of our Christmas parties. This is an annual pot-luck get-together for our Sumita English Conversation Circle. In the videos you can see many of our friends from Sumita (the town we used to live in) and some friends that live here in Ofunato. These were taken on December 18th.

"Twelve days of Christmas"


Conan Makes Green & "Seso"


"Nabe", Leif, and desserts

Christmas Elves in Japan!

(Click Me) Gabe
(Click Me) Steph

Steph's English Circle Party

Hey All, Gabe here... Steph and her lady friends threw their 3rd annual christmas party. There was lots of delicious food and we stuffed ourselves silly! Below you can see some videos of us playing the "White Elephant" game. Steph taught them it two years ago. You can see that our beloved friend Mutsuko was the lucky one to recieve Steph's $3 worth of pennies... HA HA!




From Wikipedia:
"The name "White Elephant" originates from an old Burmese cultural reference to the value of an albino elephant, which is considered sacred and must be well taken care of, despite the financial burden that it may bring to its owner."

Charlie Brown's Christmas

Hey All,
Gabe here,... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Steph and I just watched Charlie Brown's Christmas online (on YouTube):

First Day of Snow & Steph's Sunday School

Hello Everyone,
It's been pretty warm, but last night the weather turned and it snowed! Now it's very chilly outside so we are really enjoying the Advent season getting ready for the upcoming Christmas holidays (lots of get-togethers with friends and food and such) We are very thankful for our smaller home now because it warms up a-lot quicker. Gabe hung our home nameplate and number today so here is a short video...



Hey everyone, Gabe here. Just thought I'd tell you a little about Steph's Sunday school: She's had three really successful Sunday school lessons. She's been teaching simple English and Bible stories to kindergarten & elementary school children using music, some of my flashcards, lots of homemade materials that she has created and the kind help of our dear friends. She really has enjoyed it and I really think that she's been a true blessing to others, so, I just had to tell you all. Today she and our friend Mutsuko taught Daichi and Leon (two really smart and great young boys)about the Christmas story. They are working on a paper nativity too. It was really neat. If any of you are interested in a free printable nativity scene just click here to print one out in Adobe format.


We Love You All!

Let There Be Light & Gummi Bears

Hello all,
Gabe here,...It's getting darker everyday now. It's a tough time of year. Soon It'll be getting dark at 4PM (thank the Lord it won't last that long). Steph and I put up Christmas lights (the iscicle kind) hanging from the ceiling of our dining room last Sunday. It is beautiful. I tell you truthfully, it is a difference that is difficult to put into words. Really fun though,...like a cool little bistro. Well, to express my mood I thought i would share my most favorite TV clip of all time (from my favorite TV show - Northern Exposure):






Hey Guys, Steph here. Do you remember this? This was me and Gabe's favorite cartoon when we were kids! Hope it brings back some memories for you too.



Now check this out!

Kamaishi Daikannon

Yesterday we went to see the Kamaishi "Daikannon (Large Statue of the [female]Buddha)" in Kamaishi City. It's only an hour away. We've always meant to go there but just never got around to it. So, we took a-lot of short videos to share with y'all...ENJOY! We were surprised to find out that the actual statue of the Buddha we climbed is actually taller than the Statue of Liberty! (only by a few meters...but nonetheless suprising! Of course, The Statue of Liberty is on a platform that is about half the total size. )



Well,... here is some info:
"As a symbol of Kamaishi, the Daikannon stands upon Kamazaki Point, overlooking Kamaishi Bay. It is 48.5 metres tall, and is divided into 13 stories. Inside the statue, there is much to see, including the [Honzon Gyoran Kannon], [the 33 Kannons] and the Grand Gallery. At the exact point at which the Kannon is holding the fish, (from the 10th to the 12th floor levels) there is an observation platform located 38 metres above the statue's base. From the platform there are spectacular views of such sights as the Ozaki Peninsula and Mada Misaki.It is said that you will feel great happiness upon visiting the [Shichifukujin Goddess] after climbing the 204 stairs." from this link

Egg Nog

Steph made her traditional "Day After Thanksgiviving Egg Nog" and we decorated out tree... YUMMY!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey everyone! This is Steph. Happy Turkey Day! I just roasted my first turkey! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We shared dinner with our friends the Ozawa's at our house. We had a real TURKEY!!!! It was only 7.5lbs but it was delicious! We are so thankful for all our many blessings. We pray that your hearts are filled with joy and thankfulness and we wish you a wonderful beginning of the holiday season!

"Katrina Cottage" Offers Affordable Housing

Hello all,... Gabe here. Sorry that we have been so truant in the bloggi these days. We are settling in nicely but the days weeks and months just fly by. Well, I just wanted to share something with you all.

Last week, Dad Craft sent me this link about the "Katrina Cottage":

The Katrina Cottage "creates a cew niche"]


Well, being so intrigued by the Katrina Cottage, I did a google video search and was happy to see that Farmer's Almanac TV recently did a very nice segment on the little home that has been such a big hit. Check it out below (if the video gets choppy just pause it and wait until the "buffering" is finished). You can also click the google button on the video to view it full screen.




More links about the Katrina Cottage:

Article with pictures of the build for the Intenational. Builder's Show

Article from Inhabitat with some interior photos

Another Article with some more interior views

Designer's Site "Cusato Cottages" (Available from Lowe's)

Katrina Cottages Site sponsored by the Urban Guild


I also found this article interesting.
The average American home has more than doubled in size since 1950 (click me).

Efficiency Never Ends Here

Church Picnic Under Tono Windmills

We're Back!

Well sorry that it has been so long since our last post! We had a great time in America visiting all our friends and family! It went too fast! Now were are back in Japan and moved in to our new house. We will post some pics of our new place as soon as we can. For now here are some pics from our vacation!

Japanese Cheerleading "Ouen" (おうえん / 応援)

Well, it's baseball season in Japan and that means that all high schoolers here are bussed far and wide to cheer their teams. Baseball is the biggest sport in high schools and the summer cheering trips are probably the biggest thrill for the students all year. Today, Steph and I travelled on charter buses with teachers and students from Sumita High School to cheer our baseball team.

It rained the whole time but it was a real blessing to be able to cheer Sumita High for third and possibly last time. One really neat thing is that the schools cheer their opposing team before and after the game. It's really honorable and pretty cool to see. Baseball, and all sports are cheered in quite a different way here...
Below is a clip from cheering our kids while at bat. Check it out!


Japanese Cheerleading "Ouen" (おうえん / 応援):

Hometown Surprises

Hello everyone, It's Gabe here...
Yesterday afternoon we visted with our good friend Toba Sensei. She is a Japanese teacher and recently retired from Sumita High School. She had us over to her house for lunch. She prepared a very fancy meal of fresh uni (sea urchin roe) and unagi don (eel over rice). It was an amazing lunch and we had a wonderful time visiting with her. Click here to read more about unagi in summer.

Afterwards, Toba Sensei showed us two beautiful local sites that, despite living here for three years, we had never heard about or seen. Actually the places are not in out town but they are only 30 minutes from our home. The surprises never end!

Here you can see what uni (sea urchin roe) looks like:


View from Hakoneyama (Mountaintop Overlook near our home):


Buddhist Temple Garden:

Morning Meeting & Shiritori

Did you know that in Japan, all teachers share the same room?

Yup, when I'm not it class, I'm in the teacher's room. At 8:25 AM the bell rings and then the vice-principal bows while saying a very powerful "Good morning!". We teachers respond with the same bow and greeting and sit down as the vice-principal announces the general events of the day so that everyone is "on the same page". I'm sure that the morning meeting is one of the reasons for Japanese efficiency in the workplace. The below video shows how most teachers and workers start their day together... Enjoy!

Take a peek at the morning meeting at Sumita High School:



Later today in my sophomore elective English class our students played a very common Japanese game called "Shiritori" that has been successfully adapted for English classes and become a real "tried-and-true" activity for English teachers in Japan. Check it out...

Watch sophomores play "English Shiritori":

Pot-Luck Party

Tonight we are having a pot-luck dinner with our Sumita English Conversation Circle. Steph is making "Enchiladas Potosinas"...

Preparing for Pot Luck:


Pot-Luck Spread:

ありがとう大農! Thank you Daino High!

Hello everyone,
It's Gabe here...
Yesterday I taught my last lessons at Ofunto Agricultural High School ("Daino") and then I had to say goodbye to all there who have been such a blessing to my life.
The teachers and students made beautiful goodbye presents for me giving me encouragement and wishing me good luck for the future. The teachers all signed a large card which one of the students had drawn an amazing caricature of me in the center and each of the homeroom classes that I teach made a message book which contained a personal message from each student! I feel so thankful to have been able to be a part of Daino High School and was truly sad to say goodbye. But, I will forever treasure the memories of the friendships with students and teachers there.

Where are you guys again?

Click here to see where we are in Japan.
You can zoom in on the map too using the zoom button on the upper left of the page. Google Maps just gets better and better...

Finally, Pictures from Hirosaki

Well here are the last pics from our Golden Week Vacation! This was actually May 7th! Sooo sorry that it took sooooooo long to get these on the blog! This first pic was the first day we got to Hirosaki. It took us about 4 hours to drive there and about 1 hour to find our Inn! It was really crowded and confusing! Gabe and I got a chance to use our Japanese though so that was an adventure! Above is a picture of our first Hanami picnic.
This was outside a cute little store near the Inn that we stayed at.


After we had our Hanami picnic we checked into our Inn and had a beautiful dinner served to us in our room! It was really delicious and relaxing.

After dinner Dad and Siri went to bed (unfortunately they caught a cold while they were here). It was raining but Gabe and I had to go out for night time Hanami. In Hirosaki Park they light up all the cherry trees and people sit under them and enjoy food and drinks. Though we were not as prepared as this group, who set up a nice tarp tent and BBQ pit, (we just had Gabe's raincoat!) we still had a wonderful time!




Then the next day we finally had some sunshine!
The cherry blossoms were amazing and although the park was extremely crowded it was still peaceful and surprisingly quiet. This pic below is of Mt. Iwaki. It was kind of overcast so it is hard to appreciate the size of this mountain.

We toured the castle and then stopped to rest a bit and soak it all in. Hirosaki is famous for apples and they make a delicious local apple juice, so I had to try it! Yummy!

And here is Gabe finally getting to relax after all the driving he did all week.

After that we decided to try some food from the festival vendors!
These are miniature octopi! They were being used in Takoyaki! Which is a kind of breaded and fried octopus ball. Usually you just get pieces of octopus in them but here you got one whole octopus in each ball! Although it seems strange it was delicious!

Here's Dad Craft enjoying an octopus.

And these pics were taken just before we left. The blossoms had just started to fall into the moat around the castle. We went at the perfect time. We saw the flowers in full bloom and also got to see them falling on the last day! It really was a wonderful vacation and we had so much fun with Dad and Siri! Sometimes it takes having guests to really enjoy your own home!

KFC

Hey Ya'll,
It's me , Gabe...
Just thought that many of you might like to know that The Colonel is here in the Land of the Rising Sun... Last week, on Tuesday, steph and I had to go to our capital city (Morioka) to do some paperwork for our visas. We had an extra special greasy treat of fried chicken at KFC. Believe it or not, it was the first time for me to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken! When I was a kid my family usually went to BoJangle's for fried chicken and Steph said that they usually went to Popeye's.

Concert Pics

Here's pics of me Steph on stage during the "We Are the World" International Fellowship Concert. Many thanks to Matsuo for giving us these pictures. I like to think we ended up looking like a modern day Johnny and June Cash. I'm, of course, not as cool and Steph is much prettier in my opinion (see below).
And below is a pic from the finale of the concert when many local foreigners living here in Japan along with several Japanese got up onstage to sing "We are the World". It was a real success! Everyone, including the audience was singing and doing the "two-hands-above-the-head-waving-and-swaying-thing". We were just so happy that everyone enjoyed the concert.
Thank you to all of you who worked so hard to make this concert a wonderful success and one of our greatest memories here in Japan!
We love you all!!!


--------------------------------other posts-------------------------------------
the poster:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/04/pretendin-to-be-famous.html

Steph on Iwate TV:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/06/steph-on-japanese-tv.html

pics from and thank you to all the people who made the concert:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/06/concert-pics.html

Watermelon

Well, today we were given a beautiful watermelon by Reverand Tajima from our church in Ofunato. This thing is worth approximately $20.00! I bet many of you have heard about the expensive fruit in Japan. Fruit is more expensive here and is therfore a popular gift item but its readily available and recently more and more less expensive imported fruit has made its way in to the supermarkets. But, this watermelon is a bit more special than the average melon: very round and more perfectly shaped.

The Legend of the Cubed Watermelon (click me)

Steph on Japanese TV

On Friday June 9th I got the wonderful opportunity to appear on Japanese TV. We went to promote the concert that we did on June 10th. It was such a fun day! We started out at 11am and drove to our capital city, Morioka, and first had a live radio interview then went on to the TV station. It was me, a group called "Cafe" and our friends Mutsuko, Kame-chan and Kazuyoshi.
When we first planned the trip it didn't look like Mutsuko was going to be able to go and nor was anyone else who spoke English. So I was having these fears that I would end up looking like Bill Murray in "Lost in Translation" when he appears on a Japanese TV show. If you've seen the movie you will understand my worry!! Luckily I had someone to help me understand everything although I may have still ended up looking a little silly! hehe! So without further adeu...here is the show in 3 different sections! Enjoy!
P.S. I messed up a little in my singing...oops (I don't quite have the scream/singing abilities of Cyndi Lauper hahaha!)
P.S. again I will post pictures later from the day!

Just a note for playing the videos: Make sure and only click the video play button once! Otherwise, it'll take you to another site.


Part One


Part Two


Part Three









the poster:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/04/pretendin-to-be-famous.html

Steph on Iwate TV:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/06/steph-on-japanese-tv.html

pics from and thank you to all the people who made the concert:
http://gscraft.blogspot.com/2006/06/concert-pics.html

Conan & Purikura

These pics are from last Saturday, June 3rd.
This handsome little man on the right of me (above) is Conan Mino. He's the son of Mark and Junko Mino who are our good friends here in Sumita. Mark dropped by last Saturday and said, "Hey, you guys wanna go for an onsen?" So, knowing that it was one of our last days of freedom before an onslaught of practicing for the upcoming concert....

...we went for a soak at the nearby Hirota onsen which has an amazing view of the ocean.
Then we went to a great Chinese restaurant.

What kinda' car do you think that is?










It's a "that's", that's what it is!






After that Steph and I took some "Purikura (click me)" (short for "print club").