Japan Adventure

Easter - 2010

Once again all the OAP families banned together to keep our traditions alive in Japan. Our Easter party was a great success and a lot of fun too! The girls were very excited and so thankful that Aunt Lulu's Easter package arrived just in time. Much Love and thanks to the Smucker family for the beautiful Easter dresses and wonderful Easter goodies!

The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for photos before we headed to the Easter party.

The Easter party started with a little singing and the telling of the Easter Story. TJ did an amazing job sharing the story in both English and Japanese. His wife, Syonga, then sang a lovely song that she wrote herself.

Time to decorate some eggs!

This was Rylee and Avery's first time to dye eggs. They did a great job and had a lot of fun!

We had nearly 30 kids attend the party. It was so neat to share our tradition with the Japanese children.

Rylee and Aimie dipping their eggs.

Egg Hunt!

Thanks to all the OAPs we were able to collect 6 egg dye kits and nearly 100 plastic eggs, neither are sold in Japan. We truly appreciate all who contributed and all our families back in the states that shipped these Easter items to us to help make our Easter very special!

Ko-chan was the lucky one to find the big purple egg. He was so excited!!

Sara, Alex and Avery were eager to show off their findings!

What a fun day!! We are so blessed!

Karaoke Ladies Night - March 2010

Once a month our ladies group meets for dinner. This group consists of a mix women from around the world, not just Japan and America. Nearly all of the 30 or so women have lived or are currently living in a foreign country. This is our ladies support group. It has been a lot fun to meet so many different and fun women, each with a unique experience to share. This month we decided to go karaokeing. Karaoke is very popular in Japan and it's a lot of fun!

Yoko singing her heart out! She has a great voice!

Tomoko and Becky

Laarni and Diane

Mioko and I

Lunch with Friends - March 2010

I am so lucky to have such an awesome teacher like Mioko. Mioko can speak both English and Japanese and she has been my life line here in Japan. Mioko is incredibly talented and lucky for me one of her many hobbies is "Lunch." She knows all the best restaurants in around Utsunomiya. Thanks to Mioko, Becky, Erika, and I shared a delicious lunch in a very unique setting. This old brothel has been converted into a quaint restaurant with fabulous food.

Erika and Mioko

Me and Becky

Lady Goose English Class - March 2010

I have been tutoring the Lady Goose English class for last 10 months. The class consists of 5 ladies that I tutor English conversation. This class has been a wonderful experience for me. Not only have I enjoyed teaching, but I have learned a lot about the Japanese culture from these wonderful ladies. They have been so kind to me and I feel very blessed to have met them all.