Family Christmas Party

We had a room full of people for our annual Family Christmas Party. It's a great opportunity to explain Christmas and encourage people to be part of Bible studies. Children and parents from our various outreach programs attend.

Heather had just returned from Calgary, so she helped Kimiyo with the actions for the songs. What they're doing right now is the sign language symbol for Jesus. You point with your index finger to the palm of each hand. Aiko is doing that. Two Christmases ago Aiko was baptized.

Carol did the Christmas story using flannelgraph while Miwako read the story.

What people didn't know was that Miwako was reading an English book and translating into Japanese in her head. To hear her do it, you would have assumed it was Japanese she was reading.

Decorating Christmas cookies is an annual tradition. Obviously some children have the philosophy that "more is better"

They also made "yuki daruma" or snowmen, out of coffee cup liners, modeling clay head, and gloves cut up to make hats and scarves. Once again the hundred yen store (dollar store) is a vital source for materials.

It's good to have so many parents attend the party.

Kimiyo brought some donated merchandise that people could take for a donation to relief efforts in Tohoku with the group that serves lunches in Ishinomaki every weekend. On the previous picture you'll see an attractive maroon leather jacket that is now Carol's.

A Holiday Visitor to Harumi

No, not Santa Claus. The Kaiwo Maru is a training vessel for students from universities across Japan who are planning a maritime career. It's docked at the pier at the end of our island for the Christmas/New Years season. While the rivers to the north, south and east of Harumi are narrow and there are bridges joining them to other islands, to the west of Harumi is an expanse that opens onto Tokyo Bay, so we are looking northwest in this picture. You can take a look at the area through Google Maps:http://maps.google.ca/maps?rlz=1T4TSCA_enCA441CA441&q=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E6%99%B4%E6%B5%B7%E5%9F%A0%E9%A0%AD&gs_upl=0l0l0l13321lllllllllll0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl

Another November, Another Community Barbecue!

Yes, November. It's never rained in five years of holding community barbecues and this year was especially warm. The only problem is, with so many new people moving into our area, the barbecue park is getting pretty crowded!

The barbecue gives us a good chance to meet the families of the children and women involved in various programs.

And since the Loves are in Calgary this year, the men of my Saturday English & Bible class stepped in to help with the grilling duties. We'll have to continue this even when Loves return, since it affords us an opportunity to mingle and meet people.

You can hardly see Carol and Tomomi for all the smoke from the grill. No burnt offerings, though.

Making s'mores has become a tradition, although roasting a marshmallow takes a very long time when one is timid about getting close to the hot coals and holds the marshmallow up high.

Fifty four adults and numerous children. Thumbs up on this day as a great opportunity to meet community people!

Boys' Clubs!

In Toyosu our cohort of boys has become busy with the rat race of cram school and entrance exams to get into high school, so we're down to just two. As you no doubt can tell, we're practicing the tautline hitch here. I didn't need to tell you that, did I?

30 minutes of English conversation, 30 minutes of some craft (like learning essential knots) and then 30 minutes of reading and discussing the story of one of the heroic men of the Bible.

In Hachioji, 90 minutes west of Harumi, there's a larger group of Jr. Hi boys meeting for Boys' Club. This is at snack time after our continuing study of the life of Joseph.

I learned that the bigger the group, the longer it takes to do the craft. No one had mastered any of these basic knots before I taught them at Boys' Club. And, no one had read anything in the Bible before Boys' Club.

Enough of knots. On to paper model building. This was printed on glossy photo paper, so the picture doesn't do it justice. How long will it take to do this project? How much more challenging a model can we attempt? I'll keep you posted.

Girls' Club!

Some games, a craft, some English, and a message from the Bible...That's Girls' Club.

...and, sometimes the little sisters sneak in on the action.

Immortalized in Plastic Bottles

Triton Square is the centerpiece of Harumi island. It's three office towers with a mall connecting them at the base, and then a food court and some apartment buildings included in the whole complex. Because the towers are so large, only one and part of another are visible in this picture. In the foreground are the model towers, constructed of a steel framework and 500 ml. plastic bottles strung together. Harumi Triton Square is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

Here's another angle showing more of the model. The alcove  in front of the model represents the outdoor terrace in front of the food court where the model has been built. Just above the tower on the left is the real tower on the left, which is our apartment building. You may (probably do) have larger living quarters than us, but have they ever been commemorated in a model made of recycled water bottles? I don't think so.

Canadian Thanksgiving

The Japanese word for "turkey" is "Shichimenjo" which means "seven chin bird" We had some friends over for Canadian Thanksgiving and everyone enjoyed the traditional meal. As you can see, it's a pretty tight fit in our place, but we managed to pull it off. The turkey just barely fit in our convection/microwave oven. And, after a meal like that, we may just barely fit in our clothes!