Our Journey Ends

On November 9, our 15 month journey in Japan came to an end. We spent that last week saying goodbye to all of our students, coworkers, and friends. The people in Japan are so thoughtful and amazing. We received such wonderful cards and gifts that we will treasure forever.

Many of the classes we teach had parties for us. We will never forget these kids!

The English school we work for had a going away party for us. Our best friends Matt and Chelsea left the same weekend as us, so the party was for both of us. It was a very tearful goodbye dinner.

Our 14 hour flight was perfect, and we arrived at 9:30 pm Friday night full of excitement. We were really surprised to see Melissa's family and friends Marisol and Roger waiting with balloons and a welcome home banner...which brought on tears of happiness! On the way home from the airport, we had to make a quick stop at Taco Bell to satisfy our 15 month Mexican food craving!

Our journey through Japan and Asia is an experience we will never forget. It has been 3 months since we have been back home now. We are currently living in Orlando, FL and are renting a condo downtown. Melissa is working as a kindergarten teacher at a great school and Frank is working as a leasing agent for an apartment complex. It feels great to be home, though we still miss our other home on the other side of the world. Thanks for sharing our "journey" with us!

Happy Halloween!

We went to the Halloween party again this year that our company holds for the kids. This is our second blog about Halloween, but we couldn't resist posting some pictures of our adorable students. About 170 kids came along with their parents and they all looked really cute in their costumes. Most of the little girls dressed-up as a princess or a witch and most of the boys were a vampire or a pirate. We played some games and danced to the Monster Mash. Frank dressed up as a vampire and Melissa was Little Red Riding Hood. We were surprised they actually have the story Little Red Riding Hood in Japanese (called Akazukin-Chan).



Here are some pictures of the other teachers we work with. Some of their costumes were hilarious!

Road trip to the Coast

Last weekend we traveled north with our friends Yuka and Taka to the Sea of Japan. We took their camper and had a blast! We all slept in the camper at night and drove to a few different cities during the day. The camper looks like a big van, but inside there's a double bed, small kitchen, toilet, and four seats. The front seats fold down into 2 single beds, so 4 people can actually sleep in it.

Our first stop was Wajima. This city is famous for their morning market. The market sold things such as fish, toys, lacquer ware, and souvenirs.

We also walked to a temple and to a hot spring foot bath...the water was scorching hot, but felt really good after a few minutes.

We then got back in the camper and drove to Chirihama Beach. This was our first time going to the Sea of Japan, so we were pretty excited. We walked around for a while and found a ton of sand dollars!


We then went to Kanazawa City to eat lunch at a really popular sushi restaurant. The restaurant was really crowded...but worth the wait. Some sushi restaurants in Japan send the sushi around on a conveyor belt and you can grab a plate when one looks appetizing. At the end of the meal, the server counts the plates and gives you your bill (each color plate is a different price). The sushi ranged from 1 to 9 dollars a plate.

We ended our road trip by driving to a waterfall in the mountains and doing some hiking for a while. We had a great time on this trip and really want to buy a camper when we get home...we'll just add this dream to our growing list!

Kindergarten Sports Festival

Last Saturday we both attended the sports festival at the kindergartens we each work at. It's an all day event where the 3, 4, and 5 year-olds all perform acrobatics, compete in races, have dance performances, and do other activities that involve the parents, grandparents, and siblings. The kids work so hard for months to prepare for this day. The sports festivals are really popular here; it's actually a national holiday where we get the day off! Elementary and Jr. high schools hold sports festivals as well.

The schools get really excited when the English teachers come to events. At the kindergartens, they always give us presents afterwards as a thank you. Melissa even got a reserved parking space...the Japanese writing on the paper says "Melissa Sensei," which means teacher.

Just like at home, the parents all videotaped the kids from the sidelines.

The event begins with the opening ceremony. Then they have opening speeches. Melissa had to give a short speech in English at the kindergarten she went to! Then they say a prayer (see picture on left) and sing some songs, then the games begin. The kids really take this day seriously and it is so cute to watch! Here are some pictures below of the kids doing their dances, relays, and games.

The five year olds did some acrobatic performances. They practiced for up to 6 months for this. We were really impressed with how well they all worked together and did everything at the exact same time. Here is a video and some pictures.