Birthday Party and Chopsticks

A couple of weekends ago, we celebrated Eddi's 7th birthday. I baked and decorated her birthday cake and Mika made a piñata for the party we gave her on the Saturday.

I also made cupcakes

Happy 7th Birthday!

Smash that bee piñata

Axt weekend, we made chopsticks. The father of one of the girls that went to Eddi's kindergarten, Mr. Kawashita, was kind enough to invite us and a couple of other families over to learn to make chopsticks. He does it as part of a cultural / tourism activity, usually charging people for his time. He has a blog and an advertisement in the local tourism brochures.

So the kids were all able to play together, and we all had a big barbecue for lunch.

We made hashi

The finished product

Mika's skills

We didn't do anything this past weekend, really. Just relaxed on Saturday and had the usual church service on Sunday. During the last few weeks school has been pretty standard, too, although I did teach at a primary school a couple of Fridays ago instead of at K-town JHS, and last week I didn't have classes at Shouwa JHS because they had a sports event.

My shakken (2-year car inspection) is due this month, as is the tax for both our cars. Huge expense right there, but we should manage. Planning to go into K-city this weekend to do some shopping and hopefully get my shakken done. :)

Peace.

Timotheos

Blooming Kochi

It's the end of the academic school year. Everyone moves up a grade or finishes school at the end of this month. I had my last chuugakkou classes today.

We had graduation on Saturday. I attended the one for Shouwa chuu. Now that I have no school, it will just be office work between now and when the new term starts.

On Sunday, we dedicated our daughters at church. It's always important to pray God's blessing on your children. Because Eddi had never been dedicated, we had her prayed for at the same time as baby Maya.

Dedication at church - 14 March 2010

To backtrack a bit, it was my birthday on the 28th of February. On the 27th, we went out for dinner to a steak restaurant with Mika's brother and his family. We went back to their place for cake.

30th Birthday Cake

The Cutting of the Cake

A couple of weeks ago, it was Hinamatsuri, the Doll Festival. We also had cake for that and Mika's mum set up a doll display according to the tradition. Unfortunately, the photos we took have been lost, otherwise I would put something of ours here.

Hina Matsuri - The Doll Festival

Two weekends ago, Michael came for a visit. He and I watched a couple of movies and went to Yamagoya to eat. It was somewhat nostalgic (in a recent sense).

Now that spring is almost here, the sakura -- cherry blossoms -- have started coming out. The weather has struggled to warm up and we even had a smattering of snow this month. But it will get warmer, the blossoms will come out and we can enjoy new life among all of the changes that come with April.

Sakura - Cherry Blossoms; The First Sign of Spring

That's all for now. Sorry about the lack of updates. I had to cram a lot into one post. I'll try and be more diligent in posting blog entries throughout the rest of this year. ^^

Timotheos

Holy Birthday Barbecues Batman

On Friday, I spent most of the morning preparing for school in the afternoon. It went really well -- both preparation and classes. I actually made a whole lot of flags and cards with flags and country names on them. It allowed for a fun, card-exchange game with the kids that practised "I am from...", as well as a bit of geography.

Mika and I took Mei-chan for an English lesson (after okonomiyaki for dinner) on Friday night, and afterwards we did a whole lot of baking for Eddi's birthday. I made a chocolate fudge cake frosted with delicious chocolate icing, and Happy Birthday written with yellow white chocolate icing. The cup cakes turned out pretty nice, too. So much sugar!

On Saturday, I spent the morning doing my own thing (*cough*playing WoW*cough*), then Mika, Eddi and I went to K-town. We met Mika's brother and family, and some ex-neighbours of hers, and had a barbecue at the park. It was a beautiful day and was good fun.

Somehow, we managed to send Eddi off with her uncle to stay with her cousin for the night. So Mika and I were able to spend time together. XD We watched a movie at my place and just had a relaxing time.

Mother's Day
Sunday morning saw us head into K-city, to attend the pentecostal church there. We spent the afternoon child-free, which made it easy to go shopping. Furniture stores, Aeon mall and Starbucks were our main points of interest. All in all, it was a nice afternoon, and I know that Mika appreciated the break.

We had dinner with Katsuhiko -- Mika's brother -- and family, at a kaitenzushi restaurant. We left the city quite late, so weren't back in Taisho until late. What a weekend. :)

On Monday and Wednesday mornings I taught at K-town shougakkou, and on Wednesday afternoon it was Tokawa.

I was very tired on Tuesday. so it was good to have a bit of a break between my chuugakkou classes. That night, I just watched stuff and had my regular prayer group / Bible study meeting. Mika and I didn't see each other at all, for the first time in three weeks -- since we started going out. And I lived to tell about it! :p

Also on Monday and Wednesday, we went for our usual runs. It has been lovely weather all week and running feels so good (despite how hot it is getting). Oh, and I went to the dentist yesterday, for what has become my usual monthly checkup.

Today, Shouwa chuu have some sort of field trip for the students, so I have been in the office all day. Yet again, it is beautiful outside. Would be nice to go for a run, but I have my couch arriving after work, and I want another day of just staying at home, relaxing (after a hard day's thumb twiddling...).

Peace.

Timotheos