1st Annual Halloween Party

We celebrated our first Halloween party since the ownership of Fundy English School has changed. We enjoyed a few hours with 35 of our students and friends along with about 15 of their parents. Many of the children dressed up. It was a wonderful time. An Sensei made ghost sugar cookies and (my favorite) pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. We played the pumpkin toss game, run by Kris Sensei. Stick the wart on the witch, run by Zack Sensei. Create a pumpkin in the pumpkin factory run by An Sensei and Yasuko Sensei assisted with all of the festivities. We had the children play "candy basket" while they were arriving. We were thrilled with the amount of people that came. We ended the party with An and Kris Sensei teaching the "mean old witch" song and then the children went from Sensei to Sensei "trick or treating" and getting candy sent from America. It was a GREAT Halloween Party for all who attended. We will post more photos soon! ENJOY!

Karaoke Night at Vivre!

From Offspring to Mr. Children, we had a fun night using our vocal abilities and singing our hearts out. Tomoaki really belted his heart out. While Makoto and Akemi soothed us with their love songs. It was a fun night!

WE welcome Kris 先生 to Fundy English School

We are excited to welcome Kristin Smith as the newest teacher to the Fundy English School.  Kris comes to us from Utah where she was working as an assistant in the Marketing department of a business located in Lehi Utah.  Kris has experience teaching English.  She lived in Sendai Japan and then in China teaching English.  Kris loves kids and adults alike.  She is an avid outdoors person.  She recently competed in several races including a triathalon (way to go Kris!).

We are glad she is here and look forward to her smiles and laughing!

WECLOME to FUNDY ENGLISH SCHOOL Kris!

Change is the only thing constant

We said goodbye to Cliff and Tina 先生 a few weeks ago.  Cliff wanted to return to America to work on his Masters.  They were great teachers who added to the Fundy English School.  Our students have said how much they miss them and hope they are doing well.

A Fun Day at the Tobe Zoo

Our friends Ken and Yumiko took us out to the Tobe Zoo near Matsuyama a few days ago. Ken is a student at the Fundy school, and Yumiko is my daughter Mei's babysitter. Their family loves Mei! (Mei doesn't look very happy in this picture, but she had a great time.) Thanks to Ken for letting us borrow the hats.

Here's a video of Mei's favorite activity (with the possible exception of seeing a real tiger): riding a lion!

Cherry Blossom Party

We had a lot of fun again this year!! We really hope you can make it next year.

Our next party will be an easter party.



Fundy

Japan vs. Texas

For my first post on the Fundy blog, I thought I'd give my impression of Japan so far. My whole life (until last year), I've only lived in Texas, so that's pretty much all I can compare Japan to.

What I Love About Japan:

• Convenience. I love being able to walk or ride my bike pretty much anywhere I need to go. If I want to visit another city, I can take a train. If something's too far away, I can always call a taxi. In Texas, you really need a car to get around.


• The scenery. Japanese parks are beautiful! I really like mountains, so it's nice to be able to climb Mt. Kompira and Sanuki Fuji. I never climbed mountains in America! It's also really interesting how the scenery changes through the year.


• The drinks. I love Japanese tea and sake, and I can always find something new to try. We don't have drink machines all over the place in Texas, usually just in front of big stores.


• Convenience stores. In Texas, convenience stores are pretty much always attached to gas stations, and they're not as nice. I go to Lawson three or four times a week! I love the rice balls and jelly snacks.


• Learning Japanese. I really appreciate the chance I have to learn Japanese so quickly. I hardly ever study, but I'm picking up a lot from students!

What I Miss About Texas:

• Family. Of course I miss my parents and brother and sisters, but I really wish my daughter Mei could see everyone more. So far, my mom has come to visit twice, and my wife's family has come once. They were really happy to have an excuse to visit Japan!


• The woods. I grew up in the country, so I would always play in the woods. There doesn't seem to be as much forest here in Japan because the islands are so small and crowded. The parks here are really well-groomed; in Texas, they're usually bigger and more wild.


• Mexican food. I used to eat some kind of Mexican food at least once or twice a week. Sometimes, I would eat it every day for months. I love big, Texas-style burritos. My favorite snack is probably tortilla chips and salsa. I'm crazy about spicy food!


• Libraries. In America, I could hang out at libraries or bookstores and read for hours. It's hard to find any books in English around here. At least I can read Time magazine at the Marugame library. I know English is hard to read, but I think Japanese is even harder! I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of kanji.


• Elbow room. Most Americans have a different sense of space than Japanese people. We feel uncomfortable when someone is too close, especially on a bike or in a car. The roads here and the aisles in most stores are usually too narrow for me. I'm also too tall for Japanese doors, so I guess I should also say "head room".

All in all, I really appreciate this time in Japan. I'm learning a lot and having all kinds of new experiences!

Plum Blossoms at Ritsurin Koen

We visited Ritsurin Koen on Sunday to see the plum blossoms. It was a beautiful day. Mei loved the flowers and wanted me to carry her on my shoulders so she could see them better.


There were so many people in the teahouse that day. We had to wait a long time. Cliff had trouble doing the seiza pose, I thought it was so funny.

Afterwards we ate Indian food, our favorite kind. Overall it was lovely weekend.

コミュニティ

Here at Fundy English we think it is really important to be part of the community. Every morning when I take my dog, Lucky, for a walk I try to say hello to everyone and be as friendly as possible. It is important to know your neighbors, know your community and be a positive part of it.

Every month we try to take time out of our busy schedule to teach at Joto Kindergarten. It is a lot of fun, and I think, the children feel like they are really learning something and are a part of something special.

Also, Marugame City is really trying to make the downtown a more attractive place to be. They have started using the old 114 Bank building for community events. Last month we had a Christmas party for almost 20 little kids. It was a lot of fun, playing games, learning English and opening presents.

Andrew
丸亀英会話

New Years and Christmas

Sorry it has been a while since I posted on the blog. We had a very busy end of year with a great time doing volunteer work with the Silver Center. It was great.

This year at the end of the year we went to see the Five Arrows in Takamatsu.



That was a lot of fun, but, they lost!! Oh no.

The day before New years we went to Ikuyo's uncle's house and made Mochi! Man they made like 800 mochi. I couldn't believe it.

One of the last days of the year we went to Konpira-san. This is the first time I've been there during the New Years holidays. There were so many people!!







Andrew