by Mike Costanzo | Jul 20, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Teaching
Today was the last day of classes before Tamura City’s summer break, which goes until August 26th or so. Thus, I (Mike) am officially on vacation, but Jen’s Wakakusa classes will run for another week, and resume on the 15th–bummer! 🙁 Over summer...
by Mike Costanzo | Apr 22, 2007 | Culture, Day-to-Day, Scenery
At last–they’re finally here!!! Spring has officially come to Funehiki, and the cherry blossoms are at last in full, glorious bloom. Jen and I have been waiting for months for this day to come, and now that it’s here, it feels like a dream come true....
by Jen Costanzo | Mar 17, 2007 | Culture, Day-to-Day, Jen
This past Wednesday was a monumental day for a big portion of the Japanese population. It was the day that most of the 3rd year junior high-schoolers found out the results of their high-school entrance exams. These test results determine whether or not they can get...
by Mike Costanzo | Feb 15, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Travel
So here’s something you may have been wondering about–how exactly does one get from point A to point B in Japan? I bet you could see this answer coming a mile away, but, well—it depends. When I was in school studying Japan, I got the impression...
by Jen Costanzo | Feb 4, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Friends, Travel
Last weekend, we went ice-skating and ended up taking lots of pictures. Here are some of the highlights! Candid moment with Jen… The rink was really crowded at times. It was a little freaky with so many people, but a lot of fun. This was only Mike’s...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 27, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Friends, Missions
As many of you know from reading our email updates, we’ve been wanting to visit some new churches recently, and on Christmas Eve of last year we decided to try out Koriyama Baptist Church. From the very first day, we fell in love with this church. For starters,...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 14, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Friends
It’s been a while, hasn’t it??? For avid bloggers like us, going a full two weeks without any updates feels a lot like going two weeks without doing any homework, and then trying to catch up all in one night!!! But thankfully, we’re not being graded,...
by Jen Costanzo | Dec 2, 2006 | Day-to-Day, Jen
Some of you have asked us if there are things from America that we miss having here in Japan. There are a lot of things that we can find here — especially since there is a foreign-food store in a nearby city. However, there are still a few things we...
by Jen Costanzo | Oct 30, 2006 | Day-to-Day, Jen
Hi Friends! Thanks to a great suggestion from Kara L., you are about to be treated to a virtual tour of our apartment! We’ve swept the floor, dusted, made our bed, and even done a few dishes, just for you! Welcome! Come on in! You’ll want to leave your...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 11, 2006 | Day-to-Day
Like Jen said in our previous post, this past Monday was Health-Sports Day (a national holiday in Japan), so both of us had off of work. With a whole free day at our disposal, and perfectly gorgeous cool fall weather to boot, we took it as the prime opportunity to...
by Mike Costanzo | Aug 23, 2006 | Day-to-Day, Holidays/Special Events
Wow, what a week this has been!!! This week we set up our new apartment, met our new co-workers, went to parties, attended a Japanese festival, walked all around town, gone shopping, had meetings with our employer, met the mayor, the Chairman of the Board of...
by Jen Costanzo | Aug 19, 2006 | Day-to-Day, Wakakusa
We’re here! Yay! We arrived safe and sound on Wednesday afternoon. We were greeted at the airport by our employer and his wife. We stopped for our first official Japanese meal on the way home from the airport, and then were greeted at the school by the entire...
