by Mike Costanzo | Dec 8, 2006 | Missions, Teaching
Today I (Mike) taught at Hirose Elementary School, and before I went into work, I prayed–a lot. Today was a wonderful and perhaps unique opportunity to share a little bit about Jesus– in school . This week’s syllabus requested that I ” talk...
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 Mike Costanzo | Nov 19, 2006 | Travel
Let it never be said that the Costanzos can’t wing it with style! This Friday, Mike says to Jen, “Hey Honey, how does a weekend trip to a ryoukan (Japanese-style inn) sound?” Jen says, “Sounds great, but where?” “We’ll find...
by Mike Costanzo | Nov 11, 2006 | Mike, Scenery
Today excepted, this whole past week here in Tamura has been a week of non-stop wonderful weather. In fact, it was so nice that I (Mike) couldn’t resist taking the digital camera to work and finally climbing up the hundred or so steps to the top of a local park...
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 28, 2006 | Holidays/Special Events, Teaching
Last Sunday was Takine Jr. High’s school festival. Apparently, every Japanese school has one of these, and they’re big deals. So we were excited to be able to see what all the hype was about. Jen was allowed to come both days, and got to meet the principal...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 28, 2006 | Japanese Food, Mike
It’s been a whole month and a half since the first installment of the story of Mike and his wonderful discoveries of the different foods of Japan, and when we last left our intrepid hero, he had eaten Nuts and Fish, fried squid, and natto, among other things....
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 Jen Costanzo | Oct 6, 2006 | Jen, Teaching, Wakakusa
Hey there! It’s Jen — I’m finally getting a chance to write a little bit about my new job here in Japan! I teach 10 English classes to kids of all different ages. Shown here is one of my second grade classes. They are a fun bunch! I use a...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 1, 2006 | Holidays/Special Events, Wakakusa
Today was possibly the biggest and most important day of the year at Wakakusa Kindergarten: the annual Kindergarten Sports Fest ( Undokai ). This is the day when all of the parents (who either never visit the school or usually only come to the school long enough to...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 1, 2006 | Holidays/Special Events, Missions
Last Sunday (9/24) we (the Funehiki team) had an incredible opportunity to share our faith and our love for God in the most unexpected of places—a secular Folk & Pop Concert at the Funehiki Culture Center. Apparently, the concert organizer heard that the team...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 1, 2006 | Holidays/Special Events
Last Saturday (9/23), our employers arranged for us to be taken to the annual Samurai Parade in Aizu. Back in the states, lots of people love to relive the glory of the medieval days (you know, knights in shining armor and swords and fake English accents and all...
by Mike Costanzo | Sep 18, 2006 | Wakakusa
Many of you may have noticed that in the past month we’ve been posting lots of pictures of us, of our team, of local scenery, etc. But so far, we haven’t posted any pictures of our employers, and especially of Mr. Maki (we call him Encho-sensei), the...
by Mike Costanzo | Sep 13, 2006 | Japanese Food, Mike
It’s probably a safe assumption to make that pretty much everyone who knows me is aware that when it comes to food, I (Mike) have an insatiable flair for the exotic. Of course, that’s just a nice way of saying that I eat some pretty bizarre things...
by Mike Costanzo | Sep 7, 2006 | Mike, Teaching
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Japan? NO? Well, regardless, I’d like to share a few pictures from my job, in case there’s anyone who WAS wondering… Me at my desk at Takine Jr. High School (my...
by Mike Costanzo | Sep 2, 2006 | News
Hey everyone, We have incredible news!!! Remember last week when we said that maybe we would meet the Prime Minister and eat sea cucumber sushi on the Moon? Well guess what– it really happened !!! We never would have dreamed that it was possible, but in an...
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...
by Mike Costanzo | Aug 14, 2006 | Travel
Hey everyone!!! Here we are, all four of us (Mike, Jen, Benno, Nate), sitting in the airport and waiting for our flight. Praise God; we got through security with no problems, and in record time!!! The hand of the Lord was definitely with us. It’s wonderful to...
by Mike Costanzo | Aug 9, 2006 | Wakakusa
Well, here we are in the beautiful town of Mansfield, OH, just starting out week 2 of our two-week Japan orientation. What’s it like so far? Just like the rest of our life has been these past few weeks: crazy good!!! The first day we were here we got our own...
