December

早くももう12月、師走ですね。

毎年書いているかもしれませんが、
最近の街は、ハロウィンにしてもクリスマスにしても
どんどんその飾りつけする時期が早くなっていると思いませんか？？？
11月末ぐらいからクリスマスツリーを飾っていたり・・・

欧米の人に言わせると
“おかしい”
らしいです(^_^;)

日本人の感覚でいうと、
１２月中頃から鏡餅やしめ縄を飾っているようなものでしょうか・・・
たぶん。

やっぱりクリスマスはクリスマス！
12月みたいです。

というわけで
12月に入ってからクリスマスツリー！
飾りました！

今回は昼間の写真。

んー、やっぱり夜のほうが雰囲気あるかな～。。。

Kansai ETJ Expo 2009

11月29日は、Kansai ETJ Expoでした。

いつものようにLisaは前日からお泊まりでお手伝い。
土曜日のクラスが終わってからすぐ会場となる
大阪上本町にある清風高校へ。

僕は当日だけ(^_^;)

行く途中心斎橋から難波まで歩いてみましたが、
御堂筋のイチョウがきれいな黄色に。

きれいでした。


いつもの会場。
閉会するちょっと前で人もまばら。。。

その後は後片付け、お金の計算などなど。

で、終了後近くの焼き鳥屋さんで打ち上げです～。

このexpo、英会話講師による英会話講師へのプレゼンテーションイベントですが、

いろいろな講師のスキルを得れる貴重な情報交換の場といったところでしょうか。

入場料は500円ですが、それにしてはたくさんのプレゼンテーションを見れますし

また英語教材の出版社の方たちから直にいろいろな教材の情報・アドバイスも得られます。

英語を教えている先生にとっては悪くないというか、結構お得なイベントだと思います。

それにしても↑に移っている皆さん、
無償のボランティアスタッフなのに毎年・毎年がんばります。
えらいですねー！！！
本当に、感心します！

お疲れ様でした(＾＾)

Halloween Festival Fun

Here's what went down at Halloween Festival 2009. Very importantly, there was sunshine...whew! But more importantly, there many happy, costume-wearing, fired-up little festival-goers!

We're all set-up and ready to go..."Yay!!!" we cheered for sunshine, "Yay!" for candy, "Yay!" for games...for hamburgers, for pumkins and perhaps other things I could think of on the spot. "1..2..Yay!"
In our first game corner, my friend Chako got S ready for Ghost Bowling.
Yuka and his big sister, got J ready for the Monster Ring Toss.
Y kept his eyes closed for the ENTIRE round of "Pumpkin Face"
and opened them up nicely for the photo op afterwards...well, sortof. Don't you just love those smile dimples!

Challengers lined up at the Coin Drop Station, without realizing that the nun helping them out was really one of their teachers.
Meanwhile, our tireless volunteers got ready for the hamburger line. N's mom was amazing! She volunteered to help despite bringing three kids with her on her own - one, you can see, she has in her arms while still helping set up. You rock!! Thank you!
The burgers were ready, thanks to our grill master dads who also worked non-stop from morning to evening. And the crowds were ready. Let's eat!

We ended the festival with some jack-o-lantern carving. C's mom got an eye out...of the pumpkin that is.
I even got a chance to carve and enjoyed the memories of my own backyard pumpkin carving days with my family. We always had great holiday times including trick-or-treat nights every year in our neighborhood back home, long, long ago.
We ran out of time and volunteers and had to cut the smores from the schedule, but all in all, I think it was a fun day for our little English Square. Thanks for coming, everyone!

Some Posed Pics from Prize Winners to Pumpkins

Announcing the results of the English Square Halloween Festival Costume Contest:

For the 2nd year in a row, the "Family Costume Prize" went to the "K-Clan", only half of whom are pictured here because Dad was busy grilling burgers for everyone, their daughter playing festival games. Three cheers to you for always getting decked-out and always bringing such life to our party! The Brother and Sister Prize went to the "M-siblings" who have come to our party every year, are always so well-behaved, join in every activity, and manage to stay smiling!
"N-chan" got the girl"s prize in a costume her grandmother made for her. Incidentally, the grandmother also made her cousin's costume, pictured here. Nice! and so cute!
And our youngest student, "R-kun", got the boy's prize as this adorable, young Peter Pan. (I wanted to give a beauty prize to his mom who is always impeccably gorgeous, but I think she was happy enough for her son.)
Here are a few other shots I touched up...from some kinder kids,
to some elementary students,
to our oldest group of "kid" students so cute as cats,
up to some parents who made it through a long day of fun in the sun (two of them surviving morning sickness). Moms are tough for sure! Thanks for coming everyone!
We have our biggest event done for the year and are already conjuring up schemes for next year's festival, believe it or not. Grrrr....
Happy Halloween!

Our Annual Camping Trip

Every year either in the heat of August or, more recently as the weather cools down a bit, in mid-September, we find ourselves heading to the mountain side for a camping weekend with friends. What started out as a large group adventure several years ago:

has dwindled down to just us "die hards":

Luckily we had a nice, long four-day weekend and spent two leisurely days and nights by this river in Shiga Prefecture. The plan was to go and just sit around in our camp chairs, enjoy a casual read, take quiet walks along the river, etc. And although we actually did these things, it seems most of our time was spent setting up our campsite, getting ready for meals, reorganizing our campsite, going shopping for firewood and outdoorsing-it necessities, cleaning up after meals, covering our belongings in case of rain, complaining about the "noisy" campers who had the nerve to want to enjoy the outdoors the same time we did, then packing up our unbelievably full car loads of gear, etc. "Leisure" is sure a lot of work, I'd decided.

But we did have a wonderfully cozy campfire thanks to Mashi's continuous and meticulous care, nice chats with our good friends, and....our favorite barbequed delights:

lots of veggies, including my favorite..."yamaimo with shiso" (mountain potato with perilla leaves) all dolled up in butter and salt - simple and oh so good!

We also had a new-comer to our feast....mini potatoes skewered on rosemary stalks. Delish!

(We did have other members in our feasting not belonging to the potato clan, but they just didn't make the photo opps.)

Another summer over, another fall in the works. Our Halloween decorations are up and we're ready for our annual Halloween Festival on the 11th! Photos coming soon, we hope, as we keep our fingers crossed for nice weather.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, dear Mo---mmy!! Happy Birthday to you!!

When my brother's family and I were all home in Michigan earlier this month, we decided to get in a little bit of an early celebration for my mother's birthday. It looked like this..

consult the beloved Martha Stewart Wedding book for a yummy recipe, double check ingredients and their availability - quite simply everything you'd expect in a cake, plus the magic of lemons -rummage through cupboards to find some appropriate cake pans, whip up some icing, set up a decorating assembly line for my niece and nephew's cute little fingers and ....VOILA!! instant birthday party!

Here's the cake Skyler decorated for her grandmother,

and the cake Reed decorated - finished off perfectly with his little licking-finger design.

The candles are lit...

and blown out by the birthday girl with help from her grandkids,

and enjoyed by all - I think mostly by Reed.

This was birthday time with the kids before we had hot-off-the-grill zucchini, sweet potatoes and salmon.

followed by a less sugar sprinkled adult cake decorated by Emilie with a big "L" for "Lila" written in blueberries.

We're thinking of you today, mom, and sorry we're not with you for your actual birthday. But, hope it's a good one!

Sweet Summer

"So, how was your summer vacation?" I always ask my students during our first class after the break. I listen to their stories and they usually ask me the same question. My answer this year was quite simple, "I just spent time with my family, saw my best friend and her family, and had a nice trip to Chicago." And although those were the best parts of my summer, upon cleaning out my wallet this morning, I discovered that I actually did quite a lot besides sitting in my parent's backyard sipping beer and eating yummy food.

So, first, for those interested, a few interesting places to visit if ever in western Michigan.

The day my brother and family arrived at the Grand Rapids Airport from Maine, we went to Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. My mother and I went early and enjoyed a guided tram tour of the amazing collection of outdoor sculpture - fantastic! When my niece and nephew joined us, we headed to the Children's Garden. A michigan summer off to a great start!

http://www.meijergardens.org/

The next day we had a "Girls Day Out" and Grandmommy Lila, my sister-in-law, my niece and I headed down to Holland to watch Charlotte's Web performed at the Hope Summer Repertory Theater. Uniquely presented and magical! We adults enjoyed it as much as the kids around us.

http://www.hope.edu/hsrt/shows/2009/charlottesweb.htm

The next day while the rest of the family headed to Holland to cheer on my brother in his long-course swimming pursuit... (He SWAM a 5k in just over 1 hour!! WOW!) my mother and I made a brief stop at our local art museum, where my mom volunteers as a docent. For such a relatively small town, Muskegon sure has a fantastic art museum.

http://www.muskegonartmuseum.org/index.php

Then we drove just minutes away to the bustling Muskegon Farmer's Market to fill our big wicker basket with juicy blueberries, cherries and peaches; ripe tomatoes, fresh picked corn, etc., etc. What a great season for fresh fruits and veggies!

http://www.muskegonfarmersmarket.com/view-farmers-market-commercial

So, at this point I'm feeling very cultured and well nourished, indeed! But, until my parents and I took a trip to Chicago, where we visited the new modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago,

http://www.artic.edu/aic/

we spent time at the beach along Lake Michigan and simply hanging out.

(And... finally some pictures to accompany my blog...thanks to my sister-in-law. <-.->)

Here's my twin brother, Sam

my sister-in-law, Emilie, and her (pictured here as calm and quiet, but otherwise very lively, very funny and very cute) little boy, Reed,

and my very sweet, smart, and also very lively, funny and cute, niece, Skyler.

(Just look at that beach! How much do I wish I were still on vacation??!!)

Most evenings we just spent on the back patio chatting and, need I say it again?...you know, the beer and food with my parents. It's just such a wonderful place to be.

The summer also provided a nice weekend of visiting with my dear aunt, many cousins, their children and grandchildren. It was so special that so many made the effort to come visit us. (Photos covered nicely at manhartfamily.blogspot.com, as I'm sure you who care, know.)

Here's just one I like of me with my cousin and his beautiful daughter who I can't believe is going into her last year of college.

I also had the chance to visit with my best friend from Florida who brought her whole family up to Michigan during the time I was there.

Two days was too short, but...but...hmmm...just too short as it is with almost everything there is to say about summer, and vacation, and time spent with family and friends while living so far away. Sometimes short and sweet is good, sometimes just not. But it was a sweet summer.