Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Cherry Blossoms of Hirosaki
These are some pics taken at Hirosaki Park one morning around 8:00 AM.
The cherry blossoms on both sides of Hirosaki Castle's mote.I'm sure a million pictures are taken from this spot every year by tourists and photographers.
I thought this tree was interesting looking.
Us
We left Itayanagi around 7:30 in the morning and bought breakfast on the way to Hirosaki. At the castle park, we found a nice spot around cherry blossoms and ate crackers with cheese and fruit. We were the only people having a picnic early in the morning at the park, so some people walking by might have thought that we were strange, but we didn't mind. We had a nice time. 
After eating, we took a walk through the park.
Since we were so early in the morning, there were hardly any people. If we came a little later in the day or at night, this place would have been packed with people. Coming early made our walk easier. 
The hidden castle that actually only is a watchtower.
Naomi and I doing the undefined back-peace-sign(I don't know what it means. Maybe nothing. Any ideas?) in front of Hirosaki Castle(弘前城）.
Near the end of our walk we stooped by some swings in the park. My Mom took this pictures of me jumping of the swing. This day was the only time my family went to Hirosaki's Cherry Blossom Festival this year. The flowers were in full bloom and there was only a few people so it was very enjoyable. 
Monday, May 12, 2008
Cherry Blossoms of Itayanagi
On this post I put some pictures of cherry blossoms I saw in Itayanagi this year.
The cherry blossoms ready to burst into blooming.
One day, My Mom and Dad decided that all of us should go to the park in town for lunch. We all sat under a tree and had lunch. After eating we took a picture sitting on a low branch.
I used my terrific tree climbing skills and climbed a tree.
Some people from church on a Sunday afternoon
It's a great park with a Basketball court. I often come here to play.
This picture is my favorite one.Mt. Iwaki with the cherry blossoms and a ray of sunlight.
Tsugaru Church（つがる福音キリスト教会） building with the cherry blossoms.
This is a picture of the flower pedals that fell on the ground. It kind of looks like snow. The cherry blossoms are pretty, but they don't last for long.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Snowboarding in Hakkoda
On March 22nd, a Saturday, John Orme(from N. Ireland), Beat(Short-term worker from Switerland), Naomi(my sister) and I went Snowboarding in Hakkoda. I really like going to Hakkoda because you get to snowboard in nature, around trees.It was a really hot day. We could have literally snowboarded in our t-shirts.
The beautiful mountain at the top of the rope way.
Beat, John and Naomi at the top of the mountain with Mt. Iwaki on the left.
Chilling at the top 
me
John ripping the slopes
Naomi making her way down.I couldn't get Beat in action, he was to fast.
To get a feel of snowboarding in Hakkoda check out this video.
Aaron on the slopes winding my way down Mount Hakkoda.
John put this on youtube.
Mt. Iwaki looked AWESOME from Mt. Hakkoda.
It looked AWESOMER later on in the day.'Twas nice being on Mt. Hakkoda again.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Michael Mosnster!!
One night Michael Eastwood, who is from Maryland teaching English as a JET in a small village called Morita, appeared having 10 hands!! That's even more than an octopus!! Thursday, April 24, 2008
Easter
It seems to be that lately I'm posting about things that happened a month ago. It's either I don't have time or I'm not making time. I think it's mostly that I'm not making time. Anyway I made time to write about Easter this time. These are the activities and my observations of this years Easter.
On Sunday the 16th of March, we decorated the church with palm branches. Remembering Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey while people shouted "Hosanna" and swinging palm branches in the air. There was palm branches above the church entryway, in front of every window in the sanctuary and on the cross. It was pretty cool. 
Naomi and I were asked to decorate the front entrance of the church to make it look like we're having a celebration, so we got some streamers and balloons and did some decorating. It came out pretty good. We left the decorations up for a week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It was nice. People walking by on the street must have wondered what the church was doing.
The pictures above are from the last supper meal we had in Kanagi Church on March 22nd. Since the Messers were still in Sapporo refreshing their Japanese, my Dad, Mom, Naomi and I went up to Kanagi and cooked a meal. We ate food the Israelites most likely ate while they were slaves in Egypt. Lamb meat, unleavened bread(flat yeast less bread), matsoball soup and some vegetables. The same food the Israelites ate for the Passover celebration. The same food Jesus ate with his 12 disciples the night before he was crucified. We also had grated apples with walnuts to show the mud the Israelites worked in to make bricks for the Egyptians while they were slaves. We had wassabi, parsley and eggs, too. Easter is basically the only time I get to eat lamb meat, so I quite like it.
Above are the kids I ate the last supper meal with on Good Friday, the 21st in Itayangi.
Above is a picture of people talking around tables right after the last supper meal in Itayangi. As for the program; we read the Bible, sang some songs, had an explanation given about all the food, ate the food and my Dad gave a message about the meaning of Easter and the passover. At the end we saw a short part of the "Jesus for Children" movie. The part from where Jesus was put on the cross to where he rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples. There was a lot of non-christians at the meal so I think it helped them understand at least a little bit about what Jesus came to do for us and the power He has. It was a nice meal and there were good conversations.
As a church we also had a kids Easter event. The cookies above are one of the things we gave to the kids that came. At this kids event I played Hosanna on the piano. It was my first time playing the piano in front of at least 40 people so it was exciting. I made a couple mistakes, but I think I was alright. At least the kids sang so that was good. 
At the kids Easter event everyone got to color and decorate an egg.
After Sunday school on Easter Sunday the church kids decorated eggs. 
You can't spend Easter without the Easter egg hunt.
On Sunday the 16th of March, we decorated the church with palm branches. Remembering Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey while people shouted "Hosanna" and swinging palm branches in the air. There was palm branches above the church entryway, in front of every window in the sanctuary and on the cross. It was pretty cool. 
Naomi and I were asked to decorate the front entrance of the church to make it look like we're having a celebration, so we got some streamers and balloons and did some decorating. It came out pretty good. We left the decorations up for a week from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It was nice. People walking by on the street must have wondered what the church was doing.
The pictures above are from the last supper meal we had in Kanagi Church on March 22nd. Since the Messers were still in Sapporo refreshing their Japanese, my Dad, Mom, Naomi and I went up to Kanagi and cooked a meal. We ate food the Israelites most likely ate while they were slaves in Egypt. Lamb meat, unleavened bread(flat yeast less bread), matsoball soup and some vegetables. The same food the Israelites ate for the Passover celebration. The same food Jesus ate with his 12 disciples the night before he was crucified. We also had grated apples with walnuts to show the mud the Israelites worked in to make bricks for the Egyptians while they were slaves. We had wassabi, parsley and eggs, too. Easter is basically the only time I get to eat lamb meat, so I quite like it.
Above are the kids I ate the last supper meal with on Good Friday, the 21st in Itayangi.
Above is a picture of people talking around tables right after the last supper meal in Itayangi. As for the program; we read the Bible, sang some songs, had an explanation given about all the food, ate the food and my Dad gave a message about the meaning of Easter and the passover. At the end we saw a short part of the "Jesus for Children" movie. The part from where Jesus was put on the cross to where he rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples. There was a lot of non-christians at the meal so I think it helped them understand at least a little bit about what Jesus came to do for us and the power He has. It was a nice meal and there were good conversations.
As a church we also had a kids Easter event. The cookies above are one of the things we gave to the kids that came. At this kids event I played Hosanna on the piano. It was my first time playing the piano in front of at least 40 people so it was exciting. I made a couple mistakes, but I think I was alright. At least the kids sang so that was good. 
At the kids Easter event everyone got to color and decorate an egg.Everyone liked placing their eggs in the dyed water.
These are two of the eggs that we drew on this Easter.
The one on the left is the one Naomi drew.
The one on the right is the one I did. It's simple, but I like it.
You can't spend Easter without the Easter egg hunt. You can see that the kids are really excited to find those eggs.
Even I got to go search. It was fun. I got three.
The candy stuffed eggs that the kids love.
Even I got to go search. It was fun. I got three.
The candy stuffed eggs that the kids love. Over all it was a great Easter remembering that Jesus came to die in our place on the cross to pay for our penalty of our sin and giving us hope by resurrecting from the dead. It's great to know that we Christians serve a loving powerful Saviour.
