Congratulations Kyle and Yuko!
Last night we went to the wedding of our friend Kyle. Here are some pictures from the dinner.
Kyle signs the papers.
Yuko signs the papers.
...and they are married!
At the afterparty. This picture is to show my new haircut. It is not so new now, but is the first picture of me!
Hungry?
Here are some pictures of my ikebana arrangements from class this week and last week. This week was exciting as I moved into the foray of including food in my arrangements. That's right- food. You'll notice that the arrangements from this week focus on using a carrot!! This way, if you get hungry because your arrangement is taking too long you don't need to go to the kitchen!
Summer's Here!!
Friday night Zach had an enkai (work party) so I went up north to Takamatsu for a bonfire on the beach. This can only mean one thing-- the start of summer!! Some days you are so happy to be in Japan, and I think spending the night at the beach guarantees this!
The first step into the ocean this year!! Notice the phosphorus things that glow, making the water sparkle. The waves were full of them, so they looked like they were glowing. It was so neat!
Cornell University
Cornell sits high atop East Hill in Ithaca, NY looking down on Cayuga Lake, the largest of New York's Finger Lakes. Surrounded by gorges and creeks, many reckon the campus is among America's most beautiful. As an Ivy League university, it has an academic reputation to match.
It is here that we will be from this coming August. I am beginning work on my PhD. We considered many universities but in the end decided that Cornell was the best match for Jane and for me. We are excited for the move, and Ithaca promises to be a great place to live. Lots of wilderness (and great cycling!) plus a decent bit of culture. It's still a small town though 30,000 (or 100,000 if you include all its suburbs). Luckily a trip to New York City is only a few hours' drive (if I can ever pull myself out the mountains of reading I expect to deal with).
Here are a few pictures of the campus. They are all (but one) from the "Cornell University Pool" on flickr.com.
Check it out if you want to see more.
McGraw Tower, the scene of thrice-daily chimes concerts 
The Arts Quad, at the center of campus (from Cornell's website) 
Ivy on the walls of Uris Library 
Far above Cayuga's waters 
Cascadilla Gorge, running through campus 
Taughannock Falls, just north of Ithaca and taller than Niagra Falls
Yashima
Yashima is the site of Temple #84. It is located at the top of that plateau! "Unfortunately" we arrived too late in the day to go to the top, but we did visit the shrine at its base. We rode bikes that we rented the 7km out of the city (and 7km back), so we had a trip nice there.
My cool bike.
We rode our bikes up here!
And this officially conclues our trip to Shikoku!!
Ritsurin Koen-Daytime!
I have only one word to describe Ritsurin Koen, "wow!" I wouldn't want to be disloyal to Kenrokuen so I can't say that Ritsurin Koen is better, but I would be strongly tempted to. The park is the largest in Japan at 75 hecatres, and is absolutely beautiful! It took us over four hours to see the garden, and we could have easily stayed much longer.
An old man was feeding the turtles and carp in the lake (one of thirteen). I was so excited when he gave me a piece of bread and invited me to join him. It was lots of fun!
The men cleaning the lakes.
The biggest carp I have ever seen! (And I have seen quite a few now). There were some that were so big, they may have been my size!
Zach and I enjoying a cup of tea inside one of the teahouses. The teahouse is so famous that the Emperor even stayed here for five days once!
The view of our teahouse.
Enjoying the cherry blossoms...
a little too much.
This waterfall is a man-made waterfall. Man-made in the sense that men stood on top of the mountain with water waiting. When the feudal lord walked by they poured the water down the mountain to create this waterfall. I think that now technology helps, but the waterfall is still turned off at certain times of the day.
Tamamo Park
These pictures are from Tamamo Park, the old remains of Yuzukijo- Takamatsu's castle. We had a nice time wandering around. The most important part, however, is the moat. This is where the feudal lord forced his samurai to train in the martial art of... swimming!! That's right- swimming is considered a martial art! But, it doesn't stop there. The feudal lord was not satisfied with traditional swimming. No, that wouldn't do at all. So, the feudal lord invented his own swimming stroke! Every year in early January there is a festival honouring the swimming stroke. During this festival people re-enact the swimming stroke to pay hommage to it. It is almost worth staying another year just to be able to return to see this famous stroke!
The moat- where it all began.
Zach enjoys the garden.
All I wanted on the trip was palm trees, and we found palm trees!
The castle- one of the gates.
Sunset in Shikoku
After our day exploring shrines and temples, we came to the sea to watch the sunset. The sunset was absolutely beautiful. We watched the second half from a restaurant, where we had a delicious, fresh lobster dinner. It turned into a surprisingly romantic night!
View from our table.
