Himeji Castle

Spent a fabulous day touring a castle with Jesimee and our friend, Will. I recommend this to any of my castle-loving friends, or to any of my camera/photo-loving friends. Well, the upload on photos is being SUPER slow, so I will add more later.

Size perspective of the entry gate door:

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji, one of Kyoto's very famous temples, is very near my apartment here in Japan. Jesimee and I visited it today.

After that, we met with our friend, Will, and spent some time at a shrine in Arashiyama, as well as doing some various shopping and eating (of such things as mitarashi dango in the picture). Also, today marked the first snowfall of the season in Kyoto...a delightful surprise this morning!

Monkeys!!!

This last Saturday was one of my top two most amazing days in Japan so far! I had a fabulous time biking to Arashiyama and visiting the monkey park there. I loved everything about going there...well, okay, monkey poo smells a little weird and there was plenty of that around, but hey, what do you expect?

Walking around outside, we were right with the monkeys, lots of them! Inside the building we could purchase small bags of apples, peanuts, or chestnuts and feed monkeys through the fence. They would take the items right from my hands and I could feel their soft palms and see the finger-print style lines on their hands. I bought about 7 small bags of food as it was so delightful to feed them. I'll add more photos later, but here are a few favorites for now. (Edited with some more photos now.)

St. Nicholas Day

Someone here celebrates St. Nicholas Day. This day always makes me think of my aunt, who is the one who first told me about this day when I was young.

Anyway, for those unfamiliar with it, it is a day celebrated in various parts of Europe, in particular, but is considered an international celebration. In Germany, where my aunt and uncle and cousins lived for a few years, the tradition is that children leave their shoes by the door and they will awaken to find their shoes filled with candy if they were good.

Apparently, I was good this year :)
My shoes, and those of other students living here, are candy-filled this morning. It is a delightful surprise!

Busy writing-filled week

Mostly I've been in my room writing this week. I've written papers on kaiseki cuisine, Unit 731, Chinese medicine, and what visiting Hiroshima meant to me...etc.

I'm considering posting a few of the papers here on the blog to share with family and friends who might be interested, but at the moment I need to continue writing more papers, as each field trip and seminar I attend requires a written response, something that I would like more if I didn't have to write for every single one, but could choose from them and do a pre-specified amount. I find that having the requirement to write about each one has given many of us less anticipation for the field trips and seminars as an experience and more of an inclination to regard them as just one more paper due, but I still find most of them well worth it.

Thanks for the encouragement for educational goals and for dreams!

Though there have been some tough things about being in school here in Japan, I want to especially thank those who encouraged me to go for it, both as an important addition to my education and in encouraging me to go for my dreams.

Especially important in both of those, all my children...who I encourage in their goals and dreams, also! Especially, however, Bryen and Jesimee both really encouraged me a lot and cheered me on through the process and have been quite excited with me and for me. I also appreciate the encouragement and thoughts of my mom and my dad and my grandpa. My advisers, who encouraged me and wrote letters for me, and believed in my ability to successfully accomplish this goal, and the people at the study abroad office who helped me with the details. I have many other family members and friends who encouraged me and were excited for me to do this, also.

Thanks to all!
Roxanne