Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Scholarship Program: Last two days

Here we were already at LAX and enjoying pizza from the California Pizza Kitchen before departure.
We had a short tour of downtown Riverside on the last day of our program. This photo was taken at the Mission Inn (great hotel).
Students enjoyed lunch with the high school students who participated in the program.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Interview with Daiki


Daiki is my seminar student and he is spending a semester here at UC Riverside.

MSI: Is this your first time in Riverside?

Daiki: No, actually I was here last year. I participated in the “Kokusai Koryuu Kenshu” in September.

MSI: I remember that. So does that mean you liked the program and decided to return?

Daiki: Yes, I’m now in the Intensive English program. I had writing, grammar, oral—and reading in my first quarter here.

MSI: Did you do well?

Daiki: Yes, I did. And I had classmates from Mexico, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam and Libia.

MSI: Wow, that was a very international class. Do you socialize with them?

Daiki: Yes, actually I organized a Japanese party at my homestay family’s place. Many students and some teachers came. We cooked Japanese food.

MSI: That’s great. So, please tell me about your homestay family.

Daiki: I have two brothers. My father is from Italy and my mother is from the Philippines. My brothers were actually born in the Philippines and they moved to California when they were kids.

MSI: Do you spend a lot of time with them?

Daiki: Yes, I like my family and always try to spend time with them. We are now on vacation and while many students are traveling, I decided to stay here in Riverside with them.

MSI: What do you miss most about Japan?

Daiki: I really miss my family. I also miss my cousin from Fukushima. I’m always worried about the nuclear waste.

MSI: How much longer are you going to be in Riverside?

Daiki: Three months.

MSI: What do you expect to achieve in the next three months?

Daiki: I hope to become a better student.

MSI: I’m sure you can achieve that! Good luck with your studies and thank you for helping with my group of students every single day.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Scholarship Program: Multiculturalism in America

Dr. Elena Romine gave a lecture on "Multiculturalism in America."

Students participating in a student panel composed of UCR graduates and IEP students.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Lunch, Tea and Dinner

I had lunch with Chihiro-san and Daiki at an Italian restaurant near UCR. I did eat artichokes.
Dr. Hartley came to Riverside to see me. I was so grateful and happy to see him.
I had dinner with the Hartzells and, if you are curious, I did eat artichokes again.
What a treat: artichokes twice the same day!

Scholarship Program: idioms & dance lessons

Students in the culture and idioms class Wednesday morning.
American line dancing lessons.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Lunch with Daiki


Cheese cake at the Cheesecake Factory in Riverside. Daiki had the strawberry one and I shared a Godiva piece with Tulga. It was good but way too rich!

Scholarship Program: a day with American students

We spent all morning taking lessons on comparative culture with American, Chinese and Vietnamese students. In the afternoon, there was a student panel with students from Woodcrest High School. From 3 to 5 PM we continued our preparations for the presentations on Friday.






Great dinner at the Duffy's

Thank you, John and Sharon, for inviting us all to dinner at your place. Everything was great and I appreciate your thoughtfulness in preparing the Brazilian style grilled pineapple and the hearts of palm salad! The artichokes were great--you never forget. I thank you for your warm welcome--always.
A feast!
Perfect weather.
Wow! I ate way too much....

Riverside: Personal

I had lunch with Sheila and Ed on Monday. She was my boss and mentor while I studied and worked here at UCR. Ed is my favorite American potter--the kindest and most talented person. He treated us to this great meal at Phood on Main. With all that is going on in Japan and with my family, it was extremely comforting spending time with them.


Beautiful flowers in Ed's garden.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Scholarship Program: Busy Monday





We started the day with a workshop on California followed by a lecture on multiculturalism in the United States. After that students had to start preparing for their culture presentations. It was an intense day to all of them.

Scholarship Program: Los Angeles



On Saturday the students had the opportunity to go to the Griffith Observatory, Hollywood and Newport Beach.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Scholarship Program: Desert




Today we met at 9 AM and went to the desert. We took the Palm Springs Tram and we were able to enjoy this fantastic view (see photo). We also went for a walk and some students climbed a huge rock--very courageous! After all the walking up in the mountains, we went for some more walking at the Cabazon Outlet Mall. We arrived back in Riverside at 8 PM with tired feet and lots of shopping bags!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Arisa and Daiki: Nice seeing you!

Busy Arisa taking lots of photos.

We desperately needed a cold drink!

Arisa and Daiki were at UCRiverside when we arrived here yesterday. Daiki is in my seminar and is now a junior. He'll be going back to Japan after the summer quarter is over. Arisa is a second-year student and she's going to be here for a whole year. It was really nice spending time with them yesterday. They seem to be having a great time here in California!

Scholarship Program at UCR: Departure



Friday ended up being a busy day as I was up at 5 trying to clean up the house and organize things for the trip to California. I left home at 8 and had two meetings before I actually left JIU at 11. Some students packed my suitcases for me in my office where I actually keep them. Thanks, girls!

This time I left Japan with the 23 students who received the scholarship. They are from all over Japan: Okinawa, Hokkaido, Fukushima, Akita, Gunma, Tokyo, Aomori, Yamagata, Nagano and Chiba. We'll be here in Riverside until next Saturday.

Great Samosa


We had some good samosa at Garam Masala on Wednesday. It was spicy for me but definitely not to Shiori!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Scholarship Students Greeting the President of JIU


The 23 students who received the scholarship to participate in the ten-day program at the University of California, Riverside, greeted President Hakuo Yanagisawa today. We will be leaving Narita Airport this Friday. I'll keep you posted!