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.

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.

Scholarship Program: idioms & dance lessons

Students in the culture and idioms class Wednesday morning.

American line dancing lessons.

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....

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.

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!

Scholarship Program: Meeting Homestay Families

Campus Tour with Edmund.

Meeting homestay families at 5 PM.

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.