Pot luck with the Extension students

The students taking English Communication in the JIU Extension Program cooked great food for our pot-luck yesterday. We always end up eating way too much, but we appreciate each other's efforts in the kitchen! 

My hardworking students.

One of the great dishes: a great summer salad.

Hugo baked a perfect cake!

Moet is back!

Moet is back after a year at the University of Oslo. She looks great--as you can see in the photo. We had dinner at Yutaka on Thursday to welcome her back and say good-bye and congratulations to the seminar students graduating in September. 

Apologies

I'm sorry I haven't been able to write. After returning from Malaysia, I've been dealing with a family emergency and had to travel back and forth to Fukuoka. 

Last day in Kuala Lumpur

We visited the Universiti Teknologi MARA in Selangor today. We received a very warm welcome by the university officials including Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr. Azni, Dr. Noording, the Director of International Education College (INTEC), and many other faculty members. After the meeting, we were invited to lunch and enjoyed some great Malaysian food.

With Vice Chancellor Dr. Azni.

Lots of different types of  Malaysian dishes.

With Dr. Hayati Dahan of the International Affairs Office.

A brief stop at Isetan....

....in order to visit Kinokuniya.

Visiting UTAR

Today we traveled to Kampar which is located almost three hours from Kuala Lumpur by bus. We visited one of the campuses of the Universiti Tunku Adbul Rahman. They inaugurated that campus in 2007 and already have 13,000 students there. 

There are 25 natural lakes on campus.

Photo taken from our bus.

Construction to be completed soon.

Blue Mosque

We made a very short stop at the Blue Mosque on our way back to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

Visiting MSU in Malaysia

We visited the Management and Science University in Shah Alam yesterday. We met with President Dr. Mohd Shukri and also some key people in the university management. After that, we met with the Minister of Tourism who kindly invited our delegation to dinner in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital. Enjoy the photos. 

Arriving.

Discussing program possibilities.

Swimming pool on the ?? floor.

Lunch prepared by a 2nd year culinary student.

Chancellor Mizuta receiving a gift from the Minister.

First night in Malaysia

I arrived in Malaysia around 5 PM yesterday and after we checked in we went out for authentic Malaysian food. The curry was a little too spicy for me and I didn't manage to eat with my hands, but it was a good meal. I loved my watermelon juice!

A KFC with a Ramadan ad near the hotel.

Beautiful lilies at the hotel hall.

Refreshing watermelon juice.

We had everything you read there!

Good food.

The rather unique dessert.

Dinner with Ph.D. Candidates

I had dinner with the Chinese faculty members from our sister universities in China on Friday. They are in our doctorate program and are spending this semester here in Japan. I found out that most of them have small children and that the grandparents or husband are taking care of them while the mothers are studying here in Togane. 

Guest in the English Communication course

We had four guests in our English Communication class Friday morning. 

A unique vase

Miyazawa-sensei gave this unique vase the other day and I just loved it! 

Satoko and Kaoru

Satoko and Kaoru were at JIU on Friday to give a talk about their careers at ANA. I had a crazy busy day of meetings and they had to wait until almost 5 PM when we were finally able to sit and talk. We ended up going for Indian food. 

Posing in front of the beautiful flowers.

Long Beach

Three professors from California State University, Long Beach visited Friday morning. I thanked them for taking such good care of Sho and Hairi while they were in Long Beach. They had the support of the Japan Foundation and were there for three months. Five CAL State Long Beach students will be coming to JIU from the fall semester and we are very much looking forward to teaching them. 

Is it really okay to still receive gifts?!?

Another surprise: Takahito-san showed up with these BEAUTIFUL flowers Thursday afternoon. I really appreciate all the wishes and everyone's thoughtfulness. I don't remember ever having such long celebrations. It's really great. 

Reconnecting with Dawn and John on July 5

Dawn and John are now living in Dalian, China and stopped by Chiba on their way to Canada. It was really nice reconnecting with them. She is the former director of Camosun International and thanks to her annual trips to Japan, I was able to see her at least once a year. She moved to Dalian in August and seems to love it there. When John was working for Camosun College, he came to JIU for a few weeks one summer to teach a course on psychology. At that time he took a great photo of my favorite wild flower, framed it and gave it to me the day he left. I have enjoyed it in my office since then. I have never been to Dalian, but I would certainly like to visit them there one day.

Meeting some of our students from Dalian.

Dinner at Takemi in Togane.

My Birthday Party on July 2

My 4th-year students organized a birthday party for me tonight here in my neighborhood. It was very nice of them and I felt really comfortable with them at the local Italian restaurant I so often go to. It also felt good to have birthday celebrations even six weeks after my actual birthday--I think I like it! Thank you, everyone. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and the time you spent organizing the party. Many thanks for the cards and gift as well. 

May and June birthday girls!

Drawings from a game we played.

Great food--smoked chicken & olive pasta.