One-day bus tour: Satsuma Sendai City (Part 1: bus and first stop)

There were three buses and a total of more than 100 people in all who took part in this tour. Satsuma Sendai City is outside of Kagoshima City but I believe that it is still part of Kagoshima Prefecture (I'm bad at geography, haha).

People from all walks of life and different parts of the world came for the tour. It was a great mix!

This is Nibras, and that's her dad next to her. Although they're Indonesian, they speak Japanese to one another.

That's Erwin (Philippines) to the left and Tom (UK) to the right. They were my partners in crime for the day :P

Guess what? We even got snacks to munch on for the trip! :D

Here's the itinerary

First stop: we went to watch a dance performance

Lookit the cute baby! Everyone was trying to get his attention

Here's the hall entrance

View of the neighborhood

I can't help but marvel at how the district is cut up into neat blocks here... O_O

More crepes!

A few weeks back, we went to Aeon (a local mall), and after hours of shopping went to Dessert Kingdom (see pic) for crepes

I chose the Strawberry Choco Crepe topped with Ice Cream and Whipped Cream, both cuz I like strawberries and this is their most popular flavor

As Faiz says, you don't have to be literate to get fed in Japan...

Shinichi (Japan)

Zhao Zilung (China)
sorry if I messed up the spelling, I'm not good with Pinyin... :P

me!

Faiz (Canada)

So there we were, the four of us, coming from different places
but united in the name of crepes!
(that was cheesy, wasn't it?!)

Pavement

A shot of the pavement downtown

Call me crazy but I like how it looks.
I don't know if it's any better practically, though.

It's Friggin Cold Out Here!

The temperature for tomorrow (actually right now) is between 3 and 14 degrees...
What the... ?!

And it's gonna get even colder...
I heard it might snow this year, too.

Whoever said Kagoshima is warm?!

Home Visit Print Club

So, I went to a home visit session today (basically a one-day home visit program) at the Churei household. Basically, we went to the print club (which seems to be really popular among Japanese) towards the end of the day. I didn't get to meet all four of the siblings because one was working that day and the other was living in Chiba, near Tokyo.

More about the home visit on a later post.

Print Club

So, we went to the "print club" today, which basically means that we had picture stickers taken.
Originally I went out with my Japanese friend from Kagoshima University, Marie (next to me on the picture right above). She then invited her boyfriend, Atsushi, to come with (top left). Then, Faiz (top right) mailed me to ask where we were and so he came to find us. While he's waiting for us, he came across Mike and Trisha at Starbuck's.

Overall, it was one great coincidence. Super fun!

November 8 Event: The Afterparty!

In front of the restaurant (it's called No no Budou, or 'Wild Grapes') with Ayane, Eri, and Mike

Two of the four emcees, Ayane and Mogami

The keynote speaker, Bob Courchene

Woohoo! Sashimi!

My very own dessert platter, heehee

Mogami and Kuroda, the other emcee

That's Dennis Fullbright, one of the main speakers
... I think he's drunk :D

All-you-can-drink beer

Faiz presenting his Haiku

Ms.Fukunaga presenting her Haiku

Me and Hai-yan (from China) in front of the Amu Plaza Christmas tree!

November 8 Event (The Canada Project in Kyushu Colloquium: Managing Diversity, Education and Economic Development)

On November 8, the Canada Project in Kyushu held a colloquium on "Managing Diversity, Education, and Economic Development." My supervising professor, Prof. McMurray heads this venture, which is probably why I was one of the speakers even though I'm not Canadian, lol.

This is Mack (Prof McMurray)

This is Mr Nakama, a PhD student, photographer, and (as I have just found out) a classical guitar player. He also presented at the colloquium.

These are Mack's students, who are helping out at the event. That's Faiz by the side with his academic face.

Here's some wicked Ikebana (flower arranging) done by Mieko Sueyoshi, an Ikebana instructor

Here's the table that says, "Jenny Lu, Speaker"

That's Dennis Woolbright, an invited speaker

And this is Bob Courchene, another invited speaker

These are the four emcees for the event: (from left) Mogami, Reina, Ayane, and Kuroda

Drinks!!! (Sadly there were already none when I went to the table during breaktime)

Lunch with the speakers, guests, and staff members

Panel discussion at the end of the event (wait, isn't this photo supposed to be at the bottom of the page?)

Yours Truly

This is Ikuo Sakamoto, the official interpreter for the entire event (which ran for five full hours)

And that's a wrap!