I feel bad that it's been so long since I updated last. I have so much to cover now that I'm sure I'll leave out a lot of things. Maybe some pictures will help make up for it; I'm certainly using them as a guideline for recording highlights of the trip.

Last Saturday (June 27th), Stephanie, Samuel, Dustin, and I went to a nearby park with one of the students we've met, Ogawa-san, Joe (one of our team leaders) and Joe's two young children, Anna and Paul. It was one of the hottest days we've had in Sendai while we've been here, but we wanted to take the opportunity to get outside and play some sports. We played soccer for a while and then took a walk around the park when we got tired.
The picture above is of some Japanese maples and a pond at the park. I love taking pictures of the landscaping, so I only have a few pictures of people on my camera. Also, I don't like asking for group shots when we already have five or six cameras in use. I'm hoping that I can get some of those pictures from other people later.

This is a picture of Stephanie, Samuel, and Anna wading in an artificial stream at the park. They had a lot of fun in the water, which seemed to circle almost half of the park. I had a nice walk on the shore, carrying their shoes.

I had heard that we would be wearing yukata and doing calligraphy at the GUYS club meeting last Thursday, but I had no idea exactly what it would be like. To begin with, the club leaders gave me, Stephanie, Samuel, and Dustin our own yukatas. (We got to keep the yukatas afterward, which was a wonderful surprise for me, especially because the girls had done a perfect job of picking patterns and colors to suit both me and Stephanie). We then got dressed and spent a long time taking pictures, both individually and in groups, after which we did some calligraphy, mostly of our names (the students picked kanji for us that come close to the sounds of our names, but they're not like Japanese names because we weren't paying attention to the kanji's meanings).

For brevity (and because Stephanie has most of the good group shots), I'm only including a couple of pictures of me in my yukata. My hair's a little funny because I put it up without looking in a mirror, but I love the dress. I don't know how the girls who picked this yukata for me decided on the colors and the pattern, but I love them both. Stephanie's yukata is mostly white with a pink flower pattern and a yellow obi, which I think is perfect for her, too.

This is the back of my yukata. I was trying for a good picture of the obi tie (it's kind of like a bow), but I'm not sure that this does it justice.

I'm still amazed that I get to keep this yukata -- it's a wonderful souvenir of this trip, and better than anything I could have bought for myself on my budget. I'm incredibly thankful to the students for their generosity and their willingness to welcome us and to share their culture with us.

After the club meeting, Dustin and I went with a small group of students to see the site of Sendai castle and to view the city at night from one of the tall buildings downtown. I took the picture above from the castle site, looking toward downtown Sendai. One of the things I think is unique about Sendai (but may be common to the rest of Japan) is the blending of greenery with the cityscape. There are so many trees all over the city, and many of them are very big and very old.

I took this picture from the top floor of the skyscraper we visited in downtown Sendai, looking out over part of the city. The views of the city from both the castle site and the skyscraper were really amazing, and it was neat to have some time to talk more with some of the students I still feel like I am just starting to know.

I feel like I've said this a lot about Japan, but I'm both excited and nervous about the second half of this trip: excited because of all the opportunities I know are yet to come, and nervous because I know my tendency moving forward will be to mechanically count off days until our return, and I don't want to neglect a moment of the time I've been given here.