Two Good Books

I've had a dearth of good books lately, but finally read a couple that were worth sharing.

Monique and the Mango Rains by Kris Holloway - this was an excellent book, though according to my mother hard to get at her library. Its a non-fiction account of a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali and her two years spent working with a midwife there. It definately gave me an understanding of what pregnancy and childbirth and just general living is like in an African village and the challenges there. Man, I wish I could be a Peace Corps volunteer - it really sounds like such great service.

My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok - this fiction story is about an Orthodox Jewish boy growing up and becoming an artist, must to the chagrin of his family and the grief he goes through for it. It was one of the most well-written books I have read in a long time - I had no idea how well a book could help you understand what being an artist is like, and describe art so powerfully without pictures. I loved it!

Back to the library again today for three books on hold - hopefully some of these are good!

CONGRATULATIONS to Katsu

After weeks of studying and studying and memorizing gazillions of citations (alright, maybe only 200 or so, but still ...) and not even taking Christmas, his birthday, or New Years Day off, Katsu has passed his PhD qualifying exams after only eight hours of written tests and a few hours of oral exams. Now, no more classes, no more tests, just lots of research, a proposal and a dissertation.

Yeah, Katsu!!!

New Christmas Traditions & Decorations

We got a really cool countdown to Christmas calendar with big pockets - a must. Each day had candy for both of us (M&M's or a package of dots or Reese's PB cups) and a scripture to read. By the time we filled it up, the calendar was so heavy, Katsu had to rig some rubber bands to get the whole thing to stay up. A favorite tradition.

We also bought a new nativity set this year and are planning on adding a piece each year as a tradition. Enjoy!

Christmas

It is so nice to be able to spend Christmas without having to fly half way across the country (or the world) as I have since 2000! (And probably longer for Katsu). So, even if Katsu was studying the whole time, we still had a lovely Christmas with stockings, presents, decorations, and yummy food.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Charleston, West Virginia with our friends' family. It was fun even though they (not Katsu or I) all got some sort of flu. We did have some nice walks along the riverwalk.

Windsor Canada

Being only an hour drive from Canada, we couldn't resist visiting with friends earlier this year as soon as Katsu got his permenant permenant residence! So, we took a trip to friendly ol' Windsor right across the river from Detroit. Here is a picture of us and Detroit (from Canada) and also a picture of Canada. Even if it is no gem we got some good food and enjoyed being in another country for a couple hours.

The Big House

Well, in an effort to postpone my Japanese studying, I uploaded the pictures from our camera all the way back from September. So here are some pictures (for more just check out our shutterfly site).

First, we went to our first University of Michigan game way back in September. This was a great season all though the last game was a bit disappointing (and boring).

Here is the big house and us cheering!

R&R

The semester is finally done, with some much needed rest and relaxation for me. Even though I was only taking 2 classes this seemed like an unbelievable long semester. And it's done. Grades are not in yet, but hopefully I did decent. And better yet - I'm only taking one class next semester!!!!

Katsu is very busy studying for his quals - they are Jan 3 and Jan 11. Between the written and the oral parts, it's like 14 hours long or something! And everytime they ask him a question he has to cite at least 5 papers to explain his answer with authors, names, and dates!!! Good thing my quals were not that intensive or I would never have passed.

On a side note, I went shopping today and got new clothes! Yeah - a Christmas present from me to me. Nothing exciting, but who can not appreciate getting new pajama pants and only $10 - they were all on sale at Old Navy.

And glorious news - no more dial up. We finally decided to break down and spend some $$$ on high speed internet. It better be worth it ... but probably more posts (and pictures?) are upcoming.

Crazy week

This has been an absolutely crazy week!!! First, on Mon. we went out to eat with one of Katsu's high school classmates and her husband. They live in Ann Arbor, too, which is weird to me. What are the chances of his graduating class of 30 from SWITZERLAND that one lives down the road from us. Anyways, it was fun.

Then, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we were ushering for the Royal Shakespeare Company (yes, the one from England) which has been in town the last few weeks. People are going crazy about it here - esp. since Patrick Stewart (a.k.a. the bald man in XMen or in Star Trek) is acting in two of the shows. Anyways, so besides school (9-5), we were at the theatre from 6-11 to usher and see the shows. Tuesday's Tempest was awesome, esp. since I really didnt enjoy it when I saw it previously in Dallas. They did it in an Alaskan tundra kind of theme ... which was unique, to say the least. Wednesday was a very long Antony and Cleopatra and Thursday was a very bloody Julius Cesear. I am now almost sad that we didn't see one of their shows when we were in London, because the company is SOOOO good. It makes Shakespeare really easy to understand and enjoyable because they can act.

So, our lonely cat Joe sure got himself into trouble while we were gone. He attacked our parsley plant leaving parsley and dirt EVERYWHERE and then proceeded to throw up the parsley everywhere! YUCK!!! But he is redeemed because today (well, last night actually) he found a mouse and is keeping guard to make sure it doesn't come back. A guess a cat might be worth it all after all ....

Nothing much to report

Life is still the same here ... grad school and just hanging out with Mr. Joe, our cat. I have been sick with a cold for half of October. But it's finally gone away and it feels beautiful not to be sick and to be able to think again.

It is very cold here in Michigan. Everyone says it will be a cold winter ... we will see. It snowed in October and has been snowing the last couple days. I just hope our car runs all winter. Last year on the day after Thanksgiving it was very cold and we couldn't get our car to start for several hours until it warmed up. Katsu was very sad because we missed all the really great sales at Best Buy. Hopefully, we won't have a repeat this year. This Thanksgiving we will be with friends in West Virginia - no cooking for us! Yeah!!!

Katsu finally got his permenant permanent residency (aka - his real green card), so we went to Canada the first weekend we could. Granted it was just across the border to Windsor for dinner and then back home again for only a few hours trip total, but hey - we were out of the country, right?

Other than that, we are just your typical boring graduate students ....