Peter, you're wonderful and you make me so happy. I Love you now more than ever.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Happy Anniversary!
Today is our third anniversary. I am the luckiest woman on Earth.
Peter, you're wonderful and you make me so happy. I Love you now more than ever.
Peter, you're wonderful and you make me so happy. I Love you now more than ever.
Winner!
I won second place in a photography contest this week!
The prize was a webpage, which is here:
My Website!
The winning photo can be seen on that page. I'm super proud of myself!!
Peter Update - He spent a weekend in Perth, Australia and a weekend in Hobart, Tasmania. Now he is on his way home! I'll see him soon!!
The prize was a webpage, which is here:
My Website!
The winning photo can be seen on that page. I'm super proud of myself!!
Peter Update - He spent a weekend in Perth, Australia and a weekend in Hobart, Tasmania. Now he is on his way home! I'll see him soon!!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Celebrate Children!
May 5th is Children's Day, a holiday for celebrating the health and happiness of Japanese children. It is also a day for children to honor and give thanks to their parents. Traditionally, May 5th was celebrated as Boy's Day, a day to honor young boys, and families with sons hang carp streamers outside their homes. For those of you who are worried about fairness, girls also have a holiday, Girl's Day, celebrated March 3. The carp streamers are called Koinobori, and they look like colorful fish-shaped windsocks.
One carp is flown for each boy in the family, with the largest one (usually black) representing the father, and smaller carp representing each son. The youngest son is represented by the smallest flag. The carp represents strength and determination to overcome obstacles, qualities demonstrated when it swims upstream against swift currents. It is a spirited, energetic, and powerful fish. These traits are also desirable in young boys, which is how they came to be a symbol of Boy's Day.
An impressive display of carp flags is flown over the Higa River just north of my house, where I took these photos this weekend.
Peter Update - Peter has been participating in the Marine Corps Martial Art Program (MCMAP). From what I can tell, it is just a mishmash of various forms of martial arts designed to teach marines how to fight with their hands should the need arise. Peter has now reached the second level of the program, gray belt. I believe there are five levels total. Black belt is obviously the highest, and Peter says there is no hope of him ever reaching it. We're into the countdown days of this deployment!
One carp is flown for each boy in the family, with the largest one (usually black) representing the father, and smaller carp representing each son. The youngest son is represented by the smallest flag. The carp represents strength and determination to overcome obstacles, qualities demonstrated when it swims upstream against swift currents. It is a spirited, energetic, and powerful fish. These traits are also desirable in young boys, which is how they came to be a symbol of Boy's Day.
An impressive display of carp flags is flown over the Higa River just north of my house, where I took these photos this weekend.
Peter Update - Peter has been participating in the Marine Corps Martial Art Program (MCMAP). From what I can tell, it is just a mishmash of various forms of martial arts designed to teach marines how to fight with their hands should the need arise. Peter has now reached the second level of the program, gray belt. I believe there are five levels total. Black belt is obviously the highest, and Peter says there is no hope of him ever reaching it. We're into the countdown days of this deployment!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Kyoto AGAIN!
Peter Update: Peter recently spent about a week doing a training exercise in Djibouti. According to him, this was the most fun he's had yet on this deployment...which means I probably don't want to know what he did! Only about six weeks left on this deployment! We're getting closer!
Kristin Update: Meg and Moira came out to visit about two weeks ago and we took a trip up to Kyoto and Tokyo. Pictures speak louder than words, so here are a few photos from our trip. I'll try to get some of the Oki photos up soon!
Another geisha photo.
The cherry blossoms were a little bit past their peak, but we did get to see a few nice weeping cherries. We got luck and stumbled on some that were lit up beautifully at night!
These photos are torii gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. There were literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of them spread for 4km up a mountain...we had a great morning hiking around in the woods enjoying the shrine.
These gates were set in a beautiful forest...the walk in the woods would have been pleasurable even without the shrine!
There were many little side shrines as well...buy a baby torii gate for only $40!
The candles were in one of the little side shrines at Fushimi Inari.
I assume these two statues are Buddhist...but I don't know much about their meanings, I just thought they looked cool.
Spring has definitely arrived in Japan...just about everything was in bloom, not just the cherry blossoms! 
In one of the gardens I found a crane.
We spent a single evening in Tokyo, which is a lot like New York or LA.
The city lights were beautiful at night!
Kristin Update: Meg and Moira came out to visit about two weeks ago and we took a trip up to Kyoto and Tokyo. Pictures speak louder than words, so here are a few photos from our trip. I'll try to get some of the Oki photos up soon!
Another geisha photo.
The cherry blossoms were a little bit past their peak, but we did get to see a few nice weeping cherries. We got luck and stumbled on some that were lit up beautifully at night!
These photos are torii gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. There were literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of them spread for 4km up a mountain...we had a great morning hiking around in the woods enjoying the shrine.
These gates were set in a beautiful forest...the walk in the woods would have been pleasurable even without the shrine!
There were many little side shrines as well...buy a baby torii gate for only $40!
The candles were in one of the little side shrines at Fushimi Inari.
I assume these two statues are Buddhist...but I don't know much about their meanings, I just thought they looked cool.
Spring has definitely arrived in Japan...just about everything was in bloom, not just the cherry blossoms! 
In one of the gardens I found a crane.
We spent a single evening in Tokyo, which is a lot like New York or LA.
The city lights were beautiful at night!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Weddings Japanese Style
There is a shocking lack of Japanese culture in Japan. When I was sitting in the States with my National Geographic I was picturing a place where everyone wore kimonos and commuted in rickshaws and sat on the floor eating noodles with chopsticks. I expected gilded temples and buddhas and pagodas.
But Japan is extremely modern, and in the process of modernizing they Westernized as well. My first impression of Okinawa was neon. There were so many lights that I couldn't even find the stoplights. There were modern concrete and glass buildings and traffic jams. The first "attraction" I was taken to was a giant ferris wheel on top of a mall. We drank Starbucks coffee. Aside from the fact that the signs were in Japanese, I could have been on a street in LA.
Oh well, I thought. It's probably just this part of the city. I assumed that if I drove away from downtown I would find "real Japan." Well it took a significant amount of driving, flying, train travel, and walking to get there, but I found "real Japan" in Nara this last trip.
This is a traditional wedding at a traditional shrine in traditional Nara:
Complete with kimonos...
And a rickshaw...
It's a beautiful country if you know where to look!
But Japan is extremely modern, and in the process of modernizing they Westernized as well. My first impression of Okinawa was neon. There were so many lights that I couldn't even find the stoplights. There were modern concrete and glass buildings and traffic jams. The first "attraction" I was taken to was a giant ferris wheel on top of a mall. We drank Starbucks coffee. Aside from the fact that the signs were in Japanese, I could have been on a street in LA.
Oh well, I thought. It's probably just this part of the city. I assumed that if I drove away from downtown I would find "real Japan." Well it took a significant amount of driving, flying, train travel, and walking to get there, but I found "real Japan" in Nara this last trip.
This is a traditional wedding at a traditional shrine in traditional Nara:
Complete with kimonos...
And a rickshaw...
It's a beautiful country if you know where to look!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
It's Been a While
Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. My excuse is that I've been busy (it happens when you work three jobs and go to grad school at the same time), and Peter's excuse is that he has unreliable internet access. So here's an update:
Peter spent about six weeks doing sustainment training in Kuwait in January. That meant he spent a lot of time sleeping in a tent and herding sheep and camels off the firing range so he could practice shooting his rifle. Since then details about his whereabouts have been pretty hazy. He is back on his ship and they are sailing somewhere, but not headed home yet. He spent a few days in Dubai, and I believe that was the last time he was on solid ground (although who knows what he isn't allowed to tell me). The bad news was that his deployment was extended by a month, so now the earliest I will see him is June. I am planning to fly back to the States to see him when the boat comes in, but that depends on my work schedule.
I have been busy working, studying, and traveling. I decided that individual tutoring in the classroom for college algebra was taking too much of my time, so I filmed my entire series of college algebra lectures and posted them online. The thought was that now I can send the videos out to students and "tutor" without leaving the comfort of my home. It was a great plan, but it was a lot of work. I am in the midst of my Masters program. I recently finished a course on curriculum and lesson planning, and now I am taking a research class - because it wouldn't be graduate work without research.
I also spent the past two weeks visiting with my parents, who came to visit me in Japan. We spent the first week hanging out here in Okinawa, where their sightseeing was slightly hampered by an order restricting Americans to the military bases. Luckily, the restrictions were lifted a couple days before they left, so they did get to see a few of the sights. We left Okinawa together to travel to mainland Japan, where we visited the cities of Nara, Himeji, and Kyoto. The photos included in this blog are some of my favorites from the trip. If I am feeling bloggingly enthusiastic, maybe I will post more soon.
Love to all,
Kristin
PS - To anyone who is interested, my brother has a blog too: sdelalla.blogspot.com. Check it out to see some of his artwork - he's pretty amazing!
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. My excuse is that I've been busy (it happens when you work three jobs and go to grad school at the same time), and Peter's excuse is that he has unreliable internet access. So here's an update:
Peter spent about six weeks doing sustainment training in Kuwait in January. That meant he spent a lot of time sleeping in a tent and herding sheep and camels off the firing range so he could practice shooting his rifle. Since then details about his whereabouts have been pretty hazy. He is back on his ship and they are sailing somewhere, but not headed home yet. He spent a few days in Dubai, and I believe that was the last time he was on solid ground (although who knows what he isn't allowed to tell me). The bad news was that his deployment was extended by a month, so now the earliest I will see him is June. I am planning to fly back to the States to see him when the boat comes in, but that depends on my work schedule.
I have been busy working, studying, and traveling. I decided that individual tutoring in the classroom for college algebra was taking too much of my time, so I filmed my entire series of college algebra lectures and posted them online. The thought was that now I can send the videos out to students and "tutor" without leaving the comfort of my home. It was a great plan, but it was a lot of work. I am in the midst of my Masters program. I recently finished a course on curriculum and lesson planning, and now I am taking a research class - because it wouldn't be graduate work without research.
I also spent the past two weeks visiting with my parents, who came to visit me in Japan. We spent the first week hanging out here in Okinawa, where their sightseeing was slightly hampered by an order restricting Americans to the military bases. Luckily, the restrictions were lifted a couple days before they left, so they did get to see a few of the sights. We left Okinawa together to travel to mainland Japan, where we visited the cities of Nara, Himeji, and Kyoto. The photos included in this blog are some of my favorites from the trip. If I am feeling bloggingly enthusiastic, maybe I will post more soon.
Love to all,
Kristin
PS - To anyone who is interested, my brother has a blog too: sdelalla.blogspot.com. Check it out to see some of his artwork - he's pretty amazing!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Thanks... belated
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to write and say that I was finally able to look at all the Christmas videos that you all made for me. Thank you. I wish I could look at them on ship but, the connection is way too slow when I'm there. Anyways, thank you all for your support you have no idea what it means to me. I love you all.
ILY OXXX
I just wanted to write and say that I was finally able to look at all the Christmas videos that you all made for me. Thank you. I wish I could look at them on ship but, the connection is way too slow when I'm there. Anyways, thank you all for your support you have no idea what it means to me. I love you all.
ILY OXXX
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