2 July 2015: Curry Rice and a Guest Lecturer

Today, the students attended their usual language and topic classes before recreation time, during which most participated in the planned event for the day. Late in the day, they worked in groups to prepare their own dinner, curry rice. Each group, armed with their own "secret ingredients," provided a sample to each senpai and sensei, who judged and reached a verdict on which rendition was the best tasting. Our visiting Japanese student, Toshiki, even participated in the tasting and judging process. After dinner, Ms. Luck, a guest lecturer in the process of getting her PhD at Virginia Commonwealth University, educated the students on Japanese government and political history, which was very informative and involved many students asking thought-provoking questions. After the nightly meeting, everyone returned to their rooms to rest up for the day ahead.

8 July 2014: Curry Rice & Japanese Math

7/8

Word of the day: Tabemono (food)

Caitlin and Melissa making vegetarian curry

Today the students served and prepared curry rice. The students were divided into groups (6 total) and each group began to make their own curry, with the use of basic ingredients such as carrots and potatoes, as well as “secret” ingredients unique to each group, ranging from garlic to chocolate. Each group prepared their curry from scratch, making the rice and curry stew separately, before mixing both together to create (a hopeful delicious) tonight’s dinner.

- Antoine

Japanese Curry Rice

This evening, Clark Sensei, a math teacher at Randolph-Macon College, taught us about Japanese math, and how it relates to religion, art, and history. Beginning in 1600, Japan entered the Edo Period, and for political reasons, the country was closed to all Western influence. This created an explosion of Japanese art and culture, and the environment was perfect for the development of mathematics. However, Japan was closed right before the European invention of symbolic geometry and calculus; therefore, it did not experience the explosion of new math techniques that Europe did. However, the samurai, being unable to fight, turned to mathematics as a pastime. They especially appreciated the aesthetics of geometry. In order to share the theorems that they proved, they hung the math problems on tablets, called ema, as offerings to the gods, and challenges to other worshippers. Clark Sensei showed the students pictures of Japanese temples as examples of geometry and religion intertwining.  One of these math problems was offered to the students as a challenge.

- Christina B.