4th of July Pictures

"Our eventful Fourth of July started with a parade. The academy joined the residents of Ashland marching through the streets to the fair grounds located in the Culture center of town. Wearing our "Happi"s, a traditional Japanese style robes for festivals. We were given free to wander the fair to cool off with ice-cream and snow cones.

Later that night, we were surprised with s'mores making! We ate, socialized, sung O'Beautiful, and even got to glimpsed some fireworks!! The night was full of fun and was a night to remember!"  -Amber S. 

Day 9

Field Trip: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and State Capital 

         "Today we all went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, VMFA. We had an hour to split up into groups and look around the exhibits. The second floor was an elaborate maze of art through time and around the world. The whole art museum ranged from Ancient Egyptian arts and artifacts to modern pop art. Afterwards, we took a tour around the Ancient and Modern Asian art galleries. We all enjoyed learning about Japanese dressy screens, びょうぶ（Byoubu), and intricately crafted house hold items. Afterwards, students bought souvenirs at the gift shop and admired the rest of the galleries." -Andrea M.

          "After we visited the VMFA, we made out way to the state capital buildling. OUr pleaant tour guide lead us through the welcome center into the main building. She went through decades worth of American history starting from the landing of Jamestown all the way to the Civil War, all while we walked through the old senate houses. She ended the tour by taking us to the Virginia house of Delegates where we got to see the room where the delegates vote. Some students were fascinated by the architecture, some were enthralled by the history, and others generally just liked being able to see how politics of the building worked. Whatever the case, we really enjoyed our tour! (The second gift shop was a plus as well~!)" - Amber S. 

** P H O T O S **

Parents! Students love getting mail! Every time your child gets a package, his or her face lights up like it is Christmas morning. Send more packages.

Downtime! Students enjoy the brief period between 9:30 P.M. and lights out to play with friends, play music or do something else fun. 

Time for a quick breather! Students rest between tours at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Students extensively explored the museum from 10:00 A.M. until 2:30 P.M. and needed to take breaks from time to time.

Lunch Break! Students ate some fine food from a catering students. The delicious delectables ranged from Caesar salad, to pastrami on rye.

Is this only a picture? Some of the artwork at the museum was so realistic that it looked and felt alive. It took a second glance to determine what was real and what was art.

These beautiful lamps were displayed in the American sec

Having fun in RVA! Student pass time waiting for the bus by playing cards, exploring the museum, and posing for the camera!

Can it move? This amazing to scale statue of Washington was the only one made while our first President lived. Lafayette, a great friend of Washington, commented that he believed the statue would move.

Let's learn history! Students gather around the tour guide as she explains the significance of the massive eight foot statue of Thomas Jefferson. The amazing bronze-cast statue weighed over eight tons and depicts our third president carrying blueprints for the Richmond Capitol building.

Out of session! The Senate was empty today, allowing us and other tourists to see the amazing room in which the recent Lincoln movie was filmed. This room normally houses the senators when in session and has iPads for the senators to use to organize the meetings.

Captions By: Adam 

Our Weekend + Day 8

Advanced Japanese Class

“In the advanced class, we are planning on what we will be doing for the closing ceremony. We are going to be doing a play called “Momotarou(ももたろう)”. The play will be entirely in Japanese. Besides the play, we learned an unusual kanji: 凸凹(deko boko). 凸means convex and 凹means concave. Together they mean bumpy.”- Lium

Cooking!! (6/28)

“Yakisoba!! Isn’t it just fun to shout? Yakisoba is a traditional Japanese dish made out of noodles, onions, lettuce, meat and special yakisoba sauce. (Substitution were available for vegetarians). The noodles were delicious.  Almost every student wanted more. Parents be aware: Your child may randomly cook divine Japanese cuisine. “ –Adam

Daruma and Hachimaki

“On Sunday morning, we did たのしい(Fun) arts and crafts. We started on our Daruma making out of balloon and paper mâché. Daruma is a Japanese wishing doll. We will continue with it next week. Secondly, we made はちまき(Hachimaki), a Japanese headband. They were decorated with colors of mostly black and red. We will be wearing them for our Tanabata Party on July 7^th!”

In memory of Taylor Anderson

“On Sunday, we all went to listen to Mr.Anderson’s story about his daughter, Taylor Anderson, who passed away in tsunami which hit Japan in 2011. Taylor was part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) and when the earthquake hit, she helped take her students to safety. Her father spoke about how she have been passionate about the Japanese language and culture ever since she was young. After Mr.Anderson’s speech, we saw a film dedicated to Taylor. By the end of the film, we were very touched and inspired to “Live Our Dream”, the theme of the film, based they way Taylor lived her life.” –Andrea M.

Pop Culture Night

“Sunday was pop culture night. It was full of energy and excitement! We began the night by dressing in our Japanese culture clothes; some wearing kimonos and other’s rocking their cosplay.  Next, we got divided into groups and visited three different presentations: Anime/Manga, Fashion and Music. 

The student constructed outfits out of newspaper and construction paper. We had a model per group to dress them with the outfits we made. Each group put a lot of effort into their work and it was definitely a memorable occasion.”

Invited by Randolph-Macon College President for Desser! (7/1)

“Today, we all got dressed up in nice attire to visit the house of the president of Randolph-Macon College, Robert Lindgren. We were greeted with delicious homemade desserts including coconut pie, chocolate cheesecake, and more. Mr.Lindgren was really sincere and took the time to speak to each of us as we all chatted over coffee and tea. At the end, he gave short speech in his goodbye as he won’t be able to make it to our closing ceremony.” –Courtney

 ~Photos~