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Thanks for celebrating with me! I appreciated your cards, gifts & company!

Vivian & Yuan Yuan
Sheila sweet pea: I miss you already! Hope to come out and visit SOON!
I'm fortunate to have these two fabulous women in my life - you are my confidants, support and inspiration! Thank YOU!
haPpy BirtTHdAY to ME!

meRRY ChriSTmaS

Christmas ~ 2006
Opening presents on Christmas Eve
Uncle Dave & his little one, Priscilla - now 3 1/2 years old!
xooOXOOXOoxoxooxXOOOXOXOxoxOoxoOOOXXoooxx
Mike & I taking a break from opening gifts.
Reading my favorite classic Christmas story to my cousin Priscilla.
My Mom IS Christmas. She buys & wraps all the gifts, cooks & cleans all the meals and yet finds a way to make sure everyone is having a grand old time. She IS Christmas - she's a saint,...and she's my Mom. Thank you for making Christmas so memorable & special, ...year after year... I love you ~ Anne.

Parry's Annual Xmas Party

~ 12.23.06 ~

Our Christmas party was traditionally reserved for the 'older crowd' ---my parent's friends, neighbors and coworkers etc. However, this year we opened up the guest list to include both Mike and I and our friends and coworkers. This year was a joyous mix of young and old

(see for yourself...)

Michelle & I have been friends since kindergarten!

My brother Mike and his girlfriend Jenny. They are SO cute!
Whos is this good lookin' guy?!
Tomoko & Shinobu: ありがとうございました！たのしかった！
Happy Holidays from the Parry's & friends!

haPPy HoliDayS

... it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
last nite was our annual xmas tradition of delicious fish dinner, xmas cookie decorating contest and holiday concert. last year i missed out on the xmas festivities - spending the holiday in china, hong kong and thailand. it was the most fabulous trip, but...i have to admit, its nice to be w/ family around the holidays too. thanks for a nice nite guys - xoxoox

xiexie

Ting Ting & Yuan Yuan (above) made a delicious authentic Chinese dinner for some friends tonite. We were celebrating Ting Ting's departure for China. They are excellent chefs & awesome ladies! Thank you both for introducing me to some new faces & the entertaining conversation! Have a great trip Ting Ting!
"Vivian" whips up an amazing carribean-inspired dessert. Fresh pineapple and coconut blended then poured over these gelatinous colorful gummy bear-esque things. It was an interesting texture, but SO delicious!
Our dinner...5 entrees PLUS a Chinese porridge. Excellent! Hard to believe that almost ONE year ago I was embarking on a trip to China! How fast a year goes by! What an incredible trip that was,...and how lucky am I to have the connections I do back in MN! I can eat REAL chinese food in my hometown!
Making "jiaoutzu"---(in japanese: gyoza) What a process to make these pot-stickers. They taught me the expert way of folding the thin pieces of crust over the mixture of meat and veggies. It takes SO much patience,...a real learning experience for me! You are great teachers! Thank you ladies!

xmas party #1

@ an xmas party w/ Dustin's coworkers

what's up w/ my cheesey squeeze?

last day of class

This semester was my first time teaching adults in a university setting. I taught an oral communications ESL course @ SCSU. I had 10 students from all over the world. It was incredible & I learned so much from them! Hope the learning was reciprocal...let me introduce you to my class:

L-R back: Sangye (India), Chandra (Nepal), Ruben (Nepal), Tam (Vietnam),

Krishna (India), Momo (Guinea) and Anne (USA)

L-R front: Simon (China), Guat Yong (Malaysia),

Isha (Nepal), Jama (Somalia)

Yong & Jama show off their culinary expertise! Delicious!

sharing the podium - lots to learn from these folks too! Simon's Chinese noodles were authentically exquisite!

Thanks for cooking everyone! And thanks for a great semester! :) Thanks to you all, I just might wind up teaching @ the university level for awhile...??!??!

I Miss Taneichi-chu!

...sometimes i just zone out and miss japan...and the end result is another blog posting about some cool students who i think of often from Taneichi Jr High.

today marks the beginning of finals week and i sit here neck deep in final papers and exams and my brain reverts back almost 4 months ago when I was saying goodbyes to so many special folks. here are a few special students:

Yuki & Ayako ---can't believe you ladies will be in high school in a few months!
I had just shaved Yuki's head for "baseball ready" appearance
Sayaka, Akane & Yuna...you ladies were the BEST!
oh, and i can't forget those genki ni-nenseis!
one of my fave parts of my job was joining baseball practice after school each day. every day i would race back to the office, dump the car and grab my bike...15 minutes later, and very sore legs, i would arrive up at the ballfields ready to 'internationalize' or just show them American girls can really play ball :)
good luck san-nenseis! wishing you luck in this last leg of junior high school. you must be exhausted with juku and weekly high school entrance "practice" exams. ganbatte! i miss YOU!

yummy

Dear Tomoko & Ken,

Thank you SO much for the delicious dinner! Okonomiyaki is one of my favorite Japanese dishes & Tomoko-san made a gourmet rendition! It was also good to meet your new family...Hana. She has a lot of energy but seems loveable enough ;) Thanks for the great conversation and catch-up. I hope to entertain you folks @ my place sometime after the holidays. See you @ the xmas party!

ThAnk YoU vERy MuCH!

shinobu's a sweetie

しのぶちゃん,

Our first semester is almost finished!

1 down, 3 to go ...sigh....

at least we have each other for support! :)

I am so haPPy we are friends!

Thanks for many great memories this semester!

More good times ahead...!!!

Good LuCK with your FInALs!

~アン.

CLICK HERE:AIDS update

Pan African Nite 2006

200+ students at SCSU are from over 20 African countries

12-2-06

Shinobu, Mio, Ayaka & I enjoyed the celebration of African roots through music, food, dance, fashion and political platforms.

Did you know that Africa is comprised of:

1. 61 countries & over 1000 languages

2. 900 million people, 10% of whom have AIDS

3. several relgions: 50% Christian, 40% Muslim, 10% Hindu

The beauty of Africa and its wealth of natural resources intrigues many; despite the prevalence of famine, poverty, disease & drought. Civil war, genocide, AIDS, slavery & corruption have made for slow progress amongst many post-colonial African countries. The last 40 years have seen a population increase, and today 50% of its people are under the age of 25. Will these young people rise up and become the voice that calls for a stronger, safer, more successful Africa?

The colonialization of Africa made for an incredibly diverse population of Africans, Asians and Europeans. After Africa was colonized, many countries adopted official languages. It is common for individuals to speak several languages - regional, national and local dialects. I can not imagine how difficult it must be to communicate with people. With no shared national language (unlike Mandarin or Cantonese in China, for example), oral communication must be a challenge. However, they use beautiful and energetic dance, music and art as forms of expression. I really enjoyed sharing in the celebration of their continent.

* AIDS in Africa *

15000 people die each month

17 million people have died since 1970

60% of world's AIDS cases are in Africa

12 million children are now orphans

only 7% of AIDS victims have access to medication

As the event came to a close, I felt exhausted--emotionally and mentally. We are so fortunate to have access to health care, government stability and education. Not only are these basic needs met, but we have countless more opportunities to be successful, safe and secure. I have much to be thankful for,...we all do.