culture shock

we saw signs for the Japanese festival when we were in Salt Lake Friday night for the jazz game. (sidenote: we went to the Jazz game!! it was such an amazing game and the crowds were going crazy! I was brave enough to jump and yell with the rest of them, we got sooo into it, five rows from the very back and we loved it! I'm proud to say I walked away from that game a much more devoted Jazz fan.) anyways, we saw signs for the Japanese festival on Saturday and thought it sounded fun. We took along Nick and Chris (a major Japan enthusiast) and boy were we in for a treat.

The street was p.a.c.k.e.d., filled to the brim with people. and let me tell you, there's nothing like a free outdoor festival in the city to make you realize how normal you are.
Case and point:

Everywhere we looked there were people dressed up in traditional Japanese Kimonos

and others that were not so traditional: dont ask me what she's holding or what its made out of, we had no idea, but loved it just the same

Link and Zelda took a break from their adventures for some photos


We walked around the different booths, listened to these amazing drummers,

we bought a sweet set of chopsticks for $2, and mckay bought this little gem, a water bottle holder, i wonder if he'll use it....

we saw lots of umbrellas, fans, anime goodies, origami

we learned from a cute old man how to grow your own bonsai tree, plans are in the works for the Rytting boys to start their own...(its like a 20 year process, i'll let you know how it goes)

The only thing we didn't do was taste the food, which smelled amazing. the lines, were not however. maybe next time. It was such a cool and different atmosphere, we definitely had a good time and are on the lookout for more fun festivals this summer!

On another note....

Spring is here and so are Mckay's allergies. despite the sneezes we have been enjoying the warm weather, and also the freedom from school! a little school udpate: I finished my final senior seminar this semester. exciting! i would love to be posting graduation pictures right now but sadly i'll have to wait a little longer. i find it incredibly ironic that the only thing keeping me from graduating is a lousy french class. two in fact. but they have caused quite a stir in my college career. i wish i had known five years ago coming home from france that i should keep going with my french studies, but i didn't, and thats lame. so my plan is to take them independent study. these are upper level french classes, and those of you who know my history with independent study will appreciate my major reluctance to do this. thats the plan for now anyways.

as for mckay he kicked butt this semester. he has a short week off and thenwill be starting spring classes. He's applying for grad school this summer/fall, which is really exciting and somewhat nerve racking... we love thinking/talking/dreaming about our life next year when we can hopefully (cross your fingers) get into grad school out of state.

Thats all for now! Go Jazz!