Bloomington, Indiana

I returned late Sunday night from a glorious week of studying literature from China, Japan, and Korea at a workshop in Bloomington, Indiana. We lived on the beautiful and massive Indiana University campus for the week (I think that it is something like 1800 acres) and soaked up several semesters worth of knowledge. I loved every minute of it. We had lectures all day, everyday with incredible professors, but then we had other activities to explore the cultures as well. We did some ikebana (floral arrangement), tai chi, watched a Chinese film called To Live and a Korean Film called The Way Home. I recommend both of them, the first for its historical significance and its ability to teach decades of Chinese history without one lecture, and the second for its entertainment value. We checked out the beautiful art museum on the IU campus and toured the thoroughly enjoyable city of Bloomington. It is a pretty hip and happening place with the university. I found it to be very walkable, beautiful, and friendly. I brought home with me all kinds of great ideas for my classroom and a new excitement for the school year. The first two photos are of the beautiful IU campus. The next two are myself and my roommate Melissa (a fantastic teacher and great new friend) and then Melissa and another new friend Anne. The painting is from the IU art museum. The butterfly was a random shot. It seemed to be posing for me to take a photo. The final photo is my favorite flower arrangement from our class activity. Not my flower arrangement, mind you--my favorite one! I think that my favorite book from the class is one called Our Twisted Hero--a Korean novel by Yi Mun-yol. This is a great one on several levels. Read it just for the interesting plot and characters, or read it as an allegory of South Korean history. That would require some research, but I can help a little if anyone is interested--Suzanne? Catherine? It was a fantastic week, but I was thrilled to be home with TJ again. What a great husband, he remodeled one of the bathrooms while I was out of town!