Since Kenta and I didn't take the time to send out any Christmas cards/letters this year, and this blog is new, I thought I would update anyone who is interested on things we have done over the last year.
Going into 2007 -- I was in the middle of my third year of medical school and Kenta was/is working at M&T Bank by day and part time at Sears selling electronics by night.
January -- We had our 18 month anniversary. I had my pediatrics clerkship, which I enjoyed quite a bit. It was very, very cold that month.
February -- The most eventful thing that month was our drive down to and back from Philadelphia to attend Kenta's sister Emi's wedding. Driving to Philly doesn't take that long and is usually a lovely drive, but we happening to be going through a large blizzard. We we left Rochester it hadn't started to snow at all and there was very little snow on the ground. By the time we got back about 30 hours later, there was between 24 and 30 inches of snow. It was definitely worthwhile to go to Emi's wedding, but it was a long, white-knuckled drive.
Wedding Party: (R to L) Virginia, Kenta, Kenta's dad (talking to Kenta's mom on the phone in Japan), Emi, Jeff, Jeff's parents and sister
Emi and Jeff Stapler
March -- I finished my OB/GYN clerkship (which started in February) and decided to pursue that as my specialty. I LOVE DELIVERING BABIES!
March snow (after a bit of shoveling)
April -- Kenta and I took a few days off in the beginning of April to take a trip down to Virginia. We visited Monticello, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Harper's Ferry, and Virginia Beach. While in Virginia Beach we got to see one of the original copies of the Magna Carta, which was a visiting exhibit commemorating the 400 year anniversary of the settlement at Jamestown. We both love American history, and we had a blast learning more about the "Historic Triangle" (Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg).
K & V in front of Monticello
(Thomas Jefferson's home outside of Charlottesville, VA)
Monticello
Virginia in Jamestown pounding corn
Kenta with a cannon at Yorktown
May -- I spent this month with disturbed teenagers while doing my psychiatry clerkship in the adolescent unit of a local psych hospital. We also took a trip to Cleveland to catch an Indians v. Braves game. Kenta is a HUGE Braves fan.
Scoreboard at Jacob's Field
The Braves won by the way...
June -- Kenta's parents, brother, and sister came to visit united the entire Takagi family for a while. So we had some pictures taken and celebrated Emi's wedding with extended family (a few months after her wedding).
Takagi Family Photo
(R to L) bottom row Sue & Shinji, middle row Virginia, Naomi, & Emi, top Jeff, Kenta, & Koji
Family Dinner to celebrate Emi & Jeff's wedding
(R to L) bottom row Naomi, Koji, Emi, & Jeff, top row Chris (cousin), Julie (cousin), Kenta, & Virginia
K&V at the family dinner
July -- Kenta's parents and younger brother stayed in town for another few weeks. We took Koji to a Rochester Red Wings baseball game on the Fourth of July.
4th of July Red Wings Game
August -- When I finished taking my USMLE Step 2 CK board exam, Kenta & I celebrated by going to Philadelphia for a weekend. Also, both of my sisters got engaged that month.
Here we are at (you guessed it) another baseball game, Phillies vs. Braves.
The Braves won.
K&V at the Benjamin Franklin Memorial.
We also saw a visiting King Tut exhibit but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. We highly recommend it though.
K&V in front of the Liberty Bell.
********ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS********
Jessica Dangerfield & Erik Rasmussen
Rachel Dangerfield & Vince Wilson
September -- I did my sub-internship during this month, so I didn't do much outside of the hospital. It was a lovely month in Rochester. The weather here is wonderful in September.
October -- We took 9 days in October to go back to Japan to visit Kenta's family there. We had a fantastic time. The last time we were in Japan was for our honeymoon. We started this trip much more relaxed, and we did a lot less traveling this time, so it was a great trip.
Virginia in front of a field of ripened rice.
Virginia with an enormous, very old tree at Ise.
Virginia harvesting rice the old fashion way.
This woman was so sweet to let me try. Kenta translated for me so that I could follow her instructions. There were a lot of Japanese people who must have thought I looked pretty out of place because they took a lot of pictures of me.
K&V in a well preserved Edo period village.
Check out the large zucchini hanging by my head. I thought it was so cool I made Kenta take a picture.
K&V standing in front of the Marriage Rocks.
The Marriage Rocks are part of ancient Japanese tradition. You can see the large male rock connected by a rope to the smaller female rock behind us.
Virginia in front of the Golden Pavilion
K&V in front of a Buddhist temple in Kyoto.
K&V at Ise.
K&V in front of Himeji Castle.
Kenta in front of a Meiji period castle in Kyoto.
In all our traveling there was a lot of down time for reading and a little sudoku.
November -- I started interviewing for residency programs. I had six interviews in November. My mom flew out to keep me company on the road while I traveled around New England for the first couple interviews. Then we all met up in Utah for the mega weddings. After the wedding business was over I got to spend a pleasant Thanksgiving with my parents for the first time in several years. Kenta had to get back to New York for work, but he spent Thanksgiving with his grandparents and extended family there.
Kenta and my brother Stephen at a pre-wedding dinner.
The Salt Lake Temple
There were 62 wededings there on the day my sisters got married. It seemed to be a constant flow of brides and wedding parties around the temple grounds.
Jessica and Erik Rasmussen
Rachel and Vince Wilson
Cutting the cake (my mom and I decorated the cake)
Dangerfield sisters (Rachel, Virginia, & Jessica)
My parents with the brides and grooms
December -- This was an absolutely crazy month for me. In between interviews and taking the USMLE Step 2 CS board exam, I spend nearly the rest of my time at the hospital doing my emergency medicine clerkship. At one point I calculated that only only spent 6 full days out of 30 at home -- and those were spent mostlyat the hospital. At the end of that grueling schedule Kenta and I went home to Pullman, Washington for a full house at Christmas. All 11 of us were home for the holidays -- 2 parents, 6 children, and 3 husbands. We had a blast!! Jess and Rach also had a reception in Pullman just before Christmas.
The Receiving Line
Me and my mom
We had a gingerbread house decorating competition. It was a lot of fun.
We finally pulled the top of our wedding cake out of the freezer two and a half years later.
It was actually pretty tasty still.
THE END
Stay tuned for more blog updates in 2008 and beyond.
Hannah
Lily
We're awake!
