tomorrow (July 7th) is a holiday in Japan called the Tanabata or the Star Holiday. according to legend, two stars on opposite sides of the galaxy fall in love but can only see each other this day, every year. i think that's soooo sad and sweet! to celebrate it, people write wishes on a strip of paper (about the size of a bookmark) and tie them to a branch with string through a hole on top. and by the end of the day the trees get covered with everyone's paper wishes. japanese holidays are so cute! i want to tie a wish to a tree tomorrow. what will i wish for? Hi-mi-tsu! ^_^


so i'm in sunnyvale now. i have been getting around by bus and train. i live 5 minutes away from work (by walking) but a 20+ minute ride by public transportation to groceries or a mall. i have yet to find a yarn store or a fabric store. so my hopes of spending my off-work hours in domestic crafting and cooking bliss are slowly fading away.


i'm just settling into my job; i don't know yet if i will like it or not. things are still uncomfortable now--- i don't yet have someone i know i can ask questions of and my manager feels kind of unapproachable. And lots of little things keep going wrong.


on the plus side, i found a church i really like. it's a korean catholic church (i've actually never heard of an ethnically-specific catholic church before) and on my first visit there i thought i would feel totally out of place. but people were so friendly, recognizing that i was new, and even displaying shock when they found out i wasn't korean, and invited me to join a beach retreat for the week after. it was a faster welcome than i've ever found in a church. as an aside, the congregation is so fashionable. i saw moms and 6th graders alike dressed in incredibly cute clothes, like out of a dream.


phil just went home from his visit yesterday; somehow it already feels like a week since he's been gone. we crammed a lot into his visit: san francisco china town and wharf, great america's amusement park, stanford, and lots and lots of good restaurants. evenings we spent watching Friends and eating good gelatto.


there are some obon festivals coming up in the surrounding cities. i'm really excited about getting a yukata and attending them!