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March 03, 2005
Daily Update
And now, a chronology of the day's events:
March 3rd is Girls' Day in Japan, also called Hinamatsuri.
The general word for the girls' day ningyo is hina (also ohina, and the combination form -bina, as in tachibina, "standing hina," or dairi-bina, the seated royal pair who feature in most displays) and the festival is known as Hina Matsuri (though its proper name may be Momo no Sekku, or Peach Festival). The festival was established in 1687. A few days before the festival, girls and their mothers take out the hina and arrange them on a red cloth which may cover a structure, the hina-dan, with as many as 7 steps, each with its own designated set of hina: the Emperor and Empress (this is the way Americans have always identified them, thought the doll pair is much older than the idea of the emperor having a single wife) at the top, three ladies serving them sake on the next step, then five or even ten musicians, two "guardians" with weapons, and three servants; also included may be toy trees, perhaps made of semi-precious stones, and various toy implements representing a dowry (small chests, carts, and so on). Girls then play hostess to their friends, and also to the ningyo, who are "fed" in tiny dish sets.
Tomomi hosted a brunch for all the girls in our program (and Rebecca and Sophie, Karl's wife and 1-year old daughter). We had a special sushi salad, which was delicious, then got a slide show describing the holiday. We finished up the event with origami--we all made a little paper empress, and then each did individual origami. I pulled out my old elementary school trick of the paper balloon. Everyone was very impressed.
Afterwards, I went down to Ronan's room, where we had a very productive thesis meeting. We are almost ready to launch our survey--we'll meet again tomorrow to finalize it and email it out to our 350 participants. It makes me VERY happy to see this progress. I also have high hopes of beginning another chapter on the feasibility of integrating sustainability reporting with corporate strategic planning.
From the thesis meeting, I walked down to the pizza place and met with Laura and Mandy to discuss our book progress. So far, we're pretty close to having final versions of our first essay. We have made a tentative schedule for the rest of the month, at which time we hope to send out publication enquiries to a publisher. Very exciting stuff.
From there, I ran to the Frukt Huset, where I stocked up on some MUCH NEEDED groceries. The highlight of the day (perhaps the week) was the presence of fresh strawberries. I haven't had strawberries EVER in Sweden, I am almost hopping up and down with joy.
Then I caught the bus back home, where I have briefly checked email, and am now preparing to hop into bed. It's just past 9 p.m., which is an almost unheard of early bedtime. But I have a sore throat and runny nose (not quite a full-blown cold, but just hovering on the edge of congestion) and I want to avoid it if possible. Also, if I'm awake when Roya gets home, she's going to make me drink some disgusting cold remedy comprising raw ginger, raw garlic, chili paste, and orange juice. Yuck.
