Japanese Flower Arranging

Yesterday, I went over to my neighbor Carol's house to learn the art of Japanese flower arranging. I have seen a lot of beautiful floral arrangements since I have been here. Our church always has a beautiful one at the alter, and we always drive by flower shops and you can see inside all of the their work. Some of these have to be at least 3 feet tall. The ones that we made were not as tall but they are still beautiful.

I am not sure what her name is, but this is one of the Japanese ladies who was teaching us the craft. This lady did not speak very much English, but she was very sweet.

This is Carol, she is our neighbor across the street. Her son Daniel is the same age as Danielle! Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of my neighbor who was hosting this class, her name is also Carol.

After we were done with our class we enjoyed the American food that Carol had prepared, and also the rice balls that the Japanese ladies brought with them. The lady in the flannel shirt was very excited to find out that we would be here for another three years, she said we could be friends. What I think she meant was I could take her shopping at the exchange!!

The final product... In the middle is a poinsettia plant and surrounding it are iris's, orchid's, and rose's. At the bottom are ferns and the tall branches sticking out the top are willow branches that they painted red. The ladies said that we can save the branches for next Christmas!