My Homestay, Hot springs, and Disney

My home stay was really cool. I was on a farm and there was a peacock, many chickens, mini-horses, goats, cats, rabbits, and much more. It was in the mountains, actually, on a wildlife preserve. The dad had kiwi trees and rice paddies all over the place. There were 3 kids. The boy was shy, but the 2 girls were really cool and friendly. They spoke some English and they taught me some Japanese. It was really cool! The food they cooked for me, and grandma never stopped cooking, was right from the garden. The dad went outside right before i left, and made my bamboo chopsticks in 10 minutes. AWESOME!

The best part of my city visit was the hot springs. We stayed in a beautiful place. There were public hot baths 24/7. So I soaked once when we got there, after dinner, got a massage, and then soaked again after massage. Then I soaked again in the morning before breakfast. It was amazing. We had a 14 course meal for dinner, and the breakfast wasn't too far behind! I can't believe this!

Last night I went to Disney. It was a lot of fun. It was Rebecca's b-day(the bike picture friend) and we celebrated there. Thunder mountain was fun, and so was Pirates of the Carribean. Space mountain was closed,BUMMER!!!!! None the less, we had a great time.There were no live characters walking around, but in all the rides, allthe characters spoke Japanese. Even Johnny Depp was speaking Japanese. I have to say, R2D2 and CP30 were definately the funniest in Japanese!!

Tajiri Junior High School

Today was our last school visit. It was quite a grand entrance for us when we arrived. We literally had a red carpet to walk into the auditorium on, while the brass band was playing American fanfare music. That was fun! The day was a lot of fun. I got to try the koto, which is a Japanese string instrument. It was AWESOME! Then I got to try calligraphy once again. We watched the school lunch center prepare lunch for 800 kids (elementary, middle, and high school lunches.) It was so interesting to see them make such huge amounts of food, AND, they taste test their food before serving it!! Different than the USA, huh? The students also have to eat lunch in their classrooms here. That means students from each class have to carry their food in large amounts back to their classmates and serve it. You will see all these pictures above.

It was really cool to see the fencing club practice. There are girls on this team that qualified for nationals. IT WAS NO JOKE WATCHING THESE KIDS FENCE!!!! The day finished out with a nice bike ride, yummy sushi, and many things that I can't read the name of that looked good in the store!:)

Tomorrow is my home stay, and I don't know the internet situation. I will be in Tokyo on Monday night, so maybe until then.....

Mata aimasho (until we meet again!)

Furukawa Daiichi Elementary School

Today was a really cool day! We visited the elementary schools, and it was SOOOO much fun!!! Unlike the high school. the elementary kids couldn't get enough of us! They were so friendly! Kids couldn't get enough of our autographs and pictures. They were so excited to meet foreigners, and treat us like we were royalty. It was great!

I got to participate in so many cool activities today. Taiko drumming was probably my favorite.... next was Japanese calligraphy. It was really cool observing a math and science lesson as well. I ate lunch with the kids in their classroom. Then we went outside to play on the playground. It was a lot of fun! It would be great to go back again, but we have no time!

This evening, Rebecca and I went out into the city to shop and run some errands. The highlight of our evening was when we went to a Japanese restaurant, and no one spoke English. We wanted noodles, but I dont' think the restaurant had traditional Japanese food. We managed to get pasta with a white wine sauce. The waiter did understand our order for sake and edamame though! YUM! After a few English lessons for the friendly waiter, and a few Japanese lessons in return, we paid our bill and finished our stroll. We went to the grocery store and bought things we thought looked good but didn't know what we were really getting. It is such an adventure here! I can't believe we only have a week left!!! Well, I am lucky to have had this wonderful opportunity at all!

Fun Biking yesterday!

A FUN DAY!!!!

Today was actually 6-18-08 here, but 6-17-08 in NY!!!

Today we had a meeting in the morning with parents of some of the high school students we met yeaterday. It was interesting to discuss the similarities and differences with the views of parents in both countries. The meeting was held in the Iwadeyama Government Building. The building is loaded with replicas of Samurai's uniforms. Iwadeyama was the home of a famous samurai, and they have a festival every year to honor him in all the replica costumes. Then, one of the most amazing experiences so far on this trip for me was when we visited the kokeshikan museum and got to paint our own doll. A kokeshikan doll was created about 200+ years ago by farmers to occupy the children while they worked in the field. It was made of wood and had no limbs because it was easy to make. To "dress up" the plain wood doll, it was ELABORATELY painted and decorated by artists. You can see a picture of an artist making one, and another picture of the one i painted. IT WAS THE COOLEST THING I HAVE DONE YET! Well, one of the coolest....

Then, we visited the Jigokudani Hot springs. We couldn't go too far on our walk, and had to cancel going to one particular place b/c of earthquake danger. Things are hoping over here on Mother Earth!

The last thing we did today was visit the Ichinokura Sake Brewery. Sake is rice wine, and is very popular in Japan. It was really cool to see the process where rice is fermented, and made into a wine. Yes, I will be bring samples home to NY!!!!:)

This evening, my friend Rebecca and I used hotel bikes and we rode around the city. It was SOOOOOOOOO much fun. It was extra fine avoiding getting run over by the cars that drive on the opposite side of the road and the zillion other people on bikes. It was great to cruise around and watch the sunset.

Earthquake....

At 10:20 last night, I had just gone to bed. I was awakened by a TREMOR! Whahoooooooooo! It lasted only for a few seconds. What a feeling.... I am on the 4th floor of the hotel. It felt like we were on a boat! I am glad I got to feel one, and no one was injured or hurt. Apparently there were 2 tremors, and I slept through the second one. OH well!

Today we visited Fukuwara High School. We were able to sit in on many classes and watched how things were being taught. I saw a cooking class, music class, math, english, and science class. The style of teaching is extremely different in Japan then it is in the USA. Teachers lecture in Japan, at least in the high school, and the students participate when asked. Students work really hard, all day long. It is amazing how obedient the students are. They are extremely polite and well mannered. Students are really friendly and love to talk. We ate lunch with the students and chatted for a while. It was really cool! It was a pleasure to be in their school.

It is interesting- American's have the perspective that Japanese schools are perfect and their systems are the best. Well, they really are amazing systems, but have problems of their own. While they have no problem of good grades, obedience, and high success rates academically, many of the Japanese students don't have the creativity or independence that USA students have. USA school systems tend to lack in obedience, overall success, and success rates, but there is creativity, iniative, and exploration from our students. As technologically advanced as we think Japan is, the technology isn't always in the schools. At least in the school we visited here in Osaki so far, I have more technology in my classroom (smartboard, several computers, etc...) We both share budget problems however!!!!!! Learning about the education system here is interesting.

Tea Ceremony and Osaki

Be sure to scroll down into the previous postings because I have added pictures.

Today was a long day. We travelled from Sendai yet another hour north to Osaki city. We met with the mayor and I presented him a plaque from Poughkeepsie's mayor, thanking him for hosting me in his city. We then attended a traditional tea ceremony, which was done by geisha many years ago. There's a huge ceremony to present green tea to the consumer. The woman pors the tea, mixes the powder together in a special way, and then does a series of movements with the bowl to present the tea, and the nicest side of the bowl to you. Once you bow and receive the bowl, you must turn it 2 times so that you can see the decoration on the bowl, and that your lips aren't on the painting. This is a way for you to truly enjoy all aspects of the tea and the pleasure of drinking it. It was really cool. The tea house had amazing gardens around it. It was a relaxing day. A bunch of us went to the grocery store for snacks and dinner afterward. Of course I picked up the greatest sushi and sashimi there, and enjoyed every bite! It is so much fun to try new things here. Sometimes it is a guessing game on what you get to eat. It is fun to pick something out based on the fun pictures on the package. I have been lucky not to eat anything too strange yet!