Sweet reunion

What are the odds that E would meet up with her friend, F, in Tokyo? F and E met each other at the engineering camp at U of I when they were going into eighth grade. They became fast friends and that relationship has continued into high school and since F's move to California a couple of years ago. F was in Tokyo and E was on a mission to meet up with her. Glad E and her friend, N, found F at Tokyo's Ghibli Museum. On Facebook, F said the museum was amazing, but meeting up with E and N made it the best day ever in Japan! Glad to see E is happy since I've learned that E's luggage which was shipped from Akita to Tokyo hasn't arrived at her hotel yet. Sensei is expecting it to come Tuesday Japan time. Let's hope so. Otherwise, they pay E for the contents, some of which I imagine are irreplaceable (for now, anyway) souvenirs.

On the home front, B started summer school today. He's taking consumer ed. His teacher told the class she turns 23 next week. Wow.

Camp pics and Tokyo

L's camp shared photos from the week and here are a few. I think the above picture was between taking a goofy picture and a serious picture. Of course, everyone is serious in this photo but my L (middle of second row from the top).

I'm assuming she's reading a Bible passage to the camp in this photo. It was church camp, after all.

L was concerned the creek was too high this year to do a creek walk, but they did!

It's always fun to wrap a fellow camper in toilet paper.

And what's camp without a canoe ride? She also swam a lot and played on a slip n' slide.

E's group left Akita Saturday. They had to be at the airport 11 a.m. Japan time to fly an hour to Tokyo. The message last night was short and sweet. We got a bit of a longer email this afternoon from her teacher, who is up early Monday (Japan time) to go to a fish market.

Sunday, June 29

We got to Tokyo! More later.


Monday, June 30

Good morning! It is 4:45 am. A group of us are going to the Tsukiji Fish Market this morning. Most of the kids are staying and sleeping in.

We got to Tokyo okay yesterday evening. We went to Tokyo Tower in the evening. It was so pretty! It was like floating in a giant jewelry box. We got back around 9:30 and we were so tired, we all went to bed.

The goodbye in Akita was very emotional hard. Lots of tears. Deaton Sensei pulled the kids at the front, I pushed from behind and Joe Sensei took care of the run-aways. We all went through the security and dried our tears. Our plane was delayed for a little bit and we finally boarded the plane an hour later. As we were walking to the plane, we saw the students and families on the roof of the airport waving. We couldn't believe that they were still there! Just when we recovered from our tears, it started again .... It was so sweet of them to stay and see us take off. The goodbye party was emotional too. It was held at the very prestigious hall in the city. Very fancy. We had a great time with the families and our students did a great job with their speeches. Everyone spoke from the heart and it was very touching. A lot of tears there as well.

Oh, fish are waking up. I have to meet them! More later.

My camper is home

Guess who had a great time at camp? It's obvious from the tearful good-bye.

Last school day for E

A couple more of E's pictures:

Friday, June 27

This is the last day of school for the students. It is so hard to believe that we are almost done with our stay. Yesterday was a challenging day, physically (and mentally ... fatigue affects our mood!) for a lot of us. We did a lot of walking in hot weather. We kept reminding them to drink water and we also brought sunscreen. But even through the exhaustion, students kept positive attitude and they were polite to everyone. We were very proud of them.

We first went to a Japanese language class. The students participated well. From there we went to a forest preserve. We had a picnic lunch and had a little break at the park. What did they do there...? Play ... at ... the playground! Seriously ... how old are they? Then Then we took a stroll in the forest with a guide. This area was hit by a sandstorm 300 years ago and was buried by the sand. So someone famous (...but I forgot the name...) planted pine trees to restore the area. Now it is one of the biggest pine forest in Japan. Interesting fact. American pine trees have three leaves (those needley things are clustered in three). Japanese pine trees have two leaves. See ... everything is bigger in America! There was a cool looking shrine there too that worshiped fox.

There was a little pond. Someone found fish ... 'Fish!' ... Americans running to see the fish ... there are fish in America too ... remember? The kids are so funny. They get excited about everything. We came back to school around 3:30 and participated in club activities. Students chose Calligraphy, Tea Ceremony or Cooking. The cooking club baked Japanese sweets and students enjoyed that. The calligraphy kids did a great job too. They made some beautiful artistic work. The are bringing them back to America, so please enjoy them! The sweets? Not coming back, sorry. They are gone. You know how teenagers eat ... it took them an hour to make them and took them 10 seconds to eat them.

We are at school all day today. We went to thank the teachers at their morning meeting. Jeremy did a great speech, even though I asked him to do it with 15-minute notice (he was the first student I saw this morning ... lucky Jeremy). Jeremy's school buddy is going to a tennis tournament that starts today, so yesterday was their last day together. Naoyuki (host buddy's name) is such a great student. He is funny, he is attentive and he always took great care of Jeremy. They bonded well so the goodbye was hard. Jeremy said that Naoyuki cried ... so sweet.

Another great news! Elaine conjugated i-adjectives correctly!! Yay Elaine! :) I don`t get to tease her any more ....

Students are now in classes with their hosts. They will go to the first 2 periods and we all go to a cooking class to make our own lunch! Then in the afternoon, we will be dressed in yukata (casual version of kimono) and take a traditional dance lesson. It should be interesting. Since it is our last day, the Japanese students are trying to talk to our students a lot. They are getting stopped a lot.

Tomorrow is a non-school day, so students will spend time with the host family and we will meet at the farewell party in the evening. I might not be able to write detailed e-mails anymore. So ... thank you so much for your support and trusting your children with us. This has been an amazing experience to see the students' resillence and growth. We are so very proud of them! Please continue to motivate them to give 100 percent in everything they do. - Sensei

This is E, her friend, N, and a Japanese student. They're wearing uniforms on loan from the school. That means the "outfits" we bought her for school aren't get worn at all! At least the uniforms look cute. I told her to try to get another pic of her and N with N's eyes open. A full-length shot of them in the uniform would be nice. I suppose the loaner uniforms go back at the end of the day since their school visit is ending. I warned E to take lots of tissues to the going away party on Saturday. I'm sure there will be lots of tears and laughter.

Japan pictures!

E posted some pictures of Japan on her Facebook page. Here are a few. The food:

The scenery:

The temple:

Perhaps her room? She really needs to put some description on these photos!

Thursday, June 26
This morning, it seems like half of the students are still super energetic and half of them are very tired.... We will make sure to have the tired ones rest today. Yesterday was another busy but fun day. We visited a local middle school. Our students do their presentations and they did a great job. It was more challenging because the young students didn`t know much English at all, but our students Japanese skills have improved tremendously so they managed to communicate well. We had school lunch at the middle school. It was a cultural experience too because there is no 'lunch lady' in Japan. Students serve each other and eat in their classroom together. Our students went to different classrooms in pairs and enjoyed eating with their students and seeing how the students operate lunch time. Our students all helped with putting away the empty bowls, etc. When we finished lunch and getting ready to leave in one of the conference rooms, the middle school students were looking in the door and screaming just to take a look at our students. There were so many of them and some were riding the shoulders of their classmates so that they could see! It was very interesting to see our students reactions too ... total surprise and shock! They are not used to fame!

After the middle school, we went to a local Zen temple to experience the meditation. The priest (monk?) gave us a tour of the temple grounds and gave us a little history lesson. I was sweating trying to translate religious words and phrases ... but like I tell my students all the time, 'a lie told confidently sounds more believable than a truth told timidly' ... so ... I ... tried ... to ... speak ... with ... confidence. The priest was very cool and the temple was gorgeous. It was interesting to see very old traditional instruments and decorations and at the same time they had digital clock and things too. Students sat and did two 10-minute meditations. We heard birds chirping and wind blowing and we felt like we were part of the nature. We were not supposed to 'chase our thoughts' so we sat quietly in emptiness. Many students thought that it was very relaxing.

When we got back to school, our gym uniforms were delivered. It looks cool! Students were excited. Then they all went their own ways. ... Elaine went with her sister to a hair salon, had a good dinner with the family and met her host brother's friends (their names are not Ian - all of her real brother Bradley`s friends are Ians back home ... they are my students too).

Today we are going to a Japanese language class held by a local lady. There are people from other countries, mostly from Asia, so there is a language class. We are going to join them. Then we are taking a relaxing walk in a forest preserve with famous pine trees. We don't know much about it, we will tell you tomorrow!

Sensei's card

So I was organizing the closet in E's room yesterday and putting something away in her desk drawer when I found the card sensei sent to B for his birthday. She had written on it that he wasn't to open it until his birthday so E hid it. Course, when B opened it up he couldn't read much of what it said. He'll have to wait for E to get home to translate. (There's a long-running joke that sensei loves Brad Pitt. She has posters of him all over her classroom, and even a stand-up, life-size Brad Pitt. It only makes sense she'd put him in the birthday cards she makes and sends.)

This is the early Wednesday update from Japan:

Wednesday, June 25
Hello Parents! Japan lost!!! What? You don`t know what I am talking about?? World Cup Soccer!!!! A lot of people were up at 4 in the morning to watch the game! Japanese people go crazy over this event. There are Samurai Blue everywhere! But they didn`t advance so everyone is a little blue this morning. I guess this is the true samurai blue....

We are all well. We were in school all day yesterday. First two periods were cleaning. We are proud to say that our students helped out the entire time and we had lots of complements about their work!... Random people come up to us and talk to us. There was this old lady who came up to me one day and said that she saw us in the newspaper (we were in the local paper 4 times by now) and thanked us for bringing the students to Japan. Monday was the 59th anniversary of the battle of Okinawa, so we saw lots of information on TV. She was saying how Japan and America were enemies then but now we are great friends and how thankful she was that the young Ameriacan students were visiting. Our students really are drawing a lot of attention not just in school but from the comunity. When we walk on the streets, people greet us and ask questions. The students are doing a great job communicating with the local people. I walk with Joe Sensei a lot and when I am with him I get more hello`s and screams...(do not tell his fiance...).

So the students did presentations too in classrooms. hey did very well. The Japanese students listened carefully and asked a lot of questions. They tend to be shy when it is the entire class Q&A time but they were more comfortable in small groups. In one of the classes, during the whole class Q&A session, someone asked what kind of girl or boy our students liked. After a little pause, William said... 'Japanese girls...' Loud scream and I swear those girls eyes turned into heart shapes. In Japan, he is more popular than Justin Bieber. Kate was assigned to sit with a group of boys for conversation time. And the boys were so nervous. They were pushing each other to decide who gets to sit next to her :)

It was fun to see them trying to communicate with each other. Their Japanese have gotten a lot better! I told them that and someone said...`because we are talking to real Japanese people every day! Oh ... really? I am a real Japanese person too... I ... am hurt.... They are trying at home too but sometimes the host family is not letting them practice as much! They are trying to b so nice and attentive that they are not letting our students complete sentences! In Japanese, verb comes at the end of the sentence. So 'Please give me some water' would be `water-give-please`. So when our student says 'mizu...(water)....' the host runs to the kitchen and brings water before he could finish the rest of the sentence! The worse one was that I heard that someone was trying to say that she wanted to do laundry. She had the dirty clothes in her hands. Before she could even say any word, the host mother snatched the clothes and washed them!! This is not good!! We needed to ask them to please have our students complete sentences before they react! It seems that most of the families are getting use to the portion size though. Our students don`t have two extra dishes of food like they did at the beginning....

Most of the students went home after school to hang out with the host family and rest after school. Some went out for a walk and to stores. Today we are visiting a middle school and a Zen Temple. We will experience zen meditaion. It should be fun.

Lily time

My tiger lilies are blooming!

Sensei's update:

Tuesday, June 24
We are all back in school today and everyone is doing well. But it is not all amazing great awesome time. Some students are experiencing frustration, feeling blue, sadness, etc at times because of things like being homesick, struggling to communicate because of the language and cultural differences, simply being over tired etc. But they are good about telling us how they feel, venting to close friends, so at the end of the day, they all pick themselves up and keep going strong. It is quite impressive. I just want to hug them all! They are really becoming stronger and more mature.

Here is the weekend update. ... Our students are getting the attention that they are not used to getting back home. There are always people looking at them and screaming. It is cute to see our students' reactions sometimes. You know your kids, they are not the type of kids who get a lot of attentions or screams at OPRF (no offense ... I love them). Sometimes they just don't know what to do! They are looking around like they are a bunch of lost squirrels and turning red. Oh, I wish you could see them.

Okay moving on to more weekend stories. ... Elaine met her host aunt and the whole family went to see a play. They went to a kimono store and took her out for lunch. They also did BBQ at night.

Yesterday we went to a tea farm and made our own tea! This is a very prestigious tea farm that is well-known in Japan. It is the most northern tea farm in the world. As we went up the mountain, I saw a sign said 'Watch out for bears.' Don`t worry, I didn't tell them what it said. I am sure if a bear saw our students, he would have ran away screaming, 'Americans!' At this tea farm, they don't use any pesticides and they do every process by hand. It is the only tea factory where they don't use any machinery in the tea making process. First we went to pick the leaves. Since they don`t use pesticides, there were bugs. Someone found a grasshopper and shouted out. Our students all ran to see this grasshopper. First of all, there are grasshoppers in America, kids. This is a prestigious tea farm in the mountain with 300 years of history ... and you are glued to a grasshopper? Secondly, the grasshoppers must have been terrified to see you more. I am sure if they could speak, they would have hopped away shouting, 'Americans!'

Then we took the leaves back, the leaves were steamed for two minutes, and we dried them by tossing them in the air. Students wore aprons and tied a bandana around our heads. Then we had lunch. I enjoy seeing the students' lunches. They are very pretty and neatly packed. Delicious and nutritious. After lunch, we rolled the leaves in our palms and dried them some more. We took a walk while the leaves are still drying. We found a shrine and a beautiful temple. he area is just gorgeous. It started to rain just a little but even the rain made it very mystical and pretty. We came back to school and went home. This morning, students are rested and they are in classes. The first two periods are cleaning time. Here in Japan, students clean the building. There are no janitors. So there are quite a bit of cleaning to be done from the festival. Our students were very helpful. We are proud of them. They are doing their presentations today.

I hope you are all well. We are already in the second week of our stay. We will help and assist the students the best we can so that they can strive to make this experience great till the end.

At least it's not real

I was a bit startled when August walked into the living room with a mouse in his mouth. I felt better when I realized it was just his toy. I'm not sure he'd know what to do if he saw a real mouse.

A kimono

E said on Sunday she was going to see a play in her host mother's hometown. On the way back home, they took her to a kimono shop. Here she is sitting pretty and one with her host sister.

Today's update is short and not written by sensei, but by another of the chaperones. It's definitely missing the humor element:

Today is Sunday and we are all spending the day getting to know our host families better. After the weekend, there will be more stories to tell. Tomorrow is a school holiday and we will take a field trip to pick tea. Such a wonderful opportunity. We have heard that it is famous tea because it is the furthest north that tea can grow in Japan.

Back at home, we took L to her church camp. She'll be there until Saturday. B's friends left about 11 a.m. after raiding the leftover pizza and brownies and having pancakes for breakfast. Here's L at the camp. She's a little disappointed that the creek is so high and its current is so fast. She's afraid they won't be able to do a creek walk.

'Amazing Race' birthday party

This is the craziness going on at our house today - B leaves with six friends for an "Amazing Race" event for his 15th birthday, and L returns home with her two neighborhood friends and their adorable cousin. B said he didn't plan this year's race as well as he did last year's scavenger hunt and said he was a bit nervous about it. (His co-planner E wasn't around to help with the logistics.) Regardless, they stayed out and about until we started calling them late this afternoon and told them a thunderstorm was approaching. Fortunately, they all made it back home before it stormed.

We ordered pizza for dinner and they all (minus one who had to leave early) sang "Happy Birthday" to him. Below is the "nice" picture I had them pose for.

This is sensei's latest update on E's trip:

Saturday, June 21
We are almost done with our day. There is still a band concert in the gym so some students are still here.

The school festival was a lot of fun. The entire school was turned into carnival. The school was open to the public, so a lot of people from the community came to visit. Since we were in the newspaper twice this week, some people came to visit our students! We are famous! It reminded all of us that our behavior is very important because people here look at our students and judge America. We need to behave well and represent our school, community and the country well. The students are doing a good job. They all helped out their homeroom class throughout the day. ... There were various kinds of exhibits in the school. The one they had in the library was the exhibit about Ernest Hemingway. They had a whole wall of posters about Hemingway and they had his books on the table. The school librarian made it with volunteer students. When we went inside, she first apologized that the exhibit was small and asked us if it being so `small` was offensive to us. First of all, it wasn`t small. And secondly, we are so grateful that they were thoughtful enough to make that for us. We enjoyed it.

We have no school tomorrow. Students are planning to spend a day with their host family. It is our first day off, so hopefully they will sleep in and get rested too. I am going to Oga to see the beautiful ocean and nature and probably go shopping since my kids are asking if I bought them something yet.. I hope I hear from no one! I am so excited that I don`t have to see the students tommorow for the first time in a week!!!!!!!!!! (is it too many exclamation points?) ... mean ... I will ... miss ... them ... terribly ...? I can`t stop my tears ... o f... joy ... I mean ... tears of ... tears ...?

I am looking forward to hearing what they did on the weekend! I will keep you posted!

She's joked that the Japanese families enjoy our students so much some of the kids might be staying. But, she says, not to worry - she will bring home a new kid for those families.

Guess who missed L

August seems happy to have L home.

Sensei's update for Saturday that arrived Friday night our time:

Hi, everyone! All the sick students are feeling better and we are all back to school this morning! Some of them still look tired, but I guess it is normal since we haven't had a day off since we got here....

I can tell that some students are having so much fun and others are struggling with their communication although no one is having a bad experience.

I talked to some of the students about their experiences. ... Elaine picked up her host brother from cram school, stopped to get donuts, etc. She was so excited that this morning she was watching a news with her family and she understood a lot of it! ... These little moments are truly the amazing moments that the students will remember forever. The big field trips are nice but this homestay part is really the core of this exchange program that is so unique and precious. We are so glad that our students are trying their best, some really trying hard to come out of their shells, and trying to make relationships. Amazing kids!

Friday's update

Since I don't have a picture for this post, I'll use the one E put on Facebook Monday of her jetlagged on the flight to Akita after landing in Tokyo. And here it is ... sensei's Friday update:

We had a busy day! Students are getting tired and some are sick. I took two students to the doctor`s office this morning. ... We reminded all the students to get plenty of fluid, nutrition and rest. But it is hard to stop them from experiencing everything! They don`t want to miss out on anything!! I understand that. I was young once... a while ago.

Today was the start of the school festival. All the students and teachers were in the gym, watching various performances - singing, dancing, plays, competitions of all sorts, cross-dressing contest, fashion show etc.

Our students performed well too! The the three show-choir boys did a great job singing and dancing two songs. he entire audience fell in love with Joe. Charlie was upset but it's okay, we can all share Joe. hen our group song `Love Is an Open Door`. Honestly, I am so sick of Frozen since my kids sing it all the time, but they did a great job! Some of the kids were `stiff` :) yes, they were `Frozen`. Now the ice is melted and I will never have to listen to it again!...so I thought...but the movie just came out in Japan, so many people still like it...I just passed by a group of girls singing the song....`the winter is over....melt yourself out of it...` Well it looks like I will be stuck in the frozen land for a little longer.... They should just `let it go`...right?

Tomorrow, the school is open to the public and the students will entertain the guests. Classrooms are turned into restaurants, haunted house, carnival, etc. I am looking forward to be the guest and seeing everything. Our students are helping prepare their homeroom class get ready. As for tonight, they will all go home and rest, I hope....

Tomorrow is Saturday, but we still have school, so I will write an update. Tonight I will be drinking lots of water to re-energize myself. Japanese water is called `sake` in case you didn`t know. Actually Akita is famous for its rice, therefore also sake. Akita rice is like Kobe beef. It is a prestigious brand. I wish I drank so I could enjoy the famous Akita sake, but I guess I will just enjoy eating rice...rice...so boring...not like sake...rice...boring like me...oh well. More tomorrow~ I will be drunk with rice :)

Back at home

Guess who was sleepy on the drive home because she stayed up late watching videos on her iPad?

Here are just a few of Andy's (many) sunset photos. He went out two nights with B to shoot them at the Egg Harbor harbor.

Today's update from sensei:

Hi, Parents! We are back from a great day outside! We went to the area that is registered as the World Heritage for its nature, the woods and the beautiful environment. We rode the bus and drove north. We went through lots of pretty rice fields and then came to a mountain area. One side was the mountain and the other side was the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful. We got to the culture center place where we made our own bread from all local ingredients. Natural yeast found in the mountain, water from the river, salt from the sea etc. It was fun to see the kids struggle with the dough :) Some just couldn't make it into a ball, some were trying to knead with fingertips.

While the dough was rising, we had about an hour of free time. We told the kids that they could walk around outside. As soon as we said that, they ran!! What was outside you might ask... a play ground and coin-operated go-cart!! (yes the ones made for 3-year-olds.) Parents, your children wasted money on child go-carts!!! Honestly, the students are big in size but they are little inside. They were truly happy. Then group of boys went up a spider web climbing-thing...and they all found a path up to the mountain and disappeared into the woods! We decided to leave them there. Sorry, parents, your children are lost in the woods. JK. Joe Sensei went to get them. (Well...he said he was going up to get them but honestly I think he wanted to go... he is one of them after all....) The weak students all came back dirty, in swet, out of breath and happily declared that they climbed a mountain! But by Japanese standard, what they climbed was not a mountain, but a large hill...so...congratulations. It was a great break though. They all looked like themselves, being silly and having fun. They have been so nervous and stressed I am sure, so this was a nice get-away. Being here is so tiring. The students really need to pay attention to every little thing and really try to actively listen 24-7 and that is hard work! I hope they were mentally energized now.

Our bread came out well. We ate them and we took the bus to our next destination which was a family operated tofu factory. We sat and made our own tofu by putting Nigari into soy milk. Nigari is something that hardens the milk. It is one of the components of the sea water (sea water is made of water, salt and Nigari - we tasted Nigari. It was salty and bitter). ... We ate tofu, and he also fed us tofu/soy donut and tofu/soy ice cream. We got on the bus and came back to school. We heard students trying to figure out how to say things in Japanese while they were in the bus. The students are really getting better at understanding and speaking. We are so proud of all of them. They are such good kids! Parents, thank you so much for trusting us to take your kids!

We were able to talk to more students about their experiences here while we were out today. A lot of the students mentioned that the family has been feeding them too much... The Japanese people eat three solid meals a day. merican people don`t eat very much, I notice. You eat a bowl of cereal in the morning, a sandwich for lunch and dinner. But Japanese people typically eat big breakfast (Japanese style - rice, soup, egg or fish, veg, fruit or Western style - toast, egg, salad, yogurt etc.), then lunch that consists of rice, main dish, several side dishes, and similar dinner. So our students are not used to eating all that stuff. Plus, the Japanese parents look at our tall and bigger American students and think that they must eat more, so in some cases, the host mother was making extra dish or two just for the American student.

She again mentioned what some of the students were doing with their host families. She wrote: Elaine played Pokemon with her little sister. (Bradley, don't be jealous).

This morning I was chatting with E through my iPad and she said her family took her to a grocery store and she got a chocolate shake at McDonald's. She said it tasted less artificial than the ones we have here. She also said the view from the top of the "mountain" was beautiful.

Our last full day

We started our last full day in Door County by going to the Red Putter mini golf course. L got holes-in-one on three holes. She would have had four but we didn't let her count the last one because she got it on her second tee-off shot. I was the only one who didn't get a hole-in-one on the 16th hole. I did have quite a few two-shot holes.

When we got to the last hole we were surprised to see a family of four chipmunks running around. They weren't shy at all, though you can see B didn't warm up to them too quickly.

After golfing, we went to PC Junction, a train restaurant for lunch. It was chilly and overcast (and the mosquitoes were out) so we huddled around a campfire they had going.

L spent a good portion of the evening in the pool:

We also got another update from sensei today:


Hi, Parents!

Everyone is doing well this morning. Some students are having harder time than others adjusting to the time change, but we are still in good spirit. Your kids are great! I am very impressed with their positive attitude. I talked to some students this morning and they all had good stories to tell.

Yesterday we visited an elementary school. Our students were like celebrities! The little kids were peaking their heads out of the window when we got there and they were SO excited! We first gathered at the gym with all the 5th and 6th graders and they gave us a nice welcome ceremony. Elaine did a great job with her speech to the school. Then the students went to classrooms with the little students and did their presentations. The elementary students listened quietly and our students did a great job with the presentations and games. In one of the classroom, the kids were especially facinated by the different physical appearances of our students. Julian was asked why he was so tall. His answer...`because...ah...I am not Japanese...?` Aiden was asked why his hair was gold :) Local newspaper reporters were there and students who were interviewed did well with their replies. Students did a great job over all. One presentation done!

The students here are great. They are so polite! They all stop and greet us everywhere we see them. This morning, I came across a group of boys riding their bikes to school. They all got off their bike, bowed to me and said `good morning`! I am taking them home! I will prpbably leave some of our students here instead. So parents, you might have a new son or daughter. Be prepared!

She included a long paragraph on what many of the students have been doing with their host families. Then she added: If I didn`t mention your child today, that means ... I don't care about them ...JK ...I will make sure to talk to them this afternoon! Please wait till tomorrow! I hope you all have a great day!

More tomorrow~.

Senseis

Segway tour

Today in Door County, Andy and B took a segway tour. They did it last year too, but this year took a tour of the rolling hills around Egg Harbor where we are staying. They saw some really nice houses by the bay. L had hoped to go on the tour with them and we let her try out the segway, but it got away from her a bit when she started rolling down a little hill so we decided she should wait till next year to take the full tour.

We got an update on the Japan trip from sensei this morning:

Konnichiwa Parents!

We are finally here! We arrived late last night around 10 pm. Despite the long trip, the students were very excited to meet their host family.... The students who didn`t host in the winter met with their family for the first time, so they were definitely more nervous. But they did really well introducing themselves! I saw fake smiles and awkward eye movements but it is okay :) I do it all the time at parent teacher conferences. As each student left the gruop to go with their family, I saw terror in their eyes...`Wait... no one is coming with me....? ....` I said, 'Bye! Good luck! Make it work!` They waved at us and left!

This morning, we met at school. Everyone is here and they all seem to be doing well. I am sure they are nervous and tired but no one is complaining...yet. We had a quick tour of the school, got introduced to the teachers at their daily morning meeting, and students went to the homeroom with their host students. ... The school is very nice and clean. It is a new building (only a little over one year old). The walls, the desks, furniture and a lot of the things were made from the famous Akita cedar trees, so it smells really nice everywhere in the building. Natural wood smell. And the students here are so cute and polite! They always bow to us and say `good morning` or `hello`. So far, our experience has been great!

Go-karts and a pontoon

We started out the day by go-karting at a fun park near Egg Harbor. Andy and B rode go-karts while L went into an arcade to play some games. She ended up hitting the jackpot on one game so came away with enough tickets to get a rubber ball and a blow-up baseball bat. The arcade, though, was full of mosquitoes and L got all bit up. The mosquitoes are out this year and they're so big you can see them flying around you.

The weather was perfect for sailing today so we rented a pontoon boat from Ephraim and sailed for two hours in the bay. L took over some of the photography duties while B slept in the sun and Andy captained the ship. She took both of these photos:

This is the life ...

Father's Day and sayonara

Here's E with her friend, N, gathering before heading on the plane to Japan! They were all so excited.

B took a moment to tell sensei thank you for the birthday card she sent him. She had to send it early as she'll be in Japan when his birthday rolls around and she wrote (in Japanese, of course) on the card that he isn't supposed to open it until his birthday.

E ran into some sort of problem at the ticketing counter and had to call sensei over to help resolve it. She said listening to sensei's conversational Japanese was pretty mind-blowing. E said she understood about three words of the conversation between sensei and the ticket agent. The Japan Airline flight left O'Hare at 12:45 p.m. and is expected to arrive in Tokyo (non-stop) at 3:35 p.m. Monday. From there, they'll take a bus to another airport then fly to Akita, where they are staying. They're expected to meet their host families Monday night.

And I always take a picture of the kids with Andy for Father's Day so this year that happened to be at the airport.

After we dropped E off at the airport, we headed to Door County, Wis., for a short summer vacation.

We must be in Egg Harbor. The town has 50 decorated eggs on display for its 50th anniversary. This one was covered with Green Bay Packer colors.