Back to U of I

Andy, L and I took E to U of I today where she's going to work this coming week as a lab assistant for the university's girls' engineering camp. She's staying with her cousin T whose apartment is not easy to find. We had to call, turn around, etc. We must have passed the entrance a good two or three times. In fairness, our GPS said it was on the other side of the street, and the apartment complex can't be seen from the main road. Then E had a hard time locking her bike up so we're standing in 90-plus heat waiting for her to accomplish that. After we dropped E off, Andy, L and I had some dinner than headed home. On the drive back, L noticed the odometer was at 2016. And the year is 2016. And the car is 2016. Not much gets past that girl.

Japan update: Two reports were sent out late last night. They all attended the school festival. I'm sure this was a highlight:

"Then there was the karaoke contest. One group from each homeroom class sings one song. We had four groups sing too! They were courageous to sign up to sing in front of the whole school! So yay to them! They were really nervous and some wanted to drop out at the last minute but they didn`t get to. We told them that it was okay not to be good. All they had to do was to go up there and have fun and laugh at themselves afterwards. Mission was accomplished. They all looked so cute and they did great! Yay!"

B was in a group that sang to "YMCA." Wish I could have seen that. One of the chaperones posted a video of the Japanese school's principal simultaneously playing guitar and the harmonica, singing "Sweet Home Chicago," making the local kids applaud and cheer. She said the Japanese students probably didn't recognize the song so he performed in appreciation of the visiting American students.

And from the second report:

"B went to play basketball with his host brother and father. Although he doesn't have a sibling at the high school, his homeroom class really enjoys having him and someone is always trying to do things with him. They say,'B is one of us!'"

I also received an email from B's host mom.

"... He is very punctual. He gets up around 6 am, leaves for school around 7:30, comes home around 6 pm and goes to bed around 9:30. Bradley tries to speak to my kids in Japanese, he helps my daughter's English, and helps me shopping. He does lots of things for us. Since he is such a great boy, you must've been missing him alot!!! ... My family has planned his surprise birthday party. (B might know it, so it's no longer a SURPRISE party, though.) ... We have only one more week to spend time with B. We will try to make him happy staying here and Japan. I hope he brings good memories back home."

Yeah, I miss him a lot.