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July 22, 2002

These two Saginaw students are ready to leave for Tokushima. But where are the other Saginaw participants? Still sleeping? Packing? Eating breakfast? After finishing breakfast, the Estill students patiently wait for their teachers to finish up. This is the day they head to their host school. They look ready, don't they? Detroit's Redford High School students get ready to leave the Olympic Village to head north to Sendai--should we practice our self-introductions. Do we add some Japanese words we learned? Okay...it's your last meal in Tokyo, Redford. What do you want to eat? What? Chinese? Well, you can still practice your chopstick using skills... Yum...what was this white chewy meat I just ate? Ahhh, an air conditioned waiting room on the Shinkansen (bullet train) platform..can't keep...my...eyes....o...pen. Getting on board the Sendai-bound, double-decked Shinkansen. Thank goodness it's the starting point of the train's journey, otherwise we wouldn't have time to dally to take a pic like this. Wow! These seats are nicer than the seats on the plane we flew to Japan. And we will be traveling 150 miles an hour!

Japanese students teach St. Maria students a traditional Japanese children's game...the St. Maria students later show the Japanese students an American game. So not everyone can sit on their knees for extended periods of time. We can still enjoy the sweets presented during the tea ceremony. Let's see...you are supposed to turn the tea bowl to the right three times and then back to the left? Or did the teacher say three times to the left then to the right? Do we then drink the tea like water? A slurping sound on the last sip is okay? This is very complicated. The St. Maria participants try on costumes of Shinto priests and ancient nobles. These costume designs have been around for over 1,000 years. Are the hats heavy? These participants look particularly noble, don't they? However, they are probably very hot as the costumes can be a bit heavy to wear in the heat we have experienced. Even some members of our hosts families, pictured here, have never tried on these costumes before. But we think we figure it out! The St. Maria Goretti group met their families at a temple with a beautiful garden. Alas, it was much too hot to venture outside. Many thanks to the host families for sharing their day with all of us! Arlington High arrives at Fukuoka Jo Gakuin. Here everyone is posing with their new families. While happy, everyone is a bit nervous, too. After all, the Arlington members do not speak much Japanese and the Japanese hosts speak limited English! Here are some of the Arlington people meeting their hosts. There was a sigh of relief to arrive as well as apprehension. However, this was last Monday...in the next couple of pages you will see how quickly the participants jumped right into the lives of their host families.