gymnastjen710

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile! But I'll recap the past few days. Monday July 21: We went to Kyoto for the majority of the day. First we went to the Kinkakuji Temple. It was very pretty, and made with gold. I'll share pics later. I also got some souvenirs here. Next, went to the ShinKyogoku area, which had lots of shops and restaurants. We had lunch here and shopped around. We ate at another okonomiyaki restaurant- my second time on this trip. But at this restaurant, you actually cook it yourself on the table. Then we went to the Kiyomizu Temple. There is a big street with tons of souvenir shops, so we spent a lot of time shopping there. We left Kyoto and came back to the institute. After dinner in the cafeteria, we ... read more

Today I woke up, ate breakfast, then went to class at 9:00. In class we are preparing for the presentations we have to make at the end of the trip at a completion ceremony and farewell party here at the institute. Then I ate lunch in the cafeteria, and then got ready in my semi-formal attire because we were going to visit the US Consulate in Osaka at 1:00. We took the bus and it was about an hour ride. When we arrived, the Semboku HS students (our host brothers or sisters) were standing outside. I didn't know they were coming, but they visited with us also. At the Consulate we had to go through metal detectors and couldn't bring in phones or cameras, etc. The building was high security. There were even police/security standing in ... read more

Tuesday 7/15: Yesterday we checked out of the Sendai Ark Hotel because we were leaving Sendai later that day. We visited East Sendai High School. We were partnered up with a Japanese student and we did activities with them. My buddy's name was Asuka and she was really nice. She didn't speak much English, and I don't speak much Japanese but we both tried. First at the welcoming ceremony there was a girl who played the shamisen. She was amazing. She had won some contest and was the youngest one to do so. After the opening ceremony, we went to a Japanese tea ceremony demonstration. It was in a traditional Japanese room. First we ate the sweets and then they made tea for us and taught us how to drink it. Then, we tried to make ... read more

Apparently there was an earthquake up north today, but here it was only measured to be a 1.0 magnitude. We didn't feel anything though. So far on this trip I've experienced a small typhoon and earthquake already. This morning my friend called me at 6:45 and woke me up to get ready and go to breakfast together. We thought the cafeteria opened at 7:00 but it didn't until 7:30. We used the self-study room computers to kill some time. We had breakfast in the cafeteria buffet, as always. Then I got my things ready for the day. We were going to leave for Nara at 9:00. It was going to be hot today so I made sure to pack sunscreen and water. I've come to the realization that in addition to California roofs, I also really ... read more

Updating the blog isn't as convenient as I had thought it would be. But, I'll continue to try to post. The wifi connection at the institute isn't very good so I'm using the self-study room computers. Also, sorry this is pretty boring- but I'm just going to tell about what I've been doing. In California on Monday, we bussed from the hotel to the Japan Foundation office in LA to continue with orientation. Part of the orientation included watching "Live Your Dream: A Taylor Anderson Story" which was really sad. She is one of the two people that the JET MIP commemorates. Family members of both Taylor Anderson and Monty Dickson were there and they spoke to us. It was a long day filled with lots of information about the program and why we were there. ... read more