Day 43: Kikokusei

This morning I had my last breakfast with the Shinya family. Breakfast today included some cheese, since I mentioned cheese last night. It is funny how much cheese we eat in Wisconsin. I have cheese with nearly every meal back home. The Shinya's and I had a great time together over the past week. There are so much fun to be around and living in the downtown area is really enjoyable. I gave the Shinya's the gifts I had brought for them, and they were surprised to see that I had brought them all Wisconsin t-shirts and some other small gifts. They gave me some special Kit-Kat bars from Nagano, which are apple-flavored. They also kindly gave me a book of theirs about Japanese culture that I have been reading from lately. It is always interesting to read other people perceptions of Japanese culture and compare them to my own experiences here.

At school this morning, there was a large assembly in Notre Dame Hall. The main focus of the assembly was the swimming camp. The fifth graders (and I!!) have been training hard to prepare for the swim in the sea. Two kilometers is a long distance to swim, and the breast stroke requires a lot of energy and effort. Some of the sixth grade students shared the memory of their swimming camp experience last year. One girl told us that she was not a good swimmer and almost gave up trying. Instead, she never gave up, completing the swim successfully and honorably. Notre Dame Elementary does a wonderful job of educating the students, not only in academic areas, but in everything about life. The school has created a powerful will to succeed within the students, and I am confident that the students will complete the swim and take pride in their efforts. The school laid out three main goals as the focus of the trip to the sea: (1) enjoy the experience of the ocean, (2) practice cooperation skills, and (3) embrace the power of will. I believe that my will is strong, and I will also swim my heart out.

Throughout the day today I made sure to work on my blog and catch up with the past few days of activities. I also spent some time cleaning my room and repacking my suitcase in preparations for my next homestay. After lunch I made the final preparations for a lesson with Kikokusei, a group of families who have returned from living abroad. Sachiko Pieczulewski organized the event, and I prepared the activities. For the most part, the presentation was the same as the one I had given to the entire 2nd grade several weeks ago. I focused on Wisconsin's culture and people for the most part. In addition, I added some slides about my family and had a question and answer time after the presentation. The parents had some great questions for me, as did the children. Overall the lesson went well. Sachiko brought some cheesecake that she made, which was delicious. After the presentation I sat with the parents and talked until the end of the meeting. This was actually the first meeting of the newly created group, so it was great that they let me kick it off.

After school, Yoko Arai picked me up and brought me to her family's house for my next homestay. The Arai's live up on the mountainside on the west side of Kyoto. Their home is beautiful! They have carpet, first of all, which is the first time I have seen that in a house here. I am excited that they also have two dogs, poodles named Apollo and Muses. I was surprised to see that the Arai's have a front and back yard, which is also not common in Japan. I think I will really enjoy it here.

For dinner we had some unagi (eel), salad, broccoli, potatoes with carrots, and seaweed miso soup. It was a feast, and a delicious one too. Mr. Arai is a very busy man, so he did not eat with us, but we still had a fun meal. Their daughters were acting quite silly at the dinner table. For example, Misaki (second grader) kept saying, "Enjoooy." They do not speak English, but she loves to say enjoy in a sing-song voice. It is funny to see. I think they are excited to have a guest in the house. I know that I am happy to be here.