Meeting the Superior Delegation
On Thursday the delegation of students and adults from Superior arrived. I was invited to attend the Welcome Ceremony for them. I arrived early to the ceremony and ended up chatting with the mayor for a couple of in minutes in my horrible Japanese as we waited for the delegation to arrive. I was petrified to be talking with the mayor because he doesn’t know English and I don’t speak Japanese very well but I think that I did ok. I did slip a couple of times and use short form (it is what I normally speak here) but I caught myself most of the time.
Once the delegation arrived there were a couple of speakers and then the students met their host families; a couple of my students from Takaku are going to be hosting a few of the students so I made sure to stop by and talk to the Takaku students before the left to take the Superior students home.
Today, Jana and I are meeting the delegation at the Kimihara Community Center where we will be spending the first part of the day learning about Japanese culture through origami, flower arranging, a tea ceremony, and kendo. I am looking forward to this!
After that Jana and I are heading to Beth’s apartment where we will change into our Yukata and then we will head out to meet the group at the My Ami Festival which is going on this weekend. I am looking forward to eating some Yaki-Soba and maybe a chocolate covered banana. We also might take part in the carrying of the portable shrine.
Tomorrow Matt wants me to eat lunch with him and a member of the Superior delegation; I told him that I should be able to attend but I am also leaving on Tuesday for America and I have yet to pack!