Day 9 & 10 (home stay)

Ms. Saunders:

I can’t believe it is already July 9^th.  It seems like yesterday we were at SFO reassuring parents, putting yellow ribbons on our luggage, organizing the students and embarking on this incredible journey.  Sensei Morikawa asked me to post the blog for today and share some “adult” thoughts.  However, after reading the posts by our students, I am not sure I can offer up any deeper insights, but here it goes…

Today we headed to our host school via bullet train (also known as high speed rail in the Bay Area) and charter bus.  We were scheduled to arrive at Ashikaga Senior High School at 1pm, however, because all of our train and bus connections went smoothly, we found ourselves on schedule to be 45 minutes early.  Thankfully, our bus driver suggested we stop at a large store called Joyful Honda.  Think, Costco meets Home Depot, meets Target with a food court and pet store included!  Naturally the students were thrilled at another shopping opportunity and we were able to kill some time.

The lack of sleep is starting to show with the students.  Two students decided not to go into the Joyful Honda store and stayed on the bus to nap.  The train and bus ride was pretty quiet as students used the opportunity to catch up on their sleep.  Sensei and I hope that they can get rejuvenated during the stay with their host families.

We arrived at Ashikaga Senior High School and were greeted by a school coordinator, three teachers of English and incredible heat and humidity.  Ashikaga is a multi campus high school associated with Hakuoh University.  The site we visited is the smaller (600 students) college prep campus.  We met the Director and participated in a school welcome assembly that included speeches, gift exchanges, student introductions, our performance of “Walking on Sunshine” and three songs by the Ashikaga choir.  After the assembly we waited in the school college center for the host students to finish their last class.  While we were waiting, I overheard a lot of excited and nervous chatter among our students regarding their upcoming home stay.  However, once they met their host student they seemed less nervous, and Sensei and I felt like parents sending their children off on the first day of school.

From a chaperones’ perspective, this is an amazing trip.  Our students never cease to amaze me with their insights and concern for the Japanese people in the wake of the country’s recovery from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Yes, there have been times when they act like “typical American teenagers”, but overall they are showing incredible compassion for Japan’s recovery efforts.  Many of their current conversations include environmental issues, the importance of learning about other cultures and hopes of studying abroad. 

Even though the students are sleep deprived, always ready to shop and going through Facebook withdrawal, they appreciate this amazing opportunity and are learning the importance of becoming global citizens.