Day 3

Noelle He

HI BRIAN. IM WRITING TO YOU TODAY! I HOPE YOU SEE THIS! Today we all had a wake up call at 6AM. We had a delicious buffet style breakfast at 7AM and left our first hotel, Keio Plaza Hotel, around 830AM. The breakfast included mushy but delicious scrambled/boiled eggs, cream of mushroom soup, sausages, ham, variety of bread, yogurt, fruits and vegetables, salad, and cereal. Before we left the hotel, we walked around the convenient store that was located on the bottom floor. I spent my first 105 yen on a water bottle, but there ended up to be free water bottles given to us by the JICE. We were introduced to JICE today, the generous company who coordinated our trip to Tohoku, in which we will be staying at for 3 nights and 4 days. We attended orientation around 9AM with two other high schools, Abraham Lincoln High School and Moss Point High School, where we were learned about the structure of this Kizuna Project trip and the disastrous earthquake on March 11^, 2011. 

We were informed about the damages done to the areas that the earthquake and tsunami had affected. I was shocked at how much damage both the earthquake and tsunami had impacted the lives of innocent people. Millions of dollars worth of damages were made and even to this day, there are things that still have not yet to fully recover. Orientation also taught us about how to deal with future natural disasters. After the two hours orientation, we all headed to a restaurant in Aqua City family mall. There were many Americanized stores like H&M, Forever 21, and Old Navy. There was also a store with the cutest puppies EVER! They were all so tiny and had their fur trimmed perfectly! We walked into the restaurant and had to take off our shoes! It was the first time we had all been forced to take off our shoes and walk into a restaurant with socks only. Seeing cushions on the floor, I thought we had to sit down criss-cross applesauce, but there was actually a sunken in floor under the table where we were able to dangle our feet!!!!! It was so cool. I was in awe with this intelligent invention; it had deceived me. We served mixed brown and white rice, along with miso soup. Unlimited appetizers were also given to us where we served ourselves. The main dish was a type of fish that I don’t remember the name of, but it was delicious. White radish with soy sauce came along with the fish where we were to eat it together. All I can say is that, it was a very yummy fish. 

And the rice was so tasty. After eating, we went to the bathroom and got ready to go on a three hour ride to Tohoku. After two hours, we made a pit stop at a tourist convenient store. There were so many random new drinks my friends and I were staring at. After about a 20 minute break, we continued onto our journey towards Tohoku. After another hour, we arrived at a ryokan, a Japanese style hotel(with a tatami and futon) where we dropped off our baggage and had a presentation. The manager talked about how the earthquake and tsunami had affected his hotel, and his personal life. Afterwards we chilled for half an hour before dinner was served. I’m tired now, its 11:12PM and I can’t think anymore! To sum it up, I went to the onsen tonight with friends and it was sooooo refreshing. The end. It was a fun official first day here(: Time to wake up at 630AM tomorrow!