A Terrific Tuesday

Tuesday was another busy and exciting day for the Greenfield Sister City group. We started our day by visiting Kakuda Junior High School where we saw some familiar faces. Daiki and Shota welcomed our groups, and we saw Aya there later in the day. Our group split up and visited different classrooms where we practiced English with the classes. In one Japanese class, we had to design a CD cover for our favorite song, write the lyrics to our song, and write a description of the song. All of our students wanted their Ipods and Mp3 players so they could get the lyrics. Jake came up with the best idea, though. When he couldn't remember the rest of the words, he just wrote, "la, la, la." We laughed that no one would every know. In another class, I had the pleasure of working with Aya (a Kakuda visitor from March) in her English class. She's still has the same beautiful smile and outgoing personality she had when she was in Greenfield. She was also definately the leader in her English class. They all looked to her for the answers!

After spending part of the morning at the junior high, we walked up the hill to Kakuda Senior High School. Besides visiting various English classes, we went to a girls' choir class where they sang two songs for us. One of them was the Disney song, "A Whole New World" that they sang in English. It was beautiful and much appreciated! We ate lunch in the staff room with some teachers and enjoyed a small break to our day.

Following lunch, we went to a Japanese tea house where we were able to partake in a traditional tea ceremony. Three of us (Philip, Erik, and I) volunteered to participate in the actual ceremony with the master. She directed us in a shortened version of the ceremony in an actual tea room. After that demonstration, the whole group was able to enjoy tea in a bigger room in a modified ceremony. After everyone was done with their tea, she allowed any one who wanted to, the opportunity to whisk the green tea, as is done in the ceremony. Everyone was in awe of the tradition and precision in which it is all done. The women who helped us, including the master, all wore traditional kimonos and geta (sandals). We all walked away with a new respect for traditions and values. A reporter from the local news agency was there with us, so we may be in the paper sometime soon!

Everyone went home on Tuesday tired, but happy to see old friends and make new ones!