What a Wednesday!

More school visits awaited us on Wednesday morning as we met again at City Hall at 8:15. Our group divided in two and visited either Kanazu or Kitakakuda Junior High Schools. My group visited Kitakakuda Junior High were we found three students who had visited in March and three who are coming to Greenfield in August waiting for us. They were are guides for our visit. One of their English teachers is also coming in August as a chaperone. We had a great time visiting an English class and learning that Japanese boys can be fairly strong (check out the picture!).

When we got back together, we went to the Kakuda Historical Museum which is located in an old mansion. The workmanship and quality was incredible! Again, our students got a sense of the ancient traditions of this country and the longevity of its culture.

Lunch was a great opportunity to catch up and catch our breaths before heading to Nishine Junior High School. The welcome we received at their school was amazing! All of the students lined up in the gym and made a tunnel for us. They were all waving American and Japanese flags as we walked through their walkway. After we were seated, we saw a traditional Japanese dance that the 1st grade (which is 7th grade in America) did for us followed by a skit put on by the 2nd graders (8th graders). The 3rd grade (9th graders) did a Power Point/skit on Japanese holidays and celebrations. After all of that, we saw a drum performance similar to what we saw at Oda Elementary. They wanted us to demonstrate a game, but we needed the whole gym, and since they had chairs set-up for the whole school, we had to pass on the game. Instead, they had the students come up and introduce themselves to us in English and ask us questions about what we like. It was fun to meet them and learn more about Japanese students.

Nearby Nishine Junior High School is Kozoji Temple and we visited it after we left the school. We saw a Buddah statue that is over 800 years old, as well as ancient texts. The texts are written in ancient Chinese and we asked Renee if she knew any of the characters. She was able to pick out a few. Next to the temple was an old farmhouse that had been moved to that location as a museum. We were able to tour and see what life would have been like hundreds of years ago in the Japanese countryside. Next to the farmhouse was a beautiful water garden. We were blessed to have enough time to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of this tranquil place.

All of us went home tired, but fulfilled from our experiences on Wednesday.