America the Beautiful

After two weeks of recovery from my trip to Japan, I hopped in the car and drove 2,440 miles across the U.S. My husband and I (along with my nephews, Britton and Jordan and a friend) drove from Memphis, Tennessee to Sacramento, California last week. Having seen the landscapes of America and Japan recently I can fairly say the two cannot be compared. Both countries are beautiful in their own way. I watched the sun set over the city of Tokyo and was amazed by the beauty of the reflecting light off the skyscrapers as they lit up for the night. The scenery is equally as gorgeous in the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona where the sunset lasted for four hours and brought tears to my eyes. The site of the Grand Canyon took my breath away in the same way as many of the sites I saw in Japan. I have had the great fortune to see these two unique and amazing places on Earth. There are not enough words to describe my gratitude for the opportunities that I have been blessed with this summer. I have truly been inspired by the beauty I have seen.

The Earth can be described as both large and vast, as well small and vulnerable. I experienced the large, vast lands of the globe in my hours and hours and hours of traveling from country to country and state to state. In New Mexico, we saw 360 degree views of open landscape without a building or tree obscuring the horizon. Then, just when I thought "Man, Earth is huge!" we stopped to see a meteor crater in Arizona. This crater was created by an 80 foot meteor. The crater is 1.2 km in diameter and is estimated to have been created around 20,000 years ago. Seeing the meteor crater certainly reminded me of how small and vulnerable our world is. And, I have never felt so small as when I stood on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It is interesting to me that these two places (Japan and the U.S.) so far apart can be infinitely different yet equally fascinating in culture, scenery, and beauty.

I am more convinced than ever that we must do what we can to preserve its beauty by conserving natural resources, producing less trash, and reducing pollution. The Earth is precious and worth the effort.

My nephews, Britton and Jordan at the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Me, on the rim of the meteor crater in Arizona. This huge hole was created by a meteor that fell from outer space over 20,000 years ago.

Home, Sweet Home

I am back in Memphis and trying to recover from my trip. The flight home was loooooooooooooooooong! It took about ten and a half hours to get from Tokyo to Chicago. Then, after a four hour lay over my 70 minute flight to Memphis began with two hours of waiting on the runway before finally taking off. I left Tokyo around 2:30 P.M. Thursday afternoon (that would be 12:30 in the morning on Thursday in Memphis) and I arrived at my house in Memphis at 1:00 A.M. Friday (3:00 P.M. Saturday in Tokyo). Total travel time... 24 hours and 30 minutes! The only bad thing about my entire trip was the trip home.

I loved Japan and Tokyo especially! It is the most incredible city I have ever been to. The Japanese people are lovely. There are so many wonderful things to do and see and each experience had something special and memorable. I miss it already. I have promised my husband that I will take him back with me one day. I'm going to start a return to Tokyo fund tomorrow! It might take a while to afford a trip like that on my own.

I am so grateful to the JFMF organization and the Japanese Government for providing me with this incredible experience! I have forever been changed by what I saw and learned. I know that I will be a better teacher after this experience, and I know that I will be a better person having touched, tasted, and witnessed the beautiful country of Japan. I will continue to write about the things I saw and did while I was in Japan. This blog is an ongoing journal and does not stop simply because I am back in the U.S.

I am busy now, getting ready to move to California. My husband and I have decided to relocate to the Golden State! We are taking a leap of faith. We are not sure what life has in store for us, but we know we are being pulled to the west coast. I am so excited about what is to come and I cannot wait to use my newly acquired knowledge to teach American students about the beautiful culture and people of Japan. I made some great friends while I was there too! We will be forever bonded by this experience. I am inspired to know that there are so many highly motivated teachers that truly want to make a difference in our world with education. I'll tell you more about them and what I learned from them later. I have to go pack more boxes now!

Sumi masen (Sorry)

I cannot believe my trip is almost over and I have only posted a couple of times. I have to apologize for not keeping up with my blogging however, our schedule has been much tighter than I had anticipated and sleeping is important to getting the most out of each experience. I will be writing about each experience in great detail and posting it at a later date. I am sorry that I could not give better play by play descriptions of my trip. I leave tomorrow night at 6:00PM and arrive in Chicago at 8:30PM. No, it is not a two hour fight. I wish! The time change will make it seem as if only two hours have gone by on the clock, but I assure you that the hours spent in the air (12.5 to be exact) will be grueling. I will get a lot of blogging done on the plane. Feel free to check out my slide shows to the left for visuals of my trip. If you want to look at all my photos at once just click on any of the slide shows and it will take you to my album page. See you all soon!

Chiba University

I just returned from a visit to Chiba University. We were taken into a meeting room beautifully arranged for our discussion with the faculty of the university. There were name plates with each of our names displayed, a collection of literature about the university, a souvenir bag, and a beautiful origami bird made of gold and red paper. Our host greeted us and told us the bird was representative of long life.

We listened to the president of the university speak as well as the dean of the education department. After a question and answer session, we had the opportunity to meet with several students of the university and share questions and comments with them. Most of them spoke some English and a few spoke very good English. I was surprised to hear that they are only required to student teach for four weeks. I asked one student if she felt this was enough she said yes. I wonder if she was being politically correct or truly felt four weeks was solid preparation prior to taking over a class on her own. I have always felt that the twelve weeks of student teaching I had was hardly enough.
Next on the agenda is the sake brewery! Kampi (cheers)!

Earthquakes, Car accidents, and Customer service

Yesterday an Earthquake occurred in Japan. It happened in an area about 200 miles north of Tokyo. Many people said they felt it, although I did not. I was on the subway on my way to Kamakura when it happened. One person I spoke to said that he was in the hotel when it happened and he felt the building sway and shake, as well as heard the walls creaking. I am glad I was out of the building at the time! The newspaper said that so far they have found nine people dead and 200 injured.

On a lighter note, I had a great day in Kamakura. I spent the day alone walking around and exploring this beautiful area. I went alone for a couple of reasons. Partly because I just needed a break from the schedule and large group activities, and partly because I just wanted to see if I could navigate my way around Japan by myself. I had virtually no problems. It took me about an hour on the train to get to Kamakura. I got a little turned around in one of the stations where I had to change from the subway line to the train line. The most wonderful thing about Japanese people that I have found, is that they are more than willing to help you if you get lost. I asked a girl to show me which station I was supposed to change to by pointing to it on the map. She walked me all the way to the train. The day before I went out looking for the 100yen store (like our $1.00 store) and I walked into a store and asked an employee where the 100 yen store was. He had no idea what I was asking. So, I pulled out my trusty little Japanese-English dictionary and attempted to explain to him what I was saying. He very politely gestured for me to follow him out of the store, around the corner, and down the street. He took me all the way to the 100yen store! Now that's what I call customer service. Anyway, back to Kamakura.

I saw three temples, and two shrines. I wanted to see more but the temples were so far apart I was exhausted after seeing the third temple I decided to go to the nearby beach and put my feet in the ocean. I sat on the beach for about an hour taking pictures of the people and scenery, then I headed back to Tokyo. I met up with two women from the JFMF group and we went to dinner. I spent 780 yen (about $8.00) and had a huge bowl of noodles and a plate of tempura. The food is surprisingly cheap here. The restaurants are very reasonable and tipping is not allowed. The most expensive meal I ate was $1800 yen ($20.00) It was a great day!

Today we left Tokyo for the Chiba prefecture. We are now in Chiba City which usually takes about an hour from Tokyo by bus if you don't smash into another car on the way. Our tour bus driver apparently ran a red light smashing into a small car. Luckily we were all wearing our seat belts, except for our guide Sawamoto-san. She went flying forward into the entry way of the bus. She seemed to be uninjured although shaken up. A couple of my group members complained of whiplash. One of them went to the hospital to be checked out. I'm fine and was hardly shaken at all. The accident caused quite a traffic jam and a lot of excitement for our group. We were all snapping pictures and watching the collection of emergency vehicles arrive on the scene. Three ambulances, a fire truck, two police vehicles all ascended on the scene in a matter of five minutes. A monk appeared out of nowhere and began sweeping the street before the emergency vehicles even arrived, then he disappeared. That was weird! After about 45 minutes of waiting, several taxis arrived to take us to our hotel.

Tomorrow our week of school visits begins! This is the part of the trip I have most been looking forward to. We will tour the local University, Chiba University, all morning tomorrow. After lunch we will be visiting a local Sake Brewery! The whole group is really excited about this. I hope to take home some samples. Later we will visit a "Handicraft"shop. We will be in our host city, Katori, tomorrow night and for the next eight days.

This is the car our bus hit! A passenger was mildly injured.

Greetings from Tokyo

I am here in Tokyo and I am in awe of the incredible city. I took these photos from my hotel room.

I arrived after a long flight from San Francisco, California. Ten hours in the air and about 12 hours on the plane after it was all said and done. My legs were numb, my head was pounding, and my ears were ringing, but that did not stop me from soaking up every moment from the moment I stepped off the plane. We have been going not stop since we arrived and I have not had any time until now to blog. It is currently 9:00P.M. Wednesday 11 June in Tokyo and 7:00AM in Memphis. Wednesday is virtually over here and just getting started on the other side of the earth.

The Bus Ride from Narita Airport to Hotel

I have attended several meetings, visited a few tourist attractions the coolest so far being the government building called the Diet Building. No, that is not where Jenny Craig's headquarters are located. The Diet building is where the Parliament, the Japanese government, meets to make laws and other important government decisions. It was very simple and smelled a little moldy. We were standing outside taking pictures when a man who said he was a member of Parliament asked me how the elections are going in America. I told him "So far, so good. The country is very excited for the outcome and looking for a positive change."
He replied, "Yes! We are also excited for a change!" I guess he is not a fan of President Bush either. He shook my hand and we took this picture. Behind us is the Diet Building.

Me with Kousuke Ito (member of Japan's House of Representatives)

We also went to an outdoor market where I bought a few gifts for family members and took some cool pictures of the Buddhist temples located in the area.

If you want to see more picture of my trip so far click on the slide show on the right. Tomorrow we have a lot on the agenda. It starts with an amazing breakfast buffet on the top floor of the hotel, overlooking the entire city of Tokyo. Then, we will listen to a man named Manabu Fukuda discuss Japan's economy. Later will will hear from a couple of Diet members, one from the House of Representatives and one from the House of Councillors. I wish I had more time to write. I have so much I want to say, but I am so tired I can barely see the computer screen. I will write more tomorrow! Sayonara!

Pack Rat

Packing for 3 weeks is difficult when you are only allotted 50lbs. I am having difficulty deciding on what to bring and what not to bring. I can only bring one suit case weighing less than 50 lbs and one carry on bag. Only a few hours to go and I am still not packed!
I can't believe it is finally here! Time has flown by. Tomorrow is going to be a long day! I'll leave my house tomorrow morning at 4:00a.m. to catch a flight to Chicago at 6:00a.m. I'll change planes in Chicago, meet up with several other teachers traveling to Japan, and head to San Francisco. We arrive in San Francisco around 11:30a.m. and join the other participants for a luncheon at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel. After lunch, we will attend orientation from 2:00 to 5:30. At 5:30 we will take a bus to Consul General Yasumasa Nagamine's home for dinner and a reception. I suppose we will not make it back to the hotel to sleep until around 9:00 p.m. I guess I need to stop typing and get finished packing. I need to rest up for a 19 hour day of traveling and activities. My next post will most likely be from Tokyo! Sayonara America!