We had classes in the morning and the afternoon was scheduled for a visit to the Judo dojo for a bit of sparring. I knew this was coming, but my knees—and for the past week my back—were just never going to cooperate. Since I also had a speech to write, I asked Paul to be excused.

In a way, I’m sorry because as it turns out nearly half of the other IJP students decided to just blow it off and not show up. This was a problem since it turns out the Judo club was coming in special during their vacation for this and they were a bit upset and disappointed with us. I was the only one who asked to be excused ahead of time so I have a clear conscience, but it still makes me feel bad. For those of you reading this who might attend this program in the future, remember this and realize that you’re putting other people out by not participating.

So the big thing for me today (after going to town to get money at the Citibank and buying a book) was to dream up a new speech topic and get it written. I’ve essentially decided on “What new interests have you developed because you studied a foreign language”. I think it’s rather interesting topic, since I’ve changed so much and developed new interests since beginning to study Japanese. Ikushima Sensei helped me put together my interview which I did at the I-house tonight during the Tanabata party! I then managed to get the bulk of it written and can turn it in tomorrow. I think it’ll be pretty good.

The big event today was the trip to the Sumire Kindergarten. I remembered it with some trepidation from two years ago when I was so nervous and really, really didn’t want to go. I was deathly afraid that I was somehow going to scar a whole generation of Japanese children for life!

But this time, it was actually a lot of fun. Once again, we had to occupy three groups of kids (2-3, 4 and 5 year olds) with activities. The youngest got the Itsy-Bitsy Spider song in Japanese, the 4-year olds got Old MacDonald Had a Farm in both English and Japanese (which is really fun since Japanese and English animals both speak a different language!), and the 5-year olds (my group) once again got Simon Says in both Japanese and English. It amazes me that at the age of 5, these kids already know quite a bit of English, like various body parts (hand, foot, leg, arm, mouth, nose, etc.) and can actually understand. I sure wish they started language teaching at this age back home. Arvli Ward and I did the game in English and it was great fun.

Then it was lunchtime with the kids! I look back to 2006 and the abject terror I felt at being thrown in with a bunch of kids who could talk rings around me, but this time I knew what to expect and actually had a blast. There’s nothing quite like sitting down at a very tiny table on a very tiny chair, surrounded by 5-year olds every one of which is simultaneously asking you “How do you say <insert word> in English”, “What’s your favorite color” and “Do you like onigiri (rice balls)”! This time I could at least understand what they were saying and answer them. I’m going to remember this year’s excursion more fondly than last time!

After that—believe it or not—there was another activity: Shodo, or Japanese calligraphy. I seem to have lost what little talent I developed two years ago and couldn’t come up with anything as exciting as Kabuki like in ’06. It really is a beautiful art form and I wish I could even sort of do it justice. But then, it was still lots of fun.

And then the bad thing happened: I couldn’t get my speech finished. I was luckily granted a reprieve for another day, so that should help.

TOO BUSY!

After such a whirlwind weekend, it was somewhat relaxing to be back at school. However, it’s a very busy week ahead with a speech to write and the Kindergarten trip tomorrow. I did get my test back and scored 82% which I was delighted about. It’s certainly better than my second test two years ago so maybe I’m actually starting to get it.

In the evening I sat down to write my speech and realized that my initial topic was just not going to work. I’m throwing it out and starting over from scratch—which is a bit problematic since it’s due tomorrow!

But it’s just such a hectic week! どうしよう！

After the extreme emotions of yesterday, it was already time for us to make our way home. After an absolutely gorgeous—and delicious—breakfast at our hotel, it was off to catch the Shinkansen to Himeji to visit the castle.

It was incredibly hot and humid!

Once again, we didn’t have a lot of time for the tour and our guide basically set a break-neck pace through all the major sites, up the hill, through the buildings and up 6 stories to the top. It was crazy, but worth it for the view and the history. Our guide was really great and spoke perfect English. If we only had more time…

Again, there wasn’t enough time to actually sit down and have a proper meal, but I bought a delicious Eki-ben boxed lunch at the station and ate on the train home. I stopped in at Bic Camera at Kyoto Station on the way home and bought a long sought-after Kanji dictionary for my Nintendo DS. By the time I finally got back to the dorms, I was exhausted but happy with all the wonderful experiences of our school trip. Hopefully they’ll continue the Hiroshima experience at least, but maybe with a less-aggressive schedule.

Today was the big day for the school trip! We left the I-house at an early 7:00 AM and made our way to Kyoto Station where we boarded a Nozomi Shinkansen bullet train (that’s the fastest service that you can’t even go on with a Japan Rail Pass) which zoomed us to Hiroshima. As soon as we arrived, we took a local train to Miyajima-guchi station for the ferry ride to Miyajima Island to visit the shrine there.

Sadly, we only had about an hour-and-a-half there in which time we were supposed to see everything and eat lunch (neither of which there was enough time to do). I did get to take a fairly leisurely stroll through the Itsukushima Shrine where I got lots more photos, video of some Shinto priests doing a service and a video of a new bride walking in her ceremonial Kimono.

But then it was back on the boat to a streetcar to downtown Hiroshima and a visit to the Peace Memorial and Museum. If you’ve read my 2006 journal, you realize just how much this place affected me, and it was the same this time. It’s when you are walking through the museum and see the ephemera left by the victims that it really hits you—the wooden geta sandal of a small child with her footprint burned into it by the blast; the rusted tricycle buried with a 3 year old killed in the blast because his father thought he’d like to ride it in the next life since he loved it so much; the singed school uniforms of those very few Junior High students who weren’t instantly incinerated in the blast. Glass bottles fused together into weird lumps; advertising posters with holes where the black letters were burned through because they absorbed heat where the white paper reflected it. Once again, it was really moving and I had my handkerchief in hand the whole time.

We stayed in a Ryokan-style hotel and I finally got to sleep on a tatami floor on a real futon. It was pretty nice, and late in the evening we watched the live Wimbledon Women’s final and saw Venus Williams beat up on her little sister Serena. Before that, we ate dinner and had some delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki—yummy!

But before all that was an event that made this entire trip to Japan worthwhile. One of the University’s directors who is also from Hiroshima arranged to have two of the Hibakusha or Hiroshima Bombing survivors speak to us. These two sweet little grandmotherly ladies sat before us and told us of their lives before, during and after the bombing. They were actually there and lived to tell about it. Believe me, it was absolutely heart-wrenching listening to their story and my eyes filled with tears more than a few times. Paul was doing a live translation and he got choked up a couple of times and had to pause. I shot a video of the first 43 minutes of the presentation before my camera’s battery died, and it’s something I’ll always treasure. This is precisely the type of experience that makes such an impact on your life and I’m so glad we had the opportunity, no matter how emotionally draining it was.

But who am I to complain? I wasn’t one of only 2 survivors out of a 600-student Junior High School class from August 6, 1945—Mrs. Ito had that day off and wasn’t working in downtown Hiroshima with the rest of her classmates who were all instantly obliterated by the bomb. I also didn’t have to return to my school like she did where her dead classmates’ parents came every day and told her that if she had been doing what she was supposed to instead of ‘slacking-off’ then she would have died gloriously for the Emperor like their children had—and that they didn’t want to see her ugly face ever again.

I guess you can see why I cried quite a bit…

Today was our second of three written tests. After being sick yesterday, I was back at about 90% and if that’s what my test score turns out to be, great!

I think I did okay at least. It’s hard to tell sometimes. There are such subtle grammar points at this level that I tend to get them confused, but I probably did fine. I do think I may have mistaken a couple of Kanji, though. We’ll see on Monday.

Following the test was play time. We wrote some wishes for the Tanabata festival next week then played a few card games. It’s always nice to decompress after a long school week.

Tomorrow is the big Hiroshima trip! I dropped by the convini to get some snacks and something for breakfast since we’re leaving at 7:00 AM before the cafeteria opens. It’s going to be a fun time and I can hardly wait. We’re taking the fastest level of Shinkansen—the Nozomi— to Hiroshima. We’ll visit Miyajima Island first, then the Peace Memorial and museum. In the afternoon before dinner, we’re going to have a couple of Atomic Bomb survivors speak to us—a real honor since there aren’t so many left anymore. We’re staying at a Japanese Inn (Ryokan) which will be my first time.

On the way back on Sunday, we’ll stop and tour Himeji Castle which is also a great trip. I’ll write all about the whole excursion and post it on Monday.

Happy 4th of July weekend!

I woke up with a really bad headache this morning which I was going to just put up with, but then after breakfast I started to get sick to my stomach. I made the command decision to stay home and rest. The stomach ache went away after a couple of hours, but the headache spread down my neck, shoulders and back and I was fairly grumpy and uncomfortable all day. I think I’m getting better this evening and hope that another good night’s sleep (and Tylenol) will fix me up.

I did get some studying and the laundry done today—not very exciting, but at least the day wasn’t a total loss…