Pottery Village and English Classes

      Today we went and visited the Pottery Village and got to make our own pottery, which is called Kuro Satsuma. This area is famous for their Satsuma Pottery. In contrast to the white pottery which was exclusively for the upper class, the black style, Kuro Satsuma, was widely cherished among common people. Items such as tea pots, tea cups, and such which are commonly found in Kuro Satsuma, are items deeply rooted to the people`s daily lives. Mrs.Fenley made a Mickey Mouse clock and the rest of us made plates. This year, we got to paint the insides of our plates, which no other group has done before.
      After arriving back at the school, we ate lunch in the cafeteria (only one choice for all), then went to a class and participated in a game with some of the High School Juniors from the school. The game was very interesting, even though we could barely understand the other students. In one game, the Japanese students read something in Japanese, converted it to English, and then asked us if it was a real English term. The other games were riddles where we had to figure out what he was describing, working on reading comprehension. We also had to figure out who lived in which house from a worksheet, judging by how he described their home.
                         -Emma Ward

Ibuski School Trip ~ Wednesday

Hi you guys!!! Today was very interesting. We went to a geothermal power plant. It uses energy from Mt. Kaimondake Volcano to power the city. You dont really find that in America so it was something new.
   After we toured the power plant we watched a little anime movie about how the power was made. It was really cute^.^ Lol
     After the movie we boarded the buses and made our way to a zoo/flower garden. They had several different kinds of animals there. Species that you wouldnt see in America or a normal zoo. They had dogs, exotic monkeys, exotic birds, sloths, ect. The monkeys were very friendly and tried to touch you :) One monkey grabbed my finger :D ~ It was cute^.^ LOL ~ After the zoo we went to a store with a small aquarium, anime, and samarai gear!^.^ It was pretty cool. Afterwards we finally returned to school and chilled in the media room:) Overall it was a good day and we made new friends since it was an entire school field trip :) ^.^ Teeheehee^.^


                                        Love,
                                   Brittiny Williams!!!!^.^

                                                                          Host students

Day 2 At Ikueikan

Today as we arrived at school we prepared to teach a few classes during 2nd and 4th periods. We were given some computer time to contact home and do what we need to do. We then moved into the Ikueikan music room where we had a class of juniors in highschool to teach the basics of our group games to. Tyler and I taught three groups a wordsearch where I held a picture and he would say the word and explain the importance of each item in the pictures. When we got to group 2, which was a group composed of mostly boys, we split them up into two teams to make the wordsearch interesting for our older students. Later in the day we went to the Hatono farm, where our farm guides and their translator Wendy served us Japanese barbecue and Yakisoba for lunch, which was fried noodles with grilled pork and chicken, along with potatoes and carrots. After lunch we made butter out of one ounce of cream and an equal amount of milk. Our guides prepared the ingredients for us and we had to shake the bottles for about five minutes. We then spread it on brown rice crackers, which were amazing. They also had a cow drawing contest followed by Brittiny and the very nice lady playing Sakura, Brittiny on the flute and the lady on the harmonica.  It was a great cultural experience!
Javen

First Day At Ikueiken.

Yesterday was our first day at Ikueiken. We were first greeted by the school in an opening ceremony, during the ceremony Brittany gave a great speech and Ms. Fenley was handed a beautiful gift for McMichael Middle School. After the opening ceremony we met the vice mayor of Hioki city (his favorite food is sushi). We asked lots of questions and had a great time, the vice mayor was very grateful to see us. In honor of the first presidents death we school was cut short and we got to go home early. My host student took me to a ramen shop where we ate the best noodles I have ever had. Tyler and Javen went to a place called Round One Entertainment where they did archery, played soccer, and played basketball. Brittiny and Emma went kimono shopping but had no luck in buying any. As for me I fell asleep at  6PM and woke up at 6:30AM.
Luke

Departing Tokyo

Today we left Tokyo and flew to Kagoshima. When we arrived we met our host parents and went to our homes.  The plane ride was short and sweet. After our 12 hour flight from LA that was very nice to experience. We were introduced to our families and we talked about our homes.  My family took me to the hot springs and we later went to a small italian restaraunt. Everyone was tired and glad to be able to rest. Two cultural differences here than in America were 1) the father started off the meal for the family and 2) the mother is charged with the household.

Tyler

Tokyo Day 2

Yesterday was amazing! We went to a large artsy sale where you had opportunities to make things. I made myself a vintage bag:) It's pretty cool;) We also went to a part in the city where we got to shop for gifts and trinkets. It was really awesome because it resembled a japanese palace and it had giant Japanese lanterns hanging from the archways. I bought several things from here because thankfully it was low price. Everyone loves a bargain.  After we went shopping we ate at a rotating sushi bar. They had some preeetty interesting entrees.,:) And lastly we went to the tallest building in the world, Skytree Tower. The view was amazing from up there. The tower is approximately 450m. tall, but we only went up 350m. You could almost see the entire city. We all took several pictures and finally rode the subway home.☺
 
                                    The End of day 2        Brittiny William