Sayonara KJ, We're Going Home . . .

It's always hard to say goodbye, so we left by saying, "until next time."

Atul and his host, with a "welcome" sign on front, and a handwritten farewell message on the back:

Daniel playing a farewell song for us . . .

ETHS Trippers

and with our KJ hosts

The families stocked us up with lots of snacks, but the senseis are sure that their dried persimmons from Ogi Sensei were the best.  Just when all those were gone, Uncle Shiro Yokota showed up at Narita airport with giant bags of snacks for everyone!

Because of our fabulous exchange rate this trip, some trippers had money to take home -- and others were counting their final coins to see what they had left.

Thank you to all who have been following our blog posts, a very special thanks to our various sponsors and supporters, and a most sincere "お世話になリました” to our KJ hosts!

Please keep checking back -- we'll keep adding photos to earlier entries as well!  

Everyone's (?)  back in school today !

School Days at KJ

Even before getting to school, the morning studying is taken seriously.  Students arrive at school as much as an hour early to start, and some commute from more than an hour away.  Riding the school bus, everyone is holding their "morning exam" preparation book in their hands and studying.  

First up, morning assembly.  The KJ students all stand at attention on the gym floor in evenly spread aisles by grade level while they sing the school song, then sit on the gym floor for the rest of the assembly.

This particular morning assembly was to give awards to various students for excelling or winning competitions in essay writing, speeches, art, music, sports, etc.

We stood at the back of the gym and observed . . . .

The ETHS students went to classes with their KJ buddies all day long.  

Some were in the Japanese language class, learning about special cards:

Others were in the English class.

A few were in the Math class:

and later, some tried their hand at Calligraphy:

Art Class:

And Music Class:

Everyone made impromptu remarks at the end of the day to their host classrooms:

(but why is Sofia sticking her tongue out at me???)

He showed card tricks at the farewell party:

 Van explaining the card tricks to Van Krey Sensei:

 And Max delivered our farewell speech:

There are beautiful lilies in plastic buckets on each floor of the  building . . . 

  We have a LOT of photos for this day.  Check our group Facebook page for more and more!

Home Stays

ETHS Students should have plenty to relay about their home stays and weekend with their families.  Please check student blog pages for details.

Weather Report:  Snow!