My busy first week is over and more details about the Sendai Ikuei Gakuen exchange

Wow....what a busy 1st week that was.  BUT, it was really cool.  I got to meet many of my former ACs and catch up.  Some it had been several years since I had seen them.  That was really cool.   Ok...now to talk about what I did.


If you look at the Kizuna Blog, you will see a bit where we met some college students doing some volunteer work that involved flags of countries that helped Japan made with paper cranes.  Well, I had kept in touch with Suzuki-san and I had a change to meet up with him in Asakusa. Suzuki-san is just finishing his training as a rickshaw "driver" (shafu) and I bought a ticket for his company and he got to pull me around Asakusa for 45 min. while telling me about the history of the area.   I'm not going to lie.... I felt like a king.  A very enjoyable experience.

 This is the Sapporo Beer HQ...they designed this building to celebrate 100 years.  Actually, it is probably longer but I can't remember.  Anyway, what does it look like?

 

Suzuki-san, the Sky Tree and me.

Sorry the photos are a bit out of order.  This is the Sky Tree.  It is the tallest building in Japan.  Taller than the Tokyo tower by quite a bit.

After spending most of the afternoon in Asakusa, I went to Akihabara for a bit just to look around. Found lots of cool toys I don't need and managed to leave with out buying anything (which if you know me is pretty impressive!)

Then I was off to meet some former ACs from my first USA Summer Camp I was the director of.  3 live near Tokyo/in Tokyo and one just happen to be in Tokyo on her way to Malaysia. It was great to catch up.  It had been about 6 years since I'd seen them.  It was good to catch up.

Then on the 10th, I was off to Sendai to talk to the folks at  Sendai Ikuei Gakuen.  On the way to Tokyo station to catch the shinkansen I realized I was close to the temple that has the graves of the 47 samurai. If you're not familiar with the history, definitely look it up.  They are held up as the exemplary example of loyalty in Japanese culture.  Here are some pictures of the graves, temple etc.  I didn't have time to check out the museum....but maybe next time.   :-)

After a quick look at the graves at the Senkakuji Temple....I was off to Sendai.  There I met Jim and Ted. They are two of the English teachers there.  We had beef tongue for lunch (and local dish),  looked around the school campuses and talked about setting up a sister school and exchange relationship.
First the pictures:

 

Now....for the exchange details. We're thinking for CPS students to go over, you'd go September to June.  At this time you would probably have a home stay BUT you could also be put in the student dorm if a family wasn't found.  Up until this point they've always found host families.  You also need to be prepared to purchase your own lunch (host families will provide breakfast and dinner but may not provide lunch), you will ned travel insurance, and of course, you're own spending money.  Oh... you'll also need to get yourself to and from Sendai.    Since this is a work in progress, we will learn more this fall.   We are hoping to start this next year. ALSO, if you're graduating, you can also go right AFTER you graduate for a "gap year" before you start college, so seniors...you're not left out.

I think that's all for now.....more updates to follow as I do things in Niigata.