On Wednesday, Lillie and Nick wirte

Today I had Music class.  I thought we were just going to sit in the back of the class and sit and listen to the class sing, or that they were going to say, “Okay, lets sing an English song, lets sing Frozen”, or something along those lines.  However, I was very wrong.  In class they weren’t even singing, they were playing the recorder, you know, those instruments they make you play in 3^rd grade that you never touch again.  Only, not only do they have to play it pass the 3^rd grade, they were playing a song by Bach, and they were preparing do a playing test on a song called Jupiter for next week.  In that class the teacher gave us a recorder to borrow each.  They go, “Do you know?” and we (Gabbi, Grace, and I) all say, “Yes, we know, but we can’t play.”  I’m not sure how much they understood or believed until we started trying to play.  By the end of the class I got down some of the fingerings and could play the first line of music.  After that we returned our recorders and went to have lunch. - Lillie

I gotta say, our hosts know their way around the three R’s: Reducing, Recycling, and especially Reusing. They built a contraption out of used water bottles of all things, to catch noodles! It was like a river of noodles, in which we had to ‘fish’ with our chopsticks. It was ‘oodles of fun! The gym teacher told me it’s an old Japanese tradition, and I believe it! After the noodle fest, we had so much ice cream I can still taste it! As a bit of a cultural exchange, I taught my homestay Tsuyoshi some American dance moves. Boy, that kid can pop it, lock it, and put it in his pocket. - Nick

On Tuesday, 11/17 Corry and Gabbi write

Today, the CGS students and the freshmen of Kojo High School went on a field trip to multiple colleges and universities in Japan, such as the Tokyo University of Science and Meiji University. Multiple groups went to different colleges, and each group went to two colleges each. The colleges would introduce what each of them specialized in, such as technology, law, etc. We were shown several classes, libraries, and other places around campus. We even got to eat lunch at the college's cafeteria! This field trip lasted the entire school day. I thought it was pretty nice, seeing what people do in college and what each one was all about. We got some information sheets and data books for each college, so those were full of all sorts of information for each college, which was nice! - Corry

On Tuesday night, I went to my host’s grandmother’s home to try on her kimono. I was surprised to see that all of the rooms were full of handmade yarn decorations and art pieces. My host Yurina, her little sister Mahiro, and I were allowed to dress up in the winter kimono. Afterwards, Yurina’s grandmother began to offer me many of the handmade decorations around her house. I tried to turn them down because I didn’t feel worthy of having them, but she insisted that I take them. She gave me a Japanese hanging decoration, kimono fabric, a fan, and many other things around her house. I was extremely grateful and didn’t expect her to be so kind and generous. - Gabbi

On Monday, 11/16, Peter writes

Monday was my first day of school. I woke up early, and put on my school uniform. The entire process was very strange and unique for me, because I usually just wear whatever I want to school. After getting ready and eating breakfast, my homestay and me began our trip to school. First, my mom (“mom”) drove us to the train station, and then we took the train for 10 minutes. Next, we had to walk another 15 minutes to school. The entire trip took really long and was kinda tiring, but it was interesting. During first period, all the American kids were taken to view a Powerpoint presentation on the Edo period of Japan. After that, we went to class with our hosts. Although I couldn’t understand everything, it was interesting to see the way the Japanese classroom works. Rather than walking from class to class, the teachers come to your class instead. In addition, the classroom had no decorations; it was strictly for learning. My favorite class was biology, because I could actually understand some of the things that the kids were learning (the teacher drew pictures of the human brain and its parts on the board). On the other hand, my least favorite class was Japanese, because I knew absolutely nothing, especially all the difficult Japanese characters on the board. Once classes were over, my host had to go to cram school, so I decided to go to the school’s track team. While I was there, I ran A LOT. The main reason why it was difficult was because all that we did was sprint to one side, and then jog back. This may not seem difficult, but imagine doing that 15 times (3 sets of 5). Although it was painful, I enjoyed running with the Japanese students. Once track was over, my host and me began our trip back home. I was very exhausted, so the train ride was 10x better than it was on the way to school. Once home, I took a shower, ate dinner (which was delicious btw), played video games with my host family, and then went to bed. Monday was very eventful and exhausting, but I had a great time. J

Sunday, 11/15 Grace and Destin write

On Sunday, we went to Yokohama’s Cup Noodle Museum. It was very interesting – it was cool to see so many different kinds of cup noodles! We took a lot of photos and had a lot of fun. Then later, we went to the Cup Noodle Factory where we made our own cup noodles! First, we drew on the cups with markers, and then we went up to pick our soup mix and ingredients. Then we packed our cups in a bag and left the museum.  - Grace

After the amazing Cup Museum and Ferris wheel in Yokohama, Takuto, Yudai, Masa, Iya, Tes, Devin, Pablo, and I explored the city. We saw beautiful city lights including the lights that were one tress for Christmas. We walked around the entire place searching for a place to eat that wasn't too expensive or too long of a wait. It took us some time however, explore ring for one was all worth it. As usual I tried something different and it was amazing. As Tes and others enjoyed the fact at me failing at chopsticks, Yudai mixed all the drinks together to make one drink. It wasn’t what I expected; it tasted like candy still it was pretty interesting. After we all finished our food we were tired and decided that the host’s would pay however Tes, Pablo, Devin, thought otherwise. It was such a good night, I wish I could go again. 

- Destine

Saturday 11/14, Pablo writes

Saturday, CGS students traveled to Kojo High School to meet their beloved homestay’s. After a long day of traveling from IOX Wald, students arrived with unprecedented excitement. As it was the weekend, only the homestays and their parents were at school. There was a large greeting, and small speeches were made, but all of the students were dying to go home, and to hang out with their respective host-brother/sister. Personally, my student and I went on the train to a mall, to go shopping, which was a great icebreaker. “どこにありますか (where is this?)” was a sentence I would ask a lot, as my student knew his way around the mall. After buying presents for family, we returned home to have a common Japanese meal – おこのみやき (O-Ko-No-Mi-Ya-Ki) which is an omelet of cabbage, carrots and, bacon inside the egg. It was delicious, and I highly recommend to try making this meal at your own home, as it was very easy to do it with my host family! Afterwards, the jetlag got to me, as I immediately fell asleep in my room, having a great night of sleep.