Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

4/27/2005, Mom trip day 1: Arrival -and- Inter-people day at school

It was a very busy day.  At school, we were having my busiest work day of the year, called "Inter-people Day".  The same day, my mom arrived in Japan.

Inter-people Day At School

We brought 18 foreigners from various places around the area for a day of international exchange and English practice.  I was responsible for coordinating a certain amount of it.  We had a speech contest in which students recited speeches they had been working on for as long as 5 months.  The foreigners acted as judges.  Science students gave speeches about particularly interesting scientific "research" they've been doing.  Neat stuff.  International students in our school gave speeches about their home countries and/or experiences in Japan.  Later, I played the piano for the school.  I had been so busy with planning the event and my mom's trip, that I was out of practice, but it went okay.  After the piano, we had a game of People Bingo, in which students asked questions to the visitors to fill in squares on a bingo card.  Winners received Häagen Dazs ice cream.  Finally, we sent one foreigner to each of the 18 classes to talk and "exchange culture" with our kids.  In the past, this has led to silent rooms wherein students do everything possible to avoid talking to the scary outsiders, especially in English.  So, I equipped each guest with a token to give to a kid who was outgoing or spoke good English.  The kid could trade it in for ice cream with me.  Anyway, it was a particularly neat day.  I took some pictures, but they didn't come out all that good.  I'll show you a couple anyway.

Winner of the second-grader's speech contest, as he was giving his speech.

Cultural exchange in a class.  The foreigner is the one in the skirt and sandals.

Mom's Arrival

My mom visited me from 4/27/2005 to 5/11/2005, for a total of 2 weeks.  We had a great time.  I showed her all around my favorite places in and around the Kansai region of Japan where I live.

Akemi was a big part of everything.  She did a lot to make my mom feel welcome throughout the trip.  Because of Inter-people Day, I was unable to leave school early to meet my mom at the airport.  So, Akemi went to the airport and escorted my mom all the way back to Aioi.  What a sweetheart!  My mom took this picture of Akemi on the train on the way to Aioi.

When my mom arrived, she was unexpectedly alert.  I think she was pretty excited to be in Japan.  I was really excited to see her after 9 months of not seeing each other.  After a light dinner and some talking, she hit the sack.

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