Chillin' (?) in Tokyo

Hello from Tokyo!

The last week has been keeping us both busy and rather sticky, as our schedule has been full and the humidity high. The kids have been real troopers with respect to the weather, though - I literally have not heard any of them complain about it being too hot to enjoy their time here. I know that on any given day, a handful of them will choose to grab something from the convenience store and lay low in the dorm lounge (with its lovely air conditioner) after class, rather than go to the nearby station area for lunch. This has been a great way for them to get to know each other, in addition to being a chance to recharge before an excursion.

Currently, we are at the Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama. Since we haven't made an update to the blog recently, I decided to hang out in the lobby and put together a short post. The students and other program leaders, however, are busy making homemade chicken ramen noodles, as well as "My Cup Noodles." We will have some photos of that for you later.

Last weekend, all the students had the opportunity to spend a few days with a host family. As is always the case, we heard many exclamations of "I LOVED my homestay!!" once they returned back to the Olympic Center. For many of the kids, staying with a Japanese family meant a full weekend of interacting in Japanese only. In addition to learning new vocabulary and cultural concepts, they learned how to persevere when faced with challenging language situations. In my humble opinion, that is the most important factor when learning a second language.

I was also fortunate to visit my homestay family...from when I was in Japan as a high school student in 1984! I am happy to report that my host mom is a super energetic 82 year old. (My host dad died in 1986). Here s a shot from the plane. Yes, that's Mt. Fuji!

We leave for Kyoto tomorrow and will have more reports later. Until then, stay cool!

Karen