Kesennuma
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We have ARRIVED! Friday, June 19: We were welcomed at the Kesennuma Station with smiles galore. Masa's cheese head, the banner, Yuki, Youchi, and the vice principal (Kyoto Sensei) were all familiar friends to see. |
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Back at the apartment, treats were served to the entourage. The living situation is quite comfortable. Naoko sensei and Kyoko Sensei set us up with such lovely spaces. |
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Saturday highlights included a trip to the local fish and veggie market, a visit to the city gym (where we were shown a wonderful Kendo demonstration), and an unforgettable journey to the Buddhist temple Hodaji in Kesennuma, which is a prefecture heritage site. This is the view of the garden from the dining room where we were treated to macha and sweets by the temple caretaker. |
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Sunday was a rainy day. We wanted to go to Oshima Island but got rained out. Instead, we went shopping with Keiko at Jusco, Homac, and the Bookstore. For lunch, we went to a fabulous sushi bar, Taniguchi, with 4 other Omose teachers. Becky and I ordered the local platter, which represented fish from the Kesennuma area. There was sea pineapple, organs of squid, mombo (sunfish), tuna and many other fabulous delicacies all exquisitely presented by one of the regions most famous chefs. We learned that Kesennuma is the first city in Japan to make a "Slow Food Declaration". This means that there is a committment to promote fresh, locally produced food. Because Kessenuma is such a rich fishing port, this means lots of fantastic seafood.
Today we also met with Oikawa Sensei to practice our speeches in Japanese for tomorrow's welcome assembly. |
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Welcome to Omose Shogakko! Our first day at Omose was fantastic. We were first greeted at the door and shown where to put our outdoor shoes daily. There were desks set aside in the teacher's room, complete with flower arrangements from Saitou Sensei. |
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The whole school gathered in the school gym and welcomed us, starting with the Brass Band playing. Each grade presented a dance and song for us, including English introductions and greetings. |
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The students are so talented- every student participated with enthusiasm and wowed us. |
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We both prepared speeches to give, even with a bit of Japanese that Oikawa Sensei coached us on. |
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We presented two special flags to the school, on behalf of our school, city and state. The Wisconsin flag, which we thank State Representative Judy Robson for, was flown at our State Capitol on Earth Day and now will be flown here at Omose. The Earth Day flag, the second gift, is to honor our care and study of the environment. Instead of us celebrating Earth Day only on April 23rd, we hope to have the spirit of this day EVERY DAY! |
| Today we were scheduled to go with the fourth grade classes to do a river study outing at the nearby Omose River. Since the typhoon came through the heavy rains caused the river to swell. The trip was postponed. Instead, there were many opportunities to observe lessons, visit with children, plant veggies in the garden with kids, watch a dragonfly emerge from its nymph stage with the third graders, and have some MTP planning time. | |
| Both of us had lunch with the second graders in Masa's room. In the afternoon we also visited the bank, the Takyubin office to send Becky's gear on to her next destination, and packed up Becky's apartment. The day was the clearest of clear, with sun and puffy clouds. Everywhere we looked we saw gorgeous mountain ranges. Breeze rolling in off the nearby ocean added to the marvelous day. | |
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The evening was a blast. Yuichi sensei and his family hosted a home party and invited all the staff. There were about 10 staff people and a spread like you wouldn't believe. Yuichi and his wife provided platter after platter of foods she must have spend all day preparing. To top that off, Yuichi invited a friend, Watanabe Sensei, to show us how to make fresh "Ni Hachi" Soba. Clare participated in a step by step class in front of the group. |
About eleven people had dinner with us the first night in Kesennuma. It blew our socks off to enjoy course after course of fresh, local favorites. Everything was so beautifully arranged and tasted unbelievably OISHI (delicious). It was great to see old friends again.