Greetings, blog followers! Last night I had the joy of meeting up with a very dear friend of mine, Juyoung. I worked with him almost 3 1/2 years ago at Knoebel's (he was in an exchange program from Korea). That was one of the best summers of my lives because of the friendships I made, particularly my friendship with him. Somehow we have managed to continue our contact over the past 3 1/2 years, even though we live halfway around the world from each other. About 6 months ago, he moved to from Korea to Tokyo to learn the Japanese language and teach English here. By fate and God's working, we were able to finally reunite after a very long time apart. We went to a coffee shop and then spent the rest of the evening looking at pictures and catching up. He also graciously helped me write my goodbye speech in Japanese to give tomorrow at our farewell party. I have been practicing it all day today. It was a dream come true to be able to see him again, and I hope that one day our paths will cross again. He is such a wonderful friend!
Today we woke up and met the Selinsgrove students at the Shinjuku station and took several trains to get us to Kamakura, a beautiful seaside village with lots of temples. It was the perfect day to visit the city. The sun was shining and the places weren't as crowded as they are on the weekend. We visited 3 different temples, ate lunch (I had my first experience for sitting on the ground while eating--major leg crampage, haha) and had about 1.5 hours to shop. Afterwards we returned to Shinjuko, the girls met back up with their host sisters, and Akira and Yoji took Jen and I to karaoke again. WOW. There really are no words to accurately describe what we experienced tonight. Akira sang "Bohemian Rhapsody" in a way I never thought was humanly possible. Jen and I sang some Taylor Swift, John Denver, Freddy Mercury, and Lady Gaga. I defintely got an aerobic workout dancing all over the karaoke room shaking my tamborine and looking like a loon! Soooo much fun! I don't know why it's not this popular in America! It's a great tension release, haha.
Tomorrow is our last "full day" at school. After school they are having a farewell party for us. There I will delivering my "short" speech (in English), but forever long in Japanese. Their words are so long, and many of them have the consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel pattern. Saturday is a half day at school, where we are able to hear their choir sing some songs from "High School Musical" (it's their school musical this year). Not sure what all is planned on Saturday or Sunday, but I know shopping is on the list (I still have lots of Christmas presents to buy!).
Tomorrow I will upload some of the photos from today (the wifi at the hotel is very slow). I trust everyone is doing well in the States! See you in a few days! :-)
....and Akira and Yoji took Jen and I to karaoke again....Honey, it should Jen and me, since me is the direct object. So, yeah....I still love you.
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