It’s official, the Kyoto Exchange Spring Break 2010 has been approved by the Modesto City Schools School Board on October 5^th, 2009. We are now actively recruiting students in our district for this year’s exchange, and participation in the PacRimX Project.

We have been asked to bring 30 students this year (we took 20 last year). Informational flyers went out last Tuesday, and word from the sites give us a count quickly approaching 30 students actively interested. We will be having an informational meeting for students and parents at the end of October. All students who sign up will be registered with Skoolaborate and online joint activities will start with Halloween and continue through the year with the Kyoto students until their visit from the last week of February through the second week of March.

Our trip to Kyoto is in early April 2010. It’s going to be a busy year!

Here in Modesto we have been back to school for just over three weeks. In Kyoto they are four months into their school year. Our Spring Break Exchange for 2010 was due to go to the School Board this past Monday, but was bumped out to October 5^th. We were waiting for approval to distribute the information packets for the Spring Break Exchange and the permission slips for Skoolaborate/PacRimX at the same time. In Modesto, none of our new students have their Skoolaborate accounts yet.

So imagine our surprise when we got an email from Kyoto the other day explaining that a National TV News Crew in Japan wanted to film a bridge building exercise for a documentary series they are doing on innovation and technology in education. Being that PacRimX is now part of a much larger project, Skoolaborate, we were able to pull off this event in only a few days, much to the relief of the Kyoto Gakuen administration.

Native English Speakers Get Set for Event

To match up pairs of students from Kyoto with native English speaking students we pulled from several sources. My three sons, who helped get PacRimX off the ground almost three years ago (and are now High School seniors) volunteered to help out. We ended up setting up four computers at our house to run this event due to the short window between when they got out of school and when they had to be logged into Second Life (I live almost an hour’s drive away from Modesto). One of my sons went to Kyoto last year and the other two will be going this year as a reward for all their hard work over the past three years with the PacRimX project.

Bryan Waiting for His Partner

Some students from Australia also volunteered to fill in some spots. And both Brad Cornwell (lead teacher from Modesto for both the physical and virtual exchanges) and I also took up the challenge. Two areas were set up on different islands for this event by Chris Flesuras in Kyoto. Unfortunately, since I was participating as a builder, I only got to take screenshots of the area where I was located.

A Teacher Meeting an Hour Before the Event

The request to do this for the TV crew only came this past weekend. This left only enough time to pull together our groups of students to match up with the Kyoto students. There was little time to test out the new Skoolaborate setup, or to do a dry run to make sure everything was stable and that the new expanded rules for this event would flow smoothly. Where in the past we only had the students clone the base platforms via chat, and then they were free to decorate their side of the bridge. This time the entire bridge would have to be built one segment at a time via voice chat, and be symmetrical and identical on both sides. We hoped this would not be too challenging.

A Japanese Student Arriving at the Construction Area

We got our first segments of the bridges set up before any Japanese students arrived. Above is one of the first Kyoto Gakuen students to arrive at her post ready to build. In the past we’ve had to rely on text IM to communicate because of sporadic voice issues with SL (Murphy’s Law). A few hours before this event we thought we were going to have to do that again this time. But a full hour and a half before the event the voice issues cleared up, and Murphy ran away in fear. The SL Gods were definitely smiling on us today.

Bridges Nearing Completion

To our relief, it ended up that the expanded bridge building exercise was not too difficult, the Kyoto students this year have a much better grasp of the English language, and the students were ALL eager to engage in voice chat with each other. The building phase of this exercise went on for close to 45 minutes. In the end we had a nice variety of bridges that all used less than 20 prims each.

Finished Bridges After the Students Moved on to a Video Conference

With the TV crews there, the students quickly exited when the bridges were completed. They had to wrap up the filming and then move on to a video conference with Brad Cornwell (Modesto Teacher). Before logging out, Brad sat atop his flag pole with the Johansen High School Flag and surveyed the view of the completed bridges and exhaled a sigh of relief, as nothing went down during the event and everything went very smoothly.

Brad Cornwell, Teacher, Surveying the Bridges

I was lucky enough to get paired up with a student who was very active last year, and who I met while in Kyoto on the exchange. The first thing he asked me when he opened private voice chat was “Do you remember me?” I said “Of course, you were one of the first accounts I set up last year, and how could I forget your name?” (his avatar’s first name is ‘Crazy’). We would see this question repeated many times later during the video conference between Brad and all of the students in Japan.

Posing with Crazy While Building Our Bridge

Only Text Chat, The Rest All Voice

The Japanese avatars are almost always very different and unique from the American ones. Crazy’s was a mix of geometric shapes, symbols, tweaked body parts, and a skull for a head. I always love seeing the creativity the Japanese students pour into their avatars. Sometimes they are very abstract while at other times they are ultra realistic and sometimes historic in their look.

Variety of Avatars

The first group of students to get on the video conference were alumi from last year’s program. They wanted to say “Hi” to Mr. Cornwell, and most wanted to know if he remembered them from our trip.

Alumni Kyoto Students Went First

It was so good to see these students again after a long summer. We first met these students a year ago last April. They visited in the Summer of 2008, and then went through all of the activities this past year with our students online. And we went and visited them in Kyoto during this past Spring Break. A question asked of each was where they were planning to go to college this year, and if they were ready for their entrance exams.

Next Up Are This Year’s Teachers

After all of the alumni students had their chance to say “Hi”, this year’s teachers got to introduce the new students that will be visiting us in the Summer of 2010. That’s Nick Flesuras, younger brother of Chris Flesuras (co-founder of PacRimX), on the right.

New Students for 2009/10 Year

The new students were very eager to introduce themselves. Each year the students get a little more comfortable and a lot less shy. These guys had us laughing right off the bat by asking if Brad “remembered them”.

Girl’s Turn

After all of the new male students introduced themselves the girls got their turn. They were also not shy and jumped right in asking Mr. Cornwell questions about California, his school, and sharing their eagerness to participate in the program this year.

Last Group of Girl Students

Not wanting to go solo, the last group of girls had three students in it. The girl in the middle spoke very fluent English and finally revealed to us that she had recently returned from living in Texas for three years. She had moved there because of her father’s job, and she very much enjoyed her time in the US and was looking forward to visiting again this next Summer.

This is our third year of the PacRimX program. Every year the students take large leaps in their openness and very few are as shy as many who were in the first program two years ago.

Brad Cornwell Showing Off The New Lab and Equipment

Because of the success of the PacRimX Project, Brad’s classes were moved to new facilities at Johansen High School over the summer. The new classroom has a series of adjoining labs and rooms. This used to be a photo class with darkrooms and labs attached to the main room, now they will all support the video classes. The students will even get to use a “green room” to shoot some amazing video and transport themselves to anywhere in the world (or off world) using green screen video techniques.

Brad and Nick Discussing Upcoming Events

After the students all went back to their morning classes, Brad and Nick discussed events we have planned for the next few months. Nick told us that the students are very excited about the trip next Summer, and that they are very eager to get fully engaged in the program. We have a video conference event planned for early October, the Halloween Party for the last week in October (lots of voice chat and virtual dancing to break the ice), the Jidai Matsuri (Festival of Ages) in November, and our Christmas Gift Exchange via video conference in December. By November we will have identified our group of 30 students for the Spring Break Kyoto Exchange. We will also have a series of video conferences and language lessons sprinkled around in the next four months.

This is the earliest we’ve ever gotten started with student activities. Last year it was late November when we first started recruiting students for the Exchange trip, this year it will be mid October when we start. Each year we get a little better at this, make the events a little bit more challenging, and get a new crop of students that are just a little more excited and a little more prepared to take on the challenges of this program.

I’m looking forward to sharing all of this with all of you as the year progresses. Keep an eye out here for frequent updates. And as you’ve probably noticed by now, I’ve all but stopped posting industry news items or posts on this blog that are not directly related to Skoolaborate or PacRimX. One reason is simply a matter of time, and another is that there are so many other places that cover that kind of news in much more detail than I can provide here.

It’s going to be a great year!

- Stan Trevena, Director of Technology, Modesto City Schools

I want to apologize for how long it took to get all the pictures and information from the Spring Break Kyoto Exchange posted to the blog. I’ve had an extremely busy and trying couple of months. Almost as soon as I returned from this exchange trip my boss was placed on administrative leave. Her contract was just bought out this past week, and she is now no longer with the district. I had to relocate one of my departments to a new facility. We’ve had to plan, cancel, and then replan the Kyoto students visit to Modesto this summer due to travel restrictions enacted by the Japanese Government (I will explain this in a blog post in the morning). And I have had my normal duties as Director of Information and Technology Services for Modesto City Schools to keep me busy in addition to all of these.

There never seems to be enough time. Today I had a fishing trip planned on a long overdue day off.  A sudden change in plans (the person I was going with was unexpectedly hospitalized) left me at home instead of fishing. I decided to take advantage of this window of unplanned time to finally get this blog updated. I sat down at my computer this morning at 9:00am. I took over 1,800 photos while on this exchange.  I spent the day today selecting, editing, and posting pictures and stories from this trip to the blog.  There are so many I left out, but there’s just not enough time or space for them.  I am typing this message at 1:00am.  That’s what I call a full day of updating!

I have been so busy this summer that I have not had time to reflect back on this trip much. Today was an awesome experience for me. It was so much fun to relive the trip by going through and selecting photos and recounting stories for this blog. I really don’t see how this trip could have been any better, from the weather to the sites and the people. Everything was perfect and made this a very memorable experience. This exchange will always hold a special place in my memory, as it was a first for me. It was my first time out of the country. It was my first time organizing and executing a trip of this magnitude for students. And it was my first time going to Japan.

I have made a commitment to myself to learn Japanese before returning this Spring to Kyoto. I am using the Rosetta Stone software to try and expand my Japanese vocabulary. I hope to be able to give my speeches next time in Japanese. I also hope to be a little more self sufficient (and confident) when out and about in Kyoto.

As the students arrived in the morning it became clear that all did not go as planned since the goodbye party. One student had left a camera at the restaurant she had eaten at the night before with her host family. Another student had left her shoes on the train (she had bought new ones at Kyoto Station). One had left her cell phone at her host family’s house. And several other loose ends also needed to be tied up before leaving.

The students were scheduled to tour the temple grounds next to the school this morning to fill time before leaving for the airport.  This was the only activity this week during school hours that the Kyoto students were allowed to get out of class to attend.

While the students and teachers were touring the temple grounds next door to the school, I took one of the student chaperones and headed out to try to recover some of the items left around town the night before by the students. I was also on a mission to return to Bic Camera and pick up another PSP for one of my other sons. He had seen a picture of his brother on Twitter with his new PSP, and decided he wanted one as well.

When I got down to Kyoto Station we had a little time left before we had to be back at the school, we could not resist taking a quick trip to the top of Kyoto Tower. The view from up there was stunning. I definitely need to add this activity to the next trip as a must see for the students.

After securing the packages, we headed back to Kyoto Gakuen. We got back just after they had finished up with lunch (they ate at the school with the students). Having not eaten lunch myself while running around Kyoto that morning, I picked up one of the famous American Dogs at 7/11 by the school to try it for myself.

I must say, not being a big corn dog connoisseur, I was impressed with how good it actually tasted. Not sure if it was just me missing American food after a week away from home, but it was pretty tasty. 

While I was eating my quick lunch, Daniel came over to show me his PSP that he had bought the day before at Bic down at Kyoto Station (a green one).

Time to say Goodbye

The time had finally come. It was time to get in the shuttles and head to Osaka for the airport. Not many wanted to leave their friends at KG. There were lots of hugs between the students as they said their goodbyes. The principal’s assistant said “Awe, they’re really going to miss each other”.  No question about that, as some were already planning to return to Japan on their own for visits next year. 

As we got on the freeway to Osaka it was immediately obvious that some of the students had been out very late the night before with their Kyoto friends.

We made a quick stop halfway to Osaka at a different rest stop than on our trip in. This was the last time we had access to the Japanese vending machines.

Our time was up quickly and it was back in the shuttle and back on the road to the airport in Osaka.

The airport was pretty empty when we arrived. We had no problems unloading our bags and getting into the terminal with time to spare before our flight.

Several students had money left over that they wanted to convert back to dollars before leaving (the fees were a lot less in Japan and in San Francisco for converting currencies).

One student had purchased a lot of food items and got hung up in customs.  I was not there, but other students said it was not a quick check, and that some of the items she had packed were removed from her bags under protest from her.  She came very close to missing the loading of the plane due to the arguments in customs over the contents of her luggage.

Once we had everyone one on the plane and accounted for we breathed our second to last sigh of relief on this trip.

Now we just had to keep ourselves from going mad on the long flight back to the States. Many of the students slept.  It was very odd, we took off from Osaka in the late afternoon.  We flew into the night, were in the dark for a good part of the flight, and then watched the sun rise as we approached our midway point by Alaska.  I can’t sleep on planes, but I had an older Japanese lady from San Francisco that seemed to think my shoulder made a really good pillow.  It was a very long flight home.

Families were waiting for us when we landed in San Francisco.

There were even signs being held up by some to welcome their children back home.

It was only after the last student left with their family that we breathed our final sigh of relief. It has worked. We had pulled it off. We had taken 19 high school students to Kyoto Japan for over a week without incident. We had a great bunch of kids. They were polite, level headed, and stayed on task the whole time they were in Kyoto while still having fun. I can only hope that future exchanges will go as well as this one. I miss Japan and am looking forward to our next exchange during the 2010 Spring Break. We have been asked to bring 30 students next time, since this one went so well. We have already started the planning for the next trip. It can only get better from here as we build more experience in planning these types of exchanges.

Now we have to go back to meeting virtually online until the students come for Summer School. I know most of the Modesto students are anxiously awaiting their three week visit. I also want to thank all the parents as I sign off on this recap of the Exchange. If not for them, this would never have happened. It was their support, their trust, and their children that made this exchange possible. I already have several of the students that went on this exchange that will be 18 next year that have asked to go back as student chaperones. I would say this first PacRimX Exchange Trip was a success. And thank you Mr. Cornwell, I could not have done this without your tireless assistance in the planning and execution of this trip.

And a final Thank You goes out to the School Board and the Administrators who approved this trip and continue to fund the PacRimX/Skoolaborate project. Here’s looking forward to next year!

The next morning we did not have much planned. Our flight was to leave Osaka at 5:00pm. We were leaving the school after lunch to head for the airport. This is a day when the Kyoto students were allowed to stay with the Modesto students through lunch.  First at the camput, then touring the temple next door, and finally sharing lunch together at the school before leaving for the airport.

We all met up in the computer lab used for Second Life and the PacRimX project. There we paired up the students with those coming to Modesto for summer school. Some of the students formed larger groups to talk about the upcoming summer school and their visit to Kyoto.

And here Daniel amazes others with his mastery of Origami.

Here are the teachers that will make the Summer School happen in Modesto.

We had to get a group shot of all the students that had been involved in the PacRimX project for the past year, the Modesto students with the Kyoto Gakuen students coming to Modesto for Summer School.  The Second Life lab seemed to be the most appropriate for such a picture. 

Little did we know that we would not be seeing them as soon as we had planned. But that story is for another blog post.

The goodbye party started in the quad and then moved into the adjacent Café. Upon our return from Kyoto Station we were greeted by the school band. They played the United States National Anthem and then a jazzy tune that got everyone hopping. They were actually very good and had everyone’s attention and applause.

I’ve uploaded a video taken by my son Corey on his camera of their performance of the US National Anthem.

It was at this goodbye party that the Principal, Mr. Sasai, presented us with a beautiful plaque to take back to Modesto to commemorate our trip to Kyoto.

Nathaniel had volunteered to give the farewell speech to the students in Japanese. He decided to have Chris Flesuras Jr. review it before stepping out in front of the assembled group to deliver it.

Here Mr. Sasai and Mr. Cornwell listen to the thank you speech being given to the students and staff of Kyoto Gakuen.

Some of the students were watching from inside the building.

Meanwhile, back in the Café there was quite a spread being prepared for the goodbye party.

As things wrapped up outside students started trickling back into the Café and gabbing some seats for the upcoming entertainment.

Three students performed a song for the group accompanied by guitar.

Next up was one of the teachers who had been our guide more than once the past week performed an Elvis song for everyone.

The students all said their goodbyes and took pictures together.

And when all was said and done, everyone ran out to the quad to take a group picture.

After all the students had left, and all the mess was cleaned up, the Café was eerily quiet. It had been so busy only hours before and had been our meeting place every morning before setting out to see Kyoto each day.

Now all the students were back with their host families for their final night. Many had goodbye dinners planned by their host families. And a large group of them were planning to go out later in the evening to have one last night out on the town together with their friends. Now they only had to get back to the school in the morning, and back on the plane home for this trip to have gone perfectly.

Today was a shopping day for the students. It was the day before we were going home, and the last chance for them to pick up any gifts or souvenirs to take home. We set out walking for the closest train station to Kyoto Gakuen. Our path took us through Myoushin-ji temple grounds.

Once we wound our way through the large temple grounds we were walking through residential neighborhoods.

We all met up at the Hanazono Train Station and purchased our tickets for the trip to Kyoto Station.

The train was pretty crowded this morning (as it probably is every morning). It was a scenic ride on the train that went through many different neighborhoods. This was a view we normally did not see walking down the streets of Kyoto.

Not surprisingly, as soon as we got off the train most everyone headed for Bic Camera, the large electronics store at Kyoto Station that was almost urban legend among the students. This place is seven floors of electronics nirvana. My son Corey had gone the night before on his way to his host family and bought a Japanese PSP handheld game system (yellow). I was now on a mission to acquire a red one for myself. They have many different PSP colors in Japan that are not available in the United States. When we arrive this sign greeted us:

As you can see, most of the waiting students that were with us gathered around a PS3 on display in front of the store playing the latest Final Fantasy game (that was of course not out in the States yet).

When the bell sounded and the store opened, we were surprise to see the clerks lined up on the first floor by the escalators bowing and welcoming everyone into the store.

Of course all the really good stuff that we were all after was all the way on the top floor. It was a race up the escalators to the top floor to see who could find their purchases first. After all, we only had a few hours scheduled here at Kyoto Station and we did not want to spend it all in one store.

Even Mr. Cornwell was getting in on the electronics goodness at Bic.

One of the interesting things we saw in Bic was that all of the books and magazines had string tied around then in different ways to prevent you from reading them in the store.

After Bic Camera everyone pretty much split up and headed out to specific shops that they were interested in around Kyoto Station. We headed for the top of Kyoto Station to see the view from up there.

We had never seen so many stairs and escalators to get to the top of anything before. And these looked like they could handle quite a large capacity of shoppers.

One of the first things we saw when we reached the top was a bullet train getting ready to pull out of the station. I had looked into what a ticket to Tokyo would cost for Sunday (my one day I did not spend with the students). It was more expensive to take the bullet train to Tokyo than it would be to fly, about $135 US each way! But it would make the trip in about two hours (roughly the distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles).

I was surprised to find this sign up there on top of Kyoto Station in front of a really nice little park setting:

It’s always interesting to see ancient and modern architecture side by side in Downtown Kyoto.

We would run into other students all over the Station. Here’s a group that were having lunch at Subway Sandwich, yes another US franchise in Japan. They did have some odd sandwiches on the board.

The group I was with opted for something a little more traditional Japanese.

Here’s something interesting that you saw all over Japan in any public restroom, toilet paper vending machines.

It cost you a bit more than a buck US to buy a small package of folded toilet paper. We had one girl on the trip that became fascinated by the toilets in Japan. Anywhere that we went she had to check out the bathrooms. There are a wide variety of toilets in Japan, some that are not so user friendly with others that are computer controlled.

After lunch we had to backtrack our path and take the train back to the school. We had a going away party to attend. Here’s a shot of my shoes at the entry to the school’s main offices. Shoes get left on the street side of the wood planks. Teachers and students have lockers in the hallway to store their shoes and belongings.

While many of us were a little homesick, this was a bittersweet event. We had to leave our friends and return home to Modesto. It would be three months until they travelled to Modesto to attend Summer School for three weeks. Students were milling around outside starting to say their goodbyes.

I snapped a picture of a really unique looking parking structure across from where I was staying. It reminded me of the toys I played with as a kid. It was a car parking machine. Cars drove in, parked on the platform, and then were slid into slots up in the structure. It was pretty cool and used very little space to store the cars.

My son Corey and I took a trip to the grocery store around the corner from my hotel. He came by after school to check out where his dad was staying.  This grocery store was quite a foreign place to us and was not what we were used to when grocery shopping. We encountered many of the things I had been eating at dinners that week in their native store packaging. Did you know that the Japanese word for octopus is “tako” (pronounced just like taco).  Remember that when ordering food in Japan, or if you have a Japanese exchange student staying with you and you take him to Taco Bell.

These are tiny little raw squid that are usually served in salads or swimming in a green sauce on a plate for an appetizer.

Here I am at the Back to School Teacher’s Dinner with some of these little guys swimming on my plate in a sea of green.

Here’s another plate at the teacher’s dinner with large shrimp, raw salmon, and raw cod I believe.

Back at the grocery store, here’s some grilled squid in a package all ready for taking home and eating (yum!).

My youngest son would have gone nuts in the grocery store. He’s a HUGE Pokemon fan. While the Pokemon craze has really died down in the States, it’s still very much alive and kicking in Japan. There were a bunch of food products with the Pokemon label at the grocery store.

When I got back to my room I snapped a picture of this sign on the other bed in my hotel room. It basically stated that unless you had paid for two beds that this bed could not be unmade, you could not set anything on the bed, have an unauthorized guest, or disturb it in any way without getting charged for using it. You even had to leave the card in a specific location on the bed. The room had no maid service like a regular hotel in the States. You were on your own in cleaning up, taking out the trash, and otherwise maintaining the room.

I did not have anything to do this night. Every other night we either had meetings at the school into the evening or were out at dinner with people from the school. Mickey had a meeting with another school this night, so he could not go out to dinner. I decided that I was going to go on an adventure. The next day we were taking the students to Kyoto Station. I decided to grab my phrase book, my Blackberry and my coat and head out to try to find Kyoto Station on my own (silly American tourist).

I always try to use my technology to back myself up in case I get in a bind. Whenever I’m in a foreign place that I am not familiar with I snap a picture. This always helps in case you get lost and need to ask someone how to get back to where you started. Now that I have a GPS phone, I also mark a waypoint where I start out on any adventure. Here’s my picture from the bus stop where I got on outside my hotel.

The most recognizable landmark by Kyoto Station is the Kyoto Tower on the top of Kyoto Tower hotel. I had seen it almost every day that I had been in Kyoto, but this was the first time I had seen it at night. It was quite the sight to see.

I went into Kyoto Station after wandering all around outside (taking a ton of pictures) and got the lay of the land. It was absolutely HUGE, as big as any large airport terminal with several shopping centers attached. It’s very easy to get lost. I was quite surprised when I went up to an information booth and found that the staff spoke perfect English.

I spent some time walking around the train and subway departure stations, and even took a peek at the bullet train as it pulled into the terminal. After snagging a few maps and trying out Mr. Doughnut (people had been raving about it all week) I headed back out to the bus area to catch my bus back to my hotel.

It appeared that many of the buses were stopping their runs for the evening; it was getting close to 11:00pm. I hopped on what I thought was the bus I came in on. It was the same number but a different colored number. Since everything is in Japanese, the stops all sounded similar and the streets were looking kind of familiar. Then all of a sudden the announcement said “Next stop, Kyoto School of Pharmacy”. That was not familiar at all. I pulled out my phone and started up Google maps. I was definitely going in the wrong direction, heading almost in the opposite direction of my hotel. I pushed the button, got off the bus and waved down a taxi. I flashed the picture of my bus stop and we were off. 2,000 yen later (about $20) I was back at my hotel ready to turn in for the night.  It was definitely an adventure. 

I was now prepared for morning and our trip to the Kyoto Station with our students.

After lunch we hopped in a bus and headed out to a temple to learn how to meditate.  We really were not sure what we were going to encounter on this trip. 

The streets were very busy and the rain was coming down on our trip to the temple. We were glad to get there after a pretty short drive.

We were welcomed in by a Buddhist priest that would be our teacher for this class. It was a very small room with a lot of wood.  The floors were covered in tatami matts.  There were also small pillows arranged around the outer part of the room. 

The monk was very patient and instructed us in the techniques required for meditating. One thing he told is was not to close our eyes completely during our meditation or we might fall asleep.  Not many of us were ready for the flexibility required for this type of thing.  I remember he saying that if we felt pain during our meditation that we should focus on that pain to make it go away. 

A few of the students were well versed in the ways of meditation.

After learning the techniques we meditated for a half hour. I thought that it was going to be a long time to expect the students to focus, but we made it through almost without incident.  There was a light rain falling outside that added a very soothing sound to the atmosphere of the temple. 

Afterwards we had tea and a special waffle cookie (that was awesome).

Before leaving we took a group picture with the priest for Twitter.

I woke the next morning to rain off my balcony. And the temperature had definitely dropped from the previous days into the upper 60’s.

Today was the day that the students were spending the morning attending classes with the Kyoto students. We would then go later in the day to a temple and learn how to meditate.

My walk to the school this morning was a wet one. Thankfully I had brought a lightweight outer shell that I usually use when hiking. It kept me very dry and cool during my walk to the school.

I saw another uniquely decorated flat on my way to school that morning with some nice pots and bikes out at the curb. In California it’s unlikely any of these plants would last a single night out like this. And the bikes were not locked! It’s amazing what you can do with a public space when people have respect for personal property.

I finally got to the school and saw all the students running to school with their umbrellas.

As I had seen every morning, the principal Mr. Sasai was out with his umbrella greeting the students as they arrived at school.

Another example of premium space can be seen in the teacher offices, or lack thereof. All of the teachers are in a single room with rows of desks. They each have a very small and basic metal desk that delineates their work space. There’s only enough space to walk between the desk rows, no more.  There are a number of foreign teachers at Kyoto Gakuen and some of them tack their country’s flag above their desks in this office.

Mr. Kuromiya had a desk that was set off by itself at the other end of the room with some cabinets behind it, as did a few of the other directors and vice principal. The only person with a private office was Mr. Sasai the principal. He also had a very nice sitting area in his office to accomodate guests.

This morning the students were trickling in like rain from the sky, very slowly. Everyone was experiencing public transportation in the rain, along with all the delays that came with it. They gathered in the café as they did every morning and tried to dry out before classes started.

Our first class of the day was Japanese calligraphy. We were taught some basic scripts and then given supplies to make some scrolls to take home with us. The class was over far too quickly.  I had wished we had more time to do our scrolls.  I now have mine hanging in my office at work.

After this class we split up and the students and they went to different classes. All were expected to participate, and several had to speak to their classes about their experiences on this trip and about back home. Other Kyoto students shared stories from their visit to Modesto last year for summer school/

In this class they were playing a card game that required the use of English. Some of the students needed to use translators.

And some were sharing tips as they learned the game.

In another classroom down the hall each of the students were sharing stories about themselves and their homes back in California.

In this class one Kyoto student stood up and told a story from his trip to Modesto.  He was larger and taller than most all of the other students.  He said that what he liked most about America was that he could go into any clothing store and find things that fit him.  He said that there was so much to choose from and so many styles.  He said when he was in America he felt normal, something he did not feel in Japan.  I was a bit saddened by this story, but it did shed some light on Japanese culture and clothing.

Here is a shot of the entry for the Gym. You can see the area where people have to remove their shoes. You take your shoes off on the tile, step onto the wood, and then take out a pair of indoor shoes/slippers and put in your shoes. On this day many were left on the tile as they were wet.

Five of the students had martial arts training and were allowed to participate in a Judo class in the Dojo. I think the Kyoto students were a bit surprised when one of the Modesto girls stepped forward and suited up for class. 

Others watched on from the sideslines as the exercises and stretching started the class.

This was a full contact exercise, and the students got to go through all the drills with the Kyoto students. They were even allowed to practice some throws with the Kyoto students.

While all of this was going on, the rest of the students were downstairs playing dodge ball.

My son Corey snuck off and saw the PacRimX Second Life computer lab. We had always seen it through the lens of the video conferences. It was pretty cool to finally be on the other side of the lens.

Here the two of us pose in front of the wall in the lab.  Pictures from the islands over the past few years adorn the walls along with copies of media stories about the PacRimX project.  The morning drew to an end and we had to get ready to hop a bus and head for our meditation session.