One Week?!?

I apologize but I am still fighting with the computers here. It seems as though the school's internet access is locked down even more tightly than Cedar Rapids'. I cannot seem to convince it to let me upload photos or videos quite yet. If I don't get it to work by tomorrow, I will start e-mailing them or searching for another solution. In the mean time... here is the post with notion of where the pictures would be.

It sure doesn’t seem like a week since we left Iowa but here we are! Starting tomorrow, I am going to have the students do our blog, but until then, I will try to catch you up on our comings and goings.

Weighing on us all is the work that we cannot join in on back in Cedar Rapids. As we flew over on our way to Chicago, here is a part of what we saw. A day does not go by when we don’t think of the clean-up efforts back home. (cr flood picture here)

Among the other things we saw from the airplane… an Alaskan glacier and Mt. Fuji!! Mt. Fuji gave us a wonderful welcome to Japan. (Alaska glacier and mt. fuji here)

Koyo is in a very beautiful part of Japan and we can see views of the ocean from many places. (Koyo ocean)

The students are all settling in with their hosts. It is quite fun to watch them interact. The negotiation of language is extraordinary and I think both are learning a great deal. I am very proud of them and it fills me with joy to see them having so much fun. Here are the students and their hosts:

David and Saaya

Sarah-Elizabeth and Makoto


Wes and Masachika

Madeline and Fuka
Doug and Riri
Gabby and Tomoyo

Elizabeth and Kanae

Lauren and Erina

Jake and Naoki


During the first couple of days, the students had a lunch with all students who have participated in the Washington-Koyo Program over the years as. Here are some photos of that luncheon.

Students also participated in gym classes:
(Sarah gym, david pe) and here we are hanging out after school. Can you believe this was at 6:00 p.m.!! Kids are still at school at that time of night!

Despite limited internet access on weekends and at night, I am able to access e-mail during the school day. From that I was able to print off an e-mail from Wes’s mom telling him that he is now an uncle!! You can see here that not only was he excited about the news, but he was also overjoyed to share with Masachika.

(wes uncle photos here)

This week we will be doing a lot of touring. Undoubtedly, you will be seeing many photos of Okinawan historical and tourist sights.

Until then…. じゃね！(see you later)