Day Two

DAY TWO (06/09/08, 10:30am)

Scanning the crowd in the large conference room of the Sheraton Gateway Hotel yesterday afternoon, I noticed that many people looked familiar from the JFMF cohort website. I recalled their enthusiastic introductions on the listserv and remembered that for some people, being here means leaving their children and spouses behind for three weeks. For others it means traveling to another country for the first time. The participants in this program range in age from their early 20s to their late 60s, from kindergarten teachers to high school teachers offering specialized classes such as dental technology or interior design. A woman I met earlier comes from a tiny village in Alaska that can only be reached by plane. I’ve traveled more than some here and a lot less than many others. I couldn’t possibly afford a trip like this one though, and I am particularly excited by the chance to go into the schools, to stay with a host family for a night, and to go beyond a purely tourist experience of Japan and to gain a window into what daily life is like for the people living there.

I had the chance to meet many others last night at the reception dinner held for us at the consulate general’s house in San Francisco. While dining on delicious Japanese food, we chatted about where we are from, what we teach, how exhausted and excited we are.

Now, we are all waiting now in the lobby of the Sheraton Gateway hotel, waiting for our bus to the airport as models strut down runways on flat-screen TVs hanging on the lobby walls. I’m happy to finally be meeting some of my fellow JFMFers in person, especially my city group with whom I will be spending a week in Tanabe. Cheers to being that much closer to Japan! Kampai!