Hello, newcomers!

Those just tuning in to this blog and wanting the whole story: be sure to start with the "Archives" links over to the left. All the old posts are there.

Thanks!

There's no place like home

After about 16 hours of travel and living through Thursday, June 29 twice....

I AM HOME!

Eva is sitting on my lap as I type this and Eli is trying to climb on the bed.

Daddy-san is pretty happy.

Sayonara

This is actually one of the first pictures I took in Japan, all of us waiting at Narita airport to board our busses. It seems like such a short time ago, but my life has changed dramatically since then! It will take me a long time to process all that I have experienced. Taking my first trip out of the country has been amazing! To visit a culture so different from ours only to find so many similarities... what an experience.
For now, I will just thank those of you who have been reading and sending me messages. Other than one phone call, this has been my "link" to home! I really appreciated all of the communication you sent by email and comments.
Tomorrow, I can "look forward" to all of that airport/airplane stuff. A lot of waiting and wishing I could stretch my legs and get comfortable! But at the end of it all is my family that I have missed so much!
I will continue to use this blog to help record my experiences as I move into the next phase of the JFMF experience, the follow-on plan. Now my task is to take my experiences and translate them into my classroom and my community. I think the biggest impact will just be in my personal worldview. The world has gotten much bigger, and yet much smaller to me all at the same time.
This will be my last blog post from Japan. Sayonara!

(I fly out about 24 hours from now. Then, due to all the time change weirdness. I will arrive in St. Louis two hours later.) 

.... the rest of the story

Tim-san did a much better job of recounting the last couple of days than I did. Plus, he tells the heart-rending tale of my Happy Cat tragedy. Read all about it at his blog.

Ka ra o ke!!!!

Yes, my friends, our return to the Akasaka Prince Hotel was heralded with a bit of Karaoke! (Make you you pronounce it the Japanese way: Kah-rah-oh-kay) Tim, Pam, Maria, and I rented our little karaoke room and sang our little hearts out. As you can see, the Happy Cats also got in on the action. There were maracas to shake and tambourines to jangle, and two microphones to share all in our own little private Karaoke paradise. Sadly, though, there was no "Sweet Caroline" on the playlist. They did, however, have a respectable listing of Tom Jones. A good time was had by all. Probably the most fun four sober Americans have ever had in that place! 

"Mt. Fuji so shy"

100_1143
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

This quote from our group coordinator, Moko-san, proved to be true. Mt. Fuji hid behind the clouds on the two days that we could have seen it. However, we did spend a lot of time driving up, down, and around some other mountains that were equally impressive. We also visited Lake Hakone, which you can view in the flickr photos.

These mountains, valleys, and lakes are all the result of Japan's volcanic past!

Room Service

100_1207
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

Shortly after we checked in, this lady appeared in our room to make me and Tim-san some hot green tea. Yummy!

Later, another young lady came in to make sure we had our yukatas. I tried mine on, and then she began talking very animatedly about "three L, three L" which I soon gathered was the size she wanted to go get me. She returned with it shortly.

Later, when I was dressed in my yukata, I passed her in the hall. She smiled, clapped and said "Awwww.... Buddha! Buddha!"

I'm not making this up.

Ready for our meal

100_1212
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

Here's me and Pam-san about to... ummm.... enjoy our ryokan dinner. The yukatas were provided, and I think that the over-things are hapi coats? Not sure, I'll have to look it up. Anyway, we all looked pretty spiffy in them.

Pam and I were adventurous eaters together... I think we both surprised ourselves. But, as she and I have been saying: "It's a new adventure!"

(Brooke, notice the lights?)

PS - Hello to Pam's family if you're still reading the blog!

Under the Sea

100_1252
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

I named this little guy "Sebastian" much to the amusement of my dinner-mates. He tasted a little bit like meaty popcorn. Can you believe I ate it?

(Sorry, Sebastian!)

Fear Factor: Tokyo

100_1261
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

I commented before this meal that I had not yet eaten anything in Japan that was raw. Well, I crossed that hurdle during the meal. One of my other rules was that I wouldn't eat anything that was looking at me. As you can see, Mr. Fish here was very life-like in appearance. I turned him over so he wouldn't see me trying him out. You can check my flickr photos for proof that I actually ate most of his mid-body.

Ryokan

100_1286
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

This picture was taken outside our ryokan, which is a Japanese hot spring resort. You know how in meditation they ask you to picture a serene place? Well I am all stocked up on my imagery now for the rest of my life. This place was incredible. I must say that I enjoyed the hot springs not once but THREE times. So relaxing.

Plus, the surroundings of this place were just incredible. We were in the mountains, which were draped in this hazy fog. So picturesque!

Prayer

100_1300
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

Today I did something that I'd been wanting to do since my first temple visit: I left a prayer at a temple. I'm not even sure what these are called, but they are little decorative pieces of wood that people write their prayers and wishes on. Many are left by students hoping to do well on their entrace exams.

I liked the idea of leaving something behind here in Japan. So I purchased a plate and wrote my prayer: "Health and happiness for the Clubbs and Hildebrand families." I signed it "Peace from USA." I don't know how long they stay up, but I can only hope it stays for a long while.

My wonderful host family

My wonderful host family
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

I really couldn't have had a nicer homestay family. They were so good to me!

From left: Taichi (23), Hitoshi, Noriko, and Kana (19).

They were so generous and friendly. I'll never forget that wonderful experience of trying all that delicious Japanese food! You all would have been so proud of me. There was nothing that I didn't like, with the exception of the tofu. Some of the things I could have had second helpings of.

Today, Kana recommended that we eat at Mos Burger, since she found out that I am fond of burgers. It's her favorite chain in Japan. I had a delicious teriyaki buger. One of their combo options was a little fries & onion rings together. Why hasn't this caught on in the US?

Tokyo Bay was beautiful at night. Make sure you check out the photo of me with the mini-Statue of Liberty.

I really had a great time with them. Tomorrow we see an exhibition at the city hall and then we'll have a discussion with the PTA. Then it's off to Hakone and our visit to the ryokan. We'll stay overnight there for one last night as a small group. Then it's back to Tokyo where all 200 of us JFMFers will be convening again. Tuesday night we'll have some free time (which I'm sure will include much final souvenir shopping). I must do karaoke at some point before I leave! It will happen, people! (Hopefully they have Neil Diamond songs here... or maybe some Tom Jones, perhaps?)

I'm just sitting here basking in what an amazing experience it has been. It's truly a life-changing kind of thing, I think. My big goal is to try to "give back" now that I have been blessed with this gift from the people of Japan. I'm thinking an exchange student is definitely in our future some time, Brooke. What do you think?

It's going to be so hard not to be "Mr. Japan Expert" when I get home. I was discussing this with my host family. I have to remember not to make so many generalizations about things, since essentially I have only visited Tokyo and a suburb, and three schools. I haven't seen it all. But I have so many positive impressions of Japan. I'm just so grateful for the opporunity that I've had.

Precious sleep!

Wow. I guess I needed some rest. I slept until noon at my homestay! Luckily, the family slept in too so they weren:t just sitting around waking for me to wake up. I think they sort of take it easy on Sundays. More tonight. Love to all!

Homestay

My homestay has been great so far. It:s bedtime here and they had a full day planned for me. It started with lunch... salad and spaghetti followed by a cherry pie... very comforting and sweet of them! Then we drove into Tokyo to visit the Meiji temple. We had a dinner reservation at an awesome restaraunt... I got to try so many new things and there was only one that I didn:t like (tofu). Then we went down to the Tokyo Bay area, which was beautiful! I:m having a very good time. The only drawback is that I forgot to take my camera when we went out! They took some pictures with their camera phone though and will send them to me. OK, I:ll check in again tomorrow night when I get back to the hotel. Then Monday it:s off to the ryokan!

Junior High Visit / Final Phase

JH Show & Tell
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

We made our final school visit yesterday at the Junior High.

The day started with a welcome assembly and continued with classroom visits all day. I admire the way they just let 20 Americans just roam freely around their school. What a distraction we must be. We're a classroom management nightmare!

I enjoyed interacting with the kids, and gave out some more homemade Jackson postcards. My "homeroom" class that I started the day with and ate lunch with also made cards for me to take back. They are so cool!

Our visit was followed by an evening of exploring some new streets with Tim, Pam, and Maria. We had to laugh at how difficult it was to try to explain how Maria wanted french fries instead of a baked potato, but she eventually got her desire! Another trip to visit my new friend Mister Donut rounded out the evening.

I retired early, since I was pretty exhausted! I kept wondering why I was tired, but then realized that I'd walked around a school for 8 hours and then around Itabashi for 3 hours.

Now, we are entering the final phase of the trip. Today (Saturday) we check out of this hotel and spend the night with our host family. We'll return to this hotel for Sunday night, which we have free. Then on Monday, we leave here headed for our stay at the ryokan (hot springs resort). Our is in Hakone, which I've been told is in a valley near Mt. Fuji. Oh, how I am hoping to see Fuji-san! We stay there Monday night, and then it's back to the Prince hotel on Tuesday. Wednesday we have our final presentations and sayonara buffet. Thursday I fly out for San Francisco, and eventually.... home!

It's amazing how much we've fit into this time, but it does seem to have gone by quickly. I'm not going to think about how sad I will be to leave or how happy I will be to get home, because I might get emotional about both!

This might be my last post until Sunday night, since I probably won't blog at my host family's. So everybody take care and thanks so much for those comments and emails.

Lost in Translation

Oh, one other funny thing and then I'm going to bed:

At lunch, when I was talking to the young lady, I was showing her all of the things on the Jackson postcard. One of them is Rocky Holler and there's a picture of a trailer with hay because they do hay rides.

Now try to think about explaining "hay ride" to someone who doesn't speak much English. Gestures can't really help you there.

I asked Toshie, your interpreter, to come over and help.

When the translation was done, they girl spoke. Toshie translated her puzzled response back:

"This is fun for you?"

My Speech

Well, it turns out that I delivered my "speech" over the intercom this morning. On the one hand, that made me much less nervous. However, that would have been a really awesome photo op. I'm still really glad I got to do it. Here's what I ended up saying:

Students and staff of Kitazono High School:

On behalf of my fellow teachers, thank you for opening your school to us. Since arriving in your country nine days ago, we have been overwhelmed by the kindess and generosity shown to us.

We come here today and wish you peace and happiness on behalf of our families, our communities, and our country.

When we arrived in Itabashi, your mayor presented us with a gift of calligraphy which read, "Learning is a life long process." While we are in Japan, we hope to live up to this, larning as much as we can about your country and your culture. We are fascinated by things are large as your government and education system and as small as your supermarkets and pachinko parlors.

Today during our visit, we want you to feel free to talk to us. Ask us questions that you might have about the United States. We will do our best to teach you what we can. And as we interact with you today, observing your everyday activities at school, you will certainly be teaching us as well.

Today, we are all teachers. (Kiyowa menaga sensei des.)

Thank you very much.

Drama Club

Drama club kids
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

At the high school, there are many after school club activities that take place every day. I was amazed at how many of the kids participate, how long they stay, and how little they are supervised. I asked around until I found the drama club. They were so similar to my kids: some all "drama queeny" and some kind of shy and awkward but wanting to try. They started out with tounge twisters (very fun to listen to in Japanese... all Japanese sounds like that to me) and then moved on to some improvs. Here, they are basically playing "props." They just gathered up crap from the room and used it in a scene. After each scene and activity, they would kneel on the floor and receive comments from their colleagues in the audience. It was very cool to watch. Again, very universal. I watched them for probably an hour and there was never a teacher in the room. We were able to talk a little bit and when I told them they were "very funny" they acted like I had given them each a thousand bucks. So cute!

My lunch buddy

My lunch buddy
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

At Kitazono High School, the kids were much more reserved than at the Elementary in terms of how they dealt with us. They did not really seek us out. Instead, they sort of avoided us. But at lunch, we did manage to strike up some conversations.

The scrapbook that Brooke made for me helped a lot. This young lady though my kids were "so cuuuuuuute." Her other impression was "WOW! BIG house!" When I showed her the kids' rooms, she was also impressed that they got "own room." She was excited to tell me that she's going to see Mission Impossible on Sunday.

The instruction at the high school level was a bit more of what I expected to see: teacher the front of the room lecturing, with students in rows taking notes. The biggest difference between us and them is the class size! Some had as many as 40 students in one class, with the norm seeming to be about 36. Wow. Guess I shouldn't complain any more.

Postcards from Jackson

Worth the trip by itself
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

Delivering the postcards made by students from Jackson to the kids at Kanazawa Elementary School was so much fun. They kids were just absolutely delighted and it was so touching to see them trying their best to read the cards and enjoy the pictures. But they all acted like they were precious material! They immediately began giving me presents back! Making that connection bewtween Jackson and Itabashi was so cool. Again and again, I am drawn more to our similarities than our differences. These kids are really no different from our kids. Same with the teachers and the education system. Sure, there might be some differences here or there, but the stereotype that we have of the Japanese and "how they do things" in their schools is just absolutely not true. Walking down the halls of their schools looks and sounds just like ours. It's really amazing.

My calligraphy lesson

My calligraphy lesson
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

I wasn't very good, but hey... you've gotta start somewhere.

Serving lunch in the classroom

Serving lunch in the classroom
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

In Japanese elementary schools, the cafeteria workers cook the food and then bring each classroom a cart with the food, dishes, and serving utensils... and then they promptly leave! The students then suit up and serve one another lunch. They did this with almost no prompting or supervision from the teacher. The amount of responsibility that the kids have and how well they carry out their tasks was very impressive. Lunch time was an absolute delight! After lunch, the kids all take care of their own dishes and then clean up the classroom, right down to getting on their hands and knees with little brooms to sweep. It was all very impressive.

Peace

Too cute
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

This is my first real "group photo" shot that I took of Japanese kids. You have to love the looks on each of their faces. They were wonderful kids, so full of energy and ready to try to talk to me. They all wanted to say "My name is _____. Nice to meet you." You could tell they had practiced so hard, just like I had practiced "Watashi wa Missouri no Bob Clubbs desu."

I wish we could give these kids a world of peace. They deserve it.

My favorite photo from Japan

One of my favorite photos from Japan
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

OK, I know this is really sad, but this is my favorite picture from Japan so far. It makes me laugh until I cry every time I see it. I was all excited to try Mister Donut, so Pam-san was kind enough to be my photographer. Well the exact instant the camera flashed, this lady came flying out of the Mister Donut and tried to duck down. The look of fear on her face is so priceless. She is trying with every ounce of her being to get out of the shot, but it is too late. Ahhhh, good times. Good times.

(If you have a fast connection, I believe it is worth the time to see the picture in its larger version.)

Seriously, though, it does illustrate how hard the Japanese try to be polite. They are wonderful that way.