GSE Team Journal - November 14 2008
 Mr. Ito's Grandkids |
11/15 -- This was a “professional day” for the D6600 GSE Team in Japan. We went separate ways: Stephanie to a mental hospital, Kevin to a landscaping company, and Summer to a grade school. Chris and I were driven to Meijo University (I don’t quite understand how, but I was told that “Meijo” means Nagoya Castle.). It is a large private institution, the equivalent of maybe Northwestern University in the USA. full story |
GSE Team Journal - November 13, 2008
 |
11/14 -- After meeting in the lobby of the Tokyu Hotel this morning we visited the top Shinto shrine in Aishi Prefecture, the 1900 year-old Atsuta Jingu. There was an obligatory welcoming tea, then a walking tour of the shrine by one of the young priests who said he had lived in Rochester, NY, for a while as a child.. Our first stop was at the main shrine, which is in process of remodeling. We watched another priest perform a ritual, then were led inside the gates, where I was selected to perform another ritual. I’m not sure of its purpose – I only remember laying a leafy stem on the altar, bowing twice, clapping hands twice and bowing a third time. I assume I didn’t screw it up too badly because we all were allowed to down a small shot of sake at the end. full story |
GSE Team Journal - November 12, 2008
 Sushi Dinner |
11/13 -- It’s Wednesday, the middle of our second week in Japan. When we met about 9:00 in the Tokyu Hotel Lobby, everyone was healthy, even Summer who visited a doctor yesterday and was given pills that helped her vertigo. We separated into two groups and headed for a village with a 400-year tradition of tie-dying. One group, led by the Rotarian owner of a tie-dying factory, took the train and arrived first. “Nick,” a guy that I had met the previous night at a sushi dinner, drove our group there. full story |
GSE Team Journal - November 11, 2008
 Nagoya Castle |
11/13 -- After breakfast with my host family, Mr. Ito and I took a taxi to the Tokyu Hotel to meet the rest of our GSE Team. We arrived twenty minutes early to find Stephanie had arrived an hour earlier. She said she would much rather have spent that extra hour sleeping than waiting in the lobby. Kevin arrived last and immediately changed into the “uniform” he had left in the lobby the night before because this was the day we were to meet with government officials. full story |
Also Inside
GSE Team Journal - November 10, 2008
GSE Team Journal - November 9
GSE Team Journal - November 8, 2008
GSE Team Journal - November 6, 2008
GSE Team Journal - November 4, 2008
GSE TEAM Journal - November 3, 2008
MESA Steering Committee Meeting to be held at Castaway Bay
Group Study Exchange Team arrives in Japan
