The international club known as Rotary promotes yearly travel that all people between the ages of 26 and 40, male and female, and of all backgrounds - should know about - because it is a Rotary-funded six week study aboard and anything can apply to be a part of this necessary life experience. If you are this age group - you could enjoy the kind of contact that is described in my notes in this article. To find out more about the agenda go to the international Rotary website and search for Gse - Group Study exchange - and contact your local Rotary Club for more information.
Our adventures continued:
News From Japan
May 5th - Thursday:
It's a free day today - we're winding down - and my hosts understand that my favorite spot is the hot springs - so Takafumi, Aoi and I went to Seiryu. I have three favorite spots in the pools - and today the third spot is laying in the shallow hot springs water resting back on a log that works as a upholstery for a rest. There is a large wall of rocks beyond this pool - that make the soothing sound of falling waters. We had massages - and lunch. This evening we went to see Moe's ballet doing (she's 14) and danced beautifully - and there is nothing cuter than the wee three foot Japanese girls - in ballet slippers, hair pulled back with ribbons, and a pink tutus - charming.
May 6th - Friday:
Magazines read backwards in Japan - Cities often have ferris wheels, some built on the top of buildings high above the streets - and gas pump hoses hang down from above the cars in the gas stations. Where has it gone?? - these five weeks when we've had so much to see, learn, do - and enjoy. Where?? - it was the first week, and seemed like we were planning to be in Japan for a long time - and now gosh, the final day of the Gse team experience. So many friendships, host families, pictures, experiences, funny moments, cherry blossoms, good drink and food - so much to be remembered as we were upon this final day. Plans were being made for travel. Julia heading home - Antonio, Harry and Monica off to Tokyo - and I was development Kyoto plans with the Tanaka's and Ai.
I went with Aoi in the morning to have hair washed at the shop - and discovered how much was nearby were my host family lived - big agency store, the small Japanese streets, so colorful, and filled with one after an additional one of vendors selling sweets, meats, vegetables bustling with people. At 1Pm each of the team checked back into the Grand Hotel - and I noticed that what seemed so foreign for our first night's stay, now seemed so familiar. What stirred me to feel like a stranger and wonder how I would manage - had turned into an adventure of the human spirit that eased any concerns - and substituted them with a photograph book of joys. Ria and I popped back to where I had started - for a cup of coffee at Starbucks - and made plans for her daughter, Aoi, to home stay with me in the States. I've learned how much the Japanese value international contact - and I consideration how enriched my life is to have international friends. Dr. Funakoshi came by to pick us all up - once more dressed in team blue blazers and finding like sharp Americans - we headed out the front door of the Hotel. Two blocks away are three big agency stores, Iwataya, Daimaru and Mitsukoshi - they all associate private - spanning the three blocks below - with what is the most astonishing array of foods that you have ever seen. Want to buy a mango for - a perfectly grown, sweet one - Japanese sweets of so many - any kind of meat or fish? - they are all there. Each agency store has dissimilar things - so it's a must to catch them all - we walked for over an hour to gaze at the fare - all beautifully displayed to entice you. Dr. Funakoshi stopped to treat us to a former Japanese dessert, of two sweet pancake sides enclosing sweet beans flavored with honey - yummy. We stopped for cold green tea - and then for a visit to his dental clinic. Today - being our last Gse team day - the Nishinippon Newspaper prepared an article for their paper about the team. We visited the newspaper to see Nobuyuki Tanaka, who is on the Gse team arrival to the U.S. And is a Staff Writer in the City News Section -- and he gave us a tour of the offices. Then Hikaru Shimizu, Chairman of the Board of the Nishinippon Newspaper Co. And a Rotarian, met and talked with us.
Ahhh....packing - how is it all going to fit in the suitcase - not - have to give some away - presents from friends to take home - turn of clothes for the party and wrap up of packing. Five-thirty - and time to be in the lobby - for the night's celebration of our Gse contact together. Aahhh....how to part - with all that we've shared. The party was at the Café in the Park - down on the river - in a room where we could all be together - and a cozy pouring rain outside. Gifts - host families there - the incoming Japanese Gse team - the Gse Japanese committee - District Governor and past District Governors, and others who translated and shared our contact - maybe 80 people - and glad to see people we knew along the way as our team traveled through the dissimilar areas in the District. Speeches in Japanese - to us in English - and much to be said. Izumi spoke for the Japanese Committee - and I spoke for our team. It's tough to make a speech - with so much genuine,sincere emotion -and wait for translation at good points - and I had three things to cover: that the gift that the Japanese had given our team was that they changed our lives forever (we could only think bigger with this generosity and international experience), that what I had learned personally was that as people "we are so much the same, and at the same time, so dissimilar (example, when I go to a Rotary Club meeting I know exactly what is going on because it is the same, and yet it is in a language that I don't understand), and third, that Paul Harris had a vision that lead to us to being here (the Rotary gift) and as my message has been "we should contain all smart people who share a concern" (men, women, Japanese etc.) to give the gift of Rotary freely...it is a fine force to grow in a troubled world. I thanked our Japanese hosts for the perfect job that they did, the financial offering that their District makes to have it be a great experience, and assured that their team would be in perfect hands with us in America. The District Governor, Mr. Tachibana spoke - he's funny - and also Mr. Takamoto - and this trip has been important to their connection with our District. Hisa is arranging for the Ogori Rotary Club to be a sister Club to the Los Gatos Morning Club - great idea - and three of the Club's members will come to visit our Club. They done this party with the Oh Rotary song (never have I heard that one in America) - and the former hand clap.
As you can guess - one party always leads to an additional one here - and The Tachibana's had arranged for the next one - with all of us who had enjoyed each other so much - to be at an "oldies" bistro - whiskey and ice on the table, lots of food - and a angle reserved for us to listen to the 60's music - and dance - yes, a lot - and the Governor was dancing wild and crazy - and all the teams - and those who lead - and it went on late into the night - fun and good to shake nearby freely as we all crowded onto the dance floor. There has been nothing but good will on this trip - and the American team has done an perfect (each one of them has been terrific) job. Now the birds fly off in dissimilar directions -thankful for the people who make up Rotary and see the world with generous eyes.
This article concludes a series of fourteen articles -- on happy travels in Japan. Check with your local Rotary Club about participating in a Gse contact -- it's once in a lifetime to treasure.
Japan voyage - Rotary Group Study exchange Goes to Japan, record Fourteen to terminateMy Links : todays world news headlines
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