Today's reporters are Leah H and Grant.
We woke up by a wake up call at 6:15. At 7:00 we have to go down the 2nd floor to get our temperature checked for health check. This is very new for me and slightly weird thing in Japan. :( The temperature checks are twice a day (morning and evening). We have to stick a thermometer under our armpit and measure and write out our temperature in Celsius. Also when someone is sick they all have to wear surgical masks, and you can see surgical masks everywhere you go. Japanese people really like their health!
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| Sendai Ark Hotel |
After breakfast we went to the convenient store. It was different from America. Because there was the usual food, bread, water, pop etc ... but there also lot of different kinds of tea. Of course all of the stuff had Japanese written on it so it was hard to tell what was what.
Speaking of the not knowing what was what, Sheyengphia bought lotion at the convenient store, and at the meeting she passed it around and all the girls had it on their hands. Then they found out it was face wash cream. Sensei finally read the title and found it out. Everyone's reaction was hilarious.
We rode the bus with students from Kansas. We got to meet and share our experiences so far, a friend from there was an amazing harmonica player and our group from Memorial had singers so we sang some songs on the bus ride to the meeting.
Ms. Suwabe is the the leader of Sendai project. She belongs to the JICE (This section will introduce JICE (Japan International cooperation CEnter). The JICE organized the Sendai visit. The meeting was at the community center of Sendai City. We viewed the video of what happened on March 11, 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami occurred. We realized that how this incident was awful, scary and horrible.
Ms. Suwabe told us a few messages from people in the disaster affected areas, like "don't for get us, dont' for get what happened that day, and don't for get that we are still struggling.' that quote truly hit me personally. Because it has been two year since the tsunami hit Japan and they are rebuilding, but the media has moved on to the next thing and left all the Left over ones sitting on the rubble. We can't forget what happened and people. Also we can 't forget that we still need to help.
We also learned about the places we will visit. One site will we will be visiting is Okawa elementary school. This school is where the single most devastating loss of life for children occurred. Of the 108 children who went to Okawa, a staggering 74 children were swept away by the brutal March 11 tsunami. The cries of pain were intense, and sadly by early 2012 four children still had not been found and the search continues. It was quite sad to see the immense damage the tsunami brought, but it showed the rebuilding effort in those places so it gave me some hope. She concluded the orientation saying that when we come back to America we need to share the information we learned to show America what is really happening in Japan.
More information here:
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/life_and_death/AJ201104251259
After the orientation ended we had Obentoo box lunch. The box consisted of miso soup, rice, carrots, tempura, salad, eggplant, fish, harumai noodle, fishcakes, spinach and vegetable.
Leah: And now we have a little bit free time ( yeah!). It's nice to get out side for a bit, the weather here in Sendai is perfect! I wonder what everyone things of us, walking around taking pictures of veding machines and street signs. Oh well, everything in Japan looks cools to us. I just attempeted to opreate a vending machine, it was going quite poorly until a kind random Japanese lady helped me . Apparently there was an additonal button I had failed to press.... Well I have tea now.
In the afternoon we watched a presentation by Etuko Satake, a victim of the tsunami. She was the director of a daycare center and because of her excellent leadership and good decisions everyone in the center was able to get safety and they had zero deaths. Her story was incredibly enlightening. I felt as if I was actually there with her. Her daycare center had 54 students on that day. The earthquake occurred 2:46 and afters chocks ensued. At the time of earthquake Satke wasn't actually at the daycare. She called the center and told them she was sorry she couldn't die with them in the same place. When she arrived at the daycare and found everybody safe they made a plane to escape to an elementary school 2Km away. At 3:20 they gathered at the school and at 3:46 the tsunami hit. "I always thought the tsunami would be blue like sea, but it was dark and black. It seemed like a very big continent approaching us, like in movies. When the tsunami arrived I prepared for my death for the second time. " They moved to the third floor but it was so cold that they were at risk of freezing to death. So they brought the children inside and let them play. " The children didn't understand whether to cry or smile " The next day they want to an evacuation center farther inland and parents started coming to get children's. But the tsunami had wiped out everything, only the base foundation of the daycare remained. So they had to live temporary living situations, and they even held their graduation ceremony for the daycare children there. Although there are still many problems that the disaster had caused and damage that needs to be fixed her story had given me hope for the future." I learned that our lives are given and can't be controlled, and that makes it even more precious and important. "Satake's actions snow that we all have capability to be heroes, but we should do it not for glory, but because it is the right thing to do. She now works in assisting with victims of the tsunami.
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| Mall by the Sendai Station |
We returned to the hotel. Since we had to share the bus Samantha and I got to experience the joy of riding the awkward middle seat. Trust me it is not as fun as it sounds. Once we got back to the hotel we got to have two hours of free time before temperature check. Most of us went to this really cool outdoor mall about 10 minuntes from the hotel. It was nice to get out and experience the city and go to a " non touristy' area. I walked around with Nathen and Sam. We went to Japanese pet store and a video game store. We also went to a book store where Sam managed to sue his Japanese to ask for a book. Unfortunately he asked a random costumer that he mistook for a worker. Needless to say the poor guy was very confused, but it was quite funny for all of us. Someday I defiantly want to come back to here on my own time. 
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