Day 17 Thoughts
After returning from our host cities, each group was required to perform a 15 minute presentation. Our presentation included a song about Ofunato sung to the tune of "Oklahoma".
O-O-O-O-000-funato
where the mountains rise above the sea
the fishin's great
cement they make
but you better watch out for the bear.
O-O-O-O-OO0 funato
where one night my bed began to shake
it was just a quake
make no mistake
we -e never had a tsunami
O-F-U-N-A-T-O
Ofunato, IWATE
We made reference to the announcements that were made over the loudspeakers on the streets about a bear that was seen in Ofunato. We also felt two earthquakes - one that woke many of us at 5:30 in the morning. Our memories of Ofunato extend far beyond the natural occurences and natural beauty of the city. We will always hold our interactions with the people in Ofunato dear to us. I suppose we'll also remember:
being treated like movie stars by the children we encountered, 40 or so PTA members waving goodbye to us from upstairs windows, the PTA president who invited us to his baseball coaching session and to his Buddhist temple, filling an Italian restaurant owned by a gregarious Japanese man with our hungry apetites and high energy, retreating to the beach on the fourth of July, all of us standing in ukatas (cotton robes) next to a major road in Ofunato setting off fireworks and singing patriotic songs on the night of the fourth as the manager of the Reyoken stood across the street with buckets of water and a furrowed brow, the time spent with our generous host families, and the feeling we felt as we waved goodbye to all of the host family members who came to the ryoken to see us off - especially one little guy with a lifesize ventriliquist puppet (don't get me started - I can feel the tears building up now). Our memories of Japan also include those of our stay in Tokyo. Kyoko Jones and the other Fulbright Memorial Fund staff organized an extremely professional, timely serious of workshops which enlightened us as well as entertained us. Our hotel stays, meals and transportation arrangements were also impeccable. Thank you for making me feel so special.
For further information on the Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program check out the website - www.iie.org/pgms/fmf
e-mail - fmf@iie.org
For further information on Japan try these websites:
Kids Web Japan
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/kidsweb/
http://www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/
This is Japan
Gateway for all Japanese information
http://jin.jcic.or.jp/
or http://www.jinjapan.org/
This is the giddy Ofunato group at our last luncheon.
Name:
Anne O'Brien