Day 9

Today we had to wake up earlier than usual because we had to catch our 8:30 bullet train to Nagoya. We were all dressed up very nicely today because today was the day that we were to meet our host families for our home stay. After disembarking from the bullet train, we were greeted on the platform by two of the school's officials. They then led us to the local train platforms where we boarded to head to the high school. That was a 30 minute ride; then after leaving the station, it was a 3 minute walk to the school.

Once inside the school, we walked into a room where all of the Japanese students were on one side and we were on another. The tables were arranged so that we were facing each other. The little assembly started with a speech from both a teacher at the school and Sensei Wargo. The former then introduced the principal who gave a short speech. After all of the formalities were done, they began to introduce us to our host families. They simply had the host family and kid from our group stand up and wave to each other. After everyone had been introduced, we went off with our host families.

You are going to have to ask each of your kids about their individual stay; but, this is how mine went. After I was introduced to Taiki and his mother, my dad and I were driven back to their apartment where I gave out my gifts to the family. After some picture show and tell, they took us to two restaurants for tempura and sushi. The sushi was amazing! During both, we all (me, dad, Taiki, Taiki's parents, and his younger sister) talked about America and Japan. They then took us to see Nagoya Castle after dinner. We then came back home, showered, and crashed for the night.