Day 2-Wednesday, May 19 1999 (We skipped Tuesday because of the time change!):
I think this was one of the most fun days of the trip. They told us that the time change would make us wake up at 2:30-3:00 AM because we weren't really adjusted well yet, but Chelsea and I must have adjusted a little TOO well, because we didn't wake up until 4! And we had to be in the lobby at 4:30! So we both quickly showered, and got dressed. We were actually the first ones in the lobby. Everyone else soon came though, and we walked to the train station, then caught our first Japan subway to the Fish market. It's the largest fish market in the world. It was really neat seeing all the big fish, but it honestly made me kind of sick. Live eels were writhing around in tubs of water, and it made me feel a litte nauseous. After that, we caught a bus back to our hotel and had until 10:00 to eat breakfast, and do whatever we wanted. We ate in the hotel restaraunt witht the 'free breakfast' coupons we got, and had a good buffet breafast. At about nine, we had an hour to ourselves, so Chelsea, Kristen, Jennifer, Jessica and I all looked around our hotel's gardens and took TONS of pictures. The gardens were so pretty! Then at 10, we met up with everyone, and took a few trains to the Asakusa temple. There were a LOT of little stores, and we all split up with our buddies to shop around. We all bought little good luck charms that are only sold at temples. The temple itself was SO beautiful! There was lots of gold, and the Buddah shrine was so pretty! There were even Buddhist Monks chanting while we were there. I think that was a really memorable experience, because you learn so much more about other cultures by experiencing them first-hand. After we left the temple building, Mr. Edwards must have had a craving for Ramen, because he insisted that we go eat lunch at a Ramen house. We went and waited outside of one until there was enough room for all of us, and we ate. That was quite an experience! There were very loud slurping sounds coming from all the tables around us, and we tried slurping but it didn't work well, so we just ate with chopsticks the normal way. Marie was an expert at the chopsticks! Then we had a little more time to shop before catching the trains back to our hotel. We had time to rest, if that's what you want to call it. It was more, Jennifer and I calling everybody, and everybody hanging out in our friends' hotel rooms. The only ones who didn't do this, were Kenny and Richie, and that's because they were sleeping...very soundly. That night, we went to a really cool part of Tokyo that had lots of bright lights, and giant TV screens like in Times Square. I was scared I would get lost crossing the street! There were a LOT of people. Then we found a restaraunt that someone had suggested, but I don't really know why. It wasn't the worst place, but there was just some things about it that I didn't "care" for. The funny thing is, I'm glad we went there! It's funny to remember, and whenever you talk about it with anyone else who went you start laughing. After dinner, we all went back out on the street and went inside a game room. We were playing around with the sticker machines, but then it was time to go. We were on our way back, but we stopped to get some soft ice cream. They had flavors like Sweet Potato and Green Tea!(I got Chocolate!) Then we returned back to our hotel, and went to sleep.

Day 3-Thursday, May 20, 1999-
When we woke up in the morning, we had a while to pack and eat breakfast before we had to meet in the lobby at nine. Chelsea and I went down to breakfast, and a few other delegates were in there eating. When we were done with breakfast, we went up to our room to do something I had been dreading...packing my clothes, plus everything I had bought the day before, and everything I didn't send ahead to Mutsu in my one, Jansport Backpack. It was sooo tight! I couldn't have fit anymore in there! But, I did it, and everything fit(kind of!). Then we went to the train station so that we could catch the bullet train. There was a small store around where our train was leaving from, and I bought a few things...then realized that my train ticket was missing!!! I was SO scared! I was panicking, and I couldn't find it anywhere! The train came, and we were starting to get ready to board, but I obviously couldn't get on without my ticket. Right when we were leaving, Davion said "I found someone's ticket!" I have never been so relieved in my life! After we got on the train, I felt much better, and the ride was so fun! We were kind of cramped for leg room, but we had a lot of fun talking, singing, sharing food we had bought, doing each other's hair(the girls!), and taking pictures. After we got off the train, we had a few minutes in a gift shop, before we got on another train. That ride was kind of fun, but we could only really talk to whoever we were sitting by, so Chelsea and I just wrote postcards. When the train pulled into the station, members from MIRA were waiting for us with a big welcoming sign. We got on a bus which would take us to Mutsu. The bus ride was fun. I sat by Jennifer and we talked to Mr. Ara (Mr. Knee!!!). When the bus pulled into the parking lot, I was really nervous, but really excited too. As soon as I stepped off, I saw Asami and I went to go say "Hi." I got to meet her brothers and her mom, but her dad was working so he wasn't there. We all went inside and introduced ourselves with the microphone (in Japanese!). Then it was time to go to our host family's homes. I was pretty scared, and I didn't want to leave the other delegates, but I was also excited. When we got to Asami's house, we ate dinner(I couldn't tell what all of it was, and I tried all of it, but I wasn't hungry, so I didn't eat much.) Then I was so tired that I went to bed, and fell asleep right away.

Day 4-Friday, May 21, 1999:
The next morning we got dressed and ate breakfast, then Asami's mom drove us to Tanabu Senior High School, where a MIRA member met us in the parking lot and drove me to Ominato Junior High School. When we first walked into the building, I had to take off my shoes, and put on the slippers they had. I met the principle, and then Marie came in. I was so happy to see her! Then the English teacher led us to our classes for the day (Marie was in the 2-1 class, and I was in 2-2). I sat at the front of the room at the teacher's desk, and all the students asked me questions(In English.) After school that day, I went back to Asami's house, and they took me to a hotel that her mom's friend owned so I could shower. After my shower, we went to the Welcoming Barbecue. I was SO happy to see all of the other delegates! When there's no other American's around, 1 day can seem like a LONG time. We took lots of pictures with our new friends. Then we had dinner, and there was a Taiko Drummer performance. After the performance, we all did the dance we had learned when the delegates came to Port Angeles. After the BBQ, Asami's family took me shopping at a store so they could buy some stuff. Asami and I went up to the area with games and sticker booths. We got a lot of pictures taken, and Jennifer, Kristen, Manami, Saori, Adrienne, Davion, and lots of my other new friends were there. Then we returned to Asami's house, and I tiredly went to sleep.

Day 5-Saturday, May 22, 1999:
On Saturday, we all met in the City Hall parking Lot and got on the bus which took us up to the look-out. It was a really pretty view of Mutsu, but it was REALLY windy. When I went to the top level, I almost fell over! We took a lot of pictures, then went inside and bought pop from the pop machines. We piled back on the bus, and drove to Mt. Osorezan, which the Japanese believe is a passing place for the dead. When you first walk in, there is a place to drink water, and cleanse yourself. After a group picture, we were free to walk around and explore. Jennifer and I followed Mr. Edwards and he told us that all of the clothing, toys, etc...and piles of rocks, were shrines to people's loved ones that had died. We went down to the sacred lake, and took pictures, then it was time to return to the bus. Mr. Kato and some of the Japanese students sang Kareoke for us! We went to the Science Museum, which is shaped like the ship, the Mutsu. The inside is designed like the inside of the ship. After our tour, we had time to explore the Museum ourselves, so we mostly just looked around and played with the science experiments. After that, we ate lunch, and watched some experiments with cold fusion. After the experiments, our bus drove us up to the Nature Institute. There was a demonstration on how to make our beds and eat our meals, then we played golf. I didn't do too well, but it was really fun anyway. Then we ate dinner, then we went to use the Japanese style baths. None of us could get in though, because it was WAY too hot for us. I don't know how anyone could stand it! Then we went and made keychains for our new friends, and birdcalls. We had until 10:00 to do whatever,we mostly just hung out, ate candy, and talked. At 10, we went to bed, but most of us weren't asleep until 11.
Day 6-Sunday, May 23, 1999:
This was our host family day. We woke up, cleaned up, ate breakfast, and returned to the City Hall. Asami's mom met us, and took us to their house. We went to watch her brother's sports festival at Chicagawa Junior High School. Then we ate lunch at a hamburger restaraunt. Yippee! American food! :-)! Then, we went shopping for the rest of the day. I bought SO much! When we had been shopping for about an hour and a half, we saw Chelsea, Asuza, Kristen, Jennifer, Manami, Richie, Kenny, Toru, Jessica, Takeshi, Marie, Aki, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, and a lot of adult volunteers. We finished shopping, then Asami's mom picked us up and took us back to her house. We went to the hotel so I could take a shower again, then I packed my suticases, and we went to the farewell dinner. It was in the Mutsu Grand Hotel, which was VERY nice. I felt SO special at the dinner, because it was held in this huge room, with huge, fancy tables of food. They treated us SO well, and we were taking pictures with people every minute! When we got up on stage to say our farewell speeches, there were so many cameras, I felt like a celebrity! We were all crying by the time we were supposed to leave, but I was much better after we left. We went grocery shopping, then to Asami's house, and her family wanted to call my parents, so we called and I got to talk to them. It was 5:00 in the morning to them, but they were still happy to talk to us. After that, I went to sleep.
Day 7-Monday, May 24, 1999:
When I woke up in the morning, I got dressed, made my bed, and went downstairs. We ate breakfast (fruit, yogurt and toast!), then we drove to the City Hall. Everyone else was there hugging and saying goodbye. I was hugging people I didn't even know! You do a lot of hugging on the last day. Then they made us get on the bus right away, and we drove away, waving through the windows. We drove to the train station, and took the bullet trains up to Narita. Our hotel was attached to a mall, so after we brought our luggage up to our rooms, they let us shop for a while. We all bought really neat watches, and more Tattoo jewelry. I got a necklace. Then we had to meet in the lobby of the hotel again for dinner. We met up, and Mr. Edwards talked to us for a little bit, but then we walked to the Big Boy for dinner. We ate dinner, and had pop, then went back to our hotel. On the way back, we stopped at vending machines with Ice Cream in them and bought some. We went back to our rooms, and we were supposed to go to sleep soon, but people kept coming into our room, I think every delegate was at some point during that night in our room, and we were up past 11:00. Even after people left, we still had to pack all of our stuff, and even thought I was in a hyper mood, I fell asleep like 2 minutes after my head hit the pillow!
Day 8-Tuesday, May 25, 1999:
This would be our last day in Japan, so we were all kind of sad, but not TOO sad, we were more excited. We woke up, took our showers, got dressed, and we ate breakfast on our own in the hotel restaraunt. Chelsea, Jennifer and I were the only ones in there, but soon everyone else came while we were there. This was when I started to be affected by the time difference, it confused me at first. It was about 7:45 AM in Japan while we were eating breakfast, and we landed at 7:45 AM that same day in Seattle, American time(I hope that makes sense!) we actually went back in time! We met in the lobby, then we walked for about a half hour, and explored the temple. On our way, Adrienne, Chelsea, Marie, and Kristen ate grasshoppers!!! We stopped on the way back to buy Dr. Pepper from vending machines, and shop in little stores. Then we went back to the hotel, shopped some more in the mall, ate lunch, and left for the airport. We went through the usual customs and luggage check, then we went and stood in line for our plane. While we were in line, I thought I lost my plane ticket!!! I was looking through my backpack, and everywhere! But then, I found it in my pocket!:) When we were all on the plane, and settled, I was by Jennifer, but i was in the isle again. I like the isles better because you have more leg room. They showed Enemy of the State and The Mighty. I only watched Enemy of the State, and then I slept. When the plane landed, everything was a blur, we were so happy, sad, tired and excited at the same time, that I don't remember everything.
This trip was so amazing, I can't even begin to describe it. It's like nothing you'll ever experience, and I can guarantee it's something I'll never forget.
Some of us in our hotel before heading out to the Fish Market!

My friends in the 2-2 class at Ominato Junior High School.