Aquarium Day

The excitement of the earthquake drill was almost palpable at the fire station.  Each student and chaperone was able to experience our breakfast being ruined by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.  It was a lot of fun, but some of the students wanted the simulation to be longer and more intense.  Sorry kids but we would rather not have destruction of those proportions.  Each student was then able to experience a smoke filled room and how difficult it can be to maneuver through.  Even though the “smoke” was just a DJ fog machine, Jason coughing was covering his face and saying how smoky it was in the room.  What a drama queen.

We took a tour of the Kagaya hotel and had lunch there as well.  The hotel was pretty amazing!  We were taught how to make the traditional bitter green tea and then we ate a big lunch.  The students were welcomed and addressed by Mr. Oda, the hotel owner before the actual eating took place.  The food was great and the students were then shown around the hotel more and given some time in the gift shop.  Many of the students expressed a desire to stay there when they go back to Japan, and at 500-800 dollars a night per person (not per room) I think that we should let them get a little older and pay for that themselves.

The Notojima Aquarium has a whale shark.  There is almost nothing more to say other than that.  A whale shark!  How cool is that?  We all walked through the exhibits, silently comparing this aquarium to ours.  It’s hard to say who won; I don’t know if I told you that they have a whale shark.  Did I say that already?  We had an appointment to pet dolphins at 1:40, so we made sure not to be late for that.  In groups of four we were all able to pet those lovely aquatic mammals.  We watched a dolphin/seal show and Meer was chosen from the audience to shake hands with the dolphin and lead a squeaky symphony.

The yellow go-cart was immediately coveted as the speedster.  There were four different color cars and close to fists were almost thrown over the yellow car.  Meer and Jason were like Achilles and Hector in battle.  “I’m gonna smoke you,” Meer sneered.  And smoke he did.  Jason’s blue car actually stalled midway through the track.  A technicality, but a loss no less.  There were countless rematches with many undetermined results.  These silly children.  Each race cost 500 yen per car, so many students doubled up and I think that Jack was in a car almost every race.  I’m not sure how she accomplished it, but good job.

We went to the glass blowing museum after race day.  Well, not the actual museum, the shop and the sculptures around the museum.  It was soon discovered that by sitting on a certain bench, echoes would shatter the silence.  Quickly a chant of “LET’S GO GIANTS!” echoed throughout the hills.  Ms. Salter simply hung her head.

Back to city hall and then to our respective homes.