Period 3- Week 1

Period 3 arrived into two separate groups. They had to be diverted to Aomori and took the train down to Misawa. They arrived in Tokyo, flew to Aomori, took a cab/bus to the train station and took it to Misawa with baggage and all. Simply put: they went up and down Northern Japan to get to Misawa. The fog crept in and covered the runway. And here they are having a great time!

We've had some learning experiences within the first couple of days.

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Time really goes fast when you're having fun. No matter what I do, I can't slow it down.

We get to visit the local Japanese high school tomorrow which will be an awesome experience. The previous two groups mentioned it was one of their favorite activities-- being able to interact with the local high school students.

I enjoyed playing racquetball with a few of them this afternoon. I forgot who invited me but it was really refreshing. I got beat bad. I ran into the wall a couple of times which reminded me how uncoordinated I really am. But still, I had a blast, even if it was just running into the wall.

The group went on the Misawa City tour today. I heard very good feedback about the cadets. But I already knew that. I was confident from day one with their ability to represent themselves well.

The past three years I've met 9 different groups, at least 200 of them have come to Misawa and I've had the privilege of meeting most of them. Each are very different from each other and my experiences with them are all unique. But one thing they do have in common is that they are fun loving, happy, normal, hard working, motivated and doing their best to be good. What's even more impressive is, others see it as well.

I ran into a door today. The door didn't slide open fast enough. I guess I just walk to fast for the door. I also dropped the menu on the bottles of sauces. Vinegar, soy sauce and spicy oil spilled all over the floor. The other customers started laughing. Even the female server started to laugh. I laughed along with them. Although, I felt awful that she had to clean up after my clumsiness.

The same group of cadets that I played racquetball with also invited me to do some ab work outs. While they showed me their exercises, I couldn't stop laughing because I couldn't even reach my knees doing this cross over sit-ups thing. I enjoy the knife and fork workout the best.

Tomorrow night I get to hang out with Brian, my 5-year old friend. He and I are going to watch a movie and eat pizza. It'll be guys night out. His dad's a good friend of mine and he is currently deployed. After that, I will be spending sometime with the cadets to play some games and hopefully find a Karaoke machine for them.

It'll be an awesome night.