Loving those questions, October 13, 2006

I have been having so much fun talking online to students from Rooms 5, 23 and 32. I love hearing your voices and answering your questions. Here are some emails I got from Fernwood.
I am also posting a bunch of different photos that I have taken around Japan. I hope that you enjoy them.

Dear Ms. Paula,

Did you have a great day?

Rebecca S.

Hi Rebecca. I am so lucky. Every day is a great day for me on my adventure in Japan. I get up early in the morning so that I can get the most out of every day. For breakfast I have coffee and rice with yogurt and a little sugar. I often have some fish with that. It doesn't sound too good, but I really enjoy it. Rice and fish are very traditional Japanese foods any time of the day.
After breakfast I go to visit a school or an interesting place in the area. This week we visited three schools and met with the mayor and the superintendent of schools of Chigasaki City where we are staying.

Everywhere we go people treat us like stars. This is hard to see, but it is a story about our visit in the Kanagawa newspaper. It tells about our meeting with the mayor.

The days are busy, but very much fun! Tomorrow I am going to meet a Japanese family and stay in their house. Look for more about that on Monday.

Dear Mrs. Paula,

We hope you are having the time of your life in Japan. But we were wondering a couple of things:

1. What is their food like? Is it like ours in Wisconsin? Or is it like Asian food?
2. How do they dress in Japan? Do they wear the same thing? Or are they all colorful and fancy? 3. Are their houses like ours? Do they have roofs like ours?
4. What kind of shoes do they wear?
5. How is the weather in Japan?
6. Is Japan fun?

Sincerely,
Serenity, Angelina O.

Hello Serenity and Angelina,
Thank you for your letter. Wow! You have asked a lot of questions. I have already answered some, but here is a little more information. You can get American food in Japan, but it is often a little bit different. For example they don't serve sour cream with baked potatoes. Also they serve hamburgers for breakfast.

I already talked about clothing on a previous blog entry. I hope you saw it. Mostly Japanese people wear clothing and shoes thati s just like ours. Traditional clothes like kimonos are quite colorful, but modern Japanese business clothes are usually black or grey and white. Teenagers often wear very colorful clothes and platform shoes or boots. We also see a lot of t-shirts with English words. Sometimes the words don't make any sense.

I have seen a lot of different kinds of houses and many different kinds of roofs. The traditional Japanese Houses are very beautiful. On newer houses I especially like the blue tile roofs. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow.

The weather is gorgeous. It is warm. It is like Milwaukee in June or July.

Dear Mrs. Paula,

I hope you aave good time in Japan. If you see Mount Fuji, please tell me and also please tell me if you have seen a panda bear.

Sophia and Selena

Hi Sophia and Selena
Thank you for your letter. I won't see any pandas here because they live in China. I am not seeing many wild animals because I am staying in cities. I can see Mt Fuji some days, but most of the time it is too cloudy or hazy. When I can see it, Fuji is very beautiful. I hope you like the picture.

Hi Ms. Paula,

How is Japan? I always wanted to go there. Is the place huge? Did you dress like the people? Did you see the Great Wall of China?

From Marisa

Hi Marisa,
Japan is not huge. It is really four big islands and many very small islands. I have to wear very nice clothes every day because I am visiting schools and meeting with important people. I don't wear blue jeans or shorts even though it is warm weather.

I would love to see the Great Wall of China, but it is very far away from here in another country. Maybe for my next trip I can go to China.

Ms. Paula,

Is Japan a nice place or not?

From Melody.

Hello Melody,
Japan is very beautiful and the people have been very nice to me. I love visiting here because there are so many beautiful temples, shrines and gardens.

From Edward: Why did you go to Japan?
Hello Edward. I went to Japan to learn as much as I could about the country and the people who live here. When I come back home I am going to teach you what I have learned. I think it is going to be fun and interesting for you.

From Thalia, Kegan, Maggie, Jenny

What is the time difference?
What is the name for currency besides yen?
We also would like to know what the cents are called and what they're worth.

Hi girls. I hope this isn't a sneaky way of getting me to do your school work.
The time difference between Milwaukee and Chigasaki Japan is 14 hours. Tha means when it is 8:00 in the morning at Fernwood and you are hearing the announcements and saying the pledge it is 10:00 at night here.

A yen is already smaller than a penny, so they don't really use another currency. I understand there is such a thing as a sen but I haven't seen any. The smallest coin I have is one yen. Maybe you can find out something about Japanese currency that I don't know.

Paula

Oh and by the way Ashlynn. They definitely have french fries in Japan. They even serve them for breakfast!