ICEP JAPAN 2019 DAILY REPORT 7/2 The group arrived at 12pm at the Sign Barn for an orientation meeting with Alysa and Becky. It was so exciting for everyone involved to finally put faces to names! After our orientation meeting (where lunch was served by TSP) the group said goodbye to their parents and began the larger orientation process at Chimney Corners. Swim tests were conducted, we discussed LOD and POD responsibilities, and several campers also shared their assigned presentations about Japan for the group. We played some icebreaker games to pass the time and then had a lovely cookout dinner at the waterfront. After dinner, health checks were conducted and group members enjoyed free time on the Big Top playing four square. We had cabin chat outside at night before getting to sleep. 7/3 The group had a busy day today, as it was our final day of orientation. After breakfast, we finished up our presentations. Following this period, we went into leadership training. The leaders discussed the four tenants of leadership and the participants responded by filling out the first page of their CCRs. Lunch was held after a short free time. After lunch, the group had a siesta before going back to the Chimney Dining Hall. Becky was there to give the group a talk about non-negotiables. After this talk, we took a group picture and walked around Smith Pond. At this point, the group was ready to have a relaxing free time where the trip leaders conducted their initial conferences with each participant. Dinner was held in the Chimney Dining Hall, and afterwards, the group packed bagels for the following morning, as we would be waking up extremely early! The group returned to their housing to repack their bags and discard any unnecessary items before having chat and going to bed early. 7/4-7/5 The group woke up at a seemingly impossible 2:45 AM to walk to the Chimney Dining Hall in order to catch our school bus to the Newark Airport. We travelled about 3 and a half hours until we reached the airport and then participants were allowed to wander around the airport looking for food and snacks for an hour at a time. We boarded our flight at 11am and set off for Japan! The group arrived at Narita Airport at about 3pm local time on July 5th. Atsuya, our ICEP Japan leading staff member, met us at the airport and we had some lovely introductions. We loaded our bags onto a very nice coach bus and headed on the 2-hour journey to our living quarters in Utsunomiya. Once we put our bags down and set up our sleeping areas, it was time for dinner. The group was treated to a lovely cold noodle, rice and tempura dinner at a restaurant where several other YMCA Tochigi staff members were present. Following dinner, the group was so jetlagged that we skipped chat and went straight to bed at around 9pm. 7/6 Everyone woke up extremely early (5am) due to the jetlag. Because of this, we had a lot of time in the morning before it was time to head out for the day. The group watched Japanese cartoons in the meeting room of their housing, and even went for a walk to visit a nearby temple and baseball field/park. When we returned, several lovely elderly ladies who were there for a Saturday get-together had arrived. The women sang us a song about being thankful for life. Atsuya arrived at 1030am and we were out of the house by 11am. We were taken to a nearby YMCA where several members (volunteers and regular staff) gave us a short Japanese lesson. Everyone split off into groups to practice their newly acquired Japanese phrases before heading off to lunch. Lunch was held at a giant mall where everyone could more or less choose where they ate. Most groups elected to eat at a delicious ramen restaurant. After lunch, there was extra time to walk around the mall. Many group members got a chance to see a Japanese supermarket for the first time and stocked up on candy and other snacks. At around 330pm, everyone returned to the YMCA we had visited before. It was time for our welcome party. Many Japanese teens attended the welcome party, along with nearly all the homestay families and their children. Everyone mingled and introduced themselves to one another before it was time to play some games and practice some of our Japanese phrases. ICEP Japan even performed a rendition of the “Cha Cha Slide” to our audience of Japanese onlookers. Following a potluck dinner, we returned to our housing and held an early chat at 8:45pm. Jetlag continued to be an issue for the group, so everyone was in bed by about 9:30pm. 7/7 Jetlag was once again a factor as the group woke up between 5-6am. Everyone hung out at the house until it was time to catch a local bus to Utsunomiya city at 9am. We walked about 15 minutes to a bus station and then we were off. Once we arrived, we took a short walk to meet up with volunteer members of the Y. Everyone split up into 3 groups and walked up to the city’s most famous shrine. After soaking in the cultural aspects of the city, we moved on to a five-story department store where participants went shopping and played arcade games. The 3 groups then split off to get lunch, and had additional free time to explore the city. Some people went shopping while others opted to go to a cat café or play more arcade games. The group took a bus back to our house at around 3pm and played cards inside while one of the leaders took the 2 LODs to a supermarket to pick up groceries for the next few days. At around 7pm, the group took a 30-minute walk to the supermarket in order to grab some packaged dinner before walking back to our house to eat it. Chat was held at 8:30pm. 7/8 The group woke up early once again due to jetlag and ate breakfast, hanging out inside and also doing laundry before it was time to leave for the day. Machan, a Y staff member, took us on a small bus to Uto. This is where igneous rocks from millions of years ago dominate the landscape. In this area, there was a cave that the group wandered about in, and then everyone went to see a giant Buddha statue made out of the same material. We took the bus to a supermarket for lunch and drove through the beautiful mountainous countryside to a rice cracker factory just outside of Nikko. Group members actually got an opportunity to make their own crackers over an extremely hot stove, and then enjoyed free samples in the store before we all headed to the YMCA preschool and kindergarten. The group got to use the Internet at the Y to email their parents and check in. While people were emailing, others played with the small children in their designated areas and classrooms. We were then driven to a supermarket for dinner and walked back to the house at 6pm. Due to jetlag being such a huge factor, we purposefully held chat at 9:45pm and participants weren’t allowed to go to sleep until 10:30pm. 7/9 The group woke up at 7am and ate breakfast before several YMCA volunteers picked us up in their cars to go to Bunsei Middle School. We were greeted by some foreign (English) staff that brought us to a big classroom where some of the older students (age 15) and the vice principal welcomed us to the school. Within a few minutes, students were interacting with teens from the school! The first class consisted of English conversations that the Japanese students had prepared for ahead of time. Meanwhile, one of the leaders went to the supermarket with Atsuyo to get bento boxes for lunch. For the second class, a younger group of students were introduced and rotated from participant to participant. Both parties were asked to share information about American and Japanese culture, geography and food. Once the class finished, the participants ate lunch and took a group photo with the Japanese students. After lunch, it was time to go to a music class. Here, students did small syncopation exercises and then sang a song from “The Sound of Music.” Our final class was held with the youngest group of students (about 12 years old) whose job it was to take our American students and transform their names into Japanese kanji characters. The students also demonstrated their knowledge of Japanese language and culture by explaining what each character meant. At this time, we were ready to go back to our housing after a tiring day! One of the YMCA volunteers, Mai, cooked an amazing American/Japanese fusion dinner for us, complete with vegetarian options. It was absolutely delicious. After dinner, the group just relaxed and played cards while others showered or ran to the supermarket for snacks. Chat was held at 920pm. 7/10 Today was a free day, and everyone was excited to hit the town! We took a local bus to Utsunomiya station and had free time to return to the “high street” where restaurants, arcades and shops were located. In the afternoon, we walked back to the station and continued our elongated walk to the “Round 1” sports complex.