Home Stay Day!

My host family comes to the hotel for the brief introduction ceremony

Masae Yabe and Manako come to the reception at the Numazu Hotel.

By now, all of the FMF teachers have been matched with their families

All the heads have been counted, and things are about to get underway.

Yukiko says a few words to the crowd

Hosts and FMF teachers are quickly introduced

We are all being whisked away to our new "homes!"

At last! My chariot arrives. We have about a five minute drive home.

My bags, heavy with computer gear, is taken up to my room. The room is more spacious than the last two hotel rooms we have been in!

I blink for a moment, because I thought I saw a Macintosh trash can...

Maybe it was! This is a Mac Classic paper cube!

The children are typical children. They do video games, then take a snack break. Then it's time to do more video. They are into the Pocket Monster sega game.

It is fun to have company! The sister-in-law comes over for supper. She is great with the kids, and they love having her here.

The meal is fabulous! We are served sukiyaki. It is cooked right on the table, and is better than anything we have had in the New Otani Hotel! What a nice treat!

Our gracious hostess finally sits down for her turn to eat.

After a restful night's sleep, we wake up to morning routine. Toshinori and Masanori are already reading comics.

Nanako is working in her Hello Kitty activity book

Then, the TV comes on, and they all do a "tag-team" breakfast- they kind of take turns coming to breakfast for a few bites, then back to TV.

The computer has a whole folder of CD ROM games that attracts the children away from the TV for short periods of time.

In the morning, both Nanako and Toshinori are wearing ADM shirts!

The boys are both playing video games before breakfast.

They have a pocket monster Nintendo game!

After breakfast, we gather outside for pictures, then it's time to shop! We start at a COMPUTER STORE!! I feel great just touching software again!

Then, we go to a sushi bar for lunch.

This is great fun, because the food comes around on a conveyor belt! Just pick what you want as it comes by. The cooks are a hoot- they put on a show as they prepare the dishes and place it on the belt.

Then we go over to the shopping center. We park first in the parking garage. Everyone backs into the parking spaces. Dad takes the children to the toy department, then Mom goes with me.

At first, we go through the department store, then go to the first floor, where the groceries are. We go through the bakery section. Then Masae takes me through the rest of the store, and explains a lot of the foods to me. It was a GREAT trip!

We take a break at the food court of the shopping center. Looks like a lot of other people had the same idea!

You can see the ocean from the shopping mall!

After shopping, the family takes me to the beach. The waters are still rough from the typhoon that just passed through. I go to touch the Pacific ocean from the west end, and a huge wave splashes over me! I grab a rock from the beach, and head back to dry off. It was great!

Tohinori gets into his typical position watching TV. I head to the shower to rinse off the ocean water.

Masanori is already back at the video controls!

It is then time to head back to the hotel. It is a very short visit! Masae makes arrangements to meet me in the morning for a bit, because the visit seems too short!