A Great Send-off

Ohayo Gozaimasu students,

I wanted to get this off before I left this morning because I know that all of you did not get a chance to sign the banner the G.E.S. staff made for me, and the "Green & Gold" flower arrangement. They also sent me off with a the Willow Tree Angel named:
Angel of Wishes. Look for her on my desk, she is still in her gift bag.

Domo arigato gozaimasu colleagues!(Thank you very much),
Ms. Elizabeth

A Long Day

Konbanwa students,

It is Oct. 12th, but this entry will look like it is published tomorrow because it is already after 11:00 p.m. here in San Francisco.

I'm finally ending my day of departure for San Francisco after having left Louisville International Airport this morning on a 6:00am flight. Of course, I had to be at the airport at 4:30a.m.. After leaving Louisville, the flight arrived in Chicago and I disembarked(look this word up if you don't know what it means!) to make my connecting flight to San Francisco leaving at 7:58 a.m. I arrivied in San Francisco at 10:30. The shuttle took us to the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, which is the picture on your left. It is here that we had a buffet lunch, and had meetings from 2:00p.m. until 5:30. During the meetings we learned what not to do to enable us to have good manners while we are the guests of Japan and the Japanese people. Now, you know that teachers do have rules, and even have homework too. I've already told you that we will be having a Festival of Japanese culture in the Spring, and to be thinking about what your class will want to do for its booth. My learning about Japanese culture first-hand is going to help all of us do that together. This kind of homework can and will be fun! After our meetings, we were the guests of the Consul General of Japan. He is one of one diplomats sent by the Japanese government as its representative in the United States.
His house is the picture on the right. Behind it you can see San Francisco Bay. On the other side of the house we could see the Golden Gate Bridge. This is where we had our evening meal. Now my assignment for you is to get out your map of the United States, or go to www.worldatlas.com, and show your parents the route from Louisville to Chicago to San Francisco. We did this in class so it shouldn't be too hard.

Tomorrow I will leave for Tokyo at 8:00 a.m., but my flight won't leave until 11:30.That will be 7:30 Greensburg time. Right now, it has been a very long day, and I am going to bed. I will write to you again when I'm in Japan!

Sayonara(Good bye)