General Travel Updates

Next Ali and Matt Domestic Trip: Thousand Islands, NY (August 16-18, 2010)

Next Ali and Matt International Trip: Amsterdam, The Netherlands (TBD 2011)

Matt Only Travel:
Congress in the Classroom conference, Peoria, Illinois (July 26-29, 2010)
USSBA National Championships Judging, Annapolis, Maryland (November 5-7, 2010)
Montgomery Bands, Spain (February 11-20)

Matt and Ali Travel:
Thousand Islands, NY (August 16-18, 2010)
Toronto, Canada (August 18-21, 2010)
Windsor, Connecticut (November 25, 2010)
Land 'O Lakes/Orlando, Florida (December 24-31, 2010)

Japan Day 13

Day 13, July 19

Kyoto, Japan

 

Today started at 4am when I got up to hear the update from Nancy. Both girls' temperatures were back down to the normal range, but there were still concerns about other symptoms. At 5am, I called Yukari to ask her to start looking into getting additional support from her office if needed.

 

At 6:30am, Nancy called me for help with the phone as she was trying to communicate with both sets of parents. Once she got in touch with Student B's Mom, that parent requested that we seek medical attention due to concerns about all of our flights tomorrow with pressure, etc.

 

At 7:10am, Nancy and I met for breakfast and to strategize and Yukari met us a little later. We decided that the two of them and the two girls would go to the clinic as soon as possible and I would take the other 21 students on the morning's program to a temple and manga museum. Of course, that means I am leading the group with no Japanese-speaking manager.

 

When we arrived at our first stop, Sanjusangendo Hall, I went to the ticket window with our voucher from the tour company and the very unfriendly fellow in the window told me in English that we could not use it because our group was not over 30. We would have to pay an increased amount (even though it was prepaid). I told him that I could not do that because I didn't have any money (I gave Nancy all my cash to help pay the hospital bill if needed). He told me to ask the people on the bus for cash.

 

I called Yukari and she talked to the bus driver who convinced them to let us in with no extra fee. Phew, crisis 1 averted.

 

The temple was pretty cool. It houses 1001 statues that depict various god-like figures, most of which seem to have derived from Hinduism. In front of this army of golden statues there were numerous other deities. We only had about 30 minutes at the temple, but it was a good visit. I probably didn't get as much out of it as I could have because my mind was mostly on keeping things running smoothly. I also couldn't take any photos due to the temple's policy.

 

Our next stop was back across the city of Kyoto where traffic is heavy today due to some kind of continuing festival celebration at one of the many shrines in the city. This was the International Manga Museum, a site looked forward to by many of our students. Unfortunately the diehard manga fans were disappointed by the visit.

 

It began with about 30 minutes of students being instructed in doing some drawing. There was a manga master completing the work on a document viewer so everyone could see exactly what she was doing while another woman explained it in Japanese and a third woman explained it in English. The problem was the person explaining it in English had minimal grasp of the language. Regardless, the entire delegation gave it their all and some of them did a really great job.

 

We then had about an hour of free time. This museum has over 300,000 books in its collection plus a number of special collections. I enjoyed two rooms in particular. Since the museum was built in a building converted from an elementary school, they had a room showing that history. The elementary school was built in the early 1800s and there were pictures from many of the years between then and the early 2000s when it closed. They also had before/after photos of what each room looked like as part of an elementary school versus part of the museum.

 

The second room was devoted to picture books and children's stories about issues related to war, peace, conflict resolution, racism, etc. There were a number from the US including Dr. Seuss' "The Butter Battle Book," which I use when teaching about the Cold War. I wrote down a couple other titles to explore for future use during teaching of World War II.

 

Yukari rejoined the group towards the end of this visit. Nancy and the two girls wound up at the hospital from about 8:30 until 12:30. Both tested negative for any type of influenza, were diagnosed with viral infections, and prescribed acetaminophen. All of that trouble and just had to keep giving them Tylenol, but at least we knew it was not something incredibly serious. Nancy brought them back to the hotel and they spent the rest of the afternoon resting.

 

The delegation, meanwhile, moved onto a buffet lunch in a place called Ninja. There were tons of desserts to choose from, but there weren't really many actual entrée type selections. I had some salad, pasta, rice pilaf, and small sandwiches and then small pieces of a couple different kinds of cakes and some ice cream. It was a nice, relaxed lunch so that was helpful.

 

After lunch we went to another temple called Kiyomizu Temple that is built on a cliff overlooking Kyoto. It was extremely sunny and hot, but the students kept their complaining minimal and we basically let them explore at their own pace. I walked around a nice wooded area before heading to the bus well before the meeting time. Many of the others had the same idea so we sat in air conditioning while waiting for the final few students.

 

Yukari and I made the decision to go back to the hotel rather than go for a walking tour/free time in another part of the city. Instead, we'd head to that area just before dinner when it would be a little cooler and we'd have increased chances of seeing geisha heading out for the evening entertaining. So we spent roughly 3:30-5:30 back at the hotel cooling down and packing up.

 

Wet met around 5:15 to have a final meeting, going over the expectations for the trip home and lots of logistical things. Our two sick students were even feeling well enough to join us! It was great to have a united delegation for last evening and gave me hope that we'd get through the trip home after all.

 

Our earlier decision paid off and everyone in the delegation saw geisha in the Gion district. It wasn't actually much cooler, but I think we all felt a little refreshed after the time off.

 

Dinner was an all-you-can-eat Korean barbeque where you sit at a small table and cook your own food on the grill. We had already cooked fried chicken and fries plus some rice and then grilled our own beef, chicken, and pork. It was really tasty and came with huge cups of water. No matter how much I drink in Kyoto I always feel thirsty so it was helpful to have so much water available without trouble.

 

Towards the end of dinner we celebrated one of the student's birthdays who turns 15 on our 30+ hour day from here to home. The restaurant created a sparkling pastry/ice cream masterpiece and she was so excited. She couldn't stop talking about how she didn't want the night to end and how this was her best birthday ever the whole way back to the hotel. Mind you, this is a student who has some social awkwardness but it was nice to see her so happy tonight.

 

Back at the hotel, just as I was going to my room to relax for awhile while Nancy stood guard in the lobby, we got word that one of our sick girls threw up. We already know her diagnosis so I'm not all that concerned and throwing up made her feel better, but it does keep that underlying fear present about the plane ride home.

 

While sitting in the lobby, I spoke with the other NJ delegation leaders who are a day behind us. As they were leaving, one of their students (also high school it turns out) asked something and one of the leaders responded to him rudely enough that I was taken aback. When they were out of earshot, the guys asked me why I couldn't be their leader. Half the group is from Bergen County. Despite being a high school group, they have curfews between 9:30 and 10:15 and are never allowed to sign out of the hotel during free time. We allow our students to sign out in groups of 4+ as long as they are back by our 11:00pm curfew.

 

Nancy and I concluded that we have had so few behavioral issues this year because we have been light on discipline and heavy on respect. We have a few simple rules that we hammered at orientation meetings and they have responded by composing themselves in a respectful, dare I say Ambassadorial, manner.

 

Our wake-up call comes at 4:15am. I'm thinking about not going to bed so that I'm on New Jersey time. I'm not sure if I'll make it, but that would sure help me sleep on the Tokyo to Chicago flight.

People to People - Travel Update

Dear Parents,

 

Please review our return travel information.

 

Please arrive at Newark Airport, Terminal A baggage check in time for our scheduled arrival at 7:32pm on United Airlines Flight #7414 from Chicago O'Hare International Airport. We will proceed through customs upon our arrival in Chicago so the wait for us to arrive at baggage claim should be minimal.

 

To ensure a safe and efficient return home, I ask that you follow these procedures when meeting us in baggage claim:

• Each student and parent/guardian should come to Mrs. Hohnstine and I to sign the student out and sign that you are taking possession of the student's passport.
• At this point, we will also hand over copies of any official paperwork that was generated during our travel for medical situations or otherwise for your records. (Don't worry - you already know about this if it applies to your student!)
• A few students also borrowed money from me at the end of the program so we'd like to take care of those debts before leaving the airport as well.

Since Mrs. Hohnstine won't pat herself on the back, I wanted to let you know that she has spent most of the past day caring for two students who were feeling ill. That included staying up all night to ensure their comfort and taking them to the doctor this morning. In addition, earlier in the program she used her own time and money to wash the P2P polo shirts of the entire delegation to help everyone make a great first impression on their homestay families. I just thought you should all know!

 

To facilitate first meal planning, you should know that most of the students want pizza when they get home, but Matt really wants spaghetti with meat sauce.

 

See you soon!

Matt Mingle

Japan Day 12

Day 12, July 19

Kyoto, Japan

 

Since sending my e-mail to our Area Director last night, he has e-mailed me assuring me he would address the issues with the program office and complimenting me on how proactive I was with notifying parents in a positive way. Today he forwarded me his communication with the program office including the fact that he forwarded them my entire e-mail. He referred to me as one of his very best primary leaders in the e-mail and now I feel like I have to travel next year even if I don't want to!

 

Today's hotel breakfast was pretty extensive because the hotel is so large. I ate lightly because I'm starting to get tired of the breakfast even when the choices are good. I had some fruit, bacon, a hard-boiled egg and fries.

 

It was really hot, probably around 90, even as we left the hotel at 8:45am and we had a student, Jessica, sick with a slight fever even before departing. Nancy and I were really worried about dehydration and some of the students had some of the symptoms so we tried to be really encouraging about drinking lots of water. We rechecked Jessica's temperature at lunch time and it was normal, but she said that she blacked out for a second at our lunch place. Her description sounded like what happens when you get up too quickly and your blood pressure changes dramatically. We contacted her parents and they agreed that we would continue monitoring and would go to a doctor if symptoms worsened or the fever returned.

 

The first stop of the day was Nijo Castle was built to house the shogun. This was the second most important place in Kyoto (the capital of Japan at the time) after the emperor's palace just down the street. We visited this place two years ago as well so I probably described the nightingale floors then. Apparatus was installed beneath the wooden floors so that as someone walks, it squeaks like a bird chirping as a warning system for potential attackers of the head samurai. Inside, the rooms are decorated in a variety of ways. The rooms closer to the main entrance have tigers on the walls and are stronger to intimidate visitors. Those who get closer to the shogun's personal residence see softer images of landscapes and beauty.

 

From the 1300s through the 1800s, the shogun (top samurai) and emperor (top political leader) coexisted. I got the impression, though, that the relationship was sort of like the top military leaders and Emperor Hirohito in the 1930s and the WWII period. Although the emperor was technically in charge, the military leaders and/or shogun had the weapons and therefore the real power.

 

The next stop was another UNESCO World Heritage site commonly referred to as the Golden Pavilion. This was another repeat stop from two years ago so I moved through it pretty quickly. The main building is decorated with gold leaf and was in the 12 or 1300s and was the home of the 3^rd shogun. It is a beautiful setting and was very crowded mostly with tourists from Europe today.

 

I spent some time sitting on a nice bench, drinking water and reading a book that I'm finally digging into called "Post-Cold War America: 1992-Present." I am definitely teaching a new course next year called History of the United States: 1989-Present so this book has been helpful reminding me of events I've lived through. The book is really a collection of essays and excerpts from other books on major political and cultural events such as Monica Lewinsky scandal, OJ Simpson trial, Columbine, World Trade Center attacks, Oklahoma City, etc. I spent a lot of time later in the day reading at another stop as well.

 

From the Golden Pavilion, we went to a huge craft/souvenir store that we also visited two years ago. We had a great buffet there for lunch. I enjoyed chicken meatballs, shrimp sushi, curry rice, vegetable croquettes, and many donut balls (ie. Munchkins). After lunch we had way too much time (90 minutes) to shop on the 7 floors of shops here. Since I wasn't planning on buying any souvenirs this time around in Japan, I browsed the shops briefly and then found a really comfortable chair to read the book I described a little bit ago. It was a relaxing break in the middle of the day.

 

After lunch, we participated in a traditional cultural activity at a Buddhist temple. The Japanese tea ceremony was explained to us and we participated in the ritual process including a taste of the very strong tea made from powder in this ceremony.

 

After the tea ceremony, a Buddhist monk talked with us a little bit about Buddhism and his life and answered our Ambassadors' questions. He was really good at infusing humor into his talk (via our delegation manager/translator) to make the information modern. It challenged my stereotypical view of monks when he talked about getting up at 4am every day…to check his e-mail and made comparisons between what he does and Yoda from Star Wars.

 

A blessing of the schedule today was a long mid-afternoon break at the hotel. The students needed some air conditioned relaxation time I think and it gave us all a chance to hydrate. I went on an unsuccessful mission to find a fax that would actually connect to our program office to give them an incident report on yesterday's airport problem and a student's lost glasses and a medical report form for Jessica. I finally had to call in and they provided a different number to try.

 

 

I stopped typing the information above thinking that later in the evening I'd just add our dinner info. That turned out to be overly optimistic.

 

Instead at 5:30 I heard a ton of noise outside my room. When I got out there I found 10-15 students from another New Jersey delegation going crazy: running around, screaming, playing with the elevator stuck open, etc. I had to scream at them to even get their attention and they scattered down the elevator and hallways. I managed to get one kid's name to help with talking to their delegation leaders.

 

I set off for the lobby to inform their leaders and instead met two of our students looking for me because another girl was really sick. I went back to my room and got in touch with Nancy to check on them. She, Yukari and I then had a meeting in the hallway to come up with a plan. We now had two students exhibiting the same symptoms: fever, body aches, fatigue. We decided to keep the two girls in bed with Nancy nearby while I took the rest of the delegation to dinner.

 

In the meantime, it was brought to my attention that the two ill students were in the same homestay with a boy who had just gotten over an illness. Three other ambassadors stayed at that homestay so potentially we could have up to 5 sick students if they all caught this bug. I went into crisis management mode and "interviewed" all the students from that homestay for symptoms, but we seem to be okay on that front.

 

We set off for dinner.

 

When we got there, I got on the phone with People to People because I believed the best course of action would be to get those two girls into a new room separate from the other delegates to avoid the spread of the illness. It took some work, but they approved the extra expense. Nancy stayed at the hotel and helped them move into new rooms and is now on the phone with their parents. Our delegation manager is figuring out logistics for getting to a 24-hour medical facility if it comes to that.

 

By the time we got back from dinner, both girls had slightly higher fevers than prior to dinner. I let the delegation leaders from the other group know about their students and they decided to change their curfew to 9:30pm tonight. I think the students might be junior high school instead of high school though because they didn't seem to be allowed out of the hotel anyway. It's hard to tell.

 

As we got to talking with the other delegation leaders, we shared about our medical situation. Two of these leaders happen to be nurses and, although they are not supposed to mix that with their responsibilities as delegation leaders, one of them stepped in to sort of guide us. In the meantime an updated temperature check of the first girl who exhibited symptoms was up to 104 degrees. This is not good!

 

They sent me out to get rubbing alcohol while the nurse and Nancy went up to try to get this girl into a tub of cool water plus rubbing alcohol to bring her temperature down. I got to a convenience store just as they were about to pull down the cage for the night. The guy there didn't speak English, but I wrote down rubbing alcohol and somehow he pulled up a Japanese-English dictionary/translator on his phone, grabbed the bottle for me and I was off. We were also encouraged to give them Tylenol and motrin because of their varying lengths of effectiveness.

 

Nancy and the other nurse/delegation leader Andrea got things set up in the room and Nancy stayed with the girls in their room overseeing the cooling down process and making sure they are drinking water and juice. Andrea's feeling is that this is a viral infection and there's nothing a visit to the doctor can really do. Of course, if their temperatures don't come down, they are in a dangerous zone and my feeling is we should take them to a hospital to be safe. The parents and People to People won't care what some other delegation leader thinks if things take a turn for the worse.

 

We are also afraid that other students have been exposed to this. 3 other girls stayed at the homestay and each of the sick girls had 2 roommates last night who are not yet showing symptoms. We could wake up tomorrow with 8 or 10 students sick instead of 2. The day after tomorrow we are supposed to fly home and we have a long, long day with numerous flights and layovers. That would be brutal with people who are really feeling ill and if we have a widespread illness, the airlines and government officials probably wouldn't want us on the planes anyway.

 

The final update for tonight is that Student B's fever has eased a bit but Student A's fever is still high. They will be woken up at 4am (Nancy is sleeping in their room) to take their temperatures. If it is still that high, they will be taken to the hospital immediately. If not, we'll reassess at breakfast. I looked some information up and it says that you do not need to seek emergency treatment unless a fever reaches 105 degrees so we are still okay on that end. But it does say if the fever keeps at 103 or above for an extended time you should seek treatment so that's where we'd be at 4am.

Japan Day 11

Day 11, July 18

Kyoto, Japan

 

Today was crazy.

 

We had to get up and leave the hotel in Nagasaki pretty early to catch a 9:35 flight to Osaka (near Kyoto). I had a light breakfast of rice, miso soup, salad, fries, and sausage before the 45-minute ride to the airport.

 

Unlike international flights to begin and end the trip, transportation during the program itself is handled by the in-country delegation manager. When we got to the Japan Airlines check-in counter, they could not find any record of us being assigned to the flight. The delegation manager had a ticket, but nothing on us.

 

Some frantic calls to the delegation manager's tour company (JTB) and the P2P office in Washington eventually led to the conclusion that either: 1) P2P never purchased the tickets (JTB story) or 2) a technological error caused the tickets not to be purchased (P2P story). Either way, there were no tickets for our delegation. Major problem #1.

 

Unbelievably easy solution #1. The flight we thought we were scheduled for had enough seats for all 25 of us to get on board. The only issue was paying for the tickets. Same day, at the airport, the one-way ticket for an hour flight was $279/person. Fine. I got the P2P office to approve me using the emergency credit card for the purchase and we were on our way. Except the credit card was decline.

 

Major Problem #2. We cannot pay for the tickets. I now had direct numbers to the movers and shakers on call at P2P headquarters and the credit limit on my card was raised high enough for me to be able to pay for the $7000 in airline tickets I needed to purchase. Credit card is still decline. P2P asks if they can provide a corporate card over the phone to the agent. The airline says they have to call the reservations number to do that.

 

Major Problem #3. There is not enough time for this to occur and for us to make the flight.

 

Medium solution #3. The wonderfully helpful Japan Airlines (JAL) agent who speaks English walks us over the All Nippon Airlines (ANA) because they have a flight 20 minutes later. They also have 25 seats available and begin the booking process. In the meantime JAL reserves 25 seats on the next flight between the two cities about 2 hours later just in case.

 

Major Problem #4. Our credit card is denied by ANA as well. We miss the JAL 10:30 flight.

 

Solution #4: We will take the seats on the 12:00 JAL flight. The P2P office goes to work to get us booked on the flight.

 

Medium problem #5. The 12:00 JAL flight is on a plane with only 50 seats and they are not sure if they can fit all of our luggage. They recommend that we take a 12:25 ANA flight instead.

 

Solution #5. The P2P office is working to get us booked on the ANA flight at 12:25. We wait and wait and wait. Nearly an hour goes by. My delegation manager has long since left on the original flight because her bag was already checked and her company refuses to change her flight plans. We're on our own. The JAL agent begins her second job as my translator with ANA, a competitor airline. Throughout the wait, the JAL agent checks in with me a few times for updates since they are also holding seats for us on the 12:00 flight.

 

Solution #5.5. If we can't get on the ANA flight and our luggage won't fit on the JAL flight, we will have to split the delegation in half with Nancy's group plus 12 students leaving at 12:00 and my group plus 11 students leaving at 5:35.

 

Problem #6. The P2P office assures me that they are booking us on the ANA flight and they have faxed all the information to the airline and are awaiting confirmation. I finally call them back when the JAL translator/agent informs me that ANA has closed the flight because it is too close to departure time and so there is no way we can get on the flight.

 

Solution #6 and 6.5. In the meantime, JAL has sent its baggage handler crew into the hotel lobby (where our delegation has now been sitting for a couple hours) to estimate whether they will be able to accommodate all of our luggage. I am informed that they are willing to give it a try and they will double book us. Booking #1: JAL flight at 12:00. Booking #2: If half the delegation has to leave the plane because of luggage restrictions, they will get us onto a 5:35pm flight on ANA instead. Our bags are specially tagged and we are given seats in the front of the plane to make this happen.

 

Problem #7. How do we pay for the tickets?

 

Solution #7. I call the P2P office and decide that I am in charge. As soon as they answer I tell them their attempts to get us onto the ANA flight have failed and we missed another opportunity to get to our destination. I tell them that we are going on the 12:00 JAL flight and I am paying for it with my personal credit card. They will just have to reimburse me when I get home. We are done waiting for someone in Washington to get things done. They say…ok.

 

We are ticketed for the flight, we check our bags, etc. In fact, they were so ready for us to go no one ever checked our passports or anything. We flew through security (which is normal in Japan anyway) and got to the gate 15 minutes before the scheduled departure. The ticket agent who had been so helpful was now at the gate to help us. She asked me to keep our delegation until everyone else and all the luggage was on board to make sure everything fit.

 

IT DID!

 

We got on the flight and had a turbulent ride to Osaka. The landing was really, really bad. Within 1-2 minutes of touchdown we still had major left-right movement where I thought the wingtip could hit the runway or something. Usually I like the landing the best because it means we are safely done flying, but when we finally touched down we only did with one side of the landing gear at first and it wasn't clear that we were going to even be able to stop in time. Obviously we did, but…

 

…I was imagining the made-for-tv movie about our experience today. I mean, it's the kind of tragic ending that is famous in plane crashes. Our group wasn't supposed to be on the flight, but people went above and beyond to get things done. Instead, a plane crash. Anyway, we made it to Osaka safe and sound.

 

I was calm 95% of the time. For 3 hours I was working with people in Japan and the United States to solve a problem that never should have occurred in the first place. NO ONE BOUGHT US OUR TICKETS! I never raised my voice, I never cursed or got exasperated and I only got sarcastic with someone from P2P on the phone when, in the middle of this crisis situation, they called to ask for an update on a minor issue that we have been responding to them about for something like 5 days. I couldn't believe that they thought that was a good plan. Anyway, I modeled the kind of calm under pressure behavior that I think is one of my strongest assets and we got through a trying situation. The students were mostly positive and they never got really upset even though they were frustrated and wanted to know what was going on.

 

Later in the day, P2P apologized and praised us for how we handled the situation and I used the political capital I built up to make sure that I'll be able to get everyone in the delegation some money for lunch while we have our long layover in Chicago on the way home. I even sent out an e-mail to all the parents when we got to our hotel with a very politically correct message about how we had a tough situation, but all the people supporting the program in Japan, the USA, etc. came together and got everything right in the end even though I'm not so sure the P2P office staff did anything to help. In fact, they probably kept us from getting on two earlier flights.

 

I will send my area director for P2P my real thoughts on what transpired today and I will send Japan Airlines a letter praising the work of the agent who went so far to help us today.

 

Once we landed in Osaka, we had an hour drive to lunch (now at 3:30 instead of 12:30) and no one had really eaten since about 7:00. We had a smaller-than-usual but tasty lunch of tempura, soup, rice and some small sides and then had about 45 minutes to visit a textile factory where kimonos are handcrafted. We even got to see a kimono runway show, which was pretty cool. This was the only thing on our itinerary for the day anyway so we actually were able to get ourselves back on schedule.

 

From there we checked into our final hotel right in the heart of Kyoto. We had about 90 much-needed minutes to get settled and rest up before heading to dinner. On the top floor of a huge department store, we ate in a cafeteria setting. Each person got $13 to pick anything combination of items from a huge picture menu. I had shrimp fried rice with egg drop soup and then a green tea ice cream/drink.

 

We gave the students free time for about 3 hours to explore the city, do some shopping, etc. We have a relatively late morning tomorrow, which is really nice after today. I got through the morning on the adrenaline rush of the situation, but that means a heavy crash later in the day. We have two full days in Kyoto and then we head home!

 

Oh, I forgot to mention two other incidents that I had to report…

 

First – A student left her glasses (more eye problems!) at the Nagasaki hotel so they are going to ship them to us in Kyoto. No big deal.

 

Second – Last night at room checks, I found all six guys in one room which is against policy but not that big a deal. More significantly I found one of the boys outside his room 20 minutes after curfew so we completed the requisite paperwork on the spot and I think he was actually hit pretty hard by it even though the only punishment for something like this on a first offense is a verbal warning. This was the first behavioral issue that we actually had to address all program long though, which is really good! We've just been dealing with medical issues and lost items more than usual.

Communication with program office concerns

John,

 

I would like to share concerns about issues between myself and the program office during my delegation's current travels in Japan. The most significant concern is the last one.

 

First – We had a student lose both pairs of contacts and forget to bring her glasses on the trip. We contacted the parents and completed the incident report form as required, called it in to the office, etc. The parents asked us not to take the student to a clinic to try to get a new prescription and said they were going to send the glasses by Federal Express and they would arrive on Friday (3 days from the beginning of the incident).

 

The program office then began calling us 1-2 times a day, every day, for updates on the situation. We responded to all of their requests even though the update was always the same – we are waiting for the glasses to arrive on Friday as has been noted over and over again. I don't know if they were getting pressure from the family or something, but we wound up devoting an inordinate amount of time to this situation.

 

The real thing that pushed me over the edge occurred this morning (Sunday) while dealing with the major travel issue that will be described in a minute. The glasses have still not arrived and the office had been informed of this. Someone from the office called me in the middle of a major travel crisis (no plane tickets booked for our delegation) and said "I know you are waiting to hear from us about getting you booked for a flight, but I am calling about a delegate's glasses." I couldn't believe that while I had 25 people sitting stranded in an airport, this was their priority.

 

Second – Although I faxed medical and incident forms to the office as instructed in the leader handbook, they were not being read. I received a number of calls (on the issue above and others) from the office asking for information that I had already sent in. When I mentioned this to the person on the phone, she told me that they had a huge stack of faxes that they hadn't read. If they are not going to read the information we are faxing, we should just do away with the process and move to the phone. It is very hard to be constantly pulled from the delegation in the middle of meals and activities to answer questions that have already been answered through the channels we are trained in. I know the office staff is busy and there are extenuating circumstances, but some of the calls were about such minor things that they were really unnecessary.

 

Finally – When we arrived at Nagasaki Airport today for our flight from Nagasaki to Osaka, there were no tickets purchased for us. The air department (Craig) eventually concluded that there was a technological issue, but the Japan travel partner told us that People to People never booked the flights.

 

The scheduled flight had enough seats for the delegation and Craig authorized me to use the emergency credit to book the delegation on the flight. The credit card charge was denied by the bank. I talked to the duty officer (Joy) and she increased the credit limit. It was still denied.

 

We then began a three hour ordeal to get us on a flight. We missed three flights with seats available because of delays in Spokane or problems with the credit card. After all of this waiting and as flight after flight departed that had seats reserved for our delegation, the office was still telling me that they were working on getting us booked on a flight.

 

With the help of a Japan Airlines ticket agent who was translating for us (our delegation manager went on the original flight because the local travel partner refused to change her reservation), we were ready to be booked on flights on both Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines. I finally called the office and told them that I was booking our flights on my personal credit card because I could not keep the delegation sitting on the floor of an airport any longer. They reluctantly agreed and Nancy Hohnstine and I split the $8000 bill on our personal credit cards to get us on a plane.

 

I spoke with a duty officer and people in air travel again after we landed in Osaka and they were very apologetic and all of that, but in this crisis situation – caused by People to People – the office team actually hindered our ability to find a solution that was safe and efficient for everyone involved. It wasn't until I took over and made my own decisions that we were able to move on. We were even able to adjust our schedule to not miss any scheduled meals or activities thanks to our delegation manager. Again, I am sure the people in the air travel department were working hard to rectify the situation but the fact is that in three hours they were unable to figure out a way to get us booked on a flight that was supposed to have been ready to go in advance.

 

I know this e-mail sounds like I am complaining, but the e-mails I've been sending to parents and copying you are all true. We have been having an amazing program and it has been running incredibly smoothly up to this point. I just think it is important that you know about these major exceptions so that they can be shared and considered during annual reviews of the travel season.

 

Thanks,

Matt Mingle

People to People - Travel Update #6

Dear Parents:

 

Today we experience the first significant hitch in our plans, but the students maintained a positive mindset and everything worked out.

 

When we arrived at the Nagasaki Airport this morning for our flight to Osaka, there was a problem with our electronic ticket reservations. As a result, we were unable to check in for the scheduled flight. Our delegation manager Yukari and I worked the phones with the People to People office in Spokane, Washington and the Japanese partner responsible for the program in Japan to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, we were not able to get things cleared up in time to take the scheduled flight and instead we took the next available Japan Airlines flight.

 

As a result of the delay, we arrived in Osaka a few hours later than scheduled. Yukari was able to contact our restaurants, hotel, and program stop to ensure that the Ambassadors had all of their scheduled meals and, because the activity schedule was light today due to traveling, we were still able to do everything planned for the day despite the delay.

 

Although I know our students were frustrated with the long wait at the airport this morning, they maintained a positive attitude throughout. As safety was our number one priority it was important to me to keep all of the students on one flight together with both delegation leaders, which was one reason for the delay.

 

Such situations are exactly what we mean by being flexible during the pre-travel orientation meetings. If you have any questions, you may e-mail me at peopletopeople2010@gmail.com or contact the People to People program office in Spokane.

 

I hope you all enjoy your last few days before our return. The students are beginning to feel a mixture of sadness as the end of an amazing experience nears and excitement for home-cooked meals, familiar beds, and friends and family.

 

Respectfully,

Matt Mingle

People to People - Travel Update #5

Dear Parents:

 

I'm sure our students meant you no disrespect when the begged us to stay with their homestay families this morning! In fact, we concluded probably the most successful homestay experience I have been involved with. Even by People to People standards, this one really went above and beyond thanks to the attention to detail and genuine openness displayed by the local government officials, school leaders, and families in Gosake. The Ambassadors excitedly shared details of their homestays with us on the bus. I am yet to hear one negative comment about the three days spent there!

 

This afternoon was devoted to Nagasaki Peace Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum. Being a history teacher with a particular affinity for this period of history, I led a brief discussion on the bus on the way to make sure all of our students had the basics down about the war and where the atomic bombs fit in. They seemed genuinely interested and inquisitive and I felt like they were really in the right mindset for the experience.

 

When we arrived, Natasha represented the group by placing origami cranes that everyone in the delegation folded onto a memorial with thousands of other cranes. We visited the museum with the help of two informative local guides. But the real highlight came when we met with atomic bomb survivor Sanae Ikeda. He shared a shockingly heart breaking story about his experience on August 9, 1945 when he was 12 years-old. All 5 of his siblings died within 10 days of the bomb and his parents both died from related diseases with the next decade or so. You can find more about the group of survivors he leads

At www.ne.jp/asahi/hidankyo/nihon/. I have not visited yet so I can't speak to the information there or whether it is even in English. A few students asked some questions and Katherine formally thanked him for his time on our delegation's behalf.

 

This group's amazing timing continued tonight. Our hotel is just one block from the Nagasaki port and a beautiful waterfront park with Venice-like canals and picturesque pedestrian bridges. We had dinner in the middle of the park and on the way back to the hotel stumbled across a summer festival being held tonight with live bands and a fireworks display.

 

Tomorrow we are taking a very short flight from Nagasaki to Osaka and then beginning our Kyoto program, which will bring us to the end of our program.

 

There is a group photo from today and photos of our Ambassadors in their small groups with Japanese students from yesterday's school visit attached. In addition, you can find a really short video of our students participating in the Gion Festival at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxYHWlW2Zx4. Rest assured that this video is set to private. It cannot be viewed without having access to the link and so is not available to the general public.

 

Matt Mingle

Japan Day 10

Day 10, July 17

Nagasaki, Japan

 

Since our bus to Nagasaki was leaving before our hotel began its breakfast service, they prepared a "to-go" breakfast of oni giri (sic), which is basically rice balls plus a little bit of pork, chicken, egg, and fish. It was really tasty and filling and nice of the hotel staff to go out of their way for us.

 

As with all People to People homestay departures, this one had its share of tears and difficult good-byes. The local and prefectural officials and families kept on praising us and our students for how willing they were to try new things and for how well they assumed their responsibilities as Ambassadors. It was great to hear this praise and we were sure to share it with the delegation once our bus was on the way.

 

We had a long 5-hour bus ride to Nagasaki so we gave each student a little bit of time to tell us about their homestay experience and then we went around again and had them talk about something that surprises them as a similarity or difference between Japanese and American cultures.

After a bus stop (where I had an awesome machine made-to-order iced banana smoothie drink), I did a little end of World War II history q&a. It was fun to talk about an area of history that I am particularly interested in and I think the students actually appreciated reviewing the information so they'd be informed visitors to the Nagasaki Peace Museum. Yukari also showed us a video about a doctor/research who survived for a few years after being exposed to radiation and received a great deal of recognition for how he used his own experience and illness to further the body of knowledge on radiation poisoning.

 

When we arrived in Nagasaki, we walked through the peace park and saw a monument with one hand raised to the sky (the direction of the atomic blast) and we added the origami cranes we made to an area where thousands of others had already been placed.

 

Nagasaki has a large Chinese population so we had lunch, which was sort of a Chinese-Japanese fusion. It was served family style on a large lazy susan in the middle of the table and included a dish with fried noodles and vegetables, some kind of sweet and sour pork, a fish dish and egg drop soup with seaweed. For dessert, we had jello with mandarin oranges in it.

 

We had a little bit of free time to see some of the statues that are placed around the peace park. There are items dedicated from countries all around the world. Although there is no statue from the United States, there is one from the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, a sister-city of Nagasaki. There was also a cool fountain where the water shoots up in the shape of a dove's wings.

 

The visit to the actual atomic bomb museum was a little bit of a letdown for me. Our group was split in half and assigned to a local guide for a tour of the museum's exhibits. Unfortunately, my group's guide was not fully fluent in English and he got caught up in explaining things that were not all that interesting. As a result, we ended up rushing through the parts of the museum that would have been most engaging. I think the students would have gained a lot more from the visit if they were allowed to explore on their own just reading the English placards.

 

From the museum, we also visited a park that is at ground zero of the blast. There is a memorial there and we held a moment of silence for prayer or reflection. A few students took me up on my earlier offer on the bus to answer questions or talk about what they saw so I had a couple good conversations about the atomic bomb and World War II history.

 

Overall I got more of a feeling today that the students mostly enjoy talking with us based on the museum and the people I ate dinner with. There is a small group who are starting to push things a little bit – loud on the bus, cell phones out when they shouldn't be, etc., but overall the group has a good dynamic.

 

The conclusion of our visit was time with a survivor of the blast in Nagasaki – Sanae Ideka. He spent some time introducing his story to us in Japanese with Yukari translating it to English. At times, she could not stop herself from crying as he described it. He provided us with a summary of his story, which I'll share here:

 

"When I was 12 years old, I was exposed to the A-bomb, 2 km away from the epicenter, on my way to the grocery store with my mother. All my brothers were at home when the A-bomb was dropped, and our home was located in Eri-machi, 800m away from ground zero. I also had a 6 year old sister who was burned and found dead outside of our house. August 16^th, a week after that day, my youngest brother passed away. My mother collapsed and kept to her bed. My father was busy with taking care of my other sick brothers. I ended up bringing my deceased brother to a crematory by myself.

 

I could hear my brother's joints making noises as he was burned. The red flame reminded me of the burning sun and made my tears red because of the reflection of the flame. He was born on December 8^th, 1941 when the Pacific war broke out, and passed away when the war ended. He was only 4 years old and had never lived through one peaceful period, not even a day. The next day, August 17^th, my 8 year-old brother passed away, and the following day, my 10 year-old sister passed away. One by one, I was losing my family.

 

On August 19^th, when my parents were out, my 14 year-old sister died .Just before my sister passed away, there was a red dragonfly that come to the pond. The A-bomb killed humans, animals, insects, plants and all living things, but there was still some life remaining. I thought that my sister and I may be able to survive. I was about to come near the red dragonfly when my sister called to me. I came back to where my sister was and asked "Do you need anything?" She asked me to rub her hands and legs because they go numb. There were ugly black spots on her body.

 

When I was wondering if my sister would die soon, I heard her asking me something.

"Japan's winning, right?"

As soon as I said yes, she got up, raised her arms, and said,

"Hail to the emperor!"

Then she fell over and died.

 

I hate wars.

I hate A-bombs.

I hate nuclear weapons.

I have been telling young people about my A-bomb experience. It will take a long time to abolish nuclear weapons. I've started seeing young people, especially high school students, become more actively involved in the peace movement. I pledge that as one of the survivors of the A-bomb, I will keep working with the younger generations in order to abolish nuclear weapons and sustain the movement for peace."

 

He took some questions and we all posed for a photograph together before we departed the museum. It is always most powerful to hear about these things from the people who were there. This is a particularly tough situation – more than the Holocaust in some ways – because the United States dropped the bombs. Of course, as the atomic bomb museum in Hiroshima makes clear, if there was never a Pearl Harbor there probably would  not have been a Hiroshima or Nagasaki either. The usual argument in the US is that the atomic bombs prevented the deaths of up to a million US soldiers conducting a full-scale invasion of Japan and Japanese soldiers and civilians showed no move toward surrender. A small exhibit in the museum today presented arguments that these were false claims. They quoted documents from US leaders including General Eisenhower making the case that the war was already won and the atomic bombs were not necessary. I took pictures of the documents so I can create some kind of debate or document-based question activity in World or US history next year.

 

We are staying in what seems to be a small, boutique hotel with a Mediterranean flair. There is even a restaurant with open air seating in a square in the middle of the hotel like the plazas of Italy. We are within two blocks of the Nagasaki port/waterfront which is really pretty too.

 

We walked that way for dinner and the students were really exited to have "American food." There were burger patties with cheese, fries, fried fish, fried chicken, crab/cheese pastries, Caesar salad, garlic bread and pineapple. Since we were on the edge of the waterfront park, I led us on a bit of an excursion through the park to go back to the hotel. I had no idea where I was going, but we did get back to the hotel without to much trouble.

 

On the way we came across a summer festival in the park with live bands and fireworks at 9pm. We have been so lucky with timing all along this trip and now they have the opportunity to go hang out in the park, watch the sunset, listen to music and see fireworks. I have a feeling most of them aren't going to do it and I can't do it because I have to be on duty in the hotel though. This is the first time on this program where I wished there were four leaders so that I could go out and explore a little on my own. Oh well – I'll get over it!

 

Tomorrow we fly to Kyoto after one night in Nagasaki. At that point we have only three nights remaining before we begin the ridiculously long travels home from Osaka to Tokyo to Chicago to Newark.

People to People - Travel Update #4

Dear Parents:

 

As I type this, the students are enjoying their final night with their homestay families. You should find quite a few photos from the last few days attached to this e-mail and I also wanted to give you a brief overview of the sorts of activities that have gone on during the homestay visit in Gokase, Japan.

 

This has arguably been the most impressively organized homestay experience I have been associated with on any of my 8 People to People programs. The local community has completely embraced our delegation. We have been featured in the local newspaper as a group, Mrs. Hohnstine is going to be featured in a travel column this weekend, and we were covered by local news. Wow!

 

Homestay Day 1 – We arrived in the middle of the afternoon to a community center where our students participated in preparing traditional Japanese foods. They also ate/played…noodles were sent down a long piece of cut bamboo and the students had to try to catch the noodles using their chopsticks. They had a lot of fun with this game! There were formal welcome speeches given by the Deputy Mayor and a number of local officials plus our very own Lucy made an impressive speech on behalf of the delegation. We enjoyed a delicious barbeque and performances by locals of traditional Japanese music and dance. They even taught the students how to do it all!

 

Homestay Day 2 – We spent most of the day together as a delegation. Since is recognized nationwide for its natural spring water, we took a walk/hike to drink straight from the source. A wonderful lunch feast made from locally grown organic produce gave us the energy we needed for an afternoon participating in the area's annual festival. Our students were provided hapis (jackets) and head bands to wear and they were fully integrated with the students from the area schools. Our Ambassadors carried a barrel full of water (representative of the important god of water) in a procession through the town's streets. This parade included a marching band, performers and lots of other students. The entire event lasted a few hours and culminated in demonstrations of a martial arts form special to the local area. Again, the students had a chance to learn from the masters themselves.

 

Homestay Day 3 – The morning was spent with Ambassadors doing various activities with their host families. As this is mostly a farming area, many of the students were involved with picking and packing vegetables. The highlight of the day, though, was a visit to Gosake Secondary School. Here our students interacted with Japanese students of the same age. Although the visit was only about 2 ½ hours long, no one wanted to see it end and all of the students exchanged addresses to keep in touch. Lindsay made a nice opening speech on behalf of our students and Matt did the same with a closing speech.

 

Those summaries barely touch the surface of what we've experienced in Gosake, but you have those journals to read and lots of stories to hear so I'll leave the rest for when we get home. We leave early in the morning on Saturday for a day in Nagasaki and then we conclude the program with three days in Kyoto.

 

See you soon!

 

Matt Mingle