Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Today was a very interesting day, but not in the way I originally thought it would be. The day started with a piece of toast catching on fire at breakfast. I thought the toaster would "ding" when it was done and shut off....but it didn't. The piece of toast was actually flaming and on fire. Fortunately, we got it out before the whole building burned to the ground.

For our first official duty today, we started with a visit to the mayor of Soka City. This, of course, was very formal and everyone was dressed up and looking sharp. The mayor met with us and welcomed us. We had our picture taken with him. Then we met with the superintendent of the Soka School system. This was a question and answer period. We ate lunch at city hall and then we were off to our next stop, which was...

Saitama University. There we first met with the president of the University and then we heard several other deans and professors speak. The next part was the neatest. We got to talk with students of the university. This was very interesting. Some of them spoke very good English and some of them not so much. I used my phrase book again and I was even drawing maps of the United States. It was very cool to talk to them and I think they enjoyed it as well.

After that is when my day took a far different turn. I haven't been feeling quite right for the last few days, and finally today I decided that I needed to see a doctor. So, after we all returned to the hotel, the group coordinator, Aiko (pronounced Iko), and I headed off to the doctor. Since it was after hours, we had to go to the hospital. This was a good experience but quite different. If Aiko wouldn't have been there with me, I would've had to find someone who spoke English. Everything was in Japanese and everyone seemed to speak Japanese. Aiko had to translate everything for me and fill out all the paperwork.

Just like in the United States, we had to wait. Everyone who walked by gave me a second look. I guess they're not used to seeing an American sitting in the hospital waiting room. Many people stared. It's alright, though, I'm used to it by now. Finally, we got to go in and see the doctor. The doctor was female and she wore a mask over her nose and mouth the whole time. She examined me and asked me many questions. Again, Aiko had to translate everything for me. Finally, we were done, and then we had to walk across the street to the pharmacy. Again, everything was in Japanese, nothing was in English. I got my medicine and we were done. The whole experience was good, but just confusing because of the language issues. All the medical care seems to be just as good as in the United States. Also, I got to experience something that most of the people on this trip will not experience! By the way, my illness isn't serious and should be better within a few days. The medicine will take care of everything.