On Thursday, November 16 the "International Club" at Mountain Shadows met to celebrate Japanese culture. Our partners at Shotoku Gakuen Junior High School had an unexpected schedule conflict and were not able to join us in a video conference that day. Since we have to make special arrangements for transportation home (most of our students live miles away from school and all ride the bus) we were not able to meet another day. However, not to be deterred, we videotaped parts of our meeting and thanks to FedEx were able to connect our students.

Earlier in the week, the Mountain Shadows students had traveled to the Japanese American National Museum in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. Students were guided through two exhibits, "Common Ground", about Japanese immigrants and their experiences in the internment camps, and "Ansel Adams at Manzanar". Museum docents, some with first hand knowledge, gave students a glimpse into what life was like in the camps. After the exhibits, students enjoyed a taiko drum demonstration, including a chance to try out the big drums. They shared these experiences via DVD- not the same as a real video conference, but hopefully their experience came through.

They have also been working hard on their Future Cities competition city models. All varieties of houses, office buildings, parks, windmills and solar power plants have materialized from scraps found in the technology lab storage room. Students were pleased to be able to share their models via DVD, especially after seeing the very professional work of the Shotoku students earlier in the year.

At the meeting, the Mountain Shadows students enjoyed sushi, rice cookies in the shape of Japanese dolls (purchased at a mountain resort near Sendai on the weekend of our conference), origami folding, calligraphy, a tea ceremony and kimono dressing. They definitely have a lot to learn about wearing a kimono, but they certainly had a grand time!

We look forward to our next meeting!

Best Regards,
Lynn Hammonds
Mountain Shadows Middle School
Nuevo, California

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