Been corresponding with James Amaral, who was a Master Teacher in Kushiro last summer. He's been tremendously helpful. What a guy! Here are some of his ideas:

He suggested I get a flag of Tennessee as many the schools like to display them during video conferencing. I was not having any luck until I just asked a state representative. Got it! I think it will be a good present to the school.

Another idea is to have each child write a short form letter. If you have a Japanese parent who is willing to translate the form once, you can have the kids copy the Japanese form and then the parent only has to translate the inserts. Does that make sense? A form letter.

I am also buying up small things from our local university's book store. Small mints with the university's name, file folders with the name on it, small notepads, etc. And being from a town near Nashville, I am taking some CD's and of course some small bottles of Jack Daniel's!!

James also suggested taking advantage of local laundries in your Japanese city, once there. He said the price is worth it in terms of time washing clothes.

Another idea is to ship over heavy gifts ahead of time. This saves weight in your suitcase. I shipped over pencils, mini-erasers, the flag, gift books, and so on. There may be no time to do this, in terms of cost effectiveness...now. I did not use airmail and it will take about a month to reach the school.

Will see everyone soon!
Cynthia