Mr. Araki, the Principal of Onominami, arrived after a 45 minute delay at the Atlanta Airport on Sat. night. It was good to see him again. Knowing how tired he must be, my husband Bob and I took him to his hotel. Our school had prepared a welcome bag of food and drink along with a University of Georgia t-shirt.

After turning back the clocks, we picked him up at his hotel. He had a difficult night sleeping but appeared to be fine. We went out to lunch for hamburgers. The weather was perfect so we ate outdoors. We took him to the GA Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world. He enjoyed it and took many pictures. We left the Aquarium and returned to my home to give him a tour. Mr. Araki got along very well with my dog. Shelby loved him! After dinner at an Italian rest., we took him back to the hotel.

I picked him up for school on Monday where there was a reception for him with the superintendant of the Cobb Co. schools. The students sang "Sakura" and we played the Japanese National Anthem. Our school district arranged for a translater which made him feel more comfortable. He made a lovely speech and was interviewed for the local newspaper.

I have formed a Japanese Friendship Club at my school with some of the fifth grade students. They are voluntarily giving up their "Fun Friday" to meet each week and learn about Japan. Each student was presented with a teddy bear to bring home. The children dressed them and wrote a letter of introduction in the eyes of the bear. One of the students presented Mr. Araki with the bear. We then invited him back to our classroom where he was presented with a bear from each student - enough so that every classroom in Onominami will have a friendship bear, a picture of the student, and a letter of introduction.

Mr. Araki is very popular at our school. All of the students greet him each day. He is going "trick-or-treating" this evening at the home of our PTA president. This is his first visit to the U.S. and I believe it will be a memorable one.

Tomorrow he is going to see a junior high school, observe a science lesson in our fifth grade and teach some music classes. Tomorrow evening he will attend a staff party at a steak house.

Thursday evening is a videoconference with students at Onominami and our Japanese Friendship Club. We plan to tell the students about the bears since this will be a surprise.

The week is going by very quickly. I know he is very tired but we are so excited and honored to have him visit. As this is the third and last year of our official partnership, I do believe it will continue for many years to come.

Here are some highlights of his visit. I am posting this and then adding my pictures. I still don't trust myself.