Lesson Plans Complete!

I finished my lesson plans on Sunday and my passport arrived today. Life is finally coming together - Hooray!!

If you would like to find out more information about the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund, please check out their website JFMF.

If you would like to see where I will be staying in Japan, please check out the hotel and city websites. In Tokyo, I will be staying at the Tokyo Prince Hotel.

After our stay in Tokyo, we will break into several groups - each group heading to a different host city. My host city is Chiba in the Chiba prefecture, which is like an American state. Here is their city's English website Chiba and the hotel's website Goi Grand.

Before leaving Japan, we are staying in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn. It has a large public bath and serves local cuisine. If you have difficulty navigating this Japanese site, don't worry. There is an English link at the top of the page. Check it out! Wakamatsuhonten Ryokan.

If you have questions or feedback, I would love to hear from you. Please, send me a comment!

Three weeks and counting!

WOW! Can you believe it? In a mere three weeks I will be in San Francisco and in three weeks and one day I will be on my way to Tokyo! As you can imagine there is still alot to do.

One: Complete lesson plans. This is a biggie!
Two: Revise Follow-On Plan (new school, new plan)
Three: Pack for Japan. A big thank you to all the former JFMFers for their very thorough websites.
Four: Read all of the JFMF required readings.

Luckily, my school has a Fall Break the second week in October. We are heading up to the White Mountains that week to relax. The bad part, getting everything done before we go out of town. The good part? Arizona's White Mountains are beautiful and relaxing and an ideal place to read and get ready for Japan.

Ok -- I am off to work on lesson plans. I'll let you know they're done.

Guess who's going to Japan?

That's right -- me! I can't believe it. Here's how it happened.

Two years ago I applied to the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund's Teacher Program which sponsors 400 teachers a year to visit Japan. The first year I wasn't picked. I was so disappointed. But, I applied again the second year and really made sure that this application was a winner. I had several people look at my application, especially the follow-on plan and was sure that I would be picked. As you can imagine, I was so disappointed to find out I was an alternate and because participants don't usually decline the opportunity -- I knew I would be writing an application for the third time.

But just a few days ago, I got an email. I figured it was JFMF letting me know the new 2008 application was available, but no. I read that I was no longer and an alternate but a PARTICIPANT! I would be traveling to Japan with the October 2007 delegation. Woo-hoo!!!

After several hours of pure joy, panic set in. Is my passport up-to-date? Can I get three-weeks worth of lesson plans done? Am I being Punk'd? Even though I am still in panic mode, the excitement remains. I have my paperwork filled out, to be mailed out tomorrow, and have filled out all the on-line forms. Even sent off my picture -- not the best but I will have a lot of time to practice my posing while in JAPAN!!

Luckily so many past FMFers have created wonderful sites that chronicle their trips to Japan. They have included photos of the schools, temples, the hotels, even the toilets. Yes, I need to work on my balancing as some toilets are the "squat" variety. But sushi? Not a problem here. Squid, octopus, tofu -- not a problem either. So keep your fingers crossed that the Department of State can get my passport back in time and that my lesson plans make sense. -- so with that I am off to create more worksheets :)