PopopoPooooortland!

Last week, the Extension students went on a four-day trip to Portland. What a fabulaous place it is! I was surprised because I thought Portland was a more normal place. The landscape is really great, like a different country. I think it is the first time I have seen the "real" America. On the first day, I had a terrible stomachache on the bus and I couldn't stand up or even speak well, so I had to stay on the bus while students visited the Maryhill museum. Yuko, our Advisor, took care of me really gently, so I was happy. After that my body got back to normal and I got energy from somewhere.

When we left the museum, we went across the Columbia River bridge, and then we saw the beautiful sunglow on the river. The sun turned the color of the sky from blue to yellow and orange, and the river reflected the beautiful sun set. That was a fabulous scene, so I got a picture. Everyone was lost for words, and it reminded me of when I was in the Grand Canyon. The first day was short; it felt like just one hour.

On the second day, we went to the Japanese-American Memorial. It was kind of a sad place and we could see and experience American history there. Even though it is a sad place, I really liked it because the park is very beautiful. I imagined the park is like a set from a movie, and I noticed it is quite similar to Yodogawa, Osaka which reminded me of my hometown. Many sea gulls were flying around us. There was one old man with a long and white beard sitting on the bench smoking a cigarette. I talked to him, he told me he had lived in New York, but he really liked Portland, so he moved there. I felt Portland is a really peaceful place and I want to live there because I can always be relaxed just like him.

On this day, it was Saturday, so people have a Saturday Market. We visited there, and experienced their real daily life. There are live performances on the streets and some people were busking. There are one man dressed in gold who was acting like a robot that was really awesome and many people gave him money. I took a video when I was listening to a street musician. Many people just walked around me tried to get in the video, and they joked with me. They were really friendly. Maybe most Japanese people would not act like them. In fact the opposite! I felt very comfortable with them, and I felt that they were accepting of foreigners like us. They don't care that we are Japanese, we are foreigners. Sometimes, I feel I am a "foreigner" when I live in the U.S. Of course I am a foreigner, and people know I am a foreigner, but Portland people also treated me like an American. I mean I felt I could be American.

This evening, I went to the pool in our hotel alone, but I met 3 students. After I put on my swimsuit, I found Christopher! Oops!! We swam together and we got in the hot spring together. Japanese people think that when people take baths together, we can communicate easily, and our relationship gets closer. I believe it because when we got in hot spring together, I felt like we were family. Actually we are a kind of family to share in the life at MFWI .

The next day, it was totally shopping day! YEAH! Our money flew away to somewhere. In the shopping center, the workers were really kind!! I was surprised! In Japan, we have rules of what we should do or say, but in the U.S., the workers don't have rules like they do in Japan, so sometimes their behavior is not so good. On the other hand, many of the people in Portland helped me when I had lot of bags, and they gave me extra big bag and some candy. Not only this, I met many kind of people and they made me happy. I should do some good thing to the other people.

After shopping, we went to an NBA game!!!!!WHOA-----! That was really exciting. Many people in the world want to see the NBA, and we were able to! We are the luckiest girls in the world! Our seats are at the top of the arena, but it was no problem. We enjoyed it a lot! I fell in love with Roy who is the star of the Portland team. He absolutely led the team to victory. My friends and I shouted when we saw the super good plays that we'd never seen before. I don't have any regrets about going to Portland. I was really satisfied with our visit there. And in the end, I really want to say thank you to my friends that helped me to make such fabulous memories and to the teachers that helped us and I know they worked hard every day, so that they were even more tired than us. This trip was the last trip, so I'm a little sad. One teacher said, don't think too much about the future or the past. Be happy, right now! That's right!