Once it was 8 am, I stole downstairs to find both Eriko’s grandparents in the kitchen with Mama-san. They spotted me, and we bowed to each other several times, each time, greeting formalities. I went to the bathroom and returned to my room. We were to leave at 8:30 am, and I busied myself with dressing. When I arrived at the table downstairs, Eriko was setting up breakfast for me.
We ate onigiri—seaweed wrapped rice with seasonings—miso soup, pickled cucumber, and tomatoes. Once we finished and gathered our belongings, Eriko’s mom drove us to the preschool we were meant to volunteer at today. We met Jason and his host parent there before we entered the facility. The preschool was a bustling place, with many caretakers in cute aprons and children running around. We were ushered into a staff lounge and greeted by the cheerful director.
Her round face and rosy cheeks reminded me of my aunt. She was engaging, asking us questions we half-understood and smiling at us with welcoming eyes. She showed us to the big room where all the children lined up to greet us. They sang to us, and after an intercession to change, we joined them in the 2-foot swimming pool in the back. The kids splashed us—mostly against my will because I improvised a red tank top and my black basketball shorts as swimwear. We played in the pool for an hour before showing ourselves back into the preschool. After changing, the assistant director insisted we join the kids for lunch.
I sat with four 5-year old boys. One boy, Yuu, was very talkative and kept hitting his friend in the head with a resounding “Baka!” When he asked me questions, I stuffed my mouth with rice in hopes of avoiding the half-understood question. Eriko, from a table over, tried to translate for me, but she also entertained a table of 5-year-olds.
Soon, lunch was over and the kids were directed to brush their teeth and change into pajamas for nap time. We helped to put them to bed by patting them on the back. Once a majority of the kids fell asleep, we were lead out of the preschool to explore the streets around. Our guide took us alongside the river, explaining things along the way. We stopped at a wooden mosaic museum, an ice cream shop and a seaside front before heading back to the preschool.
Our guide provided us with sweets and drinks while we waited for the kids to be redressed in casual clothing. We ate with them again, me avoiding Yuu altogether, and visited the director before our farewell party began.
The kids gave us origami and a small photo album, then they lined up in a circle, and we each went around and shook their hands. Mama-san arrived in time to snap a few shots of us. Sadly, we left the preschool with little faces and hands waving ‘sayanora’ to us as we drove away. We arrived at City Hall shortly afterwards to work on our presentation with the other delegates.
The presentation, being in English, needed some help with translating it into Japanese. We spent a majority of our time explaining words to the Odawara delegates. Jason, Eriko, Haruka, Chris, and I left together.
As we made our way to the elevator, I noticed a familiar person standing before a group of people, all following his movements. He saw us right away, but I was the only one who smiled and waved once I realized it was Mayor Kato. He smiled back, and him and a few other white-collared associated returned my wave.
In spite of Mayor Kato’s regular attire, he didn’t appear to be a businessman like the other white collars. Instead, an eloquent, commanding figure stood before them, waving his hands to illustrate his point and showing an unreadable smile on his lips.
He was quite handsome. I was in awe by his demeanor, and even moreso by his looks. I suddenly felt giddy and followed the others to the elevator. As we waited for Eriko’s mother to arrive, Shoko-san showed me around the mini Odawara museum crowned with an oversized Odawara Japanese light. It was seemed many cosmetics, artisan wood, and technology came from the
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