On Saturday afternoon I made the trip into Itami airport to meet Kuniko and escort her home after a week in Canada. The students and teachers arrived at the gate and after exiting they performed the traditional closing ceremony (because there had been an opening ceremony before they left). Speeches were made, photos were taken, and then we were free to go. Unfortunately one students’ mother was about an hour late, so we all waited patiently for her to show up before we could leave.
Hanayama sensei gave us a ride home – his wife had also come to the airport, and she drove us to our doorstep. It was really nice of them – it saved a lot of time and hassle. As for Kuniko, she was tired, but it sounds like it was a pretty good trip. The students behaved well, and she really enjoyed the area. It turns out she spent most of the time on Salt Spring island, and although it was a little quiet it was a good place for the students to learn. She brought back a bunch of souvenirs, including some delicious smoked sweet salmon, a bottle of blackberry port wine, a couple of bottles of Cholula, and even some wasabi flavor kit-kats from Tokyo.
We slept in today and fit in a nap into our schedule, so we should be all charged up and ready for another week at work. Kuniko is marking papers as I write this, but I think she’ll be ready to go back to school early tomorrow morning.
