August 4th

Today is the day that we're traveling to Ueda from Tokyo. We woke up at eight and began to pack all of our possessions. After that, a few of us ran down to the 7/11 under the hotel to grab some breakfast. The 7/11's here are much better than in America. For one thing, the food isn't junk food. Another is that it's not a gas station. There's really good food, and another thing is that they are also a 'bank'.

We then took the shuttle from the hotel to Shinjuku station. Keep in mind that currently there is a lot of people who are going to work, and we're all carrying our luggage, and it's hot and sweaty and humid. We also had managed to get lost at the elevator. The elevator fit four, maybe five people, and there are thirteen people in our group. So we had to split up at the elevator. There were only two floors, but somehow, half of us got off at floor one, and the other half on floor two. We then get on the JR line to get to a station where the Shikansen, or bullet train, stops. That stop would be Omiya. Then we got on the bullet train to Ueda. Broomfield's sister city.

When we got there we were greeted by a surprise. We turned the corner from the escalator and were greeted by a congregation of cheers, waving of flags,and excitement. There was even a giant banner that said 'welcome Broom field 2016 delegation'. To say we were surprised and overwhelmed was an understatement.

After that we ditched our luggage at the room where everyone would meet up, and began to walk around Ueda in search of lunch. We stopped at an udon place where they had horsemeat. I didn't have the guts to try it. Luckily for us, along with Chiaki who is bilingual, another man, Bill, was very bilingual, so he helped us get around.

We stopped at a souvenir store, a museum that featured a popular show in Japan that involved Ueda, the ruins of Ueda castle, and another shrine.

When we returned to the room, we were very surprised to see balloon art everywhere. There was an entrance arch made of balloons, balloon bouquets at each table, and even the front of the room had dragonflies, hearts, and dogs (made from balloons). We then became even more alarmed when these people with a huge camera and an armband that said MTV came in the room.

We made some last minute preparations for our opening ceremony and waited outside the room. Once again we were surprised by three characters. It's just like the characters you find at Disney. Huge heads, some sort of puffy costume, and fabric. There were three, a samurai, a green creature, and a moose. That's honestly the best way I can explain it. Some delegates were downright terrified of them.

We then proceeded into the room where we had to sit at the front, while we listened to speeches. Then we did our dance. Which was full of laughter, small mess ups on most people's parts, and being recorded, by so many people.

After that we ate dinner and talked with our host families. I finally began to feel the language barrier. We spoke little Japanese, and they spoke little English. And there was a lot of people talking. So it was very difficult to understand.

After that we then split up to go with our host families. My host family is so nice, and Google translate is very useful.