January
10, 2005
“Let’s go ahead to see Barbara!” said Hironori, later. Ms. Barbara Roth is the one who coordinated the Marshfield-Senmaya project and who, with the townspeople’s support, arranged the visit to Marshfield. But, suddenly we realized that we were all locked out of the van because it locked automatically and the key was inside!
Luckily,
in front
of the Furnace Brook Middle School entrance, we saw a police officer
coming our
way. I explained to him what happened to us. He kindly called the fire
department to get help. After a little while,
three nice fire fighters arrived to help us open the van door.
So
-- that is how our group and Miss
Betty, a friendship doll, were rescued! This incident was the first
unforgettable precious gift that the Senmaya visitors received – the
gift of
friendship and help from the kind Marshfield townspeople.
In spite of the incident above, the Senmayan visitors were very happy and excited. Mr. Hagisho -- a the former Senmaya Elementary School Principal, Senmaya UNESCO Association President, and an active Shinto priest -- said that he had used his miracle powers to cause this incident to happen, so that we could meet the heroes of Marshfield! We really believed that it was Miss Betty’s power, but we tried to accept his idea since he was the oldest person in the group (the average age was around 50 years old and he is more than 70 years old).
When
we arrived at
Barbara Roth’s parents' condominium, she was waiting for us. Atsuko
Sato
(Senmaya UNESCO Association Vice President and Senmaya International
Friendship
Association Vice President) hugged Ms. Roth
tightly with tears in her eyes. This was her third time meeting
with Ms.
Roth. Atsuko had been Ms. Roth’s translator and host mother (even
though they
are the same age!) when Ms. Roth visited Senmaya in 2002 and 2003. The
other
visitors bowed to Ms. Roth, and she bowed back and they all smiled to
each
other.
In
her speech, Ms.
Loiselle emphasized peace and friendship between the two countries. Principal Sato, who held Miss Betty, and Mr.
Hagisho gave a speech in return.
The
third graders
had prepared two songs for the visitors and I felt as if these were the
songs
of angels. The song, Give
Me Wings,
made the visitors cry because the song is a very popular song in Japan.
They
sang it just like Japanese children sing! The visitors loved the other
song, We
Are the People of the 21st Century.
I, the reporter, hope that the teachers from
Senmaya will teach this song to their students in English.
“Now
I have a
dream that one day these two nation’s students will these songs
together,” said
Noriko on January 16, 2005. I still cry when I listen to these songs!
The
Sister School
Agreement poster was dramatic. It also showed Ms. Loiselle’s
thoughtfulness.
She had reproduced the agreement document onto a large poster board, because she wanted all the students to see
it well. She wanted it to be right in
front of them during the signing, so that they could remember with
their eyes
what both principals did. “Seeing is believing,”
Mrs. Loiselle understood how effectively this would help
the
students remember this important day. |
 |
After this excitement, the visitors visited the Marshfield School’s Central Office Building. They walked down the hall to a large office to greet all the principals from the four other elementary schools, the middle school, and the high school. Both sides were able to discuss some possible future plans for this project. They wanted to make sure of continuing this friendship with planning things such as future student exchange programs. Ms. Roth emphasized the importance of helping this friendship endure and grow stronger.
The visitors from Senmaya then went to Furnace Brook Middle School for lunch provided by the school cafeteria. They already remembered this school due to the incident that happened on their first day coming into Marshfield. They were so happy to see the familiar faces of the police office and the assistant principal who had helped them that day. At lunch the police offer gave them T-shirts printed with the message “No drugs! No alcohol!” since he teaches health course to students. The visitors also met an English teacher, Ms. Laura Rancatore, who speaks Japanese. They learned that she took Japanese language courses at college. Also, they met another elementary school teacher, Ms. Helen Fowler, who went to Japan for an exchange program run by the Japanese government, exhibited her Japanese collections at SRS in that afternoon. After lunch, the Furnace Brook Middle School principal, Mr. Alfred Makein, gave them a school tour. The visitors wanted to observe things in the school and perhaps learn some good ideas to take back to their own students in Senmaya. They tried to observe as many classrooms as possible. In one class, I had a chance to ask some students if they had learned anything about Japanese animation – as that is very popular among students in the US. Animation is a part of studying art, but they did not seem to know much about it, so I promised to send some educational and cultural animated movies to them. Then I did it.
We then walked over to Marshfield High School, which is located next to Furnace Brook Middle School. The Principal, Mr. Robert Keuther, introduced three Student Council members to the visitors, and he talked about some of the school’s programs. The visitors were glad to meet the three high school students who had set their goals and were trying to work hard to achieve them. Later, they were amazed to see a class where career oriented students learn how to make a boat. They realize that Marshfield is located along the Atlantic Ocean, and many people from Senmaya had seen this ocean for the first time on this trip, since Japan is located along the Pacific Ocean and Yellow Sea.
Learning to use computers is necessary for students today, and they saw many computers in several computer labs as well as the new language lab, the English lab, and computers in the library.
They visited a Student Council meeting as well. Hagisho-san asked the students if they had some questions about Japan. Since his question was sudden, the students in the meeting really needed more time to think of a good question to ask. Then something nice happened when the visitors were ready to leave. A female high school student came to us in a hurry saying that she was sorry because she could not ask any question at that time. She wanted to say something, but she could not do it so quickly. Midori had remembered noticing this very girl who had looked as if she had wanted to ask a question. The Senmayan visitors appreciated this girl’s kind words to them. Hironori invited her to stay with his family in his home in Senmaya since he has three extra rooms. Generally, in the countryside of Japan, the homes are more spacious than those in the cities. That’s why people from Senmaya would happily welcome people of Marshfield to stay with them. They mean this from the bottom of their hearts. I also learned, of course, that Senmaya people are very nice and considerate.
The
next visit was Marshfield Town Hall. Mr. Michael Maresco,
one of the Marshfield Selectmen, gave a tour
of the building. They learned quite a bit about the town and its famous
people. They were especially glad to see name
of
“Webster” because teachers from Senmaya were familiar with his
dictionary. The
nice town planner showed them the future town plan, and they felt like
coming
back to the town to see it. Mr. Maresco had prepared some refreshment
for them,
and gave them a wonderful speech. He
was very enthusiastic about helping his town and townspeople.
The Senmaya
visitors came back Ms. Roth’s parent’s condo to take a break for a
while.
However, they did not have time to relax because without telling them
ahead of
time, had I planned to fix Japanese roll vegetable sushi for the
reception
dinner party. They helped me beautifully. Since we worked as a team, it
was
very quickly done. Some people started making some origami artwork to
display
on the dinner table.
Roll sushi for a party
The Ahearn family held a party for them at
their splendid mansion. The visitors from Senmaya were shocked to see
the
mansion because it was like a home from the movie Gone with the Wind.
They saw guests who looked like American movie stars or actors and
actresses.
High school students helped them out in many different jobs. They were
kind,
good-looking people who looked like they were appearing on the
television show
“Friends”. The Senmaya visitors looked
as if they were in the move studio. With the delicious food and the
generous
Marshfield people, the party was another wonderful experience and gift
for
them. Mr. McGoodwin Mr. Maresco and Mr. Fitzgerald (Selectmen chairman) gave speeches and Hagisho-san gave one in
return. I hoped that Hagisho’s speech would be short because the
translator
worked hard all day long and looked tired. Only one time had she
mistakenly
translated Japanese into Japanese. She did a wonderful job! In the gift
exchange, the Senmayan visitors received many souvenirs for the town,
school
and themselves. The guests from Marshfield got Japanese toys. Some of
the
visitors including Principal Sato, Hironori, and Masaei, showed the
gusts how
to play with them. These Japanese men looked like boys when they played
with
the toys. Later other Marshfield residents, including the high school
students
learned how to play, and they joined the game. That was an enjoyable
moment.
But then, it was time to leave. It was
hard to leave the home. Also, it had begun to snow.
That
night at the condo, Hironori, Hagisho,
Sayoko, and I checked on the next day’s schedule. However, Hagisho was
really
dreaming in his chair during this
meeting. That night, I dreamed that I was a queen in the
mansion. I was
lucky to be there. Thank you very much to the gracious family for the party for us!
The next
morning, Ms. Roth took the
visitors to her classroom to show them her students and a lesson. It
was a
science lesson. The students had been learning about the universe and
about
galaxies, such as our Milky Way. Ms. Roth taught this subject in a way
that
helped the students see the connections between Marshfield and Senmaya.
We both
share the same universe. We have so many things in common. After her
lesson,
Ms. Roth and her students took the visitors to a second grade classroom. The
students had prepared some questions about Japan for the
visitors. Also, Joe Castiglione, the radio
broadcaster
for the Boston Red Sox, was waiting to greet the visitors.
He gave a “Red Socks Champion” baseball
cap to Principal Sato. He was
lucky!
After that, Ms. Roth gave the visitors the school tour. The school looked overcrowded, and most extra places were used for classrooms. They visited the teachers who were hosting some of the visitors from Senmaya. The Senmaya teachers wished to visit more classrooms, but their schedule was very tight. However, they were able to visit the art class. The teacher teaches Asian art along with European art. The visitors wished that they could have had more time to be there.
After visiting the South River School , the visitors went the First Congregational Church. The historian at the church explained the origin and history of the church. At the entrance in a showcase, they saw two cute Japanese friendship dolls sent from the Senmaya UNSCO group. This church was Miss Betty’s birthplace. They heard Betty’s voice saying, “I am happy to be back my home.”
Sato Principal & Historian at the
First Congregational Church
Lunch was ready.
The church members voluntarily prepared for lunch for them. It was
delicious
meal with seafood and salad. Hagisho told them how much he appreciated
their
serving rice for the meal. He must have missed rice,
although he did enjoy the American food. After they were full
with the wonderful meal, they rushed to go shopping for souvenirs. They
found
some newspapers with articles about their visit on the front page, so
they
bought some to take back to their students, family members, and the
townspeople
of Senmaya.
I had
been with the Senmayan
visitors all this time from Boston to Marshfield and from Marshfield
back to
Boston. Therefore, I understood how much they enjoyed meeting the
people in
Marshfield and how much they appreciated these people for helping them
make
their dream happened. Of course, I had enjoyed myself a lot by meeting
both the
Senmayan visitors and the Marshfield townspeople as I performed this
assistant
job. I appreciated all the people who gave me this wonderful
opportunity.
I thank Sayoko Crabtree who I know will be my mentor and friend for life. I thank Bill Gordon, my husband, who supported this project in many different ways. Lastly, I am very proud of Ms. Roth as my friend who made Miss Betty and Senmaya people’s dream came true. Betty’s both eyes still stay open since she arrived in Marshfield on January 11, 2005. She was revived thanks to a lot of kindness from both Japanese and American townspeople.
Another
friendship will start from this meeting. I hope that I can continue
working
with both sides to help both Marshfield and Senmayan students.
The following people have
been so kind to help and provide permission to use their materials on
this web site. These people deserve a special thanks for the time and
effort.
Barbara Roth
Hironori Sato
William Kite
Parent of South River School