2 days of YEAH: Manda Mine and Arigatou Evento in Arao!

Okay, first of all, check my previous blog for the crazy pictures and videos of Greenland and the Arigatou Evento preps!

So hey, how you doin'? We started yesterday with a lot of talking. About religion, the mine (later on more) and my personal story. Yes, yesterday it was my turn to tell the WCI members about my story, the events in my life that made me what I am now. So that was interesting.

After the talking part, we went to an old mine in Arao City. This mine is about 500 years old. So we had an old energetic man who was retired a long time ago as mineworker, who guided us through the complex and told us stories about the labor conditions and the culture during his working period in the mine.

This story impacted me. And I used this impact in the workshop we had after the tour. The people of the Manda Mine (name of the mine in Arao) would like to have this Manda Mine a World Heritage. An example of World Heritage in the Netherlands would be the Woudagemaal in Friesland. A World Heritage is a place or landscape that is significant for human or earth history. In this workshop, the WCI members were splitted into 4 groups and each group had to think of a strategy how to promote the Manda Mine for acquiring the title of World Heritage. There were people of the World Heritage Foundation and people of the Manda Mine present to help us with this workshop. Really interesting workshop. Too bad most of the WCI members were tired from the whole week.

The Manda Mine




The Manda Mine Promotion Workshop

Me and Gaby were interviewed for local television! We were asked about our opinion of the Manda Mine's status and the Kumamoto prefecture.

Today was Arigatou Evento in Arao! We practiced the whole day and finally we gave away an excellent Arigatou Evento to the host families and everyone who made this stay in Arao City possible. It was the last Arigatou Evento of Liz, who participated the first and second session with me, but goes back to Canada at the end of this week. Also of Raymon, but he will go to Hiroshima with us, and Choi (Korea), Nao (Japan) and Birchu (Turkey). To bad the last three ones only joined us for a week. That is way to short. The whole program is to short, but a week is like a second in a hour.

Tomorrow is host family day! Hiroshi-san, Hitomi-san, Tomo-kun, Ray and I will go to the mountains, fish together, swim in the river with natural water from the mountain, eat the fish we will catch and go to a Japanese bathing house. YEAH!! Smell ya later!

Arigatou Evento; silence before the storm? Call it tornado before the storm, 'cause we practiced our butts off today!!

Jake imitating a host mom being interviewed. I laughed so hard, that tears rolled over my cheeks

Had a great time today, here I am laughing at one of the many jokes...

Actually THIS is the silence before the storm. I do not have pictures of the event itself. Yet.






America and the Netherlands: never so close before

Tomo-kun imitating a duck, with 2 potato chips. He failed.

SMAP!