Most of Saturday was spent at a fancy hotel at our official Rotary orientation to the Peace Fellows program. This consisted of many speeches given by past district governors, current district governor and future district governors which were interesting but made twice as long as everything had to be translated into English. We also heard speeches from our ICU center director, coordinator and two program alumni. The guest of honor was past Rotary International president (2012-2013), Mr. Sakuji Tanaka.
After three hours of formal ceremony, we were more than ready for dinner which was buffet style and included plenty of drinks and toasting. We had a chance to mingle and catch up with not only our host counselors but all of the other Rotarians and dignitaries attending as well. Once again, this exchange was made slightly awkward by the fact that I can barely speak any Japanese and the Rotarians were embarrassed about their English ability and hardly said anything either. The drinking only improved this a little bit and I now have a pocket full of unknown and unintelligible business cards.
During the networking time, the fellows were asked to give a short speech with our host counselors. I adore my counselor and am very thankful that he can speak English so we can communicate. While we were up in front he said during his speech, "Sarah is quite tall and I am very short but her hope in the future is big and my heart is big too so we are a good pair." Once again, I was grateful to my Japanese class for hammering a classic and formal speech into our memories as I've had to give it again and again.
While I was shaking hands, bowing and toasting like mad, Sean was somewhere in Mackinaw City with the rest of The Labor Day Boys, as some of the locals have dubbed them over the years. Five more days until he'll be saying "Kanpai/Cheers" with me in Tokyo.
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