The Last Trip

Today we visited the Gingue Brothers Dairy Farm. (I know the name of this farm after I came back.)

What I was first surprised was the smell in the farm. The moment getting off the van, not only I but everyone must be uncomfortable. But it was the first time to see cows that farmers take milk from, so it was impressive for me. For example every cow put on a small device to measure the amount of milk which can be taken by the cow. That was not what I did imagine, it was more systematic than I thought.

After that, we went to the Fairfax Recration Path.

I want to say thank you for the wonderful cake one teacher made for us, and that playing in the river in that way was - insane, to be honest. Some asked me why I didn't join them, but I want to say again that was not what I could do.


The activities and trips finished.. and all of them are really precious experiences and lovely memories for me.

There are many kinds of crops in Japan, but the most famous one is rice. It is the main food in Japan and it is related to our culture, climate, and history. So I will talk about rice farming.

 It is said people started to produce rice about three thousand years ago and since then, rice farming has affected our culture. For example, there are many ceremonies or plays to pray a good harvest. Nowadays these are not so much common, but certainly they are the important part of Japanese culture.

The climate in Japan is suitable for rice growing. It rains so much in June, and it's hot and doesn't rain too much in summer, so Japan has a good condition to produce rice.

Most of the children in Japan have to learn about rice farming in elementary school. Actually I experienced a small scale of rice growing in my fifth grade.

In these way, rice growing has been one of the most important aspects of farming in Japan.

  

We visited COTS shelter as a field trip today.

First, we saw some rooms that are actually used by residents. There were so many beds and they were cleaner than I imagined, but I felt the space of the room was not enough for the residents to live comfortably. It must be a good place for a shelter, but it may not be more than a house.

After seeing the rooms we heard an exaplaination of COTS and the shelter. To be honest, I felt she talked a little fast for me and I could understand only some parts of the story. But there were many things I didn't know such as the residents go out during the day, and some succeeded in finding jobs but some have to stay long to make a living by working there. I was also surprised that there are not violent fighting so much, though the rooms looked narrow for the residents.

When I was in Japan sometimes I saw homeless, but the organization or the activity to support them were uncommon and I have never studied about them. So this trip was impressive for me.


I always forget to take pictures so I cannot put them on blog..

I heard that COTS is an organization to support lives of homeless.

Three questions I want to ask are: what COTS actually does for homeless (What kind of project are there?), what is the resorce for money, and what we are required to do as people who are so rich as to be able to live in a house.

I want to think about homeless earnestly through this trip.

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Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory

Today we went to the Chocolate Factory, and what I was surprised the most was that many kinds of chocolate was made there. There were not only black, milk and white one but there were chocolate with nuts paste, maple syrop, and so on. I want to many types of them as possible as I can, especially ones made in only Vermont. Before this field trip, I searched on the Internet about this factory and I knew a variety of chocolate were created, but the shop was beyond what I imagined.

Also, we heard how chocolate was made, the history of the factory, and the difference between several types of chocolate. They reminded me of a chocolate exhibition in Japan I visited last year. Then I heard the process of producing chocolate, so today it was the second time that I have heard the explaination, but it was interesting and a little difficult because it was in English.

I am Haruna Otsuka, from International Christian University, Japan. I have a younger sister and live with my parents. She is so tall, and good at playing sport, while I am short and I can draw a picture better than play sports, so our characters are almost the opposite.
Last summer, in my high school, I was a leader of a project of painting a big picture for sports festival. We drew Pegasus on a desert. While studying for entrance exams, we worked on the picture so hard every day. We couldn’t win the contest in high school, but it was a precious memory in my life.
I tried to attach the photo of the picture, but I couldn't because it was taken by my cell phone.