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Trip to Japan, 2003
Day 3, 2003/03/21
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Up at 7 AM and meet partners at 8 AM. We walk over to breakfast at Au Bon Pain, and our partners approve (much cheaper than room service and more selections). Then we all walk down to the JICC for a day of orientation and meetings. It's a much nicer day, weather-wise, so of course we will be spending most of it indoors..... |
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The gathering commences with an overview of the MTP program and a general discussion of the BUGS project, with a short presentation by Gary Gandolfi about his software, What's That Insect?, which we can use as part of our work. Dr. Berc, from the USDA, gives a short presentation on soil issues, related to the Soil portion of our primary projects, and all of us receive our new electronic microscopes, which can be used in field studies. |
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An interesting side item: late in the morning, we hear (and feel) several very loud thumps and thuds in our basement auditorium location. Two, in particular, are so strong that they shake the room enough to knock dust down from the light fixtures. We are all understandably a bit nervous about this, but are soon reassured that our location directly under the loading dock is the problem; the building is undergoing extensive reconstruction and several large pieces of equipment were just delivered to that dock, causing the shudders when they were unloaded. |
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Lunch time and many of us elect to try the Greek deli upstairs (Port of Piraeaus), especially when the manager comes to the door to encourage us to come in and eat. (They've seen the FMF groups come before - we are a good lunch crowd, as far as they are concerned.) Good food and they know how to move people in and out quickly, an important trait when one only has an hour to eat and return. |
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After lunch we get to see a live demo of the video conferencing software, CUSeeMe, and have a bit of discussion about how to go about setting it up and using it. Then we have a presentation by teacher partners from last year's MTP group - very exciting to see how they set things up and what has transpired from the initial contact. The same two schools are paired again this year, so those teachers will be continuing their work together. |
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Introductions by all participants complete the afternoon; it's a good thing, as the Japanese participants are really beginning to tire (jet lag is still an issue) and the Americans are beginning to suffer from information overload (well, at least I was - my brain is rapidly turning to mush). We head back to our hotels, where we all decide to follow our own paths for the evening - some to eat dinner, some to go out for drinks and some to just head for bed. |
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As we leave the JICC, we discover that many interesting drums and flowered hats are sitting in the lobby area; people are rehearsing for the opening ceremonies of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, scheduled for tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, this year's festival will be a bit drab in appearance; our cold and wet winter has resulted in a delay in the buds blooming, but the other activities will still take place. |
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Tomorrow will come early; our bus is arriving to pick us up at 7:30 AM for the trip to Bethesda, MD, and the all-day conference. |
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A side note: we are told that it would be wise to make reservations early for taxi/shuttle service to the airport on Sunday. Finding an available cab on the streets is getting harder and harder, due to the continuing war situation; too many people, not enough vehicles. After a short consultation with the others, I make the phone call and set up a reservation for all 12 of us for |
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