October 2 – 23, 2007

We joined the Sarasota chapter of Friendship Force International (http://www.thefriendshipforce.org).  There are hundreds of chapters around the world in 60 countries, with a mission of promoting friendship and goodwill by having home-stay exchanges.  This trip was organized by the Tampa chapter and consisted of a one-week home-stay in Gosen City (Niigata prefecture), a one-week home-stay in Matsuyama (Ehime prefecture in Shikoku), and four nights in a hotel in Kyoto.  Click here for our day by day blog. (You can see the photos by clicking on the date itself).  Some of the photos are blurry, but we included them anyway.  There are usually a few movies that you can click at the end of each day.  To see the photos and names of all of the trip members, please see October 10.