Tuesday, January 15, 2013

My Winter Vacation

Happy New Year!

I had a great winter vacation in 2012. I went to Palau with some students and staff of Gakuen University. We left on the evening of December 23, and got to Palau by 3:00 AM the next morning! We were all very tired, but got up early to have breakfast, and went to sightsee in the beautiful city of Koror. We did some shopping and went to JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) that day and had a great dinner at the "Jungle Bar." It was Christmas Eve, so Santa visited and gave the students some presents.

On Christmas Day, we went to on a jungle cruise and did some kayaking on the ocean in the pouring down rain! That's right...it was warm, but we got drenched in the rain. Still had fun, though...we thought of it as a rainy Christmas rather than a white one. That evening we went to a Japanese izakaya on Palau and had a huge party. The locals sang Christmas carols, and we had a good time. The following day we went swimming and snorkeling in the sea. Good fun and good exercise.

On the 27th, the students helped me do a survey with tourism employees there - where they are from, education background, English ability and needs, and the overall tourism situation in Palau. It was a great experience for them because they all HAD to speak in English with the interviewees. I'm almost done analyzing the data, and we found a lot of interesting information.

This year will be a great one... I can fell it coming!

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