Friday, November 6th
Payton hosts and Osaka guests said goodbye at school. Some people actually cried. Fortunately there was a large box of Kleenex available. The guests’ luggage was stored in classroom 110, while Payton students went sadly home again.
At nine o’clock, Kimmel Sensei, Mr. Leventhal, and the Japanese group walked to the Japanese Consulate, where they heard a presentation on consular functions in the Midwest at Japan Information Center. We got to meet Consul General Hisaeda; and our pictures were taken with him, in his office. All Osaka Ichiritsu students and faculty were included, as was Kimmel Sensei and Mr. Leventhal. The group was increased by welcome presence of Mrs. Cudecki, former chair of counseling department at Payton, and Mrs. Vicky Lee, mother of Payton grad Brian Lee, both of whom have visited Osaka with Payton travelers.
After that, we walked to the Cultural Center to meet Ms. Cynthia Chang of Chicago Sister Cities. She spoke to everyone in a large meeting room with a view of Millennium Park, trees in fall color reflected in “The Bean.” She told us that the Cultural Center originally housed the Chicago Public Library. It was built, she said, by a bridge architect before 1900 and includes marble from many countries around the world. Then she took us on a tour of the Cultural Center, including Preston Bradley Hall, where one can see writing in mosaic in multiple languages, including English, French, Hebrew, Arabic, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Chinese, Latin, and Greek.
Very hungry by this time, everyone had lunch at the Macy/Field food court, and squeezed in a bit more shopping. Mr. Ohnishi and Ms. Maruoka and Mrs. Kimmel rushed off briefly to Walgreen’s.
We walked back to Payton in beautiful sunny, warm weather.
There, Kimmel Sensei distributed the following final gifts.
Candy apples from Perez family
Books: Love That Dog by Sharon Creech,
Chicago postcards from Chicago Sister Cities
Special gift from our school to Osaka City Sr. High School.
At three o’clock, the tour bus picked up luggage, students, Ms. Maruoka, and Mr. Onishi for transport to hotel.
さようなら。またお会いしましょう。
