Taka, my friend, and I spent this weekend in home stay. Our host family was John and Carolyn Schmidt. We had very good weekend.

On Saturday, we met each other at Coe, and then, we headed to home, it was about 10-minute drive.
First, we went to the noodle restaurant for lunch. I had 窶廱apanese Spicy Udon Noodle窶�. But it was quite different from Japanese one. Unlike Udon, there were no soup, in addition, it was a little bit spicy. I used chopsticks to eat, but most people in the United States don窶冲 use chopsticks to eat this kind of noodle, so I wondered how they eat the noodle by using folk or spoon. It seemed to me so difficult. Anyway, it tasted so good.

After lunch, we drove to freeway, and went to the presidential museum by way of Cornell College, Mt. Vernon. There was only one person who became the president from Iowa State. Whose name was Herbert Hoover.
He was born in Iowa, at first, then moved to Oregon, and then, went to the Stanford University in California. He graduated with a degree in Geology. He worked, first, in Australia as a mining engineer, and then, moved to China. After that, he worked for public service. He seemed to be respected as a humanitarian. Especially, the activities during World War 1st and the Secretary of Commerce were evaluated highly. That experience made he won the presidency in 1928.
However, unfortunately, after 8 months of his inauguration, the Great Depression stroke the whole country. He made an enormous effort to relieve the distress, but it was not enough. As a result, he lost to Flanklin.D,Roosevelt in the next election.
He is not popular in Japan at all, it was first time for me to hear his name. But he seemed to be a good president. We saw his born place either. It was very interesting, I studied a lot.
I heard every president has such kind of museum. It is managed by the government as a National Historic Site, for one thing, the main purpose of the museum is the research. It also might be a big difference from Japan.

After leaving the museum, we once got home, and then, went to the restaurant to have a supper. It was very nice restaurant, and it was also very expensive. I had two bottles of beer, and big stake. It was so delicious, really good. It would be the best dinner I had since I came here.

Afterwards, we went to the concert which was presented by Cedar Rapids Symphony. It took place at a large, elegant hall located the downtown. They played 3 kinds of classical music. The conductor performed excellently, and the pianist was superior though he looked so young. It was indescribably good concert. After the concert, we got home.

Host family treated us so kind.
They are interested in the politics, so we talked about the presidential election, the U.S. government, foreign policy for Japan, in addition, hurricane named Jeanne (pronounced jean) which coming up next and typhoon, sports etc. We could share the same opinion that is to support Democrats, we criticized the president Bush many times. It was interesting, and at the same time, it was good study for me.

Sunday, the second day for our stay. I got up at 8am, and then, had a breakfast. It was very relaxed breakfast. I read a newspaper.

After that, we went to the church. I have a friend who believes in Christianity in Japan, but it was first time for me to go to church. I felt a little bit nervous at first, but the atmosphere was not only solemnity but also friendly, I could get accustomed to that mood soon.
The worship started with the music of the pipe organ. It was so impressive. I didn窶冲 know what the each ritual means, but we prayed, sang choir songs, confessed, read the article from the bible, and listened to the lecture. In the lecture, the Reverend talked about 窶弩ealth and Worth窶�. That seemed to be a lesson about compatibility of the money and faith.

On the way to home, we dropped in the fast food shop, and take the lunch out. We had a lunch with watching the football game. You know, in Japan, American football is not so popular. Although I have a friend, who plays football in Japan, and I have once watched the game in Japan, but I didn窶冲 think it interesting then, my friend also said it was not fun until you know the rules. But host father prefer to watch the game, so that I asked him about the complicated rules. He taught me every part of the game very kindly during watching TV. I studied a lot. Thankfully, I understood most basic rules. I became interested in. Because the football is most popular sport in the United States, it will make my stay here more enjoyable.

Then, Taka went to watch the movie, but I was not so interested in the movie, so that went to the other church with family. They have a lesson for Choir music there. I just listened to the music, but it was amusing. Like my teacher at Coe, their teacher was also very enthusiastic. There were about 20 people. They will go to the Italy to have a concert in the future. It was surprising. Their song was good.

After getting back to the home, host father made us dinner. Different from my family, dad usually cook, it was splendid. He cooked steamed rice with curry flavor and stake with some boiled vegetables, it tasted so good.

After dinner, host mother brought the world atlas. We looked for our home town. Ordinary, my home town, Gamagori city, cannot be found in the map, but fortunately, we could find it. It was somewhat amazing. She underlined the city. They said to us that someday they want to visit to Japan. They are going to travel to China next October for 3 weeks.

The time came, we had to go back to the college. Host father took us to the college. It was only two-day stay, it passed so fast. I had many enjoyable memorable experiences. I hope to see them again, and talk more about the politics.