Since 1990, local teens have visited Tsugaru City, Japan, each summer as members of the Bath-Tsugaru Sister- City Exchange program.

Nine local students, accompanied by exchange coordinator Cindy Matthews, two Bath city councilors, and an adult chaperone stayed with host families during their visit to Aomori Province July 19 to 30. Today, local students share their experiences.

Soba noodles and Maine maple syrup

BY THEODORE SEIDEL

Today we took part in four exciting events. The first activity was visiting the Izume Hachiman Shrine. At the shrine, we were taught how to properly give offerings to the god of victory.

The offerings were pine branches with special pieces of origami tied to them. The ritual was fun to learn, even though I messed up the process.

Some apprentices of the shrine performed a very complicated looking dance. After the dance, we were invited to try on the traditional priest/ priestess outfits of the shrine.

The second activity was making soba noodles, which was nice because soba is one of my favorite foods. You might think it would be easy to make noodles — just mix a few ingredients together, and then cut the dough into noodle shapes, then cook it. It is lot harder than that.

There are many steps where you have to knead and flatten the dough. After longer than I thought it should have taken to make noodles, they were done. They were then cooked for us by the older ladies who helped us make them. We ate them for lunch.

The third activity was Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging. I really don’t usually like flowers, but for some reason, I just really liked being able to set up and create my own arrangements.

Maybe I liked flowers more during Ikebana because I got to work with the flowers instead of just looking.

For the fourth and final activity, we went to the first night of the Nebuta festival.

We set up a PR booth for the exchange program, and made and gave out pancakes with Maine maple syrup.

We also had a bean bag toss, and gave away friendship bracelets that we had made. It was just such a great experience and I made some new friends.

Theodore Seidel, 14, lives in

Damariscotta.

Clamming in Japan

BY CHRISTOPHER PAULUS

Throughout the trip so far I have had a fantastic and eyeopening experience learning about a new culture and lifestyle.

Today, July 27, was probably the greatest experience yet. I am usually a very grumpy morning person, so fresh-water clam harvesting at 9:30 a.m. sounded like a cold, dirty and painful experience.

I felt that way until I began clamming the Shijimi (freshwater clams) at Lake Jusan Bridge Park. I was immediately shocked at how much fun I was having.

At first, I only thought clam harvesting was getting really dirty, clamming for big clams in Maine, but now I see a whole new side to this shoreline activity.

Then we went shopping. Shopping in Japan is very interesting. It usually consists of either spending way too much money or not being able to find a t-shirt big enough.

After shopping, we headed to Shimano to get fitted for our Nebuta costumes. The fitting of the outfits was slightly awkward for me, but after I got it on, it was all fun from then on.

We quickly joined in the parade and began to walk with one of the floats. The parade sped by because of the entertainment in front of us. A very young group of girls were performing traditional Tsugaru dances, which were excellent and fun to watch.

After the parade, I attempted to drum, which was a completely new experience. The greatest feeling was probably when I changed back into my street clothes, after being cocooned in the yukata costume. I have thoroughly enjoyed this trip, and will definitely consider another visit in the future.

Christopher Paulus, 16, lives in Bath.