I went on an East Coast Trip from April 9th to 14th with my MFWI travel group and visited Boston and Washington D.C. The purpose was to learn American history and government. I had a far more wonderful trip than I had expected. Everything that I saw was amazing but I'd like to write about the three most splendid things that impressed.
First, I had so much fun at Plimoth Plantation. It is a 17th-century English Village where there are people wholive in the way of the 17th century.Of course they speak English
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| 17th-century English Village |
with an old accent. I was worried whether they could understand my poor English and also whether I could catch what they say. Thanks to my luck, a women I talked to was really nice and answered my questions in detail. Her name was Mary and she grew up in Holland. I was surprised that she didn't know much about England and missed Holland . I didn't know Holland was a famous place where religious people escaped. Another thing that I was amazed was she likes eels. It is common to eat eels in Japan but not in America. However she loves eating them! I could experience how people's tastes have been changing. I also visited Wampanoag Homesite. There were a few Native Americans and I talked to a woman who cooked some food. She was talkative and told me how Native Americans follow their unique traditions. She said that her mother taught her how to cook or sew cloth and her grandmother taught her mother it. She wanted to learn more about her family traditions and also teach them to her future children. I am sure that she will be a good teacher as well as a good mother to children. I could meet two wonderful women and experience great things at Plimoth Plantation.
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| Dorothy's ruby slippers |
Second, I was excited that I could go to The Smithsonian Institution. It is known as the biggest museum in the world. Because of its size and limited time, I could go yo only two of the museums; American History and Natural History. I like studying history so I was excited to see all
exhibits there. The most impressive one was a War exhibit. I had never
seen a foreign country's war exhibit, therefore, there were many thing
that I had never thought before. For example, in the WWⅡexhibit, Japan
was explained as an enemy of America and a defeated country. I could
learn how Americans thought about Japan at that time. Next, I went to
Museum of Natural History. I have never seen so much ore in my life! I
didn't know any chemical formulae thus I couldn't figure out what ore is
made from. However there were some people who seemed to be experts of
science. They gazed each exhibit and had fun. I wish I had had knowledge
of chemistry. Although a bird's droppings fell on my shoulder, I really
enjoyed visiting those two museums.
Finally, I enjoyed going to Mount Vernon, where George Washington lived. I was shocked at an exhibit
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| with my travel group at Mount Vernon |
which explained he had many slaves. I wondered why he did that, on the other hand, he wanted to be a leader who believed equality. Kindly Karen answered my question in detail with her idea. She said that at that time, it was natural to think that women and blacks are lower than men, this means, his ideal was an equality for men. She also told me that probably he was kind and nice to his slaves and women, accordingly, he made his slaves free after he died. To make slaves free was really unusual when he lived. I think he was a person of much discretion. I was glad to learn much more about him at his house, Mount Vernon.
I could experience piles of precious things during this trip. I learned and was impressed with every single thing I saw and listened to. I will never forget these fantastic memories and keep studying not only English but also American history.
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