２０１９年３月に、守谷市の姉妹都市、アメリカのコロラド州グリーリー市に
守谷国際交流のメンバーが訪れた時のお話を、スタッフメンバーの鈴木亮子氏が
short speech されました。
コロラド旅行記の写真とともに、英文もお楽しみください。
Trip to Colorado
We, six members of MIFA left Japan for the U.S.A on the April 16th. We visited Greeley, Moriya’s sister city in Colorado and it was one of the commemorative activities of MIFA’s 30th anniversary. (Some members of MIFA have already visited the other sister city Meinburg last October. )
People in Greeley helped us a lot with providing many
opportunities to meet and communicate with many citizens. We learned about the
city and got to know each other well. Thanks to them, we all had a very good
time.
Day 1 : The day we arrived at Greeley, they
held a ceremony to welcome us. We met Mayor John Gates, Mr. Robb Casseday who
is a City Councilor and many people who worked for our visit including the host
families.
Greeley has been expanding (and becoming
rich), they built a new city hall and a new fire department. Both were quite nice
facilities.
Day 1 : The day we arrived at Greeley, they
held a ceremony to welcome us. We met Mayor John Gates, Mr. Robb Casseday who
is a City Councilor and many people who worked for our visit including the host
families.
Greeley has been expanding (and becoming
rich), they built a new city hall and a new fire department. Both were quite nice
facilities.
Day 2 : We were supposed to visit University of Northern Colorado(UNC) and perform some Japanese culture there on World Language Day. But it was cancelled because threats to commit an act of violence in the Denver area had been made the previous day, almost of all schools were led to the closure. So, we took the tour of the university. Everything was quite different from that of Japan, we were very curious and enjoyed seeing it.
Day 3 : We had a city tour. There is a nice
big park in the center of downtown, Lincoln Park. Near the park, we saw a nice
hotel. When I visited Greeley as a leader(chaperon) of sister city exchange
program in 2016, it was under construction.
The walls of the buildings in downtown are
painted by the artists.
The building of Weld County Court House
stands with dignity and the inside’s decoration is so graceful. The Judge is
the first Japanese American judge. His ancestor was from Okinawa.
Colorado Model Train Museum and Poudre
Learning Center are worth to visit.
We had a party in the evening. Host
families, past students who went to Moriya and Greeley-Moriya Sister City
related people got together. Many tried to make Japanese tea, matcha. I think
it must have been an interesting experience for them.
Day 4 : I left the group and went to Colorado Springs where I stayed for a year in 2001. At that time, I stayed with my friend, Margaret’s house and it was a great experience. I became friends with some people through her. I wanted to see her and some friends there. This time, one of Margaret’s friend invited me to Passover, the religious festival and holiday in memory of the escape of the Jews from Egypt. I actually took part in the ritual process and had some traditional food. It was very interesting experience.
Day 5: I was invited to another old
friend’s house for Easter’s lunch. In the afternoon, we drove to Denver because
my flight to Japan was scheduled to leave early in the morning on the next day.
We stayed at another friend’s house in Denver.
I just stayed in Colorado Springs for 2
days so it was pretty busy trip. At the Denver International Airport, I saw a
sign of “Tornado Shelter”. I followed the arrow signpost and found that the
restroom was it!
Toiletと書いてくれないと、ツーリストには、？？？ですね、、、。（笑）
Colorado is a very good place to visit, I
always miss its beautiful scenery. I recommend you to visit not only our sister
city Greeley but also other places in Colorado if you have a chance.
Thank you.
フリートークをお楽しみください。
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