So beautiful!

good morning. it’s mr. jet lag @ 5 am. we’re supposed to wake up at 7 today but so much for that. i got a bear sleeping next to me. the ground is shaking from his snoring and was going through my earplugs all last night. that bear is toda-san. haha.

right about when i took this photo, there was a big earthquake in sendai. some felt it, some didn’t. i didn’t feel a thing and i’m wondering if i’m just getting use to it? anyway, all we wanted to do was make the kids happy. most of the kids were from the area that got devastated so this was probably the happiest thing that happened since march 11th. nobody was smiling when i went up there the first time less than a month after the tsunami. so you can imagine how precious these little girls smiles are in my heart.

watching this kid eat his first ever malasada was so funny. wait till you see the video i took. classic!

even after 21 years in japan, i’m still learning about the culture. it’s amazing.

cuties! a full gallery coming soon. as for now, we have to get ready. we’re going to support a middle school baseball team. we donated things to them and today is a big game so we will be their cheerleaders. then it’s off to oshika hanto where i’m hoping to see improvements. tomorrow we visit elementary schools and pass on the cards from the kids in hawaii. then our last day will be in fukushima. we will visit the mayor of minami soma to find the latest info. matsu found the radiation counter in his bag so i’ll keep you posted on the readings.
if anybody asked me where i would want to be right now, it’s here. i would trade a 20′ huge barrel for what i experienced yesterday. no wave in the world can make me feel and experience what i did. i feel connected to the people here, i feel their positive feelings, and i feel great!
have a nice day!

it’s 12 midnight and we just got back. a long wonderful day! all i have to say that today changed my life. i’ll get to that later.

today’s event was the best event i’ve ever been to. it was held a block up from a beach community that was totally destroyed. long time friend (pro bodyboarder) megu-chan organized an event for the people that needed it the most. it was called “umi no gakko” which means “school of the sea.” people in the area lost their whole entire houses and some lost their whole entire families. volunteers from “megu-chan’s” world came to show support and i was glad to be a part of it.

the festival was aimed to make the kids happy and all i have to say is that “the kids were happy.” full of culture, full of fun, and full of smiles.

our team put together a malasada stand that had a line all day long. well, until we sold out. the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands into the “hawaiian style” donuts. i’ll get to the full malasada story later.

after mission 1, honestly, i was a little traumatized. i felt like if i died, i wouldn’t even care. i felt like i didn’t deserve to be where i was. it was a weird feeling. but after today, i don’t want to die anymore. i want to live to make people happy, and i want to live to see japan fully rebuild. it’s just something i don’t want to miss out on. the hundreds of happy faces today will be etched in my mind forever.
and guess what? today was only day 1 of mission 4. we still have days ahead to make a difference.
i want to thank megu-chan for putting together an awesome event. i want to thank the volunteers that showed up for the event. and i want to thank our mission 4 team for a great job! and i want to thank the people who donated time, money, and products to make this happen. i have hundreds of photos and video that will be coming soon. for now, i should get to sleep because tomorrow will be another long day. i can’t wait! good night from sendai.