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Monday, July 21, 2008 Good morning from New York City! It is 4:24 AM and I can't sleep. I guess I'm having a little trouble getting back into the routine after 3 weeks away in the awesome country of JAPAN! I returned to America on Saturday afternoon with a mind full of memories and camera full of the accompanying pics. I don't know where to begin - Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagoya, and Hiroshima were all incredibly beautiful, bustling cities. Each one deserves its own paragraph, and maybe in the next few days, if I'm up at 4AM again, I'll write a little something in more detail. As far as the highlights go, let me start with this one: our group met the wonderful Mr. Sasaki-san in Hiroshima. Sasaki-san is the brother of Sadako, the 12-year-old young lady who folded over 1,000 paper cranes in 1955, whose only wish was to recover from the leukemia she was diagnosed with following the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945. Sadako passed away in 1955, but Sasaki-san has kept her memory and message for peace alive. He is an extraordinary man, and I am so thrilled we got the chance to sit and talk with him. Maybe I can't sleep because I have so many amazing memories like this one floating around inside my mind. I've written 2 more little entries on my myspace page (www.myspace.com/juliecorbalis). Go check them out if you can't sleep either :) Have a great week! I'll add some more pics and stories over the next few days. Thank you to all my new friends in Japan! I cannot wait to come back and visit, and pick up where we left off getting to know each other and truly making all of our lives so much better. Jules

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