Keeping the JFMF momentum going!

With the trip now being almost three months away, I'm trying to find ways to keep the momentum alive! The question is... How?
I have stayed in touch with quite a few people, I've taught my Japanese Cultural Unit (of which the posters are still hanging in my classroom), and I've even created a movie night to show The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm even still slowly consuming Learning to Bow, the book about a teacher's year teaching in Japan, and I'm loving every page of it!
My American friends have gotten back into the flow of our regular lives, including myself, so we aren't as connected as we once were. Although, I can say that my teacher friend, Matt from NJ, is willingly keeping in touch, probably due to the convenience of being able to get together for breakfast and such, like we did on Saturday. We were able to step back in time as we looked at my 500 page picture album. yikes!

However, I want to do more. As a matter of fact, I've been looking into the idea of an EF Tour to Japan. I've always wanted to travel with my students, some more than others, of course, but what a perfect opportunity! The current catalog has a tour to Japan that covers both Tokyo and the region of Fukuoka, where I met the most wonderful people. The problem is, how do I get students to raise that kind of money? It's 2,400 dollars, which really is quite good for airfare, meals, and accomodations, but it's still a lot of money. Maybe once our pen pal letters arrive my students will be more interested, hmmm....

Then, at Saturday's track meet, as I lugged my big album around with me, I introduced the concept to my college athletes. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised at their reactions! They thought it would be a great idea. Some even said they would love to go. Seriously? My mind is now on overload thinking about how in the world I could bring such a trip to fruition! If I could go with my college athletes first, and then begin making plans to previous students to travel back to Japan with me, wouldn't that get the ball rolling? I realize it's far away, and I'd need to get time off school, and do fundraising and all sorts of stuff, but I think it would be a great way to start appreciating another culture as well as focusing more on our own.

If anyone reading this, either from Japan or the US, has some strong feelings about this, from athletes to parents, to students, I'd really love some ideas on how or if I can make this work, please let me know! I hate to see this interest stop at a yearly lesson and stories about a trip I once took!