August 1st Thursday, Trip to COTS

Today, we went to Committee on Temporary Shelter in lower Church Street in downtown Burlington. The COTS established in 1983. There is a 36-bed shelter for men and woman. Now, there are 28 men and 8 women in COTS in Church Street. In this shelter, there are family shelter too but 25 families still waiting for a space to stay. People who use this shelter work in the daytime. And then, they come to this Shelter because they don’t have a place to sleep. Vermont is one of the most expensive city to live. It was very good experience for me to visit this shelter in Burlington. I didn't know there being such a place. I learned a lot of things from the COTS.  

Three questions about COTS

This Thursday, we will go to COTS so I will make three questions.
1. How to take care of people if they sick?
2. What does COTS consists of? How many volunteer stuffs in COTS and is there any donation from citizens?
3. Is there any support from government?

July 25th Thursday, Trip to Lake Champlain Chocolates

              Today, we went to the Lake Champlain Chocolates. In this tour, we taste chocolate and listened a short lecture from Maria who is the person who works in there. Lake Champlain Chocolates started in 1983. Jim Lampman who is owner of Burlington, bought expensive boxes of chocolates in Ice House Restaurant on the Lake Champlain waterfront. But it was terrible. So he decided to make better chocolates. Truffles is the chocolates which is the finest chocolate Jim had ever tasted. So he was starting with truffles. In the lecture, we learned about cacao and difference between white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. I also learned white chocolate is chocolate. It is the sweetest chocolate and dark chocolate is the bitterest chocolate. Anyway the factory tour is awesome! I have never eaten such a delicious chocolate. It was a great experience for me in Vermont.

  

July 23th Tuesday

     My name is Naoko Takahashi, from Japan. I live in Tokyo, the capital city of Japan, because of my college, ICU is in there. Originally, I come from Hokkaido, the northernmost city of Japan. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but my parents work very hard so I didn’t spend much time in my home. Now I live in the dormitory which is in Campus with my dorm mates, not my family. However I never feel sad or miss with my parents. My school days with dormitory and dorm mates are awesome. But, sometimes I miss my dog named Ivy. He is a boy who has a long trunk and short legs. He is 8 years old. Hokkaido is the second largest island in Japan, so we can enjoy seafood. Also, there are many farms in there. We can enjoy milk, cheese, and yogurt. Hokkaido is famous as a hot-spring town. I enjoyed hot spring every week when I was in my home.