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From YouTube: City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board 7/27/23
Description
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Agenda can be found here:
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A
A
A
C
Amber
brace
cultural
Affairs
coordinator,
so
our
high
school
student
trip
left
June
22nd.
They
returned
home
on
July
3rd.
We
had
four
high
school
students.
All
Clearwater
residents
attend
the
exchange.
They
were
interviewed
and
selected
for
the
trip
one
of
them
was
selected
before
the
pandemic,
luckily
still
eligible
to
go
this
year,
everything.
Oh
two
yeah
everything
went
smoothly
with
the
trip
minus
the
original
chaperone,
not
getting
her
passport
in
time.
So
luckily,
Anthony
Powell,
who
is
on
the
Clearwater
sister
cities,
Inc
board,
was
able
to
jump
in
on
very
short
notice.
C
D
E
Everyone
doing
this
overall
I
would
say
that
for
the
Nagano
trip
it
was
very
successful.
I
don't
think
there
was
any
place
where
students
were
not
able
to
do
their
best
in
situations
that
arose
and
came
back
with
an
immersive
experience.
They
came
back
with
these
really
strong
bonds
and
relationships
with
their
host
families
and,
overall,
with
I,
almost
believe
a
newfound
understanding
and
appreciation
for
other
cultures.
E
For
that
personal,
almost
like
a
personal
meditative
experience,
you
have
I,
don't
know
how
to
explain
it's
just
very
interesting
that
was
Tokyo
and
from
there
we
moved
on
to
Nagano,
which
took
up
the
remainder
of
the
trip,
and
we
spent
one
day
with
the
host
family.
E
Most
of
the
week
from
Monday
through
Friday
was
interacting
between
classes.
Students
like
art
classes
course
classes
mostly
English
classes
and
then
doing
core
performances,
I
believe
I
believe
certainly
backup
Wednesday.
We
did
a
cultural
this
year.
E
Yeah
traditional
culture
experience
through
I'm,
not
going
to
where
you
went
to
zankoji
Temple
dreadsden,
you
contest,
get
to
experiment.
Traditional
Japanese
instruments.
Try
the
tea
ceremony
and
Then
followed
by
that
which
was
a
Wednesday.
Then
there
was
Thursday
where
you
could,
or
the
students
performed
in
a
chorus
concert
and
they
did
not
have
to
have
to.
It
was
completely
voluntary.
So
a
lot
of
a
lot
of
kudos
for
those
kids,
because
that
took
a
lot
of
guts
to
go
on
that
stage
to
perform
in
an
auditorium
Friday.
They
did
another
performance
I'm.
D
B
D
E
It
was
from
previous
years,
so
you
know,
and
then
we
took
part
in
the
rest
of
the
festival
with
other
students
and
kind
of
mingled.
In
a
believe.
This
sorry.
E
It's
okay,
sorry,
Saturday
night,
that
same
day
the
festival
started.
We
also
had
the
farewell
dinner:
that's
what
I
missed
and
then
Sunday.
We
continue
the
festival,
I
believe
it
was
open
to
the
public
as
well
and.
E
Nothing
but
a
closing
fireworks
party
at
the
very
end,
I
know
that
kind
of
just
went
through
this
and
in
a
manner
that
my
head
was
organized.
But
overall
the
schedule
was
extremely
busy
and
I
felt
that
the
entire
experience
was
successful,
because
that
allowed
these
kids
to
really
just
drop
everything
they
did
and
just
really
immerse
themselves
in
the
whole
time.
They
were
there,
so
it
you
know
they
did
things
like
they
helped
clean
this
classrooms
in
the
they
didn't
have
to
do
stuff,
like
that.
E
They
I
encourage
the
kids
to
go
out
and
interact
with
the
students
a
lot
more
and
they
spent
less
time
in
the
little
office
that
we
have
as
a
space
for
ourselves,
and
they
really
appreciated
that.
There
was
times
where
I
encouraged
them
hey,
let's
schedule
time
to
go
souvenir
shopping
for
your
friends,
families
and
stuff
like
that
they
declined.
E
They
wanted
to
spend
more
times
with
the
students
and
I
felt
like
that
is
where
these
students
are
making
a
Mark
that
is
so
profound
to
them
that
they
feel
the
need
to
want
to
interact
with
these
students
and
their
families.
Instead
of
doing
these
other
things
that
I
thought
was
just
a
suggestion,
so
I
would
say
the
trip
was
very
successful
as
immersive.
It
was
positive.
E
I
stayed
with
the
host
family
nearby.
The
school,
maybe
like
a
five
minute,
walk.
E
E
E
I
think
the
drinking
age
is
20,
yes,
I
believe
so,
and
yeah
I
think
I
believe
so
I
believe
so.
A
B
Age
Canada
is
18..
Yeah
I
have
a
question
so
I'm
aware
that
the
students
in
most
Asian
countries
are
responsible
for
the
maintenance
and
cleaning
of
their
of
their
their
schools.
It's
part
of
the
curriculum,
it's
part
of
their
their
chores,
I
wonder
what
that
our?
What
was
the
response
from
our
students
seeing
that
and
participating
like
you,
said.
E
B
D
E
B
A
Almost
as
easy
as
those
kinds
of
experiences
are
part
of
the
orientation
that
we
do
with
the
students
before
they
go,
so
they
were
aware,
yeah
yeah
they
were.
They
were
well
aware
of
pretty
much
everything
they
were
going
to
be
doing
while
they
were
there
and
we
talked
a
little
bit
about
what
to
do
and
how
to
do
it
and
what
to
do
if
you
feel
uncomfortable
with
something
and
what
to
do.
If
you
know
something
was
too
difficult
for
you
or
or
something
like
that,
so
we
yeah.
E
Yes,
that's
actually
part
of
the
most
well
not
for
me
personally,
but
for
the
students,
because
I
don't
think
they
had
much
Japanese
language
background
and
I
think
they
came
in
with
very
minimal
Japanese.
But
from
what
I
observed
in
the
experience,
they
were
able
to
use
their
cell
phones.
They
attempted
to
talk
to
the
students
in
English
and
try
to
figure
out
the
method
of
communication
and
from
what
I
understand
the
parents
of
an
app
called
line.
E
Is
there
a
Japanese
version
of
like
WhatsApp
and
so
and
such
and
their
version
of
the
app
they
can
type
in
Japanese?
And
it
automatically
translates
in
English
and
I
was
I,
wasn't
sure
about
that
at
first,
but
I
saw
it
firsthand.
So
that's
how
my
family
communicated
with
me,
the
entire
time
and
I
think
those
students
could
have
benefited
knowing
more
Japanese
I
think
that
overall,
still
great
experience
still
didn't
hurt
them
in
any
way.
G
C
A
A
great
job
all
right
anything
further
on
4.1,
let's
move
on
to
4.2
update
on
Japanese
students
and
teacher
cultural
exchange
coming
to
Clearwater
Amber.
F
C
Had
a
zoom
meeting
with
another
city
and
some
members
of
the
Navajo
School
Board
the
late
night
meeting
for
me
early
morning
for
them
to
discuss
the
student
exchanges
and
will
they
be
coming
to
Clearwater
so
they've?
Given
us
the
dates
of
October
21st,
October,
30th
2023
for
the
high
school
students
plan
to
send
five
students
and
one
to
two
shotguns
they're
still
not
sure.
Yet
these
students
and
the
shoprons
will
stay
with
Homestay
families.
We'll
spend
a
majority
of
their
time
at
the
local
high
schools.
C
Pam
Benton
usually
helps
coordinate
with
the
schools
and
has
done
this
for
many
years.
So
if
you
have
any
questions
about
the
trip
she
might
be
and
they're
able
to
answer
them,
then
myself,
the
middle
school
trip,
will
be
in
the
U.S
from
March
20th
to
the
29th,
but
they
will
2024,
but
they
will
only
be
in
Clearwater
from
the
21st
to
the
25th.
C
They
usually
spend
one
to
two
days
in
schools,
and
then
they
have
one
Clear
Water
day
and
then
they're
going
to
spend
some
time
in
Los
Angeles
and
then
they'll
fly
home.
So
if
the
board
has
any
suggestions
on
what
to
incorporate
in
Clearwater
day,
you
know,
please
let
me
know
we
also
have
a
teacher
exchange
which
will
take
place.
It's
usually
one
month
exchange
from
October
to
November
and
they're.
Only
sending
one
teacher
to
Clearwater.
We
sent
two
teachers
to
Nagano
in
July.
C
A
G
Something
to
consider
maybe
a
lot
of
people
don't
know
this,
but
you
can
walk
from
North
to
order
Beach
to
caladisi.
It's
it's
tacular,
walk,
very
unique
and
then
we'd
be
glad
to
host
a
little
lunch
or
some
food
afterwards
at
Caldwell
that
little
Yacht
Club
right
there
on
the
North
Beach,
a
nice
hike.
It's
very
unique.
The
water
is
spectacular
once
you
get
across
it
to
caldesi
all
pedestrian.
G
Little
circular
it's
a
long
walk
from
where
the
ferry
gives
off
the
library,
the
beach
library
which
we
could
you
could
do
it,
but
you
could
I
would
recommend
maybe
starting
a
little
further
up
like
up
El
Dorado
there.
If
you
guys
know
North,
Beach,
there's
a
it's,
it's
a
1.5
mile
walk
each
way
and
it's
again
I
think
it's
pretty
unique.
G
A
All
right
anything
further,
my
teachers
are
still
not
back
from
Japan,
yet
they
after
the
program
ended,
they
are
traveling
around
I
know.
Maria
is
in
Hokkaido
and
she's
posting
about
100
pictures
a
day
so
she's
having
a
great
time
anything
further
on
the
teacher
in
student
Exchange
changes.
My.
G
Son
14
year
old
son
was
with
the
Japanese
with
the
middle
school
program.
It
was
just
tremendous
I
mean
a
plus
everything
about
it.
I
mean
I
realized
that
was
part
of
a
different
one,
but
kind
of
a
cousin
of
what
we're
doing
here,
and
it
was
so
impactful
the
time
in
the
school
the
time
traveling
the
time
of
the
host
family.
Even
he
did
study
a
lot
of
Japanese
beforehand,
which
did
help
a
little
bit
tremendous
life-changing
experience
for
him
we're
looking
forward
to
reciprocating.
A
C
We
literally
had
a
meeting
right
before
this
one
about
an
hour
before
this.
Some
of
the
takeaways.
C
C
There
was
some
discussion
about
whether
or
not
that
be
a
performance
of
the
sound.
You
know
how
that
would
inflict
with
the
festival,
so
we've
talked
about.
You
know,
reaching
out
to
root
record
and
seeing
if
they
want
to
be
involved-
and
maybe
somebody
mentioned
if
we
get
a
K-pop
artist
or
J-pop
artist,
and
maybe
that
would
be
I
would
love
this
components.
C
The
first
steps
Stephanie
brought
up
having
a
focus
group
with
local
residents
that
have
ties
to
Japan
to
see
what
they
would
want
to
see
or
don't
want
to
see
at
the
festival,
just
to
make
sure
we're
being
respectful
the
culture
and
then
reaching
out
to
vendors
to
see
who
would
be
interested
and
kind
of
deciding
how
big
an
event
this
would
be.
So
those
are
the
next
steps
we're
going
to
take.
C
I
sent
a
draft
of
the
sister
cities
agreement
to
the
Mexican
consulate
in
Orlando
on
June
2nd,
took
quite
a
while
to
hear
anything
back.
I
was
told
that
the
Minister
of
Foreign
Affairs
in
Mexico
has
to
approve
all
sister
city
relationships
in
Mexico,
which
is
different
than
here,
so
they
were
waiting
for
that
on
on
their
end,
I
finally
heard
back
from
them.
Last
week
we
were
able
to
set
up
a
meeting.
C
My
department
had
a
meeting
with
the
members
of
the
Mexican
consulate
on
Tuesday
of
this
week,
so
July
25th
they've
proposed
a
couple
of
changes
to
the
agreement,
and
then
we
discussed
a
formal
signing
event.
So
so,
after
Consulting
with
our
legal
department,
we
were
able
to
make
some
of
the
changes.
C
I've
sent
a
second
draft
back
to
them.
Once
we
received
confirmation
that
the
document
is
approved.
On
their
end,
we
will
seek
city
council
approval
of
the
document,
so
this
is
on
City
council's
agenda
for
August
17th,
with
a
official
signing
date
scheduled
to
take
place
two
days
later
on
August
19th,
Trinity,
Presbyterian
Church
in
Clearwater.
There's
a
Mexican
cultural
event
planned
for
that
day
and
the
mayor
of
Bixby
carquana
is
confirmed
to
be
attending
so
find
anything
happening
to
prevent
that
document.
From
moving
forward
or
being
approved.
C
C
Some
of
the
wording
like
we
have
a
lot
of
legal
jargon
about
dates
which
our
legal
team
really
wanted
to
keep
in,
because
it
gives
us
a
history
of
when
we've
talked
about
it
at
The
Advisory
board
when
it
was
passed
at
city
council,
all
those
things
for
our
records.
So
that's
basically
stuff
like
that.
It
wasn't
wasn't
anything
too
crazy.
G
C
Because
they've
already
got
that
cultural
event
planned,
that's
going
to
be
I
mean
we're
going
to
push
it
on
our
end
on
social
media
and
probably
do
a
press
release
and
things
like
that,
but
they're
already
heavily
marketing
it
as
well
to
Residents,
so
we're
just
kind
of
piggybacking.
Under
their
events,
they've
invited
us
to
do
a
signing.
Yeah
that'll
be
cool.
G
F
Okay,
so
we
had
our
student
group
go
this
summer
as
well.
Our
students
left
on
June
6th
and
returned
on
June
20th.
This
is
the
Middle
School
trip.
We
had
seven
students
go
and
three
chaperones
on
our
trip.
They
travel
for
a
week,
so
they
went
to
Tokyo,
Kyoto
Nara,
Osaka
Hiroshima,
and
then
they
spend
about
a
week
in
Nagano
where
they
stay
with
their
Homestay
families,
and
they
were
very
warmly
welcomed.
F
James
Wallace,
who
is
our
lead
chaperone,
who
has
been
interrupted
this
program
for
about
the
past
five
years,
give
her
a
take
with
covid.
He
said
this
is
one
of
the
best
trips.
This
return
trip.
It's
just
one
of
the
warmest
welcomes.
They've
had
one
of
the
most
just
emotional
and
it's
truly
bonding
and
building
friendships
that
he
saw
between
the
students
and
the
Homestay
families.
So
he
said
that
was
very
positive.
F
Nagano
is
very
excited
about
continuing
the
relationship
in
the
trips
and
so
we're
looking
forward
to
to
continuing
that
and
seeing
that
grow
over
the
years
we
will
be
having
our
own
wrap
up,
where
we
still
have
to
schedule
the
day,
but
we're
looking
at
the
week
of
August
21st
so
an
evening
whenever
we
can
find
a
spot.
One
of
that
week,
we'd
be
looking
at
having
our
students.
They
do
their
own
presentations
that
each
of
the
students
would
give
up
and
give
a
brief
presentation.
F
And,
of
course,
the
advisory
committee
is
invited
and
we'll
be
inviting
council
members
as
well
and
usually
that's
attended
by
families
of
the
students
and
we
open
it
up
to
our
membership
to
really
hear
the
impact
of
the
program.
And
then,
as
school
starts,
we
will
be
rolling
out
our
application
and
marketing
for
next
year.
We
try
to
get
our
applications
in
by
end
of
the
year,
so
January.
We
can
really
make
that
decision
and
start
having
orientations
and
preparing
for
next
Summer's
trip.
F
We
also
hosted
a
virtual
exchange
with
nagamo
on
July
15th
I,
believe
it
was,
we
hosted
the
event
this
time.
We
had
a
brief
video
about
some
spots
in
Clearwater
Coachman
Park
Amber
was
gracious
enough
to
give
a
little
five-minute
spiel
about
the
park
and
about
things
in
Clearwater
that
people
can
do.
It
also
highlighted
moccasin,
Lake
Park,
as
well
as
the
Long
Center
and
Clearwater
Beach.
F
F
But
a
lot
of
the
questions
were
about
swimming
and
you
know
do
people
does
everybody
here
know
how
to
swim
and
I
was
like
well
I
do
I
know
a
lot
of
people
do,
but
it
just
you
know
the
fact
that
you're
saying
like
they're
from
the
mountains,
the
Nagano
is,
is
an
interior
City,
it's
land
bound,
and
so
it
was
really
great
to
see
that
Exchange
and
be
able
to
even
virtually
kind
of
share
our
area
and
share
clear
water
with
them.
Nagana
will
be
hosting
the
next
virtual
exchange.
F
It
will
be
sometime
in
Fall,
probably
late,
October
November
after
the
teacher
and
high
school
exchanges,
and
we
are
moving
to
just
doing
two
a
year,
so
they'll
usually
host
in
fall
and
we'll
host
in
spring
or
summer
going
forward.
Those
are
our
major
updates.
What.
F
So
middle
school
you
have
to
be
either
a
rising
sixth
grader
so
coming
into
sixth
grade
or
you
could
be
a
rising
9th
grader.
So
it's
it's
based
on
being
enrolled
in
a
middle
school
so
usually
depending
on
the
applications
that
come
in.
We
will
take
students
who
are
more
seventh
or
eighth
grade
because
they
don't
have
the
opportunity
to
apply
again.
Sixth
graders
don't
often
get
accepted
and
are
encouraged
to
apply
again
in
the
future.
But
we
don't
limit
that
because
we've
had
some
really
wonderful.
F
F
F
So
we
do
have
a
scholarship
now
that
we're
very
thankful
to
the
city
we've
been
talking
about
this.
The
committee
has
supported
that
in
the
past
and
we
were
able
to
go
ahead
and
sign
an
agreement
so
that
in
2024
there
will
be
a
scholarship
available
for
a
Clearwater
resident,
Middle
School
student
to
go
on
the
trip
that
will
help
cover
their
spot
on
the
trip.
F
G
F
We
try
our
best.
The
students
come
over
to
pair
them
with
families
who
have
gone
on
the
past
trip.
We
don't
know
who's
coming
so
I
think
that
you
know.
We
know
that
they're
preparing
for
trips-
and
so
you
know
we're
going
to
ask
all
of
our
young
ambassadors,
say:
hey
reach
out
to
your
home
state,
brother
or
sister,
and
ask
them
to
apply
to
go
on
the
trip
if
they
wanted
to
travel,
because
it's
not
a
guarantee.
F
If
the
host
family
hosted
our
students
that
their
students
get
to
come
on
the
trip,
they
still
have
to
apply
and
go
through
the
process
on
the
knock
on
our
side.
But
then
we,
you
know,
whoever
does
come
over.
We
start
with
our
young
Ambassador
families
to
ask
if
they
would
like
to
host
so
they'll
be
coming
down
coming
down
the
pike.
G
F
G
And
the
road,
the
rotary
has
a
lot
of
exchange
programs
as
well
as
scholarships
for
study
abroad.
I
do
know
specifically,
as
I
took
Japanese
in
college.
At
USF
does
not
have
a
program
in
Japan,
but
Temple
University
does
in
Tokyo
if
everybody
attended,
Temple,
Futurama
Japan,
but
yeah
I
have
tons
of
exchange
of
programs.
These
are
very
costly.
A
That
are
active
in
the
Tampa
Bay
area.
That
brings
students
from
other
company
countries
to
live
here.
I
don't
have
any
I,
don't
have
any
coming
from
Japan
this
year,
but
on
a
typical
Year
I'll
have
two
or
three
from
Japan.
It's
very
limited
this
year,
they're
only
about
nine
total
students.
Coming
this
year
we
usually
have
somewhere
between
25
and
50..
So
the
pandemic
is
we're
still
catching
up
from
and
I
think,
but
there
are
lots
and
lots
of
programs.
A
F
Ask
our
chaperone
to
see
if
one
of
them
can
attend
yeah.
A
Yeah
all
right
anything
else
on
the
director's
report,
no
right
board
members
to
be
heard.
C
Emailed
me
yesterday
and
asked
about
the
sister
cities
budget
and
if
there
will
be
additional
allocations
for
the
makes
me
carefan
relationship
so
there's
no
change
to
the
sister
city
budget
allocation
for
23
24
fiscal
year,
as
I've
stated
before
thirty
seven
thousand
three
hundred
and
eighty
dollars
are
con,
is
contributed
to
the
fund
every
year.
37.
D
C
300
and
as
we
discussed
the
first
meeting
that
we
had,
the
sister
cities
budget
does
have
quite
a
for
us,
because
the
2019
delegation
was
canceled
due
to
the
typhoon
and
then
with
the
pandemic.
We
have
had
no
exchange
trips,
so
that
fund
has
just
been
building
and
building
for
eight
plus
years.
So
after
we
Paid
Dues
to
Sister
studies,
International
the
shirts
for
the
high
school,
all
the
exchanges
and
the
student
exchanged
flights
for
the
high
school
trip.
The
fund
now
sits
at
190
428.
C
Every
five
years,
and
that's
for
both
delegations,
the
ones
that
go
to
nagan,
are
the
ones
that
come
to
Clearwater.
Obviously,
that
would
probably
be
higher
going
forward
since
costs
have
gone
up,
but
we
have
you
know
plenty
of
money
in
the
fund
to
cover
the
increase
and
just
want
to
put
it
on
record.
Historically,
the
city
has
only
paid
for
employee
expenses
on
delegation
trips,
so
plus
one
spouses,
any
other
delegation
members
usually
find
their
own
trip.
Even
though
they're
paired,
with
like
a
Homestay
family.
B
C
Any
additional
funds
being
put
into
the
The
Sitter,
the
ex
machale
Khan
sister
city,
I,
think
it's
still
very
early
in
that
relationship.
We
don't
really
know
what
that
looks
like
kind
of
early
to
be
planning,
delegations
and
exchanges.
So
once
we've
got,
you
know
a
little
comfortable
with
that
relationship.
I
think
we
can
have
that
discussion,
but
plenty
of
money
for
now.
Thank.
C
With
the
city
manager
to
decide
what
she
wants,
the
exchange
delegation
to
look
like
the
2019
was
just
going
to
be
city
council
and
that's
it
city,
council,
city
manager,
I,
think,
assistant,
city
manager
right.
C
So
I've
asked
her
if
she
wants
to
keep
it
on
small
if
she
wants
to
open
it
to
sister
cities,
Inc
board
Advisory
board
or
if
she
wants
to
open
it
to
the
public,
so
I
have
yet
to
hear
back
and
I
mean
this
was
an
email
that
just
happened
yesterday,
so
hopefully
I
have
a
better
Direction
than
xvideo.
Thank
you.
G
G
Yeah,
okay,
reach
out
to
yeah
the
officials,
We're
The
Advocates,
we're
volunteering.
You
know
we're
advocates
for
our
community
who
better
to
represent.
In
my
opinion,
you
know
biased,
but
I
thought
I
didn't
know
that
it
was.
It
was
in
in
doubt
whether
we'd
be
going
to
Japan
as
as
Advisory
board
members.
C
G
On
another
note,
I
connected
Amber
with
the
gentleman
who
runs
all
the
sister
cities
for
Tampa
for
some
benchmarking
opportunities,
just
to
see
how
you
know
somehow
they
run
some
parties
or
some
announcements,
and
some
of
that.
So
hopefully
that
will
be
helpful
to
you
and
to
our
group.
It
seems
to
be
pretty
assertive
about
creating
Community
awareness.