mrsmcelwee

I decided to make one more posting to this blog. I made it home safe and sound from Japan after a very long journey. My flight from Tokyo to Chicago was twelve hours long. That is the longest plane ride I've ever had. It was made more bearable by the fact that I upgraded my seat to "Economy Plus." This gave me 5 extra inches of leg room and an aisle seat. It was so worth it. I was much more comfortable. I didn't sleep, though. Everytime I was close to dozing off, something woke me up...I got bumped, a baby was crying, my neighbor had their light on. The list was endless.

From Chicago, I had a connection flight to bring me home. My joy of such a great seat on the first flight was ended when I saw my seat on the second flight. I was in the row behind the exit row and it had less leg room than normal. Ugh! At least I was by the window. I was so tired that I just put my head against the wall and slept for the whole flight. When I woke up, we were landing and I was home.

My family welcomed me home with signs and flowers. It was a great reunion. It feels so good to be home in my own house. As the famous quote goes....there's no place like home.

Today was our final day with an agenda. Each group had to give a presentation about their host city. My group had to go first, which was both good and bad. It was good because we got it out of the way and we didn't have to worry about it anymore. It was bad because we didn't have a chance to see what any of the other groups did. Our major flaw...we forgot to profusely thank our group leader. Oops! We had done that at the ryokan, though, so I hope she didn't feel too slighted.

After all the presentations were over, we had a little bit of time before we had to be back for dinner. So, I headed out to the Harley Davidson store to buy shirts for my sister and brother-in-law. Then I hit a store called Kiddyland which was a big toy store. Finally, it was the Oriental Bazaar and then back to the hotel. Phew! A lot of shopping in about 2 1/2 hours time.

It was pretty much right to the banquet after that. This was the farewell banquet, and it was fun to see everyone again, but it was also a little bittersweet. I think everyone is realizing that most of us will never see each other again. That part really is sad. We've all made new friends and we've been together for three weeks straight. Now we're getting ready to go into a reverse culture shock by coming back to the United States. I'm not really sure how I will feel tomorrow as the plane takes off. I know I've made some good friends in the last three weeks. As one person said, "People are what makes the place," and I think that's true. With different people, this trip would not have been the same experience. I am ready to come home, though.

This will probably be my last blog entry. I have some additional pictures to add yet, and hopefully will work on those at the airport tomorrow. To everyone who's been reading this blog, thank-you for following me through my adventures. To my 6th graders, I hope you've learned something by following me through Japan on my blog. To everyone who held down the fort while I was gone, thank-you for holding the reins. To my family, who was brave enough to let me go for three weeks, thank you and I love you. I'll see many of you soon. Sayonara!

Today we went back to Tokyo. It was so nice to be at our first hotel, The New Otani. Talk about the lap of luxury. We all felt like we were "home." After arriving, we really didn't have an agenda, so we went out and did some shopping at Askusa, which we had gone to for sightseeing early in the trip. We're old pros at riding the subway now, and we even helped another American who was lost and confused. We all said that you know you've arrived when you can help someone else decipher the subway system.

A bunch of us went out for dinner. It wasn't too jolly of a crowd, though, because about half of our group is not feeling well. I'm really hoping that I don't catch it. The last thing I want is to be sick on the way home. Dinner was good for me. I had a cheese pizza, and I ate the whole thing. Mmmm, good. I'm really looking forward to getting some good old American food.

I was awakened this morning at 4:45 a.m. by the people in the room next to mine. The walls are so thin that I could hear everything they said, and they were up getting ready at that time. Ugh. I am going to be glad to get back to the Tokyo hotel. It is so luxurious. Anyway, I walked down the street to the post office this morning to mail my box home. It will probably be there before I will. I feel much better about my packing situation now.

Our first stop of the day was to a factory where they make Soka Sembe (rice crackers). We actually got to try it ourselves. It was much harder than it looked, and I nearly caught mine on fire. Everyone was remarking on my burnt toast and wondering what was up with me and my burning of food. I told them that this was why my husband does most of the cooking! Anyway, here's what we had to do. The dough was already prepared, so we took the circle of dough and put it on a big grill-type of thing. The key was to keep turning it and then when it started to swell, we had to press it down with a presser. The hardest part was turning it with chopsticks. Yes, chopsticks. One lady almost dropped hers down into the fire. At least I didn't do that. I just had trouble turning them fast enough with the chopsticks. Finally, I adopted a two handed method that worked pretty well. It was also very hot over there by the grills and I was sweating like crazy. After the sembe are cooked, then we had to brush soy sauce on them. They are very crispy, and are actually not too bad. We then got to take a tour of the factory and see the machines make the crackers. They used to be hand made, and I can't imagine doing that all day long. The fire was intense.

Our next adventure is to stay at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese style inn with mineral springs. Ours was in the mountains, which was nice because our experience has been very city for the most part. Three of us shared a room, which was fun because there's not much else to do at a ryokan except relax and socialize. It was nice to have this "down time" after the hectic pace we'd been keeping for the last few days. At the ryokan we all wore yakatas. These are like an easy robe version of a kimono. It was pretty comfortable, and we looked very cute in our matching yakatas.

Dinner was at the ryokan and they prepared a traditional Japanese meal for us. This was my most challenging meal of the trip so far. Many items were raw and there was a fish that was whole (yes, the head and tail), and it looked as if it were screaming. There was no way I could eat that fish. People who know about my picky eating habits will understand this. I did manage to eat more of the meal that I thought I would when I first saw it. There was rice, of course, so that's always a mainstay of my diet. I also managed to eat some of the other fish items. We had small little cookers for cooking some of the other items, so I cooked my raw fish in the cooker. It worked out wonderfully. After dinner we all sang karaoke again. It was just a lot of fun, and since we're coming down to the end of the trip, it was good to spend some time with each other.

At the ryokan, we all slept on futons on the floor. I was so tired that I fell right to sleep. It didn't even matter to me that this was the equivalent of a sleeping bag.

Today my host family was planning to take me to Kamakura. This is a town south of Tokyo that has many shrines and temples. I was really looking forward to this because I hadn't been there yet, and also because of the Great Buddha. This is the second largest bronze Buddha in Japan and the largest one that is in the outdoors. (Mrs. Bolen has seen the largest one in Japan, which is in Nara.) Nubou, Miyaki, Magara, and I went, but Yudai didn't get to go. On Sundays he goes to a special school all day to try and get ready for his junior high entrance exam. His parents want him to go to a private junior high and there's a pretty intense exam required for entry. Imagine that, 6^th graders...Yudai goes to school all day on Sunday. He studied for about 2 ½ hours on Saturday, he studies each day for an hour before school, and then he goes to a study time after school each day. Remember this the next time you're complaining about how much homework I'm giving you.

Anyway, we were going to take the train to Kamakura, which was fine with me. We had to transfer trains several times and it ended up taking about 1 ½ to 2 hours to get there. Kamakura is a town, and not all the shrines and temples are in the same spot, so we did a lot of walking. Some of the walking was uphill...a lot of uphill walking. At least I got my exercise for the day! We first went to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. This involved walking up 62 steps, but that was the easiest climb of the day. I had to wash my hands before approaching the shrine (for cleanliness), and when we got up there, I threw money into the temple for good luck. The Japanese were also making a wish in front of the temple, but I didn't make a wish. Many people had also made wishes and then tied them to a rack that was nearby.

After leaving the temple, we walked for a long way to get to the next shrine. This was a shrine to a serpent god, and so there were many eggs all around, presented as a gift to the god. At that shrine we washed our hands again, and then we each washed a coin. By washing the coin, you're supposed toget richer. Hmmmm, it would be nice if that were true.

Our last sight was the Great Buddha. This was super. I really enjoyed this because it was an amazing sight. There were many people there. I saw more Caucasians in Kamakura than I had the whole time I'd been in Japan. Some information about the Great Buddha: it is the second largest bronze sculpture in Japan (see my earlier comments on this). It was cast (made) in 1252. It weighs 93 tons and is 37 feet high. It used to be inside a building,  but that building was washed away by a tsunaumi, and then another building was never constructed. We were able to actually go inside the Buddha because it's hollow. This was interesting, but there wasn't too much to see once you were in there for about two minutes. The most interesting part of going inside was the woman who was in there on her knees praying to Buddha. She was praying with a great deal of fervor.

This was our last historical sight. There are so many that a full day or two could really be used to see everything. By the time we got back to the main street, it was packed. I couldn't believe all the people there. I thought of my husband who doesn't like crowds. This would've been his worst nightmare. Anyway, we ate a place called Mother's of Kamakura. This is the kind of restaurant where about eight people sit around a big griddle/grill and the chef prepares the food right there and then serves it. It was so good. This was one of the best meals I've had since being in Japan. The meat was chicken and steak. No fish!! We did have rice, though. I guess it can't be escaped.

After eating, we got on the train and headed back to Tokyo. I really like train travel. It is fast, cheap, easy, and convenient. About halfway back, Miyuki got a call on her cell phone that Yudai was sick, to Nubou got off at a different station to go pick him up. I was really disappointed that Yudai didn't go with us to Kamakura. I think it would've been fun. Anyway, when we got back to Soka, Miyuki and Magara took me back to the hotel where we'd been staying. They were so nice to me and I'm really glad that they were my host family. The language barrier was tough, but we all did our best and still had fun with it. Thank goodness Magara was there to translate, otherwise it would've been a lot harder. I'm also glad that I had my little scrapbook. That was a lifesaver.

Once I was back at the hotel, I had to totally unpack everything and repack it again. I decided to mail a box home. I'm worried about getting everything back on the airplane. I also walked back over to the train station for a Starbucks. Mmmm, sometimes a taste of the familiar is needed. For dinner I just got food at the 99 yen store. I was too tired to go anywhere.