Chikako, Monkeys and Noodles, Oh My! October 23
The first thing I did this morning was to go out to the Japanese Baths here at the Tainai Royal Park Hotel. The baths are for soaking after you have washed yourself. The baths here are fed by the hot springs but they don’t smell like sulfur like many of the hot springs I have been in America. The view from the outdoor bath was stunning but sorry, no pictures. I was bathing after all!
We took another trip to the City Government Building, this time to meet with the Superintendent of Schools and the Board of Education. It has become very clear that Japan’s educational system has many of the same sorts of concerns as ours does.
On the way back to the hotel for our reception lunch with our host families, we were delighted to encounter several monkeys eating in the trees and rice paddies. We were like little kids squealing for the bus driver to stop so we could take pictures!
Our reception with our Home Stay Hosts was wonderful. My hostess is Chikako Sato, a 3rd grade teacher who studied opera in Italy during her college years. Talk about a wonderful match! Although she speaks very little English and I speak even less Japanese, we had a delightful time getting to know each other (with help of an interpreter and a lot of charades!) I will stay with her and her parents on Saturday and Sunday with no interpreter but with Japanese/English Dictionaries.
Our final activity of the day was making soba (buckwheat) noodles at a nearby restaurant/noodle factory. We had a very happy two hours doing what the master noodle maker could do in about a quarter of the time! Then we were treated to Udon (soba noodle soup) and tempura. It was a great ending to a very full day.
Until next time...
I've only had to use the Japanese Style toilet a couple of time!
Snow Monkeys are as plentiful here as moose are in Anchorage!
Rolling Out Soba Noodle Dough
My Homestay Hostess Chikako Sato
Cutting Soba Noodles without Cutting Fingers!
10/24/2007 :
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