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Sorry, you can't get to my photo collection at Snapfish unless I share the pictures with you in an email. If you want my photos, just send me your email address or put it in the comment section of this post and I will share the photos with you. Again, sorry about that. Thanks for visiting my blog. Sue

Home Sweet Home

I left Tokyo on Thursday at 4:05pm and landed in Houston at 4:30pm on Thursday. After 2 flights and 13 hours of flying it was a really long day. Wally had dinner for me and it was an early night. I managed to sleep through the night. Spent the next day relaxing, unpacking, and catching up on sleep. I managed to check in at school at the end of the day so I would be ready for Monday. The rest of the weekend I tried to catch up on sleep and finish unpacking. I'm looking forward to seeing the students again and sharing my trip with them.

I am really thankful to the government of Japan for giving us the opportunity to visit their country and learn about their people, schools, and culture. The host families were wonderful. Everyone was very caring and giving. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn about new cultures.

One last walk

Once we finished the garden walk a group of decided to take one last walk in the city before boarding the bus to the airport and beginning our long journey home. We went to the Guest House in Tokyo and the gardens around it.

Japanese Gardens

We are trying to make the best of our last morning in Tokyo. Mai-Lon and I started by taking one final walk in the Japanese Garden at the hotel.

Ginza

Today was our last day of meetings. After our presentations we had a few hours of our own before our final reception. We went to Ginza. It is like the 5th avenue of New York.

Back in Tokyo

When we got back to Tokyo we had some free time. I went to the National Museum, its park, zoo, and Tokyo Tower. It seemed like we never had enough free time to visit sights like this.

Free Day

Monday we went up into the mountains and stayed at a traditional Japanese Ryokan. We took a nice hike around the mountains. There was a place where we stopped to rock climb. When we were in the ryokan we had to wear kimonos and no shoes. We had dinner there and did some group karoke afterwards. They had a nice hot springs that we used at night.

Summit of Mt. Minobu

After you climb the 287 stairs Kuonji Temple, there is a cable car you can take to the summit. The views are outstanding. There is another temple at the top and you get great views of Mt. Fuji.

Kuonji Temple

Sunday morning after a great night of sleep, we went up to the Kuonji Temple in the town of Minobu. There were 287 stairs to climb to the top so we got lots of exercise. They call these the Bodaitei or the Steps of Enlightment that symbolize truth that enlightment can be reached. There are 7 flights of stairs in all. This was constructed in 1632. We climbed all the stairs.

Dinner at Ru's house

After a full day of walking, lunch, and wine country Ru cooked dinner for everyone at home. Lots of relatives came to eat the feast.

Karoke

Saturday night was karoke night. There were about 20 of us that went to karoke. We all sang and had a great time. Some of the karoke was in Japanese and some of it was in English.

Wine country

Saturday afternoonn Julie and I went with our host families to the wine country. The grapes were ripe on the vines. The views from the vineyards were spectacular. We sampled some of the local wines.