Day 10: Mr. Mikasa's Family

This morning the Hotta's and I had another great breakfast of eggs, ham, toast, yogurt, and fresh fruit. It was a very sad meal for me because Junpei started to cry. Junpei knows that I will have to move to another family's house soon. All I can really is that it was sad and I am wishing I could stay with them the whole time.

Mr.Mikasa, one of the gym teachers I share an office with, is having me over to his house for dinner tonight. Since I do not have school today Mr. Mikasa's daughter offered to show me around Kyoto for the day. Makie (pronounced "mah-kee-ay") met me at the Kitayama subway station and we took a trip westward to the "countryside." The area was not like Wisconsin countryside, but it was certainly different than the city areas I was used to. Makie and I were planning to go shopping, but she changed the plan and we went rafting down the Hozu River instead. I was excited to do some more outdoors adventure type stuff. The rapids were very small, and it was more of a sightseeing boat ride down the river. So do not worry, it was a safe ride. It was beautiful to be surrounded by plush greenness on the steep mountainsides. Makie had to translate what the boatmen were saying, but they were actually funny guys. As they rowed us down the river they told us that there are 100 people who do their job and we were with the worst three. For lunch we had my favorite, Okonomi Yaki, in Arashiyama. We had some time to kill before dinner, so we did some shopping at Japanese stores. I like to just look around at all the different things for sale. Makie showed me the famous Ponto-cho, a narrow street along the Kamo River where Geisha are often seen.

At the Mikasa's House we had tempura and sashimi for dinner. It was sort of a fondu like meal with the oil for frying the food in the center of the table. We simply chose the vegetable or meat we wanted to have and put it into the oil. Mr. Mikasa doesn't speak any English, but he is a very kind man. Makie had to translate what her parents were saying, since she speaks very good English. Mrs. Mikasa gave me a ride back to Notre Dame Elementary where the Hotta's picked me up. Unfortunately, Junpei had already gone to sleep by the time we got home. I guess I will have to give the Hotta's their gifts tomorrow.