Seventh Post

September 8th, 2018

So far, I have been very busy with school, but I still have time for fun after school (like karaoke) and on weekends! Today we drove to a KFC  restaurant for lunch, where my host family and I met up with my host moms parents! They were so sweet❤️ Her mother makes flowers out of cotton and teaches other how to, so she gave me some flowers as a present and also some old Japanese paintings for my parents! They have a traditional Japanese tea ceremony room we got to look in as well. It was beautiful. 

After their house, we all got into the car and drove to Shiga, where the biggest lake in Japan is! I thought we were going to hangout there for a bit but we drove to an old Japanese Castle instead. I read about them in books but seeing it in real life was amazing!! There were tall, square rock walls surrounding a river with very calm and reflective water. It reflected the rocks, trees, and bridges. We all went to a path that goes up the mountain and climbed up the many stairs to the castle. The castle was used over 400 years ago, and was re-built. My host mother and brother and I went inside the castle while the others waited outside. We had to take our shoes off and put them in a bag. The castle looked different inside than I imagined it would look, all made of wood (not painted) and spacious. The stairs were so steep to the next level that it was like we were climbing a ladder, but instead of grabbing he next stair we had the railing. After we got back down, we got our shoes on and handed the plastic bags back to the staff and we all headed to the garden in the castle grounds. It started to lightly rain, and I got nervous that we’d all get soaked, since the last time it rained on me in Japan I was walking to school, had no umbrella and got completely soaked! This time it was just a nice rain. Anyways, the garden was gorgeous and very zen. The evening sky reflected on the garden water and the bridge reflecting as well made it even more pretty. After the castle we went to a Chinese restaurant and ate a lot, then got ice cream back at my host moms parents house with a friend of mine and my host sisters from school. It was a great day!