Mary's Birthday

Friday, October 22, 2010

We spent the morning at our “Home Hosted Visit” – this is something that our travel company – Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) always has you do at some point on your tour. This is something we are not very excited about – it does push you out of your “comfort zone.” Believe me, this is really true in some of the places we have been to – picture me eating guinea pig in Cusco, Peru! OK, I have to be honest – I slipped it onto Charlie’s plate! Or some remote village in Turkey (we had no idea where we were) walking up the hillside after a woman to her home for lunch – she knew no English and we did not know any Turkish. We all smiled a lot.

Well, so off we went in a taxi with another couple for our visit this morning and it was delightful! It was a husband and wife, retired, and we had a great time. First, they showed us their garden which was beautiful and well cared for – he talked about all the elements the Japanese want in their gardens. You could tell how much they enjoyed their gardening. Next, we went into the house for tea and a sweet bean curd cake. During this “Kane” talked about his hobbies – horses/dressage – he actually got the “Order of the Chrysanthemum” award from the emperor for his long contributions to equestrian activities. (This award is one of the highest awards in Japan.) He shared some haiku that he had written – his wife read it in Japanese for us. She spoke almost no English. They took us all over their house telling us about everything – explained their Buddhist shrine they had in one room and the Shinto shrine they had upstairs. They practice both religions.

Towards the end of the visit Kane did calligraphy for both couples – it means “One Life – One Encounter” – we were very touched. It was just a very special time.

Just before noon, we headed back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and we all headed to the train station. We had a 2 hour train ride to Kyoto. We are here until the end of “tour” part of the trip before we head out on our own.

We had a yummy western dinner tonight and now are getting organized for a full day of sightseeing tomorrow!