08.12 (金)
This should have been my day to rest and relax, but a bad dream woke me up early so I got up and chatted with friends online. Around noon, I met with Maki san and we made a trip to the Softbank store to put more minutes on my phone. Even though I only have a week left I decided to pay for more minutes because my phone is essential for communicating with people. Without it I am pretty much screwd. Once that was taken care of, we went to Tully's for coffee. At 1:00, I met my friend Asuka to help her study her English. She is preparing for a test next month so we went through some of her practice articles together.
When I had finished helping my friend, I spent some time in Vivre shopping for goodbye presents for Inoue sensei, Maki san, and Ena. Once I was satisfied with the gifts I found, I met Hana chan and we went to Saizeriya for dinner. We spent a long time talking and catching up before I walked her halfway to her part time job. The rest of the evening I spent in my room resting.
08.13 (土)
Saturday was a lot of fun! Hana chan and I met early to make a day trip to Kyoto. We visited the famous Kiyomizuderu temple (finally!) and weaved in and out of shops, mostly window shopping. Of course, we had to eat delicious food and kakigori (the Japanese version of a snow cone). It was extremely hot, so we got tired quickly and had to take a lot of breaks. We visited another large temple where we got to wade in some cool water, which was refreshing. Then we spent the rest of the time touring the large department store in Kyoto station. It sounds like we didn't do much, but Kyoto is pretty big so a lot of time was spent walking and riding the bus around town.
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| Kiyomizuderu |
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| Drinking the famous water at Kiyomizudera |
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| kakigori! |
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| Lunch (udon) |
We got back to Nara around 5:30 in the evening. I immediately went back to my room and put on my yukata in preparation for meeting Maki and Ena. The three of us walked around Nara to view some of the To-Kae, Nara's festival celebrating Obon. Thousands of lanterns and candles are lit all around the city. It was amazing to walk around and see all of the temples lit up!
A little later, Inoue sensei arrived in Nara. He rode the train from Kobe just to see me one more time before I have to leave! Together, the four of us went to a traditional Japanese restaurant and ate some of the most delicious Japanese food I've ever had. I gave everyone their gifts and they all seemed to like them, especially Inoue sensei. (I bought him a black USMC polo with "North Carolina" written on it. I got Ena and Maki scarfs that I hope they will wear in the fall.)
At the end of the night, I said my final goodbye to Inoue sensei. It was hard to keep the tears in as he gave me a hug farewell. He's been such a huge help to me during my time here in Japan, especially whenever I've had questions about my classes. I am going to miss him!
08.14 (日)
Sunday was a difficult day for me because it was my last day at church. I got up early to make muffins for everyone, and at 10:15 I went to church as usual, but the service was different from the ones in the past. Pastor had me sing a worship song of my choice for everyone. I chose my favorite, "Blessed By Your Name," and then I gave a small farewell speech (in Japanese). Half way through the speech though, I started to cry. Any Christian from a good church will tell you that the people in the church are the equivalent to their family, and that couldn't be more true of the people at Nara Full Gospel Church. They have all been so kind and caring towards me and I am really going to miss them all. After the regular service was over, everyone surprised me by throwing a farewell party for me. They even gave me gifts-- a cute t-shirt and a necklace that I immediately changed into. Of course, we took a million pictures, and I found myself tearing up as I hugged everyone goodbye. Definitely a bittersweet memory, but one that I will cherish forever.
After church, I once again changed into my yukata in preparation to go to Nara's To-Kae. Around 6:30 I met with Hana chan and we went to dinner at the Indian restaurant that we've gone to a few times before. Every restaurant was completely packed with people who had come to see the festival. It probably didn't help that it was the last day for the light up so there were more people than usual. After we had eaten, we met with Bea and set out to walk around the city. Along the way we met up with Masami and Raphael and we made a party out of it. We got to see all of the major sites in Nara and I was once again amazed by how beautiful everything was. During my time in Japan I have seen some of the most people things in my life. I'm really blessed!
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| "Nihon" which means "Japan" |
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| Giant flowers in Nara park |
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