Kyoto Tour!

Well, was a scorcher! All our kids were sweating and fanning themselves with their hands as we embarked on our Kyoto Temple Tour.

First stop- Fushimi Inari shrine. Inari is the god of rice and wine, and has long been considered the patron of business. As a result, many companies over the years have donated Torii, large gates, to the site of Inari's worship (Fushimi Inari). Now there are 1000 Torii gates located at Fushimi Inari shrine, all marked with the name of the company that donated it.

We walked through long tunnels of Torii, and before we had to return to the bus, had only made it about half way through the site.

That's a whole lot of gates!

Second stop- Nijo Castle.
The former Imperial Palace, Nijo Castle was used when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. As we walked through the halls, we heard the "Nightingale" squeaks designed to allow the people in the palace to know when an intruder was sneaking through their halls.

Third stop- The beautiful Kinkakuji (golden pavilion)- retirement house of one of Japan's Shoguns. When the Shogun dies, this pavilion was converted into a Zen Buddhist temple.  The top 2 stories are coated in gold leaf ("yes, real gold!"- had to tell the students this many times). The grounds are beautiful and at one point we all tried to do the coin toss- get a coin in the large stone bowl and you get good luck. Get it in the small metal bowl and you get super good luck! After many tries, the only student I can remember seeing do it, was Julie.

Final stop- After lunch we headed for Kiyomizudera (pure water temple), one of Japan's most celebrated temples. The students walked around the grounds, tested their strength by lifting heavy metal poles, and ambled down the long shopping street in front of the temple.

Can't believe it's gone so fast, but today is our last day in Japan!

Travel to Kyoto! Students again!

Today we met back up with our students!

I was so excited to see their smiling faces again!
All the students seemed to have a amazing time on home stay and I'm so glad they were able to have that opportunity.

Students who were nervous wrecks on Friday were now smiling happy and comfortable students who told me they didn't want to leave their host families (Jordan, Hayley, and Lizzi in particular!).

Students were excited to swap their tales with one another, although their smiles dampened a bit when the bus departed from Setagaya, with all of their families waving them off.

Once the students got re-acquainted, they were back to their old tricks. The "Watch your head" jokes to poor little Tess will never get old, neither will Kaleb's dance moves and Hayley's singing.

After catching a bus to Shin-Yokohama Station, we bought ourselves an ekiben (train station obento) each and rode the bullet train to Kyoto.

Today we are going to have a relaxing day at our new hostel, in preparation for our full day tour tomorrow. Gotta give students a chance to rest those sore feet (teachers too!).

Harajuku and home stay

We started today by packing up all our gear, which took some longer than others- Brittany, I'm looking at you! :)

Today we started the day with a stop off at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (previously Edo Castle). The gardens were peaceful and lovely and we took some sweet photos of the moat and look out tower (as you can only actually go into the Imperial Palace 2 days a year).

 

We then headed off to Harajuku's Takeshita Street, where young Japanese teenagers hang out for some shopping time.

The kids went shopping, and then we walked over Yoyogi Bridge where a street performer was giving a demonstration of his "excellent" magic skills. He had Ben and Stacey trained so well by the end of it!

We walked to Meiji Jingu Shrine, through the lovely lush forest only metres away from the busy Takeshita st.

At 5:00pm, we nervously started the Host Family Meeting Ceremony. Students were nervous but excited, in various amounts. I myself became quite nervous thinking of the students leaving us. The ceremony itself was hugely touching, with Hayley and Jordan's family holding up a "WELCOME HAYLEY AND JORDAN" sign and doing a dance in the crowd. When the girls were introduced to their family, their had necklaces made of lollies strung around their necks. It was beautiful to see. Families of all the students were smiling and hugging our students, so happy to welcome them into their home.

I have to admit, it was hard to see them go, I got a bit teary, and sitting here in my room alone now feels so empty without the laughter of our wonderful group filling the air.

Each of our students have such wonderful qualities about them, and I hope they truly enjoy their home stay.

The host families seemed so warm and kind, I'm sure they will do their utmost to make our kids feel at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disneyland!

"DISNEYLAAAAND!" was all that could be heard yesterday morning...
But no, not from kids, but rather from our own Mr Brown, who it turns out is just a big kid at heart.

Disneyland, where dreams come true.

To get to Disneyland, we caught Tokyo Metro train lines, which was the kids' first public transport experience in Japan. We were lucky, as despite going in rush hour, the trains we caught were not too crowded.

After arriving at Disneyland, we went our separate ways, with the group of boys heading straight for Space Mountain (apparently the best ride in Disneyland- I'm not so sure) and the girls preferring to have a look around and a wander.

Joe, Kaleb, Brittany, Emma convinced Hayley, Tess, Mr Brown, Michelle, and Jordan later to ride on the Space Mountain (begrudgingly) and it was possibly the scariest experience of my life.

We saw the kids throughout the day, and enjoyed hearing their tales of rides they had gone on, weird popcorn they had eaten (Soy and butter, curry, and so on) and things they had seen (fluffy hats were a go, and Joe's duck-sound-maker was definitely not to be forgotten).

The parades were spectacular, with all our favourite characters, but unfortunately due to winds, the fire works were cancelled!

At the end of the day, the kids were absolutely knackered, but heaps of memories were made. I especially like the memory of Tess, Hayley and Jordan's face as they came down Splash Mountain. Classic!

Dynamic Tokyo Tour

After a good night's sleep , we were all well-rested for our big Tokyo Tour!

First stop- Tokyo Tower!
Tokyo Tower is Japan's second largest building and a symbol of Japanese modernisation. Standing at 333  metres high, the building is a bit taller than the Eiffel tower. We went up to the viewing tower, and took in the interesting, jam-packed Tokyo sky line. Some of the kids had the guts to stand on a glass platform in the floor which allowed them to see the ground below them from all the way up in the observatory!

Second Stop- Happoen Garden and tea ceremeny!
Our kids were able to wander through amazingly tranquil gardens with beautiful Japanese bonsai trees, rivers, waterfalls and Japanese greenery. The sight was unbelievably tranquil (please see mass photos below).

 

 

 

 

We followed the sight of the gardens with a traditional Japanese tea gathering where students tried traditional sweet and green tea (matcha). While some students liked it, others thought it was... let's just say interesting...

 

Third Stop- Lunch at a Japanese BBQ

Here our kids could collect all the meat and dishes they like, and cook them on their own hotplate in the table. We had a few choice chefs, Joe, Ruby and Nick!

 

4th stop- Asakusa (sensoji temple)

Students saw Tokyo's oldest and most famous temple, Sensoji and had a traditional Japanese temple experience- praying to the Buddhist god, collecting a fortune, purifying their hands and mouths, and placing incense smoke over any body part with problems in order to heal it. Students with bad fortunes tied their fortunes on a wire to (hopefully) blow their misfortune away (or so legend goes).

 

 

 

We finished the day with a cruise on the Sumida River, and a meal at everyone's favourite Japanese Burger joint, Mos Burger.

 

An eventful day with a few pranks, much laughter, and great memories had by all.

 

And I write this post while listening to the sound of Emma Odea and Kaitlin's toys which repeat EVERYTHING around them... Joy... Haha