10pm Thursday

Hey there this is Karen. We are having a great time. We're a bit overwhelmed at times. Chie gave Kani great kudos for his help at EC. She said 'He's completely fluent and has a great heart - you are lucky to have him - he worked very hard.' 

We just got back from the onsen. We jumped in the hot and cold water and ate simple food. Joy has been giving us lessons in Japanese. At first they look at me and start talking but when I give them that blank look and Joy steps in. She is very handy.

Here are some photos -


We very tired at this point. We flew to JFK then took a 14 hour flight to Narita. At this point of the flight we are delierious. That is BK next to me.　She is from Toronto. We are giddy drunk. We were laughing so much trying to take this picture (we tried at least 6 times to get all three of us in it by doing a 'self portrait'), that the guy in the seat in front of us volunteered to take it.

Matt and Beth rally to look alive. We just got off the flight and cleared customs and immigration. Then we gathered baggage, changed, money and took a 45 minute chartered bus ride to another airport. Then we checked into our third flight, and had dinner. After we flew to Komatsu we had another 45 minute bus ride to our hotel in Kanazawa. We were zombies - we went to bed around 10pm and slept like logs.

This morning I organized a group run - - I know, I know, I'm crazy, but there were 6 of us. Then we were off to Asano taiko. Look at the big logs!

The　Japanese are so polite. This sign is asking people to people not go ｉｎ the area because we are doing construction. They bow,　even in their street signs!

32 of us crammed in a bus! What a great day. Joy bought a shime!! that was the highlight from　Asano, everyone cheered when she got on the bus!