Home.

What a great word.

Once again, I traveled to far away and fabulous places, once again I met some amazing people, ate some interesting food, and put my feet on places I never thought I'd visit. Once again, I realized how wonderful and unique people are, no matter their culture, no matter their geography, no matter their language. Once again, I realized how absolutely blessed I am to get to do what I do, go where I go, see what I see, and meet whom I meet.

And once again, I am blessed to come home.

Now that my jetlag is beginning to subside, I will post some more pictures and some more stories. Japan is a fascinating and rich country, beautiful in all ways. I still am in awe of the fact that I was actually THERE.

So...

Fujiyama!!!

Well, I did it. I trekked from Station 5 to the crater, down into the crater and back. It was a.ma.zing.

All my hard work paid off - I felt great. Other than a minor slip where I landed on my (now sore) tailbone (watch for the YouTube video. I'm sure one of the kids got one), I had no trouble. I could have gone higher!!!!!! Ha. I conquered!!!!

Pictures to follow...

Calligraphy, our 2nd day.

Traditional tea ceremony. A beautiful ceremony, very deliberate. A real ceremony would take up to 5 hours to perform. Ours lasted about 45 minutes.

Every tea ceremony has a "guest of honor." Somehow I ended up in that position, so I led the way. This is the "purification" part. The water is meant to purify your hands and mouth before partaking in the ceremony. First your left, then your right hand, then your mouth. It's the same process you would use when entering a temple or shrine.

Also, notice I'm not wearing shoes. This is one of my favorite parts of Japan. ;) Honestly, though, it is one of the factors that keeps this country so clean. No dirt being tracked in! It's also a sign of respect to remove your shoes.

Entrance to a shrine.

Yuka, our Japanese Delegation Manager. She handles all the nitty gritty details, so I just get to attend to the kids and enjoy!!!!

Toilets!!!! YIKES!!

Traditional Japanese toilet - called a "squatty potty" by Westerners...:) Watch your shoes!!

This is the gadgetry accompanying your trip to the potty. There's even a noise maker, should you need one.

Here's your control panel, including shower, bidet and dryer. You can even control the water pressure.

This is quite luxurious...I'm wondering why we Americans haven't caught up yet.

Rest stops are a trip. Sometimes you can even find maps of which stalls are free and which are occupied.

Pictures....At last!!!

Ok, so these are backwards. The bottom pic should be at the top and vice versa, but whatever. :)

SO the one above is me in front of Niko Castle, the castle with the squeaking floors. I felt like I'd entered a scene from Shogun.

Golden Pavilion - real 14k gold covers this building. We were blessed to have sun - it's spectacular in the sun.

A shrine pavilion - very Japanese! :)

Arriving in Osaka. Even the welcome sign is pretty.

My fabulous and amazing crew. I couldn't ask for a better delegation. They are 32 of the most wonderful people I've ever met. I'm glad I have the privilege of knowing them.

Food and toilets to follow as soon as I can...

Pictures, Pictures...

One of these days I'll post some pictures. The toilets will be first. Promise.

Homestay

One of the great things about People to People is that we get to do a Homestay with a family in our host country. So I have spent the last three days with Marika, Anumo and Moe, and I am having a blast.

Anumo is 5 and he is all boy. He and Teddy would be best friends. He likes video games and anime, chocolate and having all of my attention. Just like home.　;)

Yesterday we hiked a mountain, had a party with my students and their families in this area, and ate some serious sushi. There is no sushi at home like this sushi, trust me. This was some gggoooodddd food. Never thought I'd say that about sushi, but isn't that the point of these programs?? Finished off dinner with some Baskin Robbins. Nice.

Today we planted rice. In the rain and mud, with about 30 other people. It's a fascinating process - they run a rope across the field with small red ribbons every foot or so. You plant two or three rows according to those ribbons, then they move it back a foot or so and you do it again. The process is repeated until the entire field is planted.

The trick is, you're doing all this in 8 inches of mud. It was raining when we started, but it had stopped by the time by finished. I think it'll take me a few months to get all the mud out from under my fingernails.

After we cleaned up, we ate lunch at the Children's Association with everyone who had helped.

I'm blown away by how intentional everything is in this society. Planting that field this morning was almost ceremonial. All kinds of folks turned out in the rain to help, and I suspect they do it every year.

The home is a refuge, a temple for these people. Everything is very CLEAN. You take your shoes off when you come in the door; the entry is about 6 inches lower than the floor, so that the dirt from the shoes doesn't get into the rest of the house. It is truly amazing the difference that makes. The house is not dirty.　Oh, they have stuff, but it's clean!!

Well, my host's battery appears to be dying.．.Please comment if you've been here. I can hear crickets chirping through the silence...;)