Osaka, Japan Day 8

- This is a picture of the dredded wrong train that we took on our last day to Kansai Airport...in order to find anything good to say about that experience was that there were no stops (so it was quick) and it took us on a more scenic rail line overlooking the ocean on our left as we arrived at the airport.

-Next 2 pictures are of Kara and I with our movies that we received for Christmas!

-Lastly, a photo of our beds in the small room we had at Hotel Taiyo the day we left.

Today was our last day in Japan. We had packed most of our things the night before in order to be ready for the station. When we got to the station we accidentally took the wrong train after navigating the subway system almost perfectly the whole trip. So we were asked to shell out more money, luckily a young man saw our plight as we had spent most of our money on the tickets we bought already and graciously paid for our tickets. The frustrating thing about the plight of choosing the wrong train was that the tickets for the train we were on was less than the original price we paid for our tickets, not only that it was the same train company, but they were not willing to budge on making us pay for the ticket of the train we were on. As a tourist I wish that JR Rail Lines would have been a little more hospitable and understanding because the tickets that led to the airport on a slower train were 1030Yen a person, but the Limited Express to Kansai airport was only 970 yen per person... I have thanked God for the young man who saw our plight I believe his name, from what I could understand of his English, was Tommy (many Japanese also have English names). I have prayed that the Lord would bless him. I gave him all the Yen change in my pocket and about $5 American, which equaled around half of what he paid for so I believe it was as fair a trade as we could have made besides giving the shirt off my back.
Finally, after reaching the airport terminal, we hopped on to our plane in about 45minutes and headed towards Guam. Once in Guam we only waited 30minutes before heading on Saipan. The level at the airport in Guam was Orange for some reason so we had to go through a second checkpoint once we arrived in Guam. Our trip by plane was great both ways and on the Japan flight I even slept a little.
When we reached the airport in Saipan it was almost 6pm and Pastor Greg from our church was there smiling and ready to pick us up as he said he would be willing. Once home Pastor Greg was kind enough to bring one of the packages we received while we were away that was waiting for us in the school office. We were really happy to see a Christmas package from Kara's folks waiting for us in the office. Kara not being able to wait on opening any type of package put on our I-Tunes Christmas music and we opened presents some of the pictures are of that event. I hope you enjoy them! I am very thankful to have been given the Lord of the Rings series on DVD, that was very gracious of you Johnson family!
The next installment on our blog will be personal realizations we had while in Japan. I will also post one blog of funny and/or interesting photos from Japan for your enjoyment later! I hope this has been informative. Since it was our last day, not too much was too be explained... Our next few blogs will be more interesting.

Sincerely, Grant

Osaka, Japan Day 7

- The first picture is of a painted picture we saw on a buisness that had closed down for the night and was interesting consider Mickey Mouse is not part of Asian culture per se.

-Second is of a warning sign at Spa World that says that they do not accept anyone with Tatoos or may be drunk and disorderly. In the states this could be considered discrimination, but I don't believe it is...

-The next is of Kara in front of Spa World's entrance. We'd have more pictures, but like I said it is a nude spa.

-Lastly is a picture of Kara in one of the side markets with the "Hitachi" building in the background. It is another one of the buildings that provide an amazing view of the city of Osaka, but again you have to pay for entrance.

Today was a good day because it was more relaxing. We first went to get more Yen in order to have enough for the day's fun and have enough to get to the airport tomorrow. The interesting thing about today was our experience partaking of Japanese culture in one of the most personal ways possible. We decided to end our trip with a treat to ourselves by going to Spa World. Spa World is a large complex that has several large spa areas. Normally it costs 2,700 Yen to go to Spa World, but they had a deal going on where we could go for 900 Yen each. The facility was not English speaking friendly with very few signs in English, but we did figure it out.
Spa World has three levels Men's on Level 4, Women's on level 6, and Kids/Mix Gender on Level 8. The interesting thing about the Japanese is that they have a tradition of bathing nude, together. So, Spa World is a nude experience, except on Level 8. Kara's experience on level 6 included different themed spa rooms Japanese, Bali, Persia, and India. She says that she enjoyed Bali the most because it was prettiest, the water was not too hot, and the she was by herself in it for a while. She was rather upset by how so many women brought in young boys to the women's nude spa when the kids were between 8-10 at times! Besides the Bali Spa Room Kara enjoyed her time with me on level 8 where we sat in a really really large hot tub, went on an outside loop of warm water, and swam around the lazy river 6+ times.
My experience at Spa World was great. Unlike Kara the water was not too hot for me, which I usually don't say because I do not like really hot showers. The men's spa was pretty cool. The themed rooms for the Men were Rome, Finland, Atlantis, and Spain. My favorites were Rome and Spain. There were many saunas throughout the facility and I experienced both the regular sauna (which had a t.v. station on behind plastic) and the salt sauna (which had pretty music playing). My favorite thing to do was to become really hot and then hop into the cold bath they had because no one else was in it. Rome was cool because it had baths that were different colors and had different herb ingredients added into the water. One was purple and one was yellow. The purple may have had lavender ingredients and the yellow was warm and felt/smelled as though you were dipped into a luke warm pool of Chamomile tea. There was another pool that was like a cave and had water that was filled with some sort of honey ingredient that made your skin really smooth. Spain was cool because it had a little water fall, was outside, and one section had pool chairs underwater that you could lay on. It was a lot of fun and like Kara's locker room, mine had a large t.v. room/lounge with a bunch of leather chairs that was fairly quiet, but I didn't bring a book to read as I forgot...so neither of us spent much time in them. Needless to say both of our experiences being nude were very enlightening and made us feel a little more Japanese.
After our spa experience we went back to our hotel and ate dinner. We then walked down the shopping alley next to our hotel in order to look for my souvenir. I say alley because the Japanese do much of their shopping in alley bike/walkways or in subway stations. We found a cute cup with two owls on it in love and next to the handle was a picture of the male owl, so I felt it was a guys cup and since we were in Japan because of love I felt it fitting and appropriate. It was only 100 Yen so very cheap... even better. After finding my cup we went back to the hotel to pack our bags for the early flight tomorrow. That is all, I have to say for tonight, it has been an interesting night! Sincerely, Grant

Osaka, Japan Day 6

-I believe most of these pictures can explain themselves from the blog or from simple realization. The first and second picture from the top, I should explain what you are seeing. This is the picture from Below of the Sky Garden Observatory. The circle is the 360 degree walkway and sky walk. The two tube structures going in to it are actually an entry and exit escalator into the structure. The first picture is of the escalator inside the tube.

Today was another busy day, not quite as relaxing as I thought it would be, but still fun. Today we walked to Tennoji Station to get some more yen from the ATM and then decided to eat lunch since we woke up late. After eating lunch at Kara's favorite Japanese restaurant "Pasta de Pasta" (which serves Italian food...) we decided to take a train over to the Namba Train Station & Shopping area, which Kara says is called the "Heart of the City." The Japanese tend to do a lot of shopping in the station on their way home it seems as there were restaurants, clothing stores superfluous, and even pharmacies and grocery stores. We stopped at one restaurant called the "Golden Spoon" for a snack. It was a healthy yogurt/ice cream place that had amazing frozen yogurt. Kara got a small cake batter cup and shared with me it was great for the taste buds. Then after that we kept shopping but we did not find too much. We did find something cute for one of Kara's friends and will ship that off later. I never did find a coffee mug today, but I am not heartbroken as I have plenty of mugs and really the Japanese are more accustomed to tea apparently anyway even though there are coffee shops on every corner... We did find a few cool mugs yesterday but they were too expensive at $30+ dollars American. While here we haven't found any great "touristy" type shops anywhere... they may be non-existent and believe me when I say we have "looked." After walking around Namba Station we went to Umeda Station and checked out the stores there. We found many places to eat and clothing stores, but again nothing that stood out. After shopping for a while we went looking for our main attraction for the evening and our purpose for coming to Umeda Station and that was finding the Umeda Sky Building, which contains the "Floating Garden Observatory and Lounge." The top floor is a tourist attraction as it has a unique 360 degree panoramic view of the city of Osaka for the price of 630 Yen if you have a Thru Pass or a discount ticket found at some hotels.
The Umeda Sky Building was hard for us to find at first because none of the narrow streets have English subtitles as they do on the trains and buses. It did not help that I was extremely hungry and cold after having done so much walking and shopping today. We eventually ran into a kind street officer who knew English well and pointed us in the right direction, which is the way I wanted to go the whole time, but was unsure of myself...perhaps I should trust myself more. Once we got there we found a German Christmas festival going on at the base of the building. There were Asians dressed up in German clothes and a few "real" Germans who were there for the festival as well selling food and trinkets. Seeing the Japanese girls in old fashioned German outfits was rather amusing, I'd have a picture but it was dark and it didn't turn out. Once we traveled to the 40th floor where the Lumi Sky Walk is we paid and went inside. Once inside we saw people writing Christmas wishes on Stars and hanging them on lit trees and lines around the windows. I took a picture of our stars, which were about the Christmas season. After we walked around and took a few pictures inside the walk way we traveled up to the sky deck outside. The sky deck is 173 meters above ground level which in feet is approx. 567 1/2 Ft.. Some of the pictures you see on the blog are from the Lumi Sky Deck. I wondered why it was called the Floating "Garden" Observatory when there were no flowers there. The pamphlet given to us states that around the world there are 48 carefully selected towers that bear the name of "sky garden." It is a conceptual idea both architectural, historical, and philosophical that suggests that Man has tried since creation to go higher and higher into the sky from the Tower of Babel to the Floating Gardens of Babylon and that a tall structure such as a building becomes part of Man's garden of structures in the sky, hence the name "sky garden." It was well worth the money to visit the structure despite the difficulty in finding it.
Tomorrow we may go and get a little more yen so we have enough for our train ticket to the train station the next day and for Spa World. We have almost enough for both events but I just want to make sure we have enough for food, ticket, and fun. When we get back to Saipan we will simply live poor until we get paid next. The thing about the train station that stinks is that Thru passes only work for trains not affiliated with the company "JR Trains" and so JR has jacked up the price of going to the airport to 1,030 yen each because they are the only train that goes there. A day pass ordered online may have saved us a little yen if we had known and gone through JR for a day pass, but it is too late now. Either way we have spent our money wisely in Japan and because of that I am well pleased. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Again this is Grant, Signing Off.

Osaka, Japan Day 5

- The first picture is of Kiyomizu temple from afar. If you look to the right you can see a little of smoke coming from the incense people were lighting.

- The Second is of Kara and I at Kiyomizu temple. We tried to capture the cool skyline in the background as best we could, but did not do it justice in this picture.

- The third picture is of Kara at the opening gate to the Kiyomizu temple after walking so far to get there.

-The fourth and last is of me standing in front of the rock garden at Tofuku-Ji temple.

As promised Kara and I returned to Kyoto for another day of craziness. I woke up early and we left at least an hour early. We could have left sooner, but even Kara was a bit slow this morning. It also helped that I skipped breakfast and Kara simply ate yogurt. When we arrived in Kyoto it was about 1115, so we decided to get me some lunch at McDonalds because it is cheap as is usual. We had a nice long lunch at the golden arches and then after eating planned our day. Kara really wanted to go to Nijo Castle, in order to compare it to Osaka Castle, but I suggested that it wouldn't be wise. From my perspective this choice didn't seem practical because we could both go to other temples for half the cost of going to that castle...after I explained my rationale Kara agreed. So, instead of going to Nijo Castle which costs 600yen a person or 1200 for the two of us (to figure out American equivalent do 1200 yen div. 80 yen= American $$ approx.) we decided to do Kiyomizu-dera temple for 300 yen per person and visit Tofuku-Ji Temple for $400 yen a person. Originally we were also going to see Kodai-ji Temple but Kara was getting templed out so we didn't go to it. So, to the meat of our temple visits and further exploration of Kyoto...
Our first stop was finding Tofuku-Ji Temple. It was really, really, confusing because the temple was on a zig zag road between residential and commercial property, but we eventually found it and on our way back were able to help other confused tourists like ourselves, I believe they were from England. Tofuku-Ji Temple
is like all other temples, very beautiful as it has many bridges and beautiful trees and flower gardens... It would be really beautiful at the peak of autumn. Its name was actually taken from two other temples in the Osaka area. At the time of its creation it was the newest temple in Japan and because of that they made a hall named "Butsuden" that houses a 15 meter tall standing statue of Buddha, if your metric skills aren't great, I'll do the math... that is approx 50ft tall. We would have loved to see this statue but in order to have the chance at a photo opportunity we would have had to pay an extra $400 yen each...so we left somewhat frustrated. The priest who started the temple was an important figure in Japan's Zen past because he was the first priest to be given the title of "Kokushi" by the emperor himself which means that he became the "nation's" priest. Our second stop was Kiyomizu Temple.
Kiyomizu temple is perhaps the largest and most visited temple by foreigners and Japanese residents. This temple was large and very active. All of the other temples we had visited were not active, this temple had gongs, incense, prayer paper, and shrines to pray in front of! So the air was thick with incense, prayers, and camera clicks. The view from the Kiyomizu temple is spectacular and is probably the best view of Kyoto one may find as a tourist. In the fall the view of the leaves would be amazing and in the spring the view of Cherry Blossoms would be picture perfect. This temple was founded by a great Buddhist priest named Enchin in the year 778 A.D.. In the main sanctuary is an image of "Kannon" (the God of Mercy & Benevolence). As a tourist I noticed that there were many newly weds visiting this temple dressed in their Kimonos and I have a feeling it is in order to pay homage to this shrine and pray for a blessed marriage. There were many interesting things going on at this temple that I did not understand, but what I did understand gave Kara and I a sense of sadness and maybe even anger. I apologize to anyone who reads this and is offended, but I cannot hide the truth of what I feel as a Christian. I couldn't help but feel saddened by so many people I feel are on the wrong path. I do not claim to know everything about Buddhism or Christianity, but I do know what Christ did for me. He took away sin and freed me from my suffering by shedding his blood, not by teaching me 4 Noble Truths. I also have a hard time understanding how someone can believe they may be reincarnated as a god, demigod, human, animal, ghost, or hell. In Buddhism it seems to me that people are trying to live a right life by following rules set before them similar to the "law," for Jews, but the problem for me is that I believe we can be good people, but still have the mark of original sin on us. Until we accept Christ and enter the gates of St. Peter, I do not believe we can be "free" of suffering and Christ in the Bible reminds us that through accepting belief in him we will have added persecution. That is all I can say...it just doesn't make sense to me...sorry. If you want to know more about Buddhism I believe PBS is a good source to follow a link to a simplified break down of Buddhism is found at: http://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm

On our way back from that temple we stopped at some of the local shops and bought gifts for Kara's sister Amy and one of her friends and bought Christmas presents for Gwen and Meredyth for next year, planning ahead since Saipan does not have many good local shops with stuff relevant to people in the states... I did not find a coffee cup from Japan yet but may find one tomorrow on our "chill" day. Tomorrow we plan on relaxing most of the afternoon maybe walking around and shopping more and at night going to the top of these two towers that have a "floating garden" between the two and looking out over the city at night. Then on our last full day after that we plan on going to Spa world for the day to relax as it is only a couple blocks away and they are having a deal right now that we can use to go for less than the normal price. We will keep you updated once again tomorrow! This is Grant Signing off at 1030pm Osaka time.

Osaka, Japan Day 4

Kara @ the Golden Pavilion
Shrine with money strewn about
Some of the confections at that strip mall we saw
Kara trying to make me smile after an argument
Beauty of the pond at the Ryoanji Temple
The crowd on Christmas Eve on our way back at the
train station!



Today was a long day... Kara woke up really early with the hopes of heading to Kyoto early. My body, however, did not want me to move out of bed after all the walking we had done the day before...The differences in our nature would be an area of contention for the rest of the day. It is hard as a husband to do everything your wife wants when your body doesn't want to go do anything. I hope that when we become old that "age" will be an equalizer for us...ha...I don't think that will happen any time soon, not to mention she is younger than me anyway... It didn't help that we were a little confused with trains and such because the "thru pass" we bought brought us to much larger train stations with several options to choose from. We figured it out, but it took some trial and error. Thanks to the pass, however, we did not wast any money when we became confused as to which train to take. To make a long story short we ended up in Kyoto around 12:30 p.m. The train station was rather large upon our arrival so we were a little confused as to how to find a bus to take because we didn't have a Kyoto city map at that point. We saw signs for many bus lines, but without a map we didn't know where they would take us. So we walked a long way and found a strip mall that every shop's soul purpose was bread making or dessert and confections! We wondered around ate some bread and bought a doughnut and headed back into the subway tunnel to find an info booth, we then were given a map of Kyoto and the bus lines on the back. Our "thru pass" works for the bus system in Kyoto as well. Since we arrived late and the bus we took was really slow, we decided to only go to two temples today and to visit more tomorrow using our "thru pass" to the fullest extent and getting our money's worth. Now, to tell you the meat of our two temple visit today.
The first temple we visited after our long bus ride was Rokuon-Ji Temple nicknamed "The Golden Pavilion" (in Japanese the nickname is written as "Kinkaku") It is so named because it is painted gold and sits on a beautiful pond. This temple is probably great to visit if you are Buddhist, but from a tourist standpoint you are simply paying for a photo opportunity of the Temple... you are not even allowed to go inside of it. It was very beautiful, but it seemed a slight waste of Yen as a tourist. I didn't even really learn much about it. The only thing I could learn about the temple was from the English handout they gave us at the main gate. The temple has an ancient tea house called "Sekka-tei" and as you exit the complex you can observe a hall named Fudo-do, which is dedicated to the God of Fire. A stone is there representing the god who is enshrined as a guardian the name of the god is Fudo-myoo or Acala. There were a few shrines you could give money too, perhaps for good luck, people would aim for the metal bowl in front of the shrines.
The second temple was much more interesting as a tourist, it was called Ryoanji Temple. This temple is within a long walk of the Golden Pavilion. We walked to it even though it took a good 20-30minutes. This particular temple used to be called "Oshidoridera," which in Japanese means "Temple of Mandarin Ducks." We saw two ducks while over looking Kyoyochi Pond (which is gorgeous and in the summer must be even more beautiful). The nice thing about this temple is that as a tourist you can go in to the main building at the temple complex. The main building for this temple was called "Kuri" and within its walls exists a famous tea-room called "Zoroku," which is closed to the public. They didn't say why it was closed to the public, but I believe it has to do with the delicate wood and tapestry within the room as it has a religious significance to the animal the tortoise (which is what Zoroku means), which is the symbol of Genbu, the God of the North. Kuri also contains a Zen rock garden containing perfect lines out of white sand and 15 rocks. They say the longer you look at it the more one may become enlightened. This temple had beautiful gravel walk ways and would have been really beautiful in the spring and summer, but was still really beautiful. There was also a wash basin that had some historical significance. The reason it was so beautiful was the meticulous care of the property, the trees and bushes shaped by man to bend certain ways, and the lake with benches all around the walk way to take your time and enjoy the beauty of the grounds.
Tomorrow Kara and I will go back to Kyoto and instead of exploring the western side of Kyoto, we will explore the eastern side and get back to you with what we find. I hope you enjoy following along! This is Grant, Signing Off.

Osaka, Japan Day 3

Today is day 3 in our Journey through Osaka, Japan. Today we explored the Osaka Castle. Our first order of business, however, before going to the castle was somewhat frustrating, but I knew God would bring us the desired outcome. Our first order of business (after eating breakfast) was to find an ATM that would give us Yen, the problem we found is that you had to have a Japanese credit card. After walking around for a good hour or so we went back to the hotel to ask our front desk attendant (who doesn't speak much English) where we should go. He drew us a map with some banks on it, but when we got to the banks they were all closed for some reason... I'm still not sure why. After my wife had bouts of sadness to our predicament and I comforted her, we walked into Tennoji Station (a really large train station) and found an info desk. Luckily they told us where an ATM was that could give us Yen from our credit card. We promptly went to get cash and then came back to the info desk to purchase what is called a two-day "Thru Pass" (which is only available to non-native visitors). The Thru Pass is good for private bus lines and private trains in Osaka and surrounding areas. Up until this moment we had been using what is called the JR loop line (a line of trains that circles the city). This pass will allow us to travel to Kyoto tomorrow for half the price it would using the JR trains. This pass is also good for buses! The loop line is just convenient to use for stuff in Osaka but this two day pass will work well for us and will save us money when traveling to and from Kyoto, we may even go two days in a row if we enjoy it tomorrow (more on that later). After purchasing this pass we decided to eat at an Italian restaurant titled "Pasta de Pasta," (don't ask me why it is called Pasta of Pasta) and it turned out to be really good. The picture on the blog is of the meal art in circles with price listed below for passersby to drool over. Now, on to the Osaka Castle experience.
Osaka Castle's first Shogun was Hideyoshi Toyotomi. I read of the history on the wall and can share a brief synopsis. Toyotomi was from what I read a good ruler and when he came to power in 1583 he tried to carry out the original mantra for building the castle, which was to unite the country. He and his wise wife did not have any children, but he did have a couple sons and daughters through his concubines. One adopted son named Hidetsugu (in actuality he was a nephew) fell from Hideyoshi's graces for reasons that are unclear and was sent away and forced to commit suicide all of Hidetsugu's family were brutally murdered when they didn't follow suit, some 31 women and many infant sons and daughters. Hideyoshi's second son (and favorite) Hideyori was 5 years old when Hideyoshi became ill and died. His father asked his vassals to be loyal to his young son and they were so until his son came of age. When he came of age the council was broken and they continued to support Hideyori, but after two large battle campaigns against Osaka castle, Hideyori's forces were defeated by Tokugawa. Hideyori committed suicide out of honor. This ended the Toyotomi line of any future descendants. The rest is history.
Osaka Castle would be even more beautiful in the spring and summer, but it was great to visit. The only other sad thing about the castle is that you couldn't take photos of any of the cool artifacts on levels 3 and 4... so we don't have as many photos of our trip today. We learned a lot about the history and enjoyed learning more about Japan.
I hope you enjoyed reading about adventure and we will write more tomorrow about our visit to Kyoto, Japan. This is Grant signing off!

p.s. OH and today I have to APOLOGIZE to Hotel Taiyo as we figured out today that the air conditioning unit also has a heat setting but we didn't know because it was in Japanese, so our room IS nice and TOASTY, thank you Hotel Taiyo!

Pictures are: The circles on the wall next to the Pasta de Pasta restaurant, KJ and I at Osaka Castle, Kara in flowers at the castle, and one of the battles that Toyatomi's son Hideyori faced in the summer.

Osaka, Japan Day 2

Today, was our first full day in Osaka, Japan. We had a great morning, sleeping in until 9am Saipan time, which is actually 8pm Osaka time. Our Hotel has a deal worked out with a small cafe' (Marunaka) nearby and for $350 yen a person can receive their choice of coffee, milk, tomato juice, or orange juice with two large slices of buttered bread and a hard boiled egg. It isn't much, but it kept us going for the morning. Amazingly the coffee was not bad at all! The rest of the morning we got ready for the day and decided that today would be the day we visit the Osaka Aquarium mainly because it is one of the largest in the world. The Japanese name for the aquarium is Kaiyukan and it means "Playing in the Sea Pavillion." While visiting the aquarium we saw many wonderful tanks full of sea life. My three favorite tanks were the large tank, which held a "whale shark," the sardine/anchovy tank (so many of them!), and the Giant Spider Crab tank (they look like the baby aliens from the movie "aliens"). Kara really enjoyed the beautiful scenes and seeing King Penguins walking around outside and drawing people to the aquarium. After the aquarium we went to the attraction right next to it, the "The Giant Tempozan Ferris wheel."
The Ferris wheel is a major attraction in Osaka and at can be seen at night glowing green. Kara and I had a lot of fun spending our 15minutes in the air looking over Osaka Bay and seeing from a new vantage point. The height of this wheel is 112.5 meters or approx. 369 feet. It was a romantic 15 minute chance to sit down and relax after walking about the aquarium. After the Ferris wheel, we went into the shopping mall right next to it. We went in and looked a few shops. One thing I found interesting is that they call shopping malls, "shopping arcades."
We didn't find much to buy except for a gray hat for Kara as it is cold and we couldn't find a hat for her in Saipan.
After walking around we decided to head home. That was the majority of our day. We did go out and look for a place to eat dinner, however, and found a local diner with a lot of people inside and we went in for some food. Kara tried her order, but didn't like the taste so I asked for a to go bowl and brought it back to our hotel room's mini-fridge instead of letting it go to waste it will be my dinner tomorrow (there is a microwave in the lobby). Before the diner we did look at some other places, one place was closed until 730pm and another we thought might be a shopping area turned out to be a large video lottery facility, so we promptly left that area. Now, as I am finishing this blog it is time for me to go to bed. Much rest is needed. Again, this is Grant, signing off.

p.s. the pictures are of the Ferris wheel, Kara and I in front of the aquarium, Kara with Giant Spider Crab, and me with my vegetables and seafood over a bed of rice (nice and steamy hot), oh and don't let me forget to let you know that Santa even visits the fish at the Osaka Aquarium over the Christmas season haha (where is his beard? A fish must have nibbled it away)

Osaka, Japan Days 1

Dear friends, family, and readers:

The first two days of our Osaka, Japan adventure have gone very well.

Day 1- The plane rides from Saipan to Guam, Guam to Kansai International Airport were not too much of a hassle. The entry into Osaka was a little turbulent as it was raining when we arrived but that was o.k. in my book because I watched the in flight movie of "Salt," which I hadn't seen before and the in flight meal was really good. In the evening on our way in we became a bit lost as we used the rail system for the first time and our internet directions that the hotel booking site had given us were a bit off. They told us to transfer lines, which as we figured out later, we did not have to do. In the end, however, I don't think we would have found the hotel right a way even if we had correct instructions because in the vicinity of our hotel are 4 different subway line entrances. Luckily our hotel is in a safe location due to the police station being within a few blocks away. While we were walking around we came across it and simply bopped in for directions. The police were kind enough to actually have what I believe may have been an intern walk us to the hotel, which was not far away from the station.
Our hotel for hostel price is very well kept and is very quiet. We are staying at the Hotel Taiyo (pronounced "Tie-yo") for seven nights for around $200 American... The only downside to this hotel is that it is cold in our rooms as there is no heater and it is winter in Japan... but winter here is like a really cold Fall season... The hotel did give us really large comforters though, which keep us very warm at night despite the cool room. The hotel has two American style toilets and both are very neatly kept the rest are squatting reservoirs, which can spray out water. Kara was very glad to find that this hotel has warm water showers and on top of that we do not need to pay for the shower! This is a great deal because so many showers at hostels need to be paid each time and sometimes only run cold water. Kara and I haven't decided whether or not we will partake of the Japanese tradition of showering communally (with those of our own sex) during the times posted at the front desk (more on that later...). The other nice thing is that we are provided a mini-fridge, television, and storage bunk with hangers in our little room. I truly believe God's hand was at work when leading me to cancel our reservations at the Osaka Nagai Hostel in order to stay where we are now, we couldn't have asked for a better hotel for the price we are getting. This is Grant, signing out.

P.S. The images are of Kara and I in our Japanese style bath robes provided by the hotel. Notice in my picture how short the door to our room is. Someone who is tall would hurt themselves if not paying attention!

Osaka, Japan

Grant and I are leaving for Osaka, Japan today! We are super excited to go. We will post pics when we get back. Merry Christmas! Love you all!
-Kara-

1st Grade Christmas Party!

Hi Everyone,
This was a week of celebrating the holiday season! On Friday our whole school had Christmas parties in their classroom. We are celebrating Jesus's birth and also the end of the semester!
One of my kids (Ezra) was so cute and this is what he said, "Who's birthday are we celebrating tomorrow." I say, "Jesus's." He says, "I love birthdays."
Parents brought in food for the celebration. I had a specific list so that way there would not be too much food, but that did not work. The culture here is all about potlucks and making sure to bring in a ton of food. It is not ok for them to not bring in something even though I told them that they all did not need to bring in food. Also on of my students parents owns a local grocery store so he brought in a lot of food too. So to say the least I had more food than the kids could handle.
We read Christmas books, made Santa paper bag puppets, ate lots of food, and watched a veggie tales Christmas. It was kinda stressful due to how excited they were and how messy they were, but it was worth it to see them having such a good time. I really enjoy my students and was glad to throw a party for them. Here are some pics from the event.
-Kara-

Bible Study Christmas Party!

Our Monday Night Bible Study held its annual Christmas Party. We had our usual potluck dinner and then we had a White Elephant gift exchange. It was pretty intense with the stealing and my friend Amy and I made an alliance to not steal from each other. Grant ended up with 3 beer hats, 2 movies, a bat, and a great Christian book. I ended up with a mosaic gift set which will look awesome in our apartment. We really feel connected at our bible study and enjoy going. This was a great night of celebrating!
-Kara-

Christmas Time is Here

Hi Everyone~
On Sunday Night we went over to our friend's Josh and Elizabeth's house for a Christmas Party. She made Tamales, Mexican Rice, and a ton of other really good Puerto Rican dishes. It was super good. I brought my cupcakes:) which everyone loves! We all talked about what our Christmas Traditions were and it was neat getting to hear what everyone else had to say.
I kept thinking about how my family opens up our gifts to each other which we tape every year and then we go to my aunt's house to have our big family celebration. We always have lots of fun, food, and the gift exchange where we steal presents. 7 and 11 are hot! One tradition I shared that truly is unique is that Santa comes and visits every year at our aunt's house. I remember growing up and getting to sit on santas lap and thinking it was so cool that I got to see Santa giving us presents every year. 2 years ago Grant was Santa and it was a neat initiation into the family. On Christmas morning we always still get presents from Santa and then we eat a wonderful meal that always has lots of meatballs and mashed potatoes. I will miss not being home this Christmas.
We also had a good white elephant gift exchange and very few people stole from each other which is good because the stealing makes me nervous. Then we took a ton of pictures together! It was so great to share the holiday season with some amazing friends!