Shannon and Wyatt Visit Japan
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2006
1
79
93
Trip End
Ongoing
Tokyo,
Japan
Sunday, January 20, 2008
We had a riot of a week engaging in a wide range of activities. Some of my favorites were:
*visiting Japan's world heritage HIMEJI CASTLE, in the snow, and being taught how to eat takoyaki by 2 different random people in a food court- thank you Japan. Shannon has big intentions of frequenting the mall of America food court to teach foreigners how to use ketchup when she gets back to Minnesota.
*volunteering at my elementary school. Shannon and Wyatt were a huge hit with the little ones, what with Shannon's blonde hair, and Wyatt's build
mt. fuji passing b4 ur eyes from the train
. We had question and answer session, and Wyatt learned how to sing 'head and shoulders'. My favorite question was: 'what is your favorite word?' ['love' was a nice answer Shannon!]*riding the shinkansen from Kobe to Tokyo, craning our necks and searching off in the distance with binoculars the entire time for mt. Fuji in fear that we were going to miss it. For those of you who haven't seen mt. Fuji from the shinkansen.... let's just say, you CAN'T possible miss it! I think I actually shrieked with delight (and shock) when it came into sight and nearly blinded me.
*meeting my host parents in shibuya, being taken to an Italian restaurant (because my host mother thinks that's posh... and why would Shannon and Wyatt want to eat anything else in Japan....), having endless plates of food forced down our throats, hearing Wyatt get told that he was drinking TOO slow, oh- yeah- and being told by my host father that I was nothing until I got married..... [Unfortunately they were under the impression that I was bringing my fiancé to Tokyo to meet them, not my actually FRIENDS. Big disappointment on both parts when I had to break the news that Shannon and Wyatt were actually married and Brianne doesn't hear wedding bells in the future anytime soon...]
*endless slumber parties
entering himeji
! at my house: sleeping on the floor has never been so much fun, and while it WAS freezing cold... I'd do it all over again if it meant that I could have Wyatt and Shannon back here!
At the ryokan: fun until our little mouse friend came.... then it was just exhausting! I think we must have woken up the entire ryokan (Japanese style inn) with our 4am mouse chase... never did catch the little bugger. BUT, looking on the bright side, we all consider ourselves blessed to have been visited by Minnie-chan in the very first month of the new year of the MOUSE! Coincidence?
I had an absolute blast showing Shannon and Wyatt around Japan. I realized that there are far too many wonderful things here that I want to share with my friends. We didn't have nearly enough time to do everything that I would have liked. But I'd like to commend Wyatt and Shannon on their amazingly positive attitudes towards anything I suggested. They were excellent sports, trucking around and exploring without me while I was at school, and still being cheerful and keeping me entertained when I came home, until wee hours of the night. They listened with interest as I tried to explain different parts of the Japanese culture, and applied the information I shared, in their daily excursions. Our parent/child roll was reversed when they came here, and I was a beamingly proud parent when I saw them eating each meal with chopsticks, and even starting to recognize kanji!!! I'm so thankful that they took me up on the offer to come visit! I hope they enjoyed their journey to Japan, as much as I enjoyed showing them around!
