Day 9

After a lovely 8:30 start, a bowl of shrimp for breakfast and a short car trip, Ashlee, Daniel, Callum, Sophie, David and myself boarded a train with our respective host students for a forty minute train ride to Osaka. On arrival, finding an ATM became a difficult task, taking more than an hour to find. After cashing up, we all hit the streets to find a Sega Game Centre for a few games. Despite the heat in the game centre, we all managed to use several thousand yen. Now, everybody knows that a professional gamer needs a nutritious lunch, so we all headed over to McDonalds for a traditional Japanese meal consisting of a big mac, large fries and a large coke. Once our stomach was content, a simple walk to the karaoke bar went pear shaped, with floods of Japanese people flying towards us revealing the risk of seperation. Despite this, we all arrived at the Karaoke Bar. After one and a half hours of singing, we all moved to the games again.
Dance, dance revolution was always in use and was just as much fun to watch as it was to play. Unfortunately, all good days have to come to an end, so we all boarded the train back to Gojo. On arrival, the group split up for dinner. My lovely host family and I went for a five minute drive to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. There I found out the true strength of wasabi.
My first sushi contained a little rice, a little bit of prawn and an estimated twelve kilos of wasabi. My host family seemed mildly surprised wehn my face started turning into a red traffic light. Once my family pointed out that I chose the spiciest sushi in the whole restaurant, I finished eight other dishes before throwing in the towel.
All in all, a very fun day.

Timothy Gibson

Many students visited Nara Temple and saw other sites around Nara. These photos were taken by Bradley Rankin on the tour that the Gojo staff gave Mr. Frye, Mrs. Tannahill and myself.

Mr. Matsuda (English Teacher) in front of a five story pagoda

Mr. Matsuda and Mr. Rankin in front of the pagoda

Mr. Uemura lighting incense as a sign of respect while Mr. Frye looks on.

The giant Buddha of Nara

Liz and her host family and friends at Nara

The temple that houses the giant Buddha.

A deer in front of a smaller shrine

A traditional fence line with magnificant decorative tiles on top.

Mr. Morikawa relaxing on our tour.

Looking down on Nara from a lookout vantage point.

Mrs. Tannahill and Mr. Uemura

Making mochi (rice cakes)

A traditional entrance to a house in Nara.

The edging of a roof line.

A small remberence statue.