We had two National holidays last week. Monday being the first was "Keirou no Hi", a day to respect the aged. So in honor of that day, a couple of the women from the Youth Center and I visited the Nagoya-Jo Castle. It was originally built in 1614 but caught on fire during WWII. This castle among many others were rebuilt in 1959. It is a beautiful Castle that has three gilded "dolphin"(also known as killer whales) statues on top of it. These creatures are the sign of Nagoya City. Afterwards we went to ginormous shopping center for lunch. It was a beautiful day!
On Wednesday I experienced my first typhoon. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The ladies I work with told me that it was coming but they didn't seem too distraught about it. So I spent all day in my room until it was time for class.
The Second holiday was on Friday, the Autumn Equinox. To celebrate that day I decided to go to Sakae, a region within Nagoya. Sakae has a large shopping center and a incredibly beautiful park. I think the park has become my favorite place in the city. I also found out that Nagoya is the sister city to Los Angeles. I ended the day with a cheesecake...I had to give into my cravings.
Also, a couple of my brother's Japanese friends live about 30 minutes outside of the city. They contacted me this week and invited me to their farm to help harvest rice. Since I have never harvested rice nor been outside of Nagoya, I eagerly jumped at the chance. They sent me the information on how to get to their town by train. It was a bit of a nerve wracking experience riding the train for the first time but I made it. It was such a wonderful day! In the morning we cut the stocks of rice and hung them in the green house to dry out. After having a lovely lunch we went back out to the farm to sow some seeds. I can't explain to you how much this day was needed and welcomed. The soreness that I had the next day was well worth it. I hope go back out there again some time soon.
Here are some pictures of this week's adventure. Enjoy!
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| Central Park in Sakae |
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| A platform above the Shopping Center. |
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| Nagoya Castle |
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| Replica of the Gilded Statue above Nagoya Castle |
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| The rice that we harvested! |
AAAAHHHH! The pictures look great! I still can't believe you got to hang out with Mitsuru and Makiko, so jealous.
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