Day 19

Today we visited several hot springs...the `hell` tour!  As we were walking through the first hot spring area, I mentioned that I found it odd that people just set up their homes in the middle of bubbling, steaming earth.  I would think that would be a huge red flag to run away.  :)  Also, the smell.  Oh, the smell!  Our translator today referred to it as a `special` smell.  I thought that was an excellent way to describe it.  There is nothing quite like the smell of sulfur.  To make it worse, everyone seems to steam their eggs on the hot spring steam, so it is double egg/sulfur smell!

We took our microbus (I will miss the microbus...it was a great way to sightsee and be able to talk to everyone at the same time) back to a hotel for a Rotary meeting.  I am extremely proud of myself, I gave my first presentation entirely in Japanese.  I am sure it sounded awful, but the fact that I tried it and completed it, is wonderful for me.  By the end of this week, there should be three of us that will present entirely in Japanese (Jeff has been able to do it since the beginning and Stacy is going to give it a try at the next meeting). 

After the meeting, we went to the African Safari Zoo.  I was excited about it, but it completely surpassed my expectations!  We took a bus shaped like an animal with cages on the sides through a large `park` complete with gates like we were entering Jurassic Park.  During the entire trip, I had an Australian voice in my head explaining all of the animals to me (and overriding the Japanese tour guide).  Each time we came to a group of animals, we were able to feed them with tongs that looked like scissors through the cage on the bus.  We fed a lot of animals-- lions, goats, bears, giraffes, etc.  I took a lot of pictures, but I am sure they do not do the experience justice.  It was incredible!

Tonight, I had a little time to relax before my host grandmother made Chinese food.  I feel like I am eating so much at this house-- I have probably gained back everything I lost when we first arrived in Japan!  After dinner, the host grandmother and host aunt showed me how to do a Japanese tea ceremony.