This last Sunday was the last Sunday for Willis and Lois. We will surely miss them and all they did for our Shioda church. It will seem strange not to have anyone to greet us with Ehnle-san’s standard, “Have you ever seen such a wonderful day in all your born life?”
On Monday we went to pick up Akihiro’s grandparents—two grandmas and a grandpa and Akihiro’s mom. We headed about one hour north of Tokyo. Our main goal was to see Akihiro’s sister who is having a clinical rotation there. She is in training to be an OB/GYN doctor and loves her work. Akihiro’s grandpa said he can imagine Akihiro as “Ito Sensei” (Dr. Ito), but he can’t quite imagine his sister Kayuko as “Ito Sensei”. He wanted to see her at her hospital in her white coat! We visited a beautiful flower park on our way to the town. Hopefully later I can post a few samplings of the flowers we saw. I remembered how my former coworker Laura said that being in a beautiful flower garden refreshes one’s soul. Indeed I found this to be true!
Even a bonsai chrysanthemum display!
We then went to a small hotel where we stayed. Many hotels in Japan include a traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. The food was very good, but Grandpa was so happy to be with his grandkids that he couldn’t stop talking to eat it all! The next morning we had arranged to go to Kayuko’s hospital to see her in her white coat. She was busy, but we stole 30 seconds of her time for a picture. How proud the grandparents were!
We also visited the first international college in Japan—built almost 700 years ago, but recently restored. Here is a picture of their classroom—sitting at low tables on tatami (rice straw mats).
The grounds were beautiful too!
We stopped to get gas and were impressed with their service—most Japanese gas station employees will bow to you when you pull up and when you leave, but not many are wearing neckties! We drove north to Nikko--a mountainous area and saw some good fall color and a beautiful waterfall. It was a nice trip!
I’m getting excited about our trip home to America—November 10th through the 20th! Hope to see some of you then!