First Sunday

When we left for church today, Sister Sato had us leave from the main genkan entrance. A genkan is basically the doorway except that it is lower than the rest of the house. You take off your shoes here and then step up to the main house. I haven't been able to upload my pictures yet, but hopefully sometime tomorrow I can. When Megan and I first arrived we entered the house through the genkan and then when our friend Hoku came over to wait at our house until her host mom got back from shopping, Sister Sato had her come through the genkan entrance. I am guessing that the genkan is only used for special occasions like when people first visit or, maybe on Sundays when leaving for church. Just a little observation.

Church starts at 10:00am which I don't mind at all. I got to sleep in until 6:30am today. It's weird, I wake up at 6:00am and I don't feel tired at all. Though, I don't mind at all because I don't want to waste my time here sleeping more than I need to. Anyway, today at church I was surprised by how much I understood! I didn't understand everything, but I was definitely able to tell what was going on. Right after church we had a meeting with Watabe Sensei about some last minute preparations for the English course and the proficiency test. Sister Sato packed some bread for us to eat and Sister Sugimoto was really nice and made lunch for everyone as well. I should have taken a picture... She made us fancy tuna sandwiches and hot dogs. The bread here is so good! I want to go to a panyasan (bakery) so bad!

After the meeting there was an orientation meeting for the students where Watabe Sensei explained the teaching method and how everything was going to work. After all that we didn't end up leaving church until 5:00pm. We drove to church with Sister Sato but we left with Sister Yukimoto, where Hoku and Meg are staying, so that we could figure out how to get to and from the church by train since we will be teaching at the church everyday.

When we got home we helped Sister Sato with dinner. We made a pasta with a sort of pesto sauce. Sister Sato mixes olive oil, basil, garlic, and pine nuts and then freezes a whole bunch in molds (she uses cute teddy bear ones) so that when she makes pasta making the sauce will be quicker. It was really delicious. Our host dad didn't eat with us today, probably because he had already gone to bed. He goes to bed early so that he can get up around 4:00am or earlier to clean the shrine next door. I was talking to Sister Sato and I found out that that shrine belongs to their family so they are the ones to take care of it. I thought that this was pretty cool. I can't wait to hear more about the history of this town; especially about the castle just down the street.