I have now returned from my spring break. My sister, Laura, came for two weeks and we had an amazing time together! It was so good to catch up with her and show her a little bit of what life is like in Japan. Of course, we also did lots of traveling together:) You can't be in our family and not see the sights. We were blessed by having lots of people who wanted to see us and do things with us.

Our adventure began with me picking up Laura at Kansai Airport and then taking an overnight ferry back to Shimonoseki. We were in a room with three other girls and slept on the floor. It was sort of like camping. We arrived in Shimonoseki Sunday morning and had just enough time to shower before heading to church.

From church to when Laura left, our time was filled with experiencing Japanese culture. We saw beautiful gardens, ate lots of native cuisine including sashimi (raw fish), went to more old temples and shrines than we can count, visited Baiko and sat through the middle school graduation, soaked in an onsen (public bath), sang karaoke, spent time with families and friends, went shopping, wandered through museums, saw lots of the ancient and modern, the list could go on and on. The Lord blessed us tremendously!

Here's a brief look at our itinerary: Shimonoseki, Chofu, Mojiko, Ureshino, Kokura, Iwakuni, Miyajima, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Uji, Nara, Kobe and Osaka. Here are a few pictures.

At church with several of my students

Laura even got to try on Haruka's Baiko uniform!

Me, Laura, and Miho at Iwakuni

Miyajima and the famous tori gate

Our visit to the ever famous Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) in Kyoto

Miho, Me and Laura in Nara at Todaiji (the world's largest wooden structure)