Sunday, October 8, 2006
Today was a slower day because we all left Tokyo and went to our host cities. My day started with a view of Mt. Fuji. When I got up and looked out of my hotel window, the skies were blue and the sun was out. I looked out at the view and there in the distance was Mt. Fuji. I was so excited! It had been there the whole time, but the weather had been so bad, I hadn't been able to see it. What a great way to start the day.

We left the hotel at about 10:30 and we headed to another part of Tokyo, Odaiba, where we had lunch and did some shopping. This is a really nice area. Newer and not nearly so congested as most of what we'd seen so far in Tokyo. This was also right by the Rainbow Bridge, which is a big bridge across the bay.

After that, we headed to our host city, Soka. Soka is like a suburb of Tokyo. It seems like a lot of people live here and then commute into Tokyo. Our hotel is MUCH smaller than the one we stayed in in Tokyo. Our Tokyo hotel was gorgeous and luxurious. This hotel is just basic, and my room is very small. It has a single size bed and a very tiny bathroom. The rooms we have were recently renovated, so all the fixtures are pretty new. It is clean, but not at all fancy. The good thing was, I did some laundry this afternoon, which desperately needed to be done. My jeans were starting to get a little gross. Another good thing, my Internet hookup here is free! I had to pay for it in Tokyo.

Around dinner time our group leader took us on a walk over to a mall that's close and also showed us where the train station is. This is good because I think some of us will be going back into Tokyo several times. We're talking about going to a baseball game later in the week and to Disneyland. Anyway, for dinner a group of us just started walking and ended up at this traditional Japanese restaurant. The menu was all in Japanese and no pictures were in sight. Hoo boy! I had my translator book and we managed to figure out what we wanted but it was crazy. The first thing they brought us were these little bowls of sardines. Some people in the group ate them, but I didn't. These were whole fish with eyes and everything. No thank you, no way. I ended up eating udon noodles and some rice. They weren't too bad. Not as filling to me as "regular food," but I survived. The fun in it all was the experience of being totally out of our comfort zones. I was glad I was with a group of people for this one. It was also fun that I got to know some of the people in my group a little bit better. There are some good folks on this trip, and I'm glad to be meeting some new friends.

Tomorrow our official duties begin. We've got some sightseeing around the city. This will be good. We'll be able to see a lot more.