Day 7 Gifu Homestay, WTRD 38 of 49, October 11, 2017

Our Hosts - Two not pictured

Saved the Best for Last

Today was our last full day with our Gifu hosts.  We had a great day all day with our new friends.  We are now family and it is with both joy and sadness that we are in our last day.

After breakfast we had a mahjong lesson from our host Hiro-san in his tea room.  The “low” table in the tea room had a foot well with a foot warmer in the floor so we did not have to sit like a pretzel on the floor.

At 10:30 we drove to the lovely home of the Noriko and Osamu Kurokawa 

Entrance Hall Atrium

for a day of cultural immersion with help of Noriko’s friends Masako, - Ikebana,  Umiko - Kimono, and Massyo - After dinner Hula.  

A table full of cut flowers and greenery was laid out on the dinning room table. Masako taught us first lesson of Ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging.  We were all guided through the process of creating our own arrangements.  

Up next was traditional Japanese dress.  Umiko directed the process of dressing in a Kimono.  It was quite involved and required a half hour and three assistants to dress Roz.  

For the men the process was a little faster or perhaps it just seemed shorter as they were in fine spirits drinking while the women were being dressed.  Our Japanese Hosts were busily preparing a beautiful lunch.

Group 2  Homestay Hosts

After lunch we returned to “class” to practice calligraphy.  We were each given a traditional brush and black ink and instructed on brush stroke techniques.  Then we practiced a few character and finally wrote our names in Katakana.  

After cleaning up our work area, our hosts filled the dinning table with a variety of Japanese food for a farewell dinner.  

A special treat was a Hula performance by Masayo who has studied Hawaiian dance.  

We all enjoyed an evening of conversation and singing and then had to say goodbye to all of our new friends.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel Rs with Friends