Goodbye FF Gifu, On Tour Day 1 of 7, WTRD 39 of 49, October 12, 2017

Goodbye to our Hosts and Japanese Home 

Today is sad for us as we say goodbye to our wonderful new friends, Kiyoko-sun and Hiro-sun.  They have both been hospitable, gracious, and have taken excellent care of us. We are not alone in our appreciation of the unique, and well planned, experience that the Friendship Force Gifu club has provided for us as a group and as individuals in their homes.

Kiyoko-sun and Hiro-sun have shared their home, prepared meals for us, helped us with the laundry,  laughed with us, answered numerous questions for us, played games with us; and today they were the first friends with whom we shared the joyful news we received of our fourth grandchild being born!

We are simultaneously happy and sad.  Happy, happy  for news that all is well with mommy and baby.  Sad, sad, to say goodbye to our friends here in Gifu.  

Happy, happy that our Gifu friends will be coming to Sacramento next fall.  Anxious, anxious to return home to be with family and welcome our newest family member and hug all of the rest, but that will have to wait until we return home in 12 days.

Today, we are off again with our Sacramento journey group in a chartered tour bus to Kanazawa, via Shirakawa-go, UNESCO World Heritage Site of a Traditional Village, Shirakawa-go

Two Friendship Force leaders from the Gifu club are accompanying our group.  We have a big bus in which we are all luxuriously spread out and have an English speaking tour guide, Miwa-sun.

It is drippy, misty today as we begin to climb the mountains.  We are a little over 3,000 feet elevation in the valley of Shirakawa-go. The mountains continue climb upward.  Several meters of snow carpet the village every year.

Today there is no snow and the trees are displaying their fall colors. 

We arrived around 11:45, and spent a couple of hours wandering through the picturesque village and having lunch at a local restaurant.  Enjoy the photos below:

The remainder of our afternoon was spent driving to Kanazawa.  I wouldn’t know as I fell fast asleep immediately upon living Shirakawa and was shaken awake when we reached Kanazawa. We checked into our rooms.  Russ and I struck out on our own for dinner and returned for an early night.  Tomorrow we tour 

All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in Kanazawa.  Our Hearts with our New Family Member Today.

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