Julie in Miyagi!

To conclude my trip with Julie, I will write this blog. After we had departed Nara, we made our way back up to my prefecture of Miyagi. Spending some time in the capital city, Sendai, we walked around and I showed Julie some of the sights. I think the most memorable part of this day is when Julie fell into the toilets, yes, I am serious...she fell into the toilet (hehehe). We caught a train back to Ishinomaki and Yumie picked us up from the train station We went out to eat with her and Julie was able to meet Yumie's amazing family afterwards.

Julie spent her last few days in Japan understanding where I live and what it is I do everyday. I feel it's a very important part of my life and to actually be able to see and do what I do, gives an entirely new meaning to me, "living in Japan." Julie is probably one of my avid, faithful readers of this blog and as best as I try to relay my life to those at home, she had pictured a lot of what I had described to be completely different from what she saw in rural Japan.

I received permission from one of my Junior High Schools for Julie to come in with me. She was able to observe my classes, eat lunch with the students, meet my co-workers and see how a typical school day in Japan is done. The teachers treated her like royalty and the students were extremely curious of her. My favorite questions from the students were "how is she American if she looks Japanese?". After school, she got to meet my Adult Conversation Class. Friday, she came to a class of Elementary school with me followed with about 30 minutes of Kindergarden. I had a meeting in Sendai, so while I was in the meeting, she went shopping in the city. That evening, we met up with my friends and had dinner and went to karaoke. The next morning, I took her to Kinkasan Island, a trip that I had originally done with Meghann last September or October.

This evening, we just took it easy and rented a movie as Julie said I had kept her on the go way too much. (Don't worry after she thanked me for jam packing our days of things to do) Sunday morning, I woke Julie at the crack of dawn, so we could go to Kurikoma mountain to do some hiking. I have hiked this mountain in the past with Brock, but it was so cloudy we couldn't see a thing. Julie and I lucked out and could not in any way, have asked for a better day. It was hot, but not deathly hot, the skies were extremely clear and the summit of the mountain wasn't too cold. From the top of the highest mountain in Miyagi, we were able to see as far as our eyes would let us. It was such a spectacular site, with views of not only Miyagi, but two connecting prefectures as well.

We went back down a different course, which gave us new scenery and terrain to cover. On the way down, we had to cross through natural waterfalls that had been created by the melting snow from the summit. There were a few parts of the trail down that I wasn't entirely positive that we were headed in the right way, but it all worked out. We drove the three hours back to Monou and went to Yasko's house for a BBQ dinner.

Julie's last day in my town was spent all day at an elementary school. Afterwards, I took her into Sendai and we had dinner one last time. I stayed with her as late as I possibly could and then made sure she would make it on the overnight bus alright. I said my goodbyes, thus concluding a wonderful trip with Julie for two weeks.

CLICK HERE for all the pictures from these events

Thanks for coming, Julie, I had a lot of fun. I can't wait to go to Egypt with you =)