Sunday, October 23rd, in Gujo!

Good morning! It is 9am in Gujo, and I am at the home of my host family - the Furuhashi family. In this family there is Naotoku (grandfather), Yuriko (grandmother), Yoshinori (father), Yoko (mother), Hiroko (oldest daughter-20), Kasumi (16 years old, daughter), and Ikaho (11 years old daughter). Their home is very beautiful and is a traditional Japanese home , it is over 100 years old. It is the original home of the grandparents. Hiroko, the oldest daughter goes to the University in Nara, and came home for the weekend to help with translations.

The family took me to a sushi restaurant for lunch and then they had a wonderful surprise for me. Ikaho, the youngest daughter, takes calligraphy lessons every Saturday. The family had arranged for me to accompany Ikaho on her calligraphy lesson and for me to take a calligraphy lesson, also. Yoshinori (the father) drove Hiroko, Ikaho, and I to the home of the calligraphy teacher. We removed our shoes, and proceeded up very narrow steps to the second floor and I met the teacher. He gave Ikaho a sheet to practice from and then he made one for me. It was much more difficult than I imagined, even after he came over and stood over me and held my hand to show me how to form the letters. Hiroko, the oldest daughter, used to take lessons from this man, you could tell that both sisters had much respect for this man. He was their sensei, their teacher. Hiroko explained to him who I was and that I had come to Japan to learn about the people, the culture, and the schools. He smiled and pulled out a sheet of paper, he asked Hiroko to ask me if I knew haiku, the Japanese form of poetry. I told him I knew of Boshu (spelling?) - a famous Japanese haiku writer. I watched in amazement as he started forming letters on the paper. Hiroko told me that he had written me one of Boshu's haikus and then he wrote the date and my name. It will hold an honored place in my home. I will bring it to school to share with all my students. When I told him that I was honored to take his work back to Oklahoma with me, he smiled widely, and proudly stood for a picture. It will be a special memory of my time in Gujo!

It is very humbling to be in Japan, because most Japanese know some English, and many of them can communicate quite well, while the Americans (including me!) are limited to a few phrases of greeting and frantic searching in our Japanese phrase books! Last night, my host family made suki-yaki, a dish of beef, bean curd, vegetables, and shirataki - it was delicious and very filling. After dinner, the family suggested that I rest, and I sat in this beautiful room, overlooking the valley and mountains. The room is in the original part of the home and 3 walls are sliding doors and wood. The 4th wall is sliding doors, the top half of rice paper and the bottom half of glass. There is a large, low table in the middle of the room and it is wooden on top, with blankets underneath the wood, when you place your legs under the blankets, you realize that the bottom of the table is heated!!! I placed my legs under the table, lay down on some pillows, and I think I drifted off for a few minutes. The two younger girls had piano lessons after dinner, so when they returned, I met with all 3 girls and we spent several wonderful hours discussing the questions my class put together. I got some interesting answers! Oba-san (grandmother) made me a neck wrap using a gauze strip of cloth and a packet in plastic wrap of warm sake' - I think she is worried about my cough. I wore it last night when I slept, and I woke up this morning feeling much better! I am using my host family' s computer, so I will send more pictures when I can. Today, we are going to a sports day at the middle school. Sayonnara.