From Tokyo with Love

My last week in Japan was busy and fun! Our Kyoto trip was a lot of fun and the city is so beautiful with all the temples and shrines. It was so hot though! Despite the heat, we managed to see quite a lot. We went Fushimi Inari-taisha, Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), the Nijo Castle, and the Gion area of town. We saw many people dressed in Kimonos and two Geisha girls.

Tuesday night my friends Jana and Uhura joined me for one last trip to Disney Sea. We enjoyed walking around and looking at the scenery and taking a boat around the park. We got to see the Fantasmic show complete with fireworks and enjoy some wonderful tasting gelato.

The other nights of the week I went souvenir shopping and ate at some of my favorite restaurants again. Friday night all of my coworkers and I ate at a Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) place. It was nice to enjoy each others company one last time and say goodbye to each other. Each person got a Sayonara doll which is a doll that goodbye messages can be written on.

During the last week of camp with kids, we did a space theme. The kids enjoyed learning about the stars, planets, moon, astronauts, rockets, and even aliens! I think their favorite topic was the loss of gravity in space. They thought it was cool that astronauts can "fly" around. Their favorite craft was making a moon with  a mixture of shaving cream and glue. They loved playing with the mixture! I loved teaching them and will really miss seeing them every week!

Saturday we got up early for a bus ride to the airport and a long flight back to the United States. It was kind of interesting how our flight left at 11:30 and got to San Antonio at 12:00 noon on the same day! It was like the trip took only 30 minutes even though it really took over 12 hours!

I have now been back in Texas for a week and have been trying to adjust to being home. The jet lag has been terrible! During the week, I have had lots of time to reflect on the whole Japan experience. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity! I am so blessed to have been able to teach so many wonderful children and work with some great people! I learned a lot about myself that I hope I will continue to develop and made some wonderful memories that I hope will last a lifetime! I'm glad that by writing this blog you all could have just a little taste of what my amazing summer experience was like!

From San Antonio, With Love,
Rachael