こんにちは！

It's been six days since my last post and a lot has happen. To recap briefly there was another trip to Umeda but this time there was a bigger group of people. We met Fuka (the volunteer student who picked me up at the airport) at HEP in Umeda before splitting into groups to explore. I ended up being with Julie, Carisa, Maria and Fuka. We spent the day looking through HEP again, seeing the views and going on the ferris wheel again but this time at night with the full moon. It was absolutely beautiful. After the ride we all went to a ramen shop and let me tell you, this ramen is nothing like the cheap stuff back home. I don't know if I can ever eat the quick ramen home anymore after eating at the ramen shop.

The next few days after that was just focusing around school stuff such as registering for classes and getting certifications at Suita City Hall. But on Sunday was a last minute trip to Nara with Carisa, Julie, Amanda, Sammy, and Ellie. Nara is roughly two hours away from where I live in Suita with a few train hopping but was worth the long trip.

We arrived in Nara about two in the afternoon and instantly we went to where Nara is quite famous for the wild deer that roam around. A few of us bought some deer food to feed them; they were flat biscuits that were circular with a light brown color. It wasn't long until we found the deer and they were everywhere. Literally. Instantly they came up to our group, sniffing around for the food that we had. Many of them walked away from me since I didn't have any biscuits to give them and all hoarded around Amanda, Carisa, and Sammy. But because they are use to human contact they allowed us to touch them, not usually anywhere near the head, but on the back was fine. There was tons of people that were there too, there were a lot of families with children. The children were adorable though, they all cautious went up to the animals to feed them but there were some that screamed when they came close and were scared of the animals.

The feeding went on for about an hour before the group decided to split. A group to go back home and one to stay and go to the Kasuga Grand Shrine. Amanda, Sammy, and Ellie decided to head back because there was karaoke that night. I decided not to go because I spent a lot of money on coming to Nara; I wanted to get the most out of being here.

The Kasuga Grand Shrine wasn't to far away. The walk there though was absolutely gorgeous, you just know that the area has seen many years. The path starts going through the forest with stone lanterns lining the walkway, moss covered the trees and the bottom of the stone lanterns with deer wandering around. Water pathways lined the side of the main path so that water would drain there and not flood the path.

"At first, you will undergo many trials. As one who seeks to cross a rapid stream between steep cliffs, and you will know the pains of disappointment, indecision, and anxiety. In time, however, all of this will pass away, and many joys will come to your way. If you face everything with a humble heart and are prepared to meet all situations bravely, your fortunes will prosper."

Despite my disappointment, I was still glad I bought the fortune. It's all part of the experience.

We didn't linger to long in the courtyard and step out back on the path. Instead of heading back right away we decided to explore on another path for a bit and I'm so happy we did. It was a side rode that not many people were walking on, we were actually basically the only ones on the road except for an older couple a head of us. There were so many old trees, and everything was just peaceful. You couldn't hear the noise from the main road, just silence. I now understand why people would come to the mountain and forest to meditate or seek enlightenment; even I felt at complete peace strolling down the path.

On our walk we passed many smaller shrines where you can offer a prey toward the kami (Shinto deities). At the last one on the straight forward we tried making a prey. I don't think we did the prey properly, like what to do exactly, but we gave it a try.

"I wonder if the kami understand English?" Carisa thought out loud which made us pause and wonder.

Eventually we made it to the end, walked back and headed back home. Getting lost on at the stations too, but we eventually found our way to Umeda, a place we are familiar with now, and were able to get back home. It was such an exhausting day, I'm just very thankful that we didn't have school the next day since it was a holiday. Respect the Aged Day.

But this coming Tuesday is the first day of school.