May 7 - Zao Town, Ishinomaki

Yuki's parents got up at around 5:30 and I still felt very tired at that time. I managed to get up at 6:30 and Yuki and I went together to the bathroom. Yuki enjoyed the hot bathtub and I took a shower and sat down in the bathtub only for a few minutes because my ankle hadn't been fully recovered at that time. Breakfast was again at 7:30 and even though it was very delicious I had problems to eat something because I was still so full from the day before. I should mentioned at this point that I ate my first pickled grasshopper this morning (it tasted sweet and crispy, so I had 3 of them:-)

having green tea and eating my first pickled grasshopper before breakfast

gorgeous Japanese breakfast

Japanese-style but more comfortable because the legs can be put under the table

At 9:30 we left the Onsen, went for some local grocery shopping and drove home to Yuki's place again. We were back at Ishinomaki at 11:30

being back at Yuki's parents' house

and I started blogging again and booked the airport hotel for my last night in Japan.

We only ate a small lunch (some bread) and then started preparing Yuki's class.

Yuki's classes

Yuki works as a part time worker for an English Institute and teaches her own students on Mondays and Saturdays in her father's office. On Monday she teaches 2 brothers (the younger one is 13, the older one is 16) from 19:00 to 21:00. She had asked me to join her class and talk with the brothers as a foreign guest to improve their listening and speaking skills.

Before the class started Yuki and I went to Yuki's favourite Shrine in her hometown where she goes every New Years Eve for praying.

entrance to the Shrine

place to wash our hands and mouth before praying

Shrine in Ishinomaki

From that place (it is on a hill) we could also overlook the harbour region of Ishinomaki and the impact of the tsunami last year. All the empty places were used to be covered with houses but after the tsunami the government doesn't allow the reconstruction anymore (it is too close to the water). It is a strange feeling to see all the remained debris and empty spaces in real and think about the suffering of the people who died over there....



this place was full of houses before the tsunami
the lonely house in the middle is uninhabitable now



huge pile of debris on the left side

this place used to be full of houses

this island used to be full of houses

houses close to the water are all uninhabitable

From that historical place we went to a bakery to regain our good mood again and ate some homemade cream puffs (I had a chocolate and a strawberry cream puff, both very delicious:-). Over talking and eating we almost forgot the time and so we had to hurry home to be back for classes on time.

Yuki in the bakery

the bakery

an unwrapped and a wrapped cream puff plus orange juice



I need to say that I really enjoyed the classes;

When the younger brother arrived Yuki and I picked him up from the front door. I said hello to his mum and when the younger brother saw me he was so shy, that he couldn't look at me at all and started trembling.... We went up to Yuki's father's office and according to Yuki's plan we should introduce each other again. The younger brother was so nervous that he couldn't speak and Yuki had to calm him down first. After the introduction I should ask him some questions about his hobbies, his family etc and meanwhile Yuki corrected his homework. Then the younger brother had to ask me some questions and later on we played a game before he had to make a small presentation about his favourite hobby: basketball. At the end we played another game and when we finally ended the class we had already overran the class by 10 minutes. I also learnt a japanese word that evening: "eto" which means "well, let me think". The younger brother wasn't confident enough in his skills so he always needed to confirm with Yuki first before he answered one of my questions. But even though he was a beginner, in my opinion he understood a lot and did a great job!

Then I said goodbye to the younger brother who was still nervous and said hello to the older brother. As a welcome present I got a "welcoming cat" and the older brother was nervous too but much more talkative than the younger one. We had a similar lesson which was exceeded by 10-15 minutes too and at the end it was my turn to tell the older brother about our trip to Kyoto (a good opportunity for me to make a small presentation either)

One day later Yuki talked with the mum of the brothers on the phone and she told me that the 2 brothers really enjoyed our class. Compared to his usual habit not to speak on the way home, this time the younger brother talked a lot on the way home and told his mother about our conversation:-)

After finishing the classes we tidied up the office and had a late dinner. After the dinner I was blogging again and at 1:00 I went to bed.

my room at Yuki's place

my room at Yuki's place

sitting in Yuki's room and blogging