Osaka rain luggage (las vegas) Todai-ji, deer park church
Saturday night we took the train to Osaka. It was pouring rain, and our luggage was soaked through. We were able to keep the cameras and laptops dry but we had to throw away papers and hang everything out to dry. Luckily our Airbnb had a washing machine, a heater/dryer in the shower for circulating air for drying clothes and a balcony. We hung things inside overnight then washed all the laundry and hung it on the balcony the next sunny day. Our first impression of Osaka was a little disappointed. It was horrible, but it felt like the Las Vegas of Japan. Dirty, drunk people, loud, etc...
Sunday morning, we made our way to church. It was sweet. Jer had emailed the bishop beforehand to make sure that we had the right meeting time. They sent someone to meet us and bring us to the building from the street. Everyone in Japan is quiet and reserved but all the members are open, smiling and welcoming. It felt beautiful. We went to a Japanese speaking ward and it just happened to by the primary program. It was so cute! The kids were extremely energetic and adorable. They memorized the articles of faith to recite and did them very well. They had about 10 kids and I went up to the pianist after to thank her for her hard work. As we were talking to people after the sacrament one of the sisters went into labor. We used the bathroom and tried to get out of the way while they waited for a taxi. We then made our way over to Todai-ji and the deer park. Todai-ji is a collection of temples, shrines, pathways, etc... It has the largest wooden structure in the world (or one of them), a gigantic buddha and some really neat gates. It was a lot of walking, but we were okay. Evelyn (who was still recovering) looked like she was drooping and my hip was sore, so we took a walking break and sat next to one of the entrances while everyone else saw the giant buddha. While we were waiting, a deer came up and started eating our map. That was pretty funny.
Some of the pictures from this day are my favorite from the trip.
Jer and Ada made a stop to the chinese grocery store down the street. It was a little shady, but they came back with some breakfast/dinner things. Seth was happy to have a giant and a mini cup of noodles.
Grandpa has a picture of these lanterns from his mission. It was fun to find them again.
The deer were fun to feed. Jer bought some deer crackers, and you bow to the deer... wait for them to bow back and them feed them. Some deer are petite and bow carefully.... some bow very insistently over and over. One headbutted Seth after he ran out of crackers. It was the only aggressive one that we really ran into, but Seth didn't like it at all. He hid behind me; I blocked with my arms but the thing that got him to go away and leave Seth alone was Ada using her umbrella as a shield. That gave him the signal to disengage and go somewhere else. Ada and I specifically looked for the babies to feed. Ada said that with Evelyn's dress and umbrella, she looked like a fairytale princess.
I asked my kids to get a picture of me feeding the deer.... I got a picture of the deer and my hand. Hahahaha.
When you don't have any more crackers, you're supposed to show both hands and shake them to show them that you're out. They knew pretty much right away not to keep following you after that.
One of the foods grandpa wanted to have before we left was Yakisoba. We found a place but they made it and then brought it to keep warm on the hotplate in the middle of the table. Evelyn and I have a seafood platter.... that featured a giant shrimp with eyeballs. Evelyn had no problem eating that one first thing.
There were these capsule toys all over. Seth was a big fan of them and by the end of the trip Evelyn was looking for certain ones to add to her collection.
Ada was helping not fall down the uneven stairs.
Ada took this one.
I think this gate was spectacular. It was really neat to walk through it.
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