Japan 5

 

The next day was Sunday.  We got to go to the English-speaking ward that meets in the building attached to the Tokyo temple.  It was a little confusing because the two wards in the building have their own sacrament meeting but a combined second hour, so we showed up for the ward, and it was second hour first.  We just shrugged our shoulders, accepted it and went to the ward.  Seth was a little nervous about going to Primary on his own, so I joined him as a cheerleader.  They did their Primary Program practice.  They were very cute, and Seth was thrilled that they sang Sacred Grove by our Killian cousin.  Jer saw one of his coworkers that's stationed in Japan.  That was a fun surprise.  We had had to check out of our Airbnb, so we just brought our luggage and tucked it under a handy stairwell in the lobby of the church.  While we were there, a cute middle-aged woman approached me and asked me to teach her.  Through Google, I told her that it was my first time in that building and helped her meet one of the men in the ward that looked like he was a part of the bishopric.  She enjoyed watching the kids practice for the program, stayed for the sacrament and left before the talks.  I was glad to meet her. After the meeting, we walked around the temple and ran off to the train station to catch the high-speed Shinkansen train to our next stop.  Seth and Grandpa were both properly wowed by the train.  Jer reserved seats for us along the side of the train that we could see Mt Fuji.  That was fun.  I got pictures of each of the people with Mt Fuji in the window.  If it had been earlier in the year, we might have taken a trip over to see the monkeys on the mountain, but they said that sometimes it's closed by October because of snow.

Our new hotel in Nagoya had a workout room.  I did some laundry with Grandpa while he did a run.  Then the next morning, Ada and Jer got up early to do some weights.

Our first ramen place.  You actually order from a machine on the wall, and the chef serves you right at the counter.  It was fun, but it was our first real time trying to order completely from a Japanese menu with no English.  It took a minute.

These drink vending machines were the most fun things.  Especially for Ada that loves variety in flavors. We did eventually find the ones that sell soup, fresh orange juice and even sushi.