Elise went through Buddha's nostril |
Osaka Castle |
By Elise, Maria, and Frances
This is a report about Osaka castle and Nara buddha.
elise: the big buddha was AMAZING! it was the highlight of the trip so far for me and quite possibly the simplest most stunning large building i've ever seen. despite the tourist shops it still managed to be a highly religious experience for me. buddha keeps his majesty despite man's best effort to mess it up! i got a cool shirt there with the kanji for "honesty" on it, the same kanji that represented the shinsengumi (a faction in the meiji war). all and all today was a complete success despite tripping on the temple's demon-catcher on the way out (to zurn sensei's delight) and skinning my knee. elise (the demon) kallenbach.
Hi. Maria here. I totally paid $5 and climbed eight flights of stairs to get to the top of Osaka Castle. It was worth it, though. You could see most of the city, not to mention all of one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. We also saw the big Buddha in Nara, then Steph, Elise, a few host siblings and friends, and I went to a Karaoke place. Boy, that ruled. Why can't we have places that cool in the States? Bye.
fran and al's night! yesterday, aly and i had a huge dinner birthday party for aly's host brother. benwitz sensei was also there with her host family. we ate kushikatsu, it is all different things like beef and chicken on a skewer. it was delicious. then aly and i dressed up in traditional yukata and went to karaoke with my host sister and her cousin and benwitz-sensei. it was very fun. oh yeah, aly and i got Japanese haircuts. they are hard to get used to, my hair is really thin now. we are having so much fun!