Today we took the boat to Miyajima. When we got to the island we walked through a red shrine that was on water, from the shrine we could see a red bridge in the sea. Resa got her fortune told again. Afterwards we split up into two groups, biking and shopping groups. I went shopping with Charlotte, Xi, Aaron and Mido on a street that had LOTS of food, leaf shaped cookies and rice spoons (name????). There were a lot of stores that sold leaf shaped cookies that had beans, chocolate or custard in them, I brought a packet for my parents!! We ate lunch at a japanese restaurant but we all thought that the food wasn't that good, it was also expensive. 

After we went shopping we met up with the rest of the shopping group and went to the gondola that took us up to the top of the mountain. At the top there were a lot of MONKEYS!!!! Some monkeys were sleeping, some were playing and a lot of them were fighting with each other. There was one HUGE FAT monkey that  jumped over the small railing and screamed and attacked a monkey that was sleeping behind us. We were all scared and moved away from the monkey. When the monkey had gone we realized that Mido was missing, we found him hiding inside the building!! A little while later the monkey "attacked"Mido again, Mido got scared and pulled Charlotte towards the building!! it was sooooooooooooooo funny!  

This photo shows decoration on house roof in Mitaki. A lot of the roofs
have decorations on them

This is a corner of a red shrine in Mitaki. The shrine had a lot of
decorations that showed waves and dragons.

Hiroshima Day 3
Today we went hiking in Hiroshima. First we went to Mitaki, a shrine for
babies who had died. On the way up we saw a lot of small statues with red
hats and bibs. At the top there were two shrines, in one shrine there was
a place where you could pay 50 yen to get your fortune told, lots of
people did that. Then we went down and took the train back to yokogawa
station, we then took the tram to hiroshima station. On the way I tried to
take photos of random people on the street, but the tram was too bumpy. we
brought lunch at Hrisohima station, Aaron and Mido brought two bigmacs and
other mcdonalds food....AGAIN!!

we hiked up Futabayama and ate lunch half way. The steps were REALLY steep
and uneven which made it very hard to walk. we got kind of lost and walked
the wrong way. When we reached the top there was a huge silver peace
monument with a golden buda in it. it was REALLY big.... we rested at the
top then walked back down. We walked to a japanese garden and Kana began to stalk the couple who were
having a photoshoot. When they left Kana started running after them!! we
rested in a tiny japanese hut and me, Charlotte and Xi began stalking
Aaron. We left at 3:20 and wlaked back to the hotel... I was meant to take
photosof architecture (spelling?) but I ended up taking stalking photos
instead (like Kana, but not that bad)

Today Matsubara san came and talked to us about the bombing of Hiroshima,
she isurvived the atom bomb. She told us about how she lay down on the
ground when the bomb went off and how the people around her had
dissapeared afterwards. As she talked she showed drawings of the events, I
think that the drawings really helped me to picture what it looked like
and what she must have felt. Her friend told me that Matsubara had gone to
an art school to learn how to draw. We then walked to the peace park, but
halfway there we remembered that we had forgotten the cranes! Ms. Wilson
and a couple of other students had to go back to get them. When we got to
the A-bomb dome we met up with another friend of Mastubara (I have
forgotten the names), and she told us about how the A-bomb dome was at the
center of the A-bomb. She told us that because the bomb was directly above
the dome, it didnt get completley destroyed. We then walked to the statue
of Sadako and hung up our cranes. Our cranes looked really messy next to
the other ones, some of them were only half a centimeter big!!!!!!!! We
looked at several different monuments, including the Korean one. After
that Matsubara san took us to one of her favorite resturants, an
okonomiyaki resturant. I thought that the food was
YUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMYYY!!!! :)

After lunch we walked back to the peace park and went into the museum. I
liked the videos that they had that showed what happend (using graphics),
the last room was also really cool. I liked walking down the corridor with
brickwalls on both sides. It really helped me to imagine what it was like.
By accident I went into the Hiroshima peace memorial hall before we were
meant to, so I got to look around for a very long time. I liked the video
that they had at the end which showed drawing and paintings. Some of the
drawings I thought were scarier than the photos.

When we left the building we saw a guy playing a guitar and singing, it
was funny.

me and Resa started jumping on the beds as soon as we got into the
rooms...they are sooooo bouncy! Resa's splits are better!

I woke up at 4:30 today even though I should have gotten up at 5:30. Me and Xi met at the bus station opposite the school WAY too early. We arrived at Yamate station at 6:30! We were earlier than most of the Iya (spelling?) people, except for Mr. Lorimer. We got to Shin-Yokohama at 7:40, but we had to wait for Emily because she was late. I sat next to Resa on the shinkansen, we were going to practice our lines, but we ended up only going through them once (with the script). The rest of the time we either sang Millie songs or slept. We got off at Himeji and walked to the castle that was on top of the hill. We and Resa went to the stomach cutting place first (forgot the name), then we climbed all the way up to the top of the castle. I thought that it was very scary to climb up the stairs, the wood was very slippery and so were my socks! When we got back down I brought a white head band thing (don't know name) which says,"warrior strength". Me and Resa wore them on the shinkansen to Hiroshima!

When we got to the hotel me and Resa began jumping on the beds! They were soooooo  bouncy!

Cecilia