Posted by Amanda

My homestay was very nice today. We basically did what the family would do for the day. I got up and we had breakfast. It was basic with toast with jam or cheese or peanut butter. We ate again at the coffee table. Of course the man from India was curious about who would take care of my mom when she got old. Don't worry Mom, I said I would.

After breakfast we got ready for the girls' first ballet lesson. They looked so cute in their little outfits. We walked to what I guess is a community center for their lessons. The girls ran about a block ahead of us but never crossed the street without getting the okay from Tokiko. At the center, there was a place where you could lock up your umbrella near the door. Oddly enough you just put your shoes on the open rack. I guess people are more likely to steal an umbrella than your shoes.

After the lesson we walked around quite a bit. There was a nice canal with cherry blossoms along it. The girls played at a playground for a bit. After a while we got back to their car and headed to their Indian restaurant. The girls were very excited to get their lassi. Lunch was less spicy and oily than in India but very good. They apparently have a franchise in Osaka that a family member runs.

After lunch we went to the Everything 100 Yen store (that's about 99 cents). It was pretty much the same as our 99 cent stores. Then it was back to the ship. The family was so great and such a good advertisement for twins. Of course once they found out my age and how long I'd been married, they started to ask about children particularly since Tokiko is only 34. I am planning to send them a postcard from Hawaii and hope to stay in touch for some time.

Once Noah got back from his homestay which turned out to be in Osaka, I was eager to go out in Kobe. We went downtown to do some shopping at the baseball store. Then our search for reasonably priced Kobe beef began. We were not successful in finding this. We opted for another place that turned out to basically have fish and octopus. We decided to just get drinks and move on. Our stop for dinner was good with large bowls of noodle soup. It was a point -to-the-menu type of place but we made good choices. Although it wasn't the best I'd ever had, I liked that instead of water they gave us tea with a pitcher on the table. It did taste a bit like cigarettes but it was better than the sake I got. The soup made all of it better as it was delicious.

From dinner we decided the rain had done its job to soak us so we headed home. Again, a really great day in Japan!