Nov 23 (Thu) HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving!! I’m grateful for my loving family, my husband’s patience and enthusiasm, my daughter’s sense of humor and easygoing attitude, my extended family at home taking care of my furbabies and for all the wonderful experiences and kind people we’ve met on our trip. It has never been more evident to me how important it is to attempt to speak in a foreign language while in other countries. Every single time any of us even tried to speak, people just lit up.

This morning we went to Hanazono Shrine to the Tori-no-Ichi Festival. People sell decorated rakes to bring good fortune to whoever buys them. The ads small signs and stickers as “service freebies” to increase where the luck is directed. The first stall Kyrie and Greg went to ignored them. I was taking pictures so I wasn’t with them at the beginning, but after a bit it was obvious. So we left. We found something at one stall then saw a super cute rake with a blue kitty on it. We asked prices but the particular owner of the stall wasn’t there but as soon as we apologized in Japanese the two neighboring stalls sprang into action. From then on it was a group effort. The stall owner happened to have studied English in New York when he was in high school. They gave us a big discount and kept adding and adding things to our rake for family harmony, safety and success, traveling mercies, and even fire safety. Then the neighbor stalls pitched in too! They even did the wood claps and chants for us that are usually reserved for big spenders. It was such a great experience…and a great thing does Kyrie to experience. We will treasure our rake forever.

We went fairly early in the morning to the shrine so it wasn’t super busy. We dropped Kyrie back at the hotel then headed into Ueno to find some last day souvenirs.

For early Thanksgiving dinner we had KFC, hahahaha. Turkey isn’t really a thing here. We wandered a bit more and then back to PACK. Kyrie and I procured late dinner from Lawson on our side of the street and the other side of the street so we could find Greg proper sustenance of chicken Katsu with curry noodles.

We got everything (mostly) to fit!! Sadly that means we have to go home tomorrow….Read more