....and then there were four again.

Let's see....in the past 8 days

we have seen

a really HUGE temple bell (the world's largest, even),

an over- 400 year old castle,

a volcano,

a lot of really funny stupid English on t-shirts.

We have eaten

famous Nagasaki food,

steamed potatoes on a stick--dipped in batter and deep-fried,

really garlicky ramen and gyoza (pot-stickers),

okonomiyaki,

delicious Nagasaki sweets,

sushi,

more food and goodies than what 10 people should have eaten.

We have been to

Hell. (oh yeah...click the link...we were there!),

an onsen (hot springs...yes, nothing says "Welcome to Japan" more than getting

naked with a bunch of people you don't know!!),

a traditional tea ceremony,

a crazy Japanese woman's house for dinner with students

(no she's not really crazy, she just likes to have fun!)

an incredible festival (that is ONLY in Nagasaki and was first held 375 years ago!!)

that started very early in the morning

which meant

we had to leave the house at 4:30 to get in line for seats,

to the beach,

a lantern festival in China Town,

the Nagasaki History Museum,

and many other places that I can't think of right now because it's really late and my mind is about to turn to mush.

We also...

rang that "really HUGE temple bell",

took a ferry to another part of the island,

drove all over the place,

walked even more,

saw many old buildings and interesting places, especially that island

that looks like an old war ship,

visited with quite a few students,

took hundreds of pictures,

laughed,

sang,

danced a little,

and laughed some more.

Oh...and talked...

we talked a lot!!

We crammed so much into the 8 days that my sister and her husband were here, I'm thinking it will take them awhile to recover.

By golly, you wanna come and experience Japan and our way of life?

We will make it worth your while.

*(^_^)*

But now....as a good friend used to say...

"Stick a fork in me, I'm done."

Will blog more, post pictures and read *possibly just delete* the 357 posts in my Google Reader

another time......for now....

I sleep...or I will...as soon as I hit Publish and turn off the computer!

Happy Friday, everyone!!!