I slept in, completely missing breakfast. It was nice since we'd gotten in so late the night before. I finally dragged myself out of bed around 9:30 when Amy and Sheila knocked on my door - I ran to the door with only a tiny robe provided by the hotel - Amy of course took a photo - so somewhere out there is a picture that needs to be destroyed!!!
Amy, Sheila and I decided to wander around the town a bit. We walked down to the river and took some gorgeous photos of the fish flags waving in the breeze. We also finally tried Mos Burger! Mos Burger is a burger chain that we've seen throughout Japan - the burgers looked so good and we had been wanting to try it for ages. However, it didn't live up to our expectations - it was okay - but pretty much was just a fast food burger. The onion rings were tasty though!
The Mos Burger was at the Utsunomiya train station - where we also checked out a travel store. I found a beautiful suitcase I want to buy - I should have picked it up since it was about $100 cheaper than the one I saw at Fukudaya department store! Oh well, maybe I'll find something in Tokyo.
Apparently we had decided that today was going to be a very American day. After lunch we had ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins and then later in the day coffee at Starbucks. Starbucks, in case you're interested, is EXACTLY the same as in the states. The only difference was the food they served - and that the menu was also in hiragana or katagana - I forget which one.
Before heading back to the hotel, we went to a covered shopping area on a pedestrianized walkway. It had lots of shops both for tourists and locals. We went into a few stores including a record store where I was going to buy my brother-in-law a CD of a band I had seen on TV. It seemed like something he would like, but apparently I got the name of the song mixed up with the name of the band and I couldn't find their CD (Sorry Bill!).
We made it back to the hotel in enough time to shower and head downstairs for our farewell party. We were told to be there at 5, but once we got downstairs we found out the party didn't begin until 6pm. I tell you, the Japanese like to be early everywhere. Either that or they think Americans always like to be late so they're planning ahead!
There were about 50 people at the party on the third floor of our hotel. The party was a farewell party for us and for the Japanese team who will be flying back to SF with us on Wednesday. So those in attendance were our host families and GSE committee as well as family members of the Japanese GSE team. My only host family who attended was the very last one - the Ode's. They were so awesome and I'm glad they were able to make it to the party. Sheila didn't have anyone in attendance and Geraldine had three families show up. However, she was still upset that Hisae Hirosawa didn't come. She seemed to think it had something to do with the incident over the massage parlor - but I seriously doubt it. Just be happy that three came to see you off and don't focus on the one that didn't. Hirosawa-san was a bit older and the hotel was 45 minutes away - not to mention there could have been a million other reasons why she didn't show up!
Both GSE teams gave their presentations at the party. Ours was basically the one given at the convention with a few tweaks and the Japanese team gave their first official presentation (they'll have at least a dozen times to perfect it over the next month!) My host family seemed happy that I gave them public recognition at the dinner. As things were wrapping up, my host sister, Yukako, said she liked my perfume. She liked it so much she wanted me to write down the name of it - so I ran upstairs and grabbed the bottle for her. It was a travel size and I had a bigger one at home - so I figured it would be a nice going away present (even if it was a bit used!)
We wrapped up the evening at the hotel bar - where my host family was the only one to come say goodbye with a drink. It was so funny, because I don't drink a lot and my family knew that so at one point they took a drink away from me and gave me a non-alcoholic drink. I had been enjoying the other one - but had been holding it for about 15 minutes so I'm sure they thought I didn't like it.
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