Our last day in Japan.

We were taken on quite an adventure on our last day in Japan. Our "guides" had plans for us all day & then I was invited to help make some homemade gyoza (which is a process! sheesh) for our dinner that night. It was quite the day and I can't wait to go back so that we can have another farewell day again... haha just kidding. But not really. Feed me gyoza until I feel like I'm going to pop and then give me a little more, and then cake & tea. Thanks.

Anyone see Memoirs of Geisha? Remember the scene where it showed the huge wall of boxes and they all had kimono's in them? Well, I've seen that. Not the actual scene, but kimono's on kimono's just chillin' so perfectly in a room in our Japanese guides' home. And then I got to pick one to wear. And then I was taken to a temple to walk around and be awesome, to pretend I belong there in authentic geisha swag. I had got to wear those wooden platform flip flops and I tripped like 67 times. Such an amateur, but they are HARD to walk in. Especially when you have these like thick silk booties type socks that goes with them. Not to mention I was walking on pebbles the majority of the time and if we're being honest, I can't walk on pebbles in regular shoes so I feel like I was being set up.

So after I was dressed, layer upon layer, in these gorgeous silks & endless other materials, (literally i was like 9 layers deep including a couple towels. yea, i had towels underneath the kimono), I was ready. Ready to be geisha. I. Am. Geisha. <--- name that movie. i'll give you a hint: it has geisha's in it.
Anyways. After Mami (pronounced like 'mommy' the wife to Nori.. aka our "guides") was dressed, we made our way over to the temple. I thought it was going to be a quiet temple walk with lots of gong ringing and giving thanks to their Buddha, but it wasn't. It was a temple, but it was a lively place to be! There were lots of people who were dressed in kimono's and boys in samurai attire, there were little food kiosks, there were trinket/souvenir kiosks.. it was really fun. We stayed only long enough to walk around the grounds and snap pictures. I mean, it took longer to get me dressed than it did for us to walk around there. Silly.

Once we got back from this temple (i forgot the name of it. saw-wee), I was promptly undressed and then we started on dinner. You guys, it took hours to cook dinner. I was so hungry, everything smelled so good, & I was getting antsy! However, I did learn a thing or two about Japanese home cooked meals. I'll never be able to cook like that, but I've got tips and tricks stored in muh brain for a rainy day. Aaaaand! Not only did I get the step by step (times 5438 steps) for homemade gyoza, but I also learned how to fold them. I wasn't fast, but I could do it. I'm (self-proclaimed) officially better than the average American now. Ya'll are just scum compared to me. Can you fold gyoza? Didn't think so.

After dinner, they surprised us with a little farewell cake. Even though we were stuffed with chicken, rice, gyoza, nettle soup, soy steamed sprouts <-- omg so good, and another vegetable dish, we managed to eat the entire cake haha. It was delish. Seriously, I was full for like 4 days afterwards. Just kidding, I stuffed my face with pastries from a local bakery the next morning. So fat and I don't even care.

 "see you again next year" :)

It was the perfect last day. Nori & his wife are the best kind of people.

They love Dreydan & Dreydan loves their dogs haha. He's so excited to see them again.

We can't wait to go back, we leave in March! Ahhhh.