Shrines and Shopping

If you are able to read this we are doing well. We are in an internet cafe and it is rather frustrating. The keyboard is in Japanese and it shifts back and forth between two languages. Please excuse misspelled words and other such errors. Typing takes a long time as many things pop up, I spend a lot time retying.
Yesterday was a great adventure. We had the day to spend on our own. I found two teachers who were willing to go an a day trip with me. One was from Texas and one from colorado. We set out in the early morning for the city of Kamakura which is about an hour from Tokyo. We had to take several subway lines, a train line and another local train. We navigated well and arrived in the pouring rain. The town was very quaint with narrow cobblestone streets lined with shops, it is famous for it`s many temples and shrines including a hugh Budda statue which is so big a large crowd can walk inside.
The shinto shrines and Buddist temples held a mystical beauty. The air is filled with insence and you sense that you are in a differnt world. Monks dressed in traditional garb perform ancient rituals and will also sell you souveniers. Prayer cards hang from the trees trinkets are left on the many statues. Well manicured gardens bring peacefullness and calm to the weary traveler. I felt like an intruder in someone`s home, we were tolerated but I imagine they look forward to the closing hours when they could once again reclaim their private space.
My friends proved to be perfect traveling companions. We balanced the day with shrines and shopping (OK a little heavy on the shopping but we got great stuff). Little did we know that while we were enjoying the day the area had an earthquake measuring 5.3. The folks at the hotel on our 25th floor felt it. They were very unnerved. Thankfully all is well, there was no damage and the natives didn`t even think anything of it.
This morning we left our world class hotel to head out to our host cities. Our group of 20 traveled on the bullet train which travels at speeds of up to 260km/hour. We spent the afternoon at Gifu University. We met with faculty and students to talk about their college. The students were encouraged to talk to us. Once we were not in a formal setting we were able to talk more freely.
After another bus ride through lush rolling hills we arrived in Tijimi where we will stay for a week. We had to negotiate dinner on our own. It wasn`t easy trying to find vegetarian food but I did have a fellow non-meateater with me. We left one place and had to settle for spaghetti. Meals come without anything like a salad or bread, we were lucky to get forks. So now I am at the internet cafe. Posting this is very time consuming and everyone is having touble getting things to post. Let`s see how it goes. I hope to be able to post more when I can get to a better computer.
Luv U BAD