Shimabara

At the Rotary meeting doing my speech.

The view from the top of Shimabara Castle.

Shimabara Castle

On Halloween I spent the day heading up to Shimabara where the Rotary district was having a huge meeting. The drive was very long it took two hours. However it was very pretty most of the time because we drove right by the sea and then in the mountains we drove under these trees that made a green tunnel. I drove up with my first host father and the other exchange student who was going to go to St.Paul next year. When we first arrived we quickly checked in and then left to eat lunch and do some sight seeing. They thought that we would be bored just sitting through speeches at the meeting. First we went out to lunch. We ate Shimabara's famous dish called Guzoni. It had stewed vegetables, mochi, and chicken in it. I didn't really like it but the mochi was good! After lunch we went to see the Shimabara Castle. Inside the castle it was like a museum with old stuff displayed that people use to use. There was a rule of no pictures allowed so I wasn't able to take a picture of the old dishes, money, and samurai wear. The top of the castle though had an amazing view which I was able to take a picture of. Next we headed over to the volcanoe museum where we learned about the eruption of Mt.Fugen in 1990. We went to the virtual theater where we experienced tremors and hot blasts. After the museum we went back to the district Rotary meeting and waited a long time and then finally I got to do my speech! I was so nervous. I have to say though I missed Halloween and was a little homesick.