hello friends. i am potato.

[caro844]

yesterday we took the shinkansen train to fuji city. we went to the elementary school where charlie went when they lived here. all the kids were amazed by us and they stared at us as we walked past. it was so cute. they start learning english in 4th grade so some of the older kids spoke some english, like "hello my name is yota. nice to meet you." some of them started following us around. one little boy saw ben, pointed and screamed. it was great. when they saw that we had cameras they were like "take me! take me!" and started posing. after that we went to the apartment were my family lived 18 years ago and then to visit some of the women they knew. we had tea at one lady's house and she had these little pouch-things filled with meat and onions, this cold purple liquid with beans and tapioca and clear cubes in it, and these gooey balls on sticks, one set rolled in nori, one in some kind of sauce, and one just plain. it was...different. anyway after that ben, nami and i went to another lady's house to eat dinner and we had vegetable soup, fried noodles, salad, and okonomiaki, which were these pancake-type things made with cabbage and bacon, and they put barbecue sauce and mayonaise on it. it was really good. after that, the lady's daughters, one of their friends, nami, ben and i went to their english lesson at a guy named rick's house. rick was from california but he's lived in japan for 25 years and he's married to a japanese woman. the japanese people weren't very good at english and most of them were very shy, but...it was pretty fun.

today we went to mount fuji and it was by far the most amazing thing i have ever seen in my life. we hiked across to the hoi crater and...i don't even know how to describe it. it was just unbelievable. then we hiked back down through the forested part which was also really pretty. then we went to shiraito falls and there were these really bright yellow and orange fish just kinda sitting in the river...not dead just...staying in the same place. and there were only like...7. it was wierd. then we went to lake tanaki, where the water was really calm. a duck swam all the way across the lake to us but we didnt have any food, so...he swam away again. for dinner i ordered a dish with seafood but then...when i got it i realized there was a little octopus cut up in the middle of my plate so...i gave it to ben. even the scallops had tentacles. blech.

tomorrow we go to kyoto.