Early morning math

We are sitting in the Japanese lotus bud "hut" after a great night sleep on the futons. The girls are doing their math which is a tad painful but good to get it out of the way when their brains are awake. We've separated from Kris and Steve for two nights and are meeting up with them in Kyoto on Saturday and all staying together. This little town of Ena City is really peaceful and beautiful. Our host Koda-San is amazing. A zen Buddhist and sat with us for over two hours and talked about the area, Buddhism etc. Really lovely man and the kids asked if we could keep him for the rest of the trip. Lol. He and his wife Kero-chan opened up their guesthouse two months ago on air bnb and we are their first Canadian guests and the first children they have had. Last night we went into town for some groceries and stopped in a little restaurant where they had clearly not experienced many foreign travellers! Craig and I are using our Japanese which is slowly coming back. Basic but helps us read a bit and order food, ask for directions etc. Has come in handy! A nice way to start the trip given our comfort level. As Stephen said, Craig is a nice guy to have around as his research and basic language skills help shave 20 minutes off every transaction! Hard to believe we've been gone less than a week. Seems much longer!