[Date & Time] Sunday, September 25, at 10:00~15:40[Spots] Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Hasedera Temple, and Kotokuin Temple (Great Buddha)
[Visitors] 61 AOTS participants from 2 countries, with 49 from Indonesia and 12 from Malaysia
[Attendants] 16 KSGG members
[Languages] Japanese, English, Indonesian, Malay, and Chinese
Although it was the last day of the three-day weekend, the road was not so crowded as we had expected and we could walk smoothly. Since it was a lucky day in a recurring six-day calendrical series, many wedding ceremonies were held on Maiden. Thus participants were very glad to see them, saying, “I saw three wedding ceremonies!” Indonesian practice caregivers seemed to be very tired from hard training and homework of Japanese classes. However, they enjoyed taking their group pictures against the Great Buddha with smiles at 3:00 p.m.
☆ Guiding Indonesian AOTS Practice Caregivers
I guided 6 practice caregivers (5 female practice caregivers and 1 male practice caregiver). They came to Japan in early July after they worked as nurses in their own countries. After they study Japanese in YKC for half a year, they are to work at institutions in various regions and they are to take the national examination within 4 years after they came to Japan. I hoped that they would feel relaxed this day as they were forced to soak themselves in study every day. After we paid our respects at the main sanctuary, they took pictures of a bride wearing kimono or doves. We had lunch and then we went to the Komachi-dori Street. As Mr. A worked as a male nurse, he was interested in dakko himo (baby sling) used by a passer-by carrying a baby. He said that he had seen it for the first time. The practice caregivers and I had lively conversations, because they talked about such topics as Japanese, especially about the difficulty of learning kanji characters, their feelings about Japanese food they couldn’t easily be accustomed to, their motivation that brought them to Japan, and their future. At the Great Buddha, our last destination, I gave them paper dolls which had been made by KSGG members and then we sang Indonesian songs together. I said to them, “See you again!” and “Take good care as you have to study over a long period. Good luck!”