It was a beautiful day in Ai-no-kura, visiting the small gassho-zukuri style homes and meeting a washi paper maker. He let us enter his studio/home and it was a special treat to see him painting masks and view his art. We then headed to a washi paper making studio and had the chance to make washi postcards ourselves. The highlight of the day was lunch in a gassho-zukuri house and a folk music performance by one of the family members. We even got to light potassium nitrate in the hearth, which is made in the village for fireworks. After leaving the village, we headed to Kyoto on the train and met up with our host families. The students were nervous and excited but were ready for the next part of our adventure! Next blog post won't come until Monday night, as students are with their individual host families for the weekend.