Okazaki

Tori is a certified Cambridge KET, PET, Starters, Movers, and Flyers speaking examiner. As such, she occasionally gets offered opportunities to assess and score candidates who are taking the test. Sometimes these tests are held outside of Nagoya, requiring some travel, all of which is reimbursed. The nice part of assessing outside of Nagoya is having the ability to explore!

On Saturday, Tori examined a PET and KET test. Although she only examined 2 tests (they do not exceed 12 minutes) there was a 3-hour gap in between the tests. The tests were held in Okazaki, a small city about 45 minutes away from Nagoya.

We rented a car and made had a fun day trip! We really enjoyed walking along the river. While walking along the river we went to Okazaki Castle which was beautiful and fun to explore.

After the castle, we went to a very unique cafe within walking distance. The walls were covered with a thin silver plastic material, and on top of the plastic material there were tons of brightly colored tape cut into various geometric patterns. They also had some tables that were gaming systems. It really was cool, and sadly, these pictures do not do the cafe justice.

In the evening we rode over to 'Denpark'. From our understanding, Denpark is a European-styled (Danish-styled) botanical garden. However, around Christmas they have a Christmas illumination. For a country that does not traditionally celebrate Christmas, the illuminations were pretty cool!

All in all, it was a fun day, and it was really cool to explore a new area. Okazaki is famous for fireworks, and each August they usually have a big fireworks festival. Understandably, it was canceled last August due to covid. Hopefully, we will be able to make it back and see this festival in the future.