Shinto Shrine

What is your Chinese sign? Cole and I are the year of the monkeys and Chase is the year of the rat. We went to a Shinto shrine where we learned that there is a special ritual done in order to cleanse yourself before entering the shrine. It does involve putting the water in your mouth, so I hope everyone's hands were clean that day. And there is a special way to say a prayer which involves ringing the bell, clapping your hands, and bowing. Here you see me clasping my hands as I bow. But you don't want to clasp your hands and bow in front of people like we see in the movies cause it is only done for honoring the dead or in spiritual situations (at least that's what they told us). The Japanese love to bow whenever they greet, leave, say thank you, and just because. Needless to say, you end up doing a lot of head bobbing in return.