Arashiyama, hana hou...Day 55

Day 55 - Tuesday, May 25

Class. I had E40 bright and early at 9:00. Signaling. Fun. Fun. Fun. Then what did we do. Oh yeah, no class for Japanese! Instead we went to the monthly flea market at Kitano Tenmangu. The same flea market that Prae and I visited last month. It was still pretty fun walking around and looking at the booths. I even wandered around the back area that I hadn't seen previously. I just looked, though. Nothing quite tickled my fancy. Although a lot of other people walked away with yukata.



The City and Sounds class, that I am not taking went on a field trip, and because I finished my homework and had caught up with my shows, I was looking for something to occupy my time. We went to Arashiyama, again another place that I visited and again, I went to a new place and a few places that I had been before.



On the way to the bamboo forest, our group passed the very same ice cream shop that I purchased my four tiered ice cream from the last time I visited. My newfound ice cream buddy, Abe and I of course had to purchase this mound of deliciousness packaged in waffle cone. So very good good. We walked through the forest to get to a temple (the name of which completely escapes me). It was very gorgeous there. I wandered around the path and passed waterfalls as people in the class recorded the sounds. Then Abe and I found a path up the mountain a bit and were treated to an awesome view of the city.



The temple closed not to long after we entered and so we walked back to the bus station through the bamboo forest. That ice cream shop is strategically placed at the entrance/exit of the forest. And this time everyone got ice cream. I tried to stay strong. I tried to say no to four flavors of awesome. But my ice cream buddy Abe caved in and I'm only human. I went in for another cone.



It's an addiction.

Ice Cream, yum...Day 54

Day 54 - Monday, May 24


I don't have a relevant picture, so here's a random ad.

What did I do? I had class. But no E40, which was nice. Yeah, I remember. Okay, so class was class. When that was done Kenny, Abe, Rachel and I went down to the cafeteria. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but that cafeteria is constantly packed. Brimming. Full of people. It may as well be a train station during rush hour because sometimes you can barely move in there and just have to go with the flow of the crowd. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is finding a seat. We walked back and fourth between the in-cafeteria seating area and the down-the-hall seating area and eventually found a table. Okay, so we staked the table out and waited politely as the couple sitting there cleared their trays. Same thing.

After lunch, because we didn't really feel like going to student office hours, we sat around and talked story. Abe made a quick run to the combini where he picked up some ice cream, which of course made me want ice cream. So after waiting for student hours to start our group made a conbini run.

After my purchase of a delicious caramel ice cream number with light chocolate flecks of goodness, I made my way upstairs where I was fully prepared to start my E40 homework. Unfortunately, I was counting on there being extra copies of the book around and they were no where to be found. So I decided to continue my path of unproductivity and catch up on shows. Don't worry, I went home early and managed to finish all of my work (E40 (okay, so I didn't do the last problem) and Japanese) in good time.

Bing Trip (kinda), Day 3...Day 53

Day 53 - Sunday, May 23
The weather that weekend had been exceptionally good. A little humid, yes, but I'm from Hawaii. Humidity I can handle. But on Sunday, for whatever reason, it decided to pour. I am from Hilo so I can also deal with rain. But usually I get to deal with it on my terms. I'll have the right clothes and footwear for it. As I was, with my jeans and booties I wasn't too prepared for rain of that magnitude. Thank goodness I brought an umbrella.



To kick off our morning we searched for a breakfast place and found ourselves in that historic district again and settled on an udon shop, where I had the tastiest tempura udon. Ever. Mmmmmmm. So good. The broth was delicious. The noodles were tender. And the tempura was crunchy and plentiful. All in all a very satisfying meal. And bonus, was getting out of the rain to stick my chopsticks in to warm brothy goodness.



Next we hopped a train back to Okayama and visited one of the top 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan. But like I said before, unfortunately it was raining and the wind was blowing. And unfortunately we didn't have much time there because of our bus reservations. But even in the rain, Koryaku-en (I think that's what it's called) was beautiful. I wish we had more time to explore and look around, but there were bamboo groves and pavilions and lily pads and bridges. I'll have to go back some day and see it properly.



Then off to catch the bus. A 4 hour bus ride isn't so bad when you're with friends. Mio, Kenny, David, and I were the obnoxious gai-jin talking on the bus. Everyone else was silent. Oh well. It's kind of how we roll, all foreign-like.



Our little detour to Kurashiki and Okayama including transportation, food, and lodging was under the 12000 yen allowance. Go us. Good times and without any out of pocket expense. The Bing family has a very special place in my heart.

Bing Trip, day 2...Day 52

Day 52 - Saturday, May 22



We arrived to Miyajima pretty late in the day, so we didn't have time to visit the temple, which is the first thing we did Saturday morning after eating our traditional breakfast. Gosh, I love ryokans.



At the temple our group did the tourist thing where we took a group picture in front of the Torii. Oh, and there was a wedding going on in the shrine. Cool stuff.



Then it was free time. Instead of the typical looking around in the shops I decided to go on a hike with Mio, Devin, Kenny, and David. We were later joined by Ben and Rachel. Oh, and we found a waterfall. And being the silly 20-somethings (I wanted to say teenagers, I did) that we are we of course had to take off our socks and wade around the water for a bit. Then hurry hurry up the mountain because we did have a bus to catch.


So I gave Rachel my camera, so no pics of the mountain top. Sorry. Maybe I'll steal some pics from Dave or Kenny.

When I say hurry hurry. I mean we booked it. We had about fourty minutes to cover about 2 kilometers of uphill mountain trekking. The original group had seven people. The first group to make it to the top of the mountain was Kenny, David and myself. I almost gave up at a few places, but I was with two strapping boys who wanted to see the view from the top so I got Kenny to carry my purse. When we made it to the top I must say, the view was stunning. Just gorgeous. And then I treated myself to some of the most delicious ice cream ever. Actually I had eaten that ice cream before, but after hiking at a ridiculous pace that normal ice cream bar was transformed into a delicious medley of ice cream, chocolate and wafer.

Just as we were about to head back down, Mio and Ben caught up. So we enjoyed the view a bit more before booking it back to the hotel to pick up our bags and make a dash for the bus station. Our initial group of four heading off to Okayama grew to 9. The more the merrier. All in all, I think it was Mio, Kenny, David, Rachel, Kevin, Devin, Jason, Ben, and myself. Good times.


Ladder to the loft bed. And a bar. For pull ups! Go Ben, go!

We got to Okayama, then caught a train to Kurashiki, where we checked into our hostel, which was cool cool cool. Bunk beds and a crazy loft bed. Then dinner in one of those arcaded shopping areas. It was this pretty good shop. I got the unagi, which was pretty good for being slightly over done. And then we checked out the historic canal area by night. Tried to be stupid college kids and take one of the boats out along the canal but realized there were no paddles. Head back to the hostel, hung out and slept.

Boom. Done.

Bing Trip, day 1...Day 51

Day 51 - Friday, May 21

Due to the silly train schedule I had no choice but to show up to the station 40 minutes before our designated meeting time. Thankfully, I was not the only early one and I settled in and chatted with my fellow punctual SCTIers. We boarded the train and I must say I love that the seats of the train can flip around. So instead of having a rows of seats facing one direction on the train, our group flipped some of them around so we had mini pods.



By the time we arrived in Hiroshima it was lunch. Yum! Lunch. Our group was steered to a plaza of Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. I enjoy okonomiyaki, but to be perfectly honest, it doesn't quite hit the spot for me. But I must say that I do prefer Hiroshima style to Osaka. Sorry, Kansai.



Following lunch we went to the Hiroshima Peace Museum, which is actually more like a war museum, but I guess that's just nomenclature. Those places depress me. I do think it's important to understand what happened in the past, but I just don't like being there seeing it. Gah! What made it worse was the hordes of school children. They were loud, and for guilt ridden Americans, kind of obnoxious. Moral of the story: kids will be kids, even in war museums.

After the museum our group was in for more sadness. The program arranged for a survivor to speak to us. She was 12 when the bomb dropped and was a little over a kilometer from the epicenter. The wounds and radiation she received from the bomb meant that she was an unsuitable candidate for marriage, which was something that she continually brought up, especially in the question and answer segment. But I must say, that I got a lot more out of speaking to her than the visit to the museum. It was just sad.

For some reason the program decided to juxtapose intense sadness with merrymaking. After leaving Hiroshima behind and catching a ferry to Miyajima, our group was taken to our ryokan where we got to don cotton yukata and eat a 10 course meal paid for by the ever generous Bings.



Following dinner most of us headed to the giant Torii. Depending on the tides it is either submerged in water or as in our case you can walk out to it. So we gathered at the base of the Torii and took and obscene amount of pictures. It was quite pretty from there. Not just the Torii, but you could also see the city lights across the ocean. Then onsen. Very relaxing once you get past the whole, yeah, I'm naked with other people in a tub of too hot water thing. And then sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

Midterm, check...Day 50

Day 50 - Thursday, May 20

Gah, midterm day. So there was some studying between classes and I submitted my paperwork so I can get summer housing. Hooray! I have a place to live in Cheeseland, Wisconsin. The midterm was okay, I think. I hope. I tell myself. Following the midterm, Kenny, David, Mio and I made plans for the weekend. Friday night, the very generous Bing family was going to pay for us to go down to Hiroshima and Miyajima overnight. But Sunday night, they gave us 12000 yen to get back to Kyoto. Basically they gave us money to do what we like, so we booked buses and hostels to visit Okayama, a city between Hiroshima and Kyoto.

After finishing up booking our hostel, a group of us rolled out to Shakeys. in case you forgot, Shakeys is home of the tabe/nomihodai. We had a pretty sizable group at 8 people. Shakeys never fails to deliver an evening of fun, although we ended up getting a bit loud and were the last ones to leave, again. All in all a fun night that ended in a walk with the gang back to Shijo station or as I like to think of it, an adventure.

Maid Cafe...Day 49

Day 49 - Wednesday, May 19



Today was humid. It felt like Hilo weather on one of those days where it's sunny and raining. I really like the Japanese word for humid: mushiatsui. It's sounds kind of convey what I associate with humid weather. Mushy heat. And that's pretty much what today felt like.

Class. Class. Lunch. Kenny and I went to the super sweet awesome curry place. There was a line, so we stood out in the rain with our umbrellas in the mushiatsui weather. The place gives punch cards. 10 meals and you get one for free. I have three stamps. Kenny has five. There is hope for him, but I don't know if I'll make it.

I love that place. The food is good and the portions are sizable. I leave stuffed and am full until dinner, which is kind of a rarity, especially here. I didn't even have the need for ice cream, not that I had the chance, because when we got back to the center there was a group of people forming to meet up with the Pop Culture class at a maid cafe in Osaka.



So instead of studying I went to a maid cafe. I know, good life choice, especially with a midterm tomorrow, but how could I not. I didn't have to pay for transportation and well, although I am fundamentally not interested in those things going to a maid cafe is kind of an experience in itself like going to a temple. Let's just say I decided to learn about modern Japanese culture instead of studying its past. Needless to say, I was kind of excited.

I've heard of maid cafes and the appeal just doesn't make much sense to me. So cute little Asian girls in maid costumes serve you. Okay, that sounds like waitresses. You can pay them to do random things, like play video games with you or sing karaoke. That sounds like a rip off. But I wanted to see it in action. With that said, I was a bit underwhelmed. I went there to see some genuine weirdness going on, but the place we went to was basically a cafe with cool cushy chairs and employees in costumes. The maids were more Olde English/Pilgrim and less French and they weren't particularly quirky. They did have a butler, but his eyebrows were more neatly manicured than mine, so I had to dislike him on principle. The cocoa and scone were pretty good, though. But largely overpriced, because, we were in a maid cafe, after all.

Then home, study/internet and this. I should study. I should study. I will study. Starting now.

That's the Filipino in me...Day 48

Day 48 - Tuesday, May 18

For no apparent reason today I decided to wear the brightest clothing I own. It looks like I got dressed in the dark. Literally. Like I grabbed the brightest clothing I owned because they were the only ones I could see kind of get dressed in the dark. But I didn't get dressed in the dark. Maybe I am a little Filipino after all. Those small dogs on my walks to the train station are beginning to look tasty on an empty stomach.


And yes Mom, I'm sorry, that's what my hair regularly looks like.

And that is the most exciting thing I did all day. Get dressed. I had class, found out I did reasonably well on my midterm (phew), ate lunch, debated with Prae whether or not to visit a nearby castle, but decided that our time would be better spent studying. Then went up to the center to study for my religion midterm on Thursday. But I ended up not really studying at all and instead looking at funny sites and posting links to my friends. Yeah, I need to work on the studying thing. But tonight, tonight will be different. Although, I'm already blogging so we'll see how that goes. But I've pretty much exhausted my usual sites. I'm kid of internet-ed out, so to speak.

But I will study. Study. Study. Go!

Mmm (frozen) cheesecake...Day 47

Day 47 - Monday, May 17

Monday. Monday. At least I didn't have E40, so I didn't have to wake up at 7:00. Instead, I rolled out of bed at a reasonable 8:00 got ready and caught my train. Anything else? Anything else? Oh yeah, I watched Rashomon for the first time. Pretty interesting I must say. Quite intense stuff happening. Also interesting because I imagined one of my Acadec teammates playing the role of the wife. Wish I could have seen her in that play. Then afterward more not studying and ice cream!


All I saw was Angela.

Let's see what kind of ice cream did I have? Oh yeah, it was basically a frozen cheesecake in stick (finger?) form. A long rectangular piece of cheesecake goodness. It's only detriment was that the crust was not graham cracker. If my father has taught me anything it is that a good cheesecake must have a graham cracker crust. Exceptions can be made for Oreo crusts if the cheesecake is shying away from its usual hue and into the chocolate zone. But overall, yum yum.


And I almost forgot, then there was a giant chocolate chip bun and chocolate milk. Mmmm chocolate milk. Tastes like elementary school.

Daiso Day 2...Day 46

Day 46 - Sunday, May 16

So Sundays are really my days of rest. I get to sleep in catch up on work a bit. Catch up on TV a bit and just genuinely take it slow and relax. Today was no exception. I did get a little bored, though so I ventured outside where I managed to find another Daiso (dollar stores ftw). So once again I had a Daiso day. I didn't really buy much aside from a few snacks, but like I've said before, walking around and looking at all the stuff they have there is an experience in and of itself.

School tomorrow. Why can't everyday be a weekend?

Hiei and Osaka, again...Day 45

Day 45 - Saturday, May 15



I was pretty tired after that whole Osaka ordeal on Friday. But I had to go on a class field trip to Mt. Hiei on Saturday.





Mount Hiei has a bunch of temples and a monastary dedicated to the Tendai sect of Buddhism. It's kind of known for its crazy 'Marathon Monks', whom are some crazy monks that decide to undergo this program called the Sennicni Kaihogyo or the 1000 Day Mountain Marathon. Over the course of seven years, these monks will run/walk 40 to 80 kilometers a day depending how far along they are in the program. Not too many people complete the entire 1000 day trial, but a significant number will do it for 100 days.

It was pretty cool going up there. We got to walk around, see the temple walk along one of the paths that those crazy circumambulating monks (according to our teacher they prefer that term to 'marathon monks') walk everyday for their program, and visit other sacred sites. We even went to the temple where the monks completing the entire 1000 day Kaihogyo, as a part of the program will stay awake and fast for 9 days. 9 days of staying up and praying and chanting with no food. Craziness. No one was fasting when we visited and the place was pretty empty, but it's always cool to go and see something that you learn about in class. It's cool getting to see that yes, these places actually do exist.



Afterwards, Kenny and David talked me into going with them to Osaka to meet up with Chris to eat at a crazy good sushi restaurant and head over to a bar. I'm a pushover. But once again, this was the good kind of peer pressure. We were pretty late in meeting up with Chris, but he's a cool guy and was pretty understanding. Then off to Osaka and the sushi place.

So that sushi, was probably the best I have ever had. Ever. So much better than that sushi place in yokohama. I don't even usually go for that whole raw fish vibe. I mean, I'll eat it but come on, if I'm paying for food, I expect you to cook it for me. I can not cook food for myself. In fact, I'd say I've done pretty well for myself these past 21 years without cooking food for myself. Moral of the story: When you feed me, cook for me. But these guys can not cook for me anytime. So good. And the slabs of fish that they put over the rice were so generous. I should have taken pictures of our spread but I was too busy eating and enjoying the goodness. Oh, and the unagi, the unagi had a fat slab of eel deliciousness on the rice. Ahhh.

Oh, and I tried Toro for the first time, the fatty belly part of the fish. So good. So good. I never really understood it when people said that sushi was so good it just melt in your mouth. You know what melts in your mouth? Ice. Ice and yum, ice cream melts in your mouth. But this fish, for lack of a better word melts in your mouth. According to David it was no Sukiji, but I didn't eat there, so I was content. More then content. I think I'll go on being content for the next week or so thanks to that sushi.

Then the bar. Where we had a few drinks (I actually only had one because drinks are expensive and I couldn't be tipsy if I was traveling home alone) before heading home. More mad dashes and running to get home, but tonight the running paid off and I made all of my connections in a timely manner.

Osaka...Day 14

Day 44 - Friday, May 14

No lab today! Instead, Osaka again!



I was supposed to make the 9:14 train from my station to meet Prae on some other connecting train. But like the idiot I am, I forgot to put some extra cash in my wallet and only had about 1000 yen, which is barely enough to cover transportation costs. So I ran back to my home stay, missed the train, grabbed some cash, realized the next train was coming in fifteen minutes, tried to send Prae a text, realized that I had ten minutes to get to the station (that's how bad I am at texting on a number keypad with no predictive text) and made a run for the station. As it turned out, Prae had also missed her train, so I thought I was in luck. But As it turned out, not really. I had three transfers to make, and as fate would have it they were all poorly timed. I ended up getting to the station half an hour after Prae.



I said my apologies, and bought a day pass for Osaka that covered the cost of subways and entrance fees to a lot of cool places around Osaka. Prae's main objective in coming to Osaka was to visit the Apple Store, because her laptop charger had died. So we headed off to the Apple Store where we had to wait and wait. She made an appointment, but they still ran late and we thought Japan was always punctual. Charger in hand, we met up with a few guys in the program who were also in Osaka for the day and went on a short (emphasis on short) boat cruise in Namba on a dirty river. It was an underwhelming experience. I just kind of laughed to myself because the tour was pretty terrible. But our pass paid for it, it was a sunk cost so I didn't really mind the awfulness of it, I just found it amusing.



By this time, Prae and I were starved, so we parted ways with the boys and went to go grab some grub. Okonomikaki! We split okonomiyaki and Yakisoba. Yum. Yum. Then off to Osaka castle, where we met up with the boys and visited the museum and got to climb our way to the viewing platform, oh so pretty. We actually didn't spend too much time in the mueseum/castle because we had a train to catch. There was this silly choo-choo train car thing that periodically drove around the castle and we had half an hour in the museum before catching the last train ride. The train ride was awesome, by the way.


I forgot to mention the awesome slide. This is the awesome slide



Next we went to the sea side. I saw the ocean for the first time since leaving home. Oh, Pacific, how I've missed you. A bit choppy, but it was around dusk so everything was glowing. Very pretty. Then we went to the top of a tall tall building (also thanks to our pass) and looked around. Pretty. Prettier than Osaka castle pretty.


On the ferris wheel of the ferris wheel

By now it was dinner-ish time and the boys were craving okonomiyaki and the girls were craving ramen (which is what the boys had for lunch) so we went our separate ways again. We were all supposed to meet up to ride the big red ferris wheel at Umeda and go to the top of the floating garden building, but the boys found a bar and got a bit detained. So Prae and I went on ahead without them. The view from the tall tall buidling, 173, was gorgeous. We had an amazing view of the city lights from the huge pane glass windows and the rooftop walk. So pretty. Then off to the ferris wheel, which was fun! Also a beautiful view. By now it was pretty late and I had a long ways to go. There was a bit of running and missing of connecting trains, but I made it back before midnight.



To sate my Pake-ness, some accounting. The pass cost about 2000 yen. The entrance fees of the places we visited alone was 3600. Adding the use of the subway is about another 1200 to 1500. All in all we made out like bandits. Cheyeah.

Class...Day 43

Day 43 - Thursday, May 13

Rachel's host family is pretty funny. So I stayed with them again and as Rachel isn't exactly a morning person I got up before her and when I came downstairs her host mother made me go back upstairs and rouse Rachel. By the time she came down we had just enough time to eat breakfast and dig out. As a thank you I gave her host mother a few sheets of the paper I made. I know I still owe them a proper omiyage, but as an improptu gift, I feel like paper made by my magical hands aren't a terrible temporary solution.

We make it to school just before class and well, class is class. But at least I didn't have E40 thanks to the midterm. I had Japanese, break, and then religion. Religion for 3 hours. Gah! Then home food shower planning for Friday and sleep. Glorious sleep.

Midterm, Paper, Swing...Day 42

Day 42 - Wednesday, May 12

So I had my first real midterm today. I think it went okay. Even if it didn't there were snacks so the entire experience wasn't too bad.



Then I made paper. Washi. I think that's what it's called. Anyway, about the first we got here, the students in our program were given the option to either go to a disaster center or make paper. Like I've mentioned before 2/3 of our group is composed of boys. So they wanted to be all manly and signed up for the disaster center. Girls will be silly and follows boys so most of them signed up for the disaster center. But there were six of us, three boys and three girls, who stood our ground and did not give into peer pressure and made paper. It was awesome. There was pulp, water, leaves, glitter, dye, vacuums, basically general craziness and the result was super sweet paper.

What happened after that? Basically for the rest of the day I kind of hung out around the center because at 6 a group of us were planning on going to Osaka to check out a swing dance club thing. I caught up a bit more with my TV shows and hung out with some people at the center until 6. At six, Rachel, Jason, Christian, Bridget and I made a mad dash to the train station where we made the long trek to Osaka. And by trek I mean we stood on the train to Umeda for the better part of an hour.

We got there and it was dark and we were late. The place we were going to offered beginners lessons for half an hour before having free dance for three or so hours. We pulled into the station at the time the lesson was beginning, and because the computer that the map was on (yeah, we live in a digital era and no one thought to print out the map) died. So we were kind of lost. Rachel had a general idea of where the place should be, but we really didn't know where we were going. But we poked around and ended up at an information center that gave us a map and we eventually made it to the club just as the beginners lesson was finishing.

Let me say, that I wasn't too happy about this. I mean, I kind of (and by kind of I mean really Really REALLY) could have used the lesson. But we were in Osaka for a reason and Rachel convinced me that as a member of Swingtime I should be okay in her hands. So I went and paid the 1500 yen cover charge. We ambled around a bit before we actually started dancing, and I actually danced with Rachel first, so she could teach me the basic steps. Then I traded off between Christian and Jason for most of the rest of the night.

The club was pretty fantastic. The 1500 yen cover charge included a free drink at the bar and they had house sandwiches with SPAM, yes delicious SPAM, served with a salad and chips for only 500 yen. Also, there was this part where the birthday people had a kind of freestyle dance where everyone stood in a circle around them as they danced with various partners who would rotate out as another one offered themself. Then all the first timers were called to the center and we were paired with some regulars. That was interesting. I am rather terrible. Haha. It was pretty great because some of my partners would try and do fancy things while all I can really do are the basic steps and be turned and stuff. Anything fancy makes me lose track of what step I'm on. All in all a really great night.

We got back kind of late, but luckily I stayed over with Rachel so I didn't have to worry about making the last train to my home stay.

Daiso...Day 41

Day 41 - Tuesday, May 11

This started out as another not so much day. I woke up. Caught the train to school (I had to stand the entire time, wasn't sneaky enough to steal a seat from an old man. These JR lines will make you ruthless). Went to my review session. Had Japanese. Was tired.

But after lunch, Rachel mentioned the magical word that will perk even the most tired Anya perk up: Daiso. That's the 100 yen shop for those. I love the 100 yen shop. Just thinking of it fills my frugal heart with glee. It's not just the cheap cheap goods that are sold, but just the weird things that really make any trip to a Daiso worth it. So even though Rachel, David, and I had to trudge through the rain for 40 minutes to get there, the trip was well worth the trek. Daiso can turn any not much day into a Daiso day.


Seven layered scissors! Really?

Then home to study for my midterm. So E40 is the only class that I consider 'real' here. I'm also taking Japanese and Religion, but those classes are too fuzzy to be put in any real category and don't require too much work. So I felt compelled to study some. We'll see how I do.

I can't do cool things all the time...Days 39 & 40

An umbrella fort. Awesome. Too bad I looked super sketchy taking this picture.

Day 40 - Monday, May 10

Another not much day. So on Sunday, I didn't really catch up on my homework, I mean I worked on it, but the pull of Glee and Community were much stronger than my desire to write my Japanese composition and finish my E40 homework. So, yeah, I had work to do after class today. And then I just kind of hung out at the center and skyped my Mom for Mother's Day (Japan is a day ahead). Then home. Dinner. Study. I have a midterm on Wednesday. I always forget about the 'study' bit in 'study abroad'.

Day 39 - Sunday, May 9

Today was my designated homework and catch up day. Catch up on homework. Catch up on sleep. Catch up on TV shows. I left the house to go to the neighborhood park and eat an orange. Yeah, that sums up my day.

Big Buddhas and boats...Day 38

Day 38 - Saturday, May 8



A class field trip to Nara was not exactly what I wanted to be doing when I woke up Saturday morning, but then again, I didn't really had a choice. I woke up and looked at the clock on my wall and thought I was running late. Threw on some clothes rushed down stairs to eat breakfast where my host family greeted me with faces of surprise. I was confused a bit, because I had told them that I was going on a field trip, but I didn't get it until I saw the digital clock and realized it was an hour earlier than I had thought. Yeah, I can't tell time. So I ate breakfast with my host family who left a little after and then went back upstairs to sleep in for another hour and a half.

Not going to lie, even though I feel like I've got a strong hold on this whole public transportation thing, I'm always a bit nervous about catching specific trains. I reread that and it really didn't make much sense so I'll just break down the situation. Basically, that morning I had to catch my train to make the train to Nara from Kyoto Eki that left at exactly 9:27. I know approximately how long it takes from my station to Kyoto, but trains from my station leave every half hour or so, which put me arriving at Kyoto Eki either ten minutes before that Nara train left, or about 40 minutes before. It would have been sweet to roll out of one train and right into the next all smooth and professional-like, but really it takes about 5-10 minutes to make a transfer given the sheer volume of people trudging up staircases and going through the ticket gates. So I took the cautious route and waited for about 30 minutes. Fun. Those were 30 minutes I could have been sleeping.

But the train arrived and I got and hooray, it was the right one and I settled in with the group and continued our hour long train ride to Nara. On a sidenote, I live partway between Kyoto and Nara, but our teacher was pretty adamant about going as a group and I was pretty adamant about not spending money on my ticket. So technically, I probably could have just met the group in Nara and had about an hour of extra sleep. But, I'm pake.



At Nara! This year is the 1300 anniversary of Nara becoming the capitol of Japan. Granted the capitol moved twice since then, but that's not the point. The point is that everywhere there's this creepy deer baby figure. Everywhere. Sento-kun is his name. I guess he's kind of cute in an alien sort of way. But he's just this cheery brightly colored animated figure that contrasts pretty starkly with the whole stern and traditional vibe of Nara.



We first visited Tofukuji, where we got our first experience (whiff of?) deer. There are deer everywhere in Nara. More places than Sento-kun. And these aren't just any deer, these are deer (just realized deer is one of those words that are both singular and plural. Deers just sounds wrong) conditioned to be fed. So much so that one of my fellow SCTIers who did not heed the deer warning signs was attacked by a pack of deer. So it's not as bad as it sounds they just kind of chased him a bit and tried to go after his senbei. But I have seen deer bring young children to tears. These Nara deer are no Bambi.



After Tofukuji we headed to Todai-ji with the big Buddha. Standing 24 meters (I think) this is the largest Buddha statue in Japan, although there are larger statues in China and India. Todai-ji is kind of like the name sounds (if you know Japanese, I realize) east and big. Real big. It was quite stunning. The Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas sitting on these crazy huge lotus petals that were taller than me. But probably the best part was the Buddha's nose. Basically, this pillar with a hole cut into it the same size as the Buddha's nostril. According to legend if you go through the nostril you will achieve enlightenment in the next life. A few of us decided to stand in line along with a bunch of five year olds. And there were a bunch of five year olds for a reason. The reason being that a grown man by American standards (overweight) would not be able to fit through Buddha's nose unless Buddha sneezed. One of the guys that was in my group that tried to get through, while not large by any means but rather is a respectable size, got stuck on the way through. We had to pull him through. Literally. Pull. Yank. Tug. The entire affair was rather silly and by the end we had an audience and tourists were taking pictures of us being silly tourists. Thankfully once he got through I knew I'd be okay and through I went. See you in the next life, Nirvana.



After the Daibutsu we broke for lunch. Yum. Lunch. We had to bring our own bentos, and unfortunately a few people forgot to bring it along and instead stared longingly at the deer wondering how deer compares to beef. Then off to a place whose name I forget, but it offered a gorgeous view of Nara and very pretty hanging purple flowers.



Afterwards, Stanford paid for us to go to the Nara National Museum, which consisted mostly of old, old, statues, pots and scrolls. It was pretty cool, but I just don't have the background (or interest) to fully appreciate those things. It also didn't help that all of the signs were in Japanese (like I'm in a different country or something) so even if I was totally interested in the artifacts, I wouldn't have been able to learn about them. But some of them were pretty neat, even in if I had no idea what the societal and political significance of them were. Can't really say that they were pretty, but all in all they were pretty cool. Oh, and on a geeky Acadec side note, they had butt-pots.

Needless to say, we made it through the museum rather quickly. Once outside and under the bright sun once again our group consisting of Prae, Kenny, Jason, Bridget, David and myself tried to decide what to do. Half wanted to go back to Kyoto and make the most out of our one day pass, and the other half wanted to stay and explore Nara. I sided with the Nara exploration crew, because, I won't have an opportunity to go to Nara again on someone else's dive, so may as well make the most of it. Granted, we had no idea where we were going or what we would find, as we had already visited the big tourist sites, but we were determined to find some cool things. And we did.

So Kenny, David and I picked a random direction and started walking. Passed a ramen shop, which looked promising, but the promise of adventure was tastier at the time so we trekked on. There were some signs posted with nearby sites and as the only girl traveling with two indecisive boys I got to choose the direction, so we set out for a pond. The pond was awesome, by the way. I know they say women have no sense of direction, but I choose an awesome direction. The pond wasn't huge (it was no lake) but it did have a pretty wooden gazebo out in the middle as well as bridges. But the best part was the fact that there were row boats for rent. When we saw that we all immediately agreed that our Nara experience wouldn't be complete without a trip out on the pond.





It was another one of those half hour deals so we paid the boat house lady and cast off. Kenny was rowing. He was terrible. But eventually got the hang of it. It was a nice fun lazy activity and some other girls, Mio and Teava, that were in our class ended up showing up to the pond and renting a bot as well. When our half hour was up we waited for Mio and Teava to finish up and set off with them as well as two other Japanese auditing students for more exploring. We ended up walking through a little shopping district, a bit too expensive for my taste, but fun to walk through nonetheless.





By this time it was getting kind of late so we began to head back to the train station. But on the way Mio saw a shrine and went there to record sounds for one of her classes. Acting as a heard we all followed suit, but what we thought was a shrine actually turned out to be a Christian church. Then some of the attendants there saw us and invited us in. The experience was altogether quite strange and rather interesting. After our little detour we finally made it to the station where we missed our train. Silly bathroom breaks.



We got on the next train and thanks to the Japanese auditors made the appropriate transfers and got back to campus where we parted ways. By this time it was a bit before 8:00 and David, Kenny, and I were famished. But we were near school, our choices were ramen or curry. We went for the curry, mostly because we've kind of fallen in love with that restaurant. Cheap, big portions, a super cool atmosphere, a local-ish (as local as Japan will get) vibe. So there. So good.

By the time we finished it was quite late so we parted ways and I finally headed home.

Lab and girls...Day 37

Day 37 - Friday, May 7

There really isn't a better way to start your day than with a six hour lab. Yeah, from about 9 to 3 I was in E40 lab building and soldering an audio amp. So much fun! Actually, it was pretty cool. Not going to lie I felt pretty intelligent plugging chips into my board and connecting wires all over the place even though I didn't really know what I was doing. But to an outside observer, I would have looked pretty smart. So I had built the amp (it took extra long because there were a limited amount of soldering irons because Stanford decided to be stingy, so most of the time was spent waiting) and went over to test it out and it was working but the signal wasn't being amplified enough so the TA told me to tweak a few things. So I go over and check my connections and tweak things, and when I went back to test it again and I my signal was terrible. I think at some point my signal was actually being de-amplified, which shouldn't be possible. So I broke for lunch with Kenny and when I returned, my amp magically was amplifying fine and when I plugged it in to the ipod and speakers, music was bumping. As it turns out, our function generators and oscilloscopes are kind of fussy.

I was planning on going to check on the social dance circle, but I because my lab ran so late I missed the bus to go to the other campus and the group had already gone. So I went to the program library to hang out a bit and as it turns out there was a social event going on a the neighboring all-woman's college. The mixer, as it was called, had already started but one of the girls in the library kept getting calls from the director to show up so she, Kenny, and I headed over to the Doshisha Women's College. We had some difficulty finding the right building, but got there eventually by following a trail of drool left by our boys.

Maybe I should put this in perspective. Our group is composed of about 30 people, 20 of which are male. 90% of whom Asian girls was a big bonus in studying abroad. Yeah. My EE class (11 boys 2 girls) really wanted to get their amps done early so they could get an early start on the women's college. So when we roll up to the women's college and there were little Japanese girls everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Literally there were at least 4 girls to every Stanford student. Complete insanity. It was kind of weird. I was mobbed by groups of Japanese girls. Okay, mobbed is a bit of an exaggeration, but if a Stanford student was standing alone for more than 3 seconds a group of at least two girls would come up. The joy on our boys' faces were apparent. And the Doshisha girls weren't too disappointed either. I talked to a group of girls who asked me what I thought of Japanese boys to which I made a face and shook my head. I asked them what they thought of our boys and they gave a smiling thumbs up. Shivers, (and not the good kine) thumbs up? Really? But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it when this one girl told Kenny he looked like a Backstreet Boy.

But not all the girls had that one track mind. I actually exchanged numbers with a few of them, so who knows, maybe I'll be making some quality Japanese friends. Although, between their English and my Japanese, I don't know how deep our conversations will extend. But it was fun. I'm definitely glad I went.

Japan loves Dogs...Day 36

Day 36 - Thursday, May 6

Today was almost as eventful as the day before. I went to school and went home. Hey, I'm tired. Golden Week sapped my strength. But I did see some interesting Japanese things. My host mother showed me an add for a doggy hotel. I appears to be some kind of strange resort where Japanese people can stay with their dogs. (In case I haven't mentioned it Japanese people love their dogs. It's kind of crazy. Everyone is like a mini Asian version of Paris Hilton. There are dogs in purses dogs in cuter clothes than I own dogs in cars. Insanity.) So at this resort there are some normal things like playing in a field. Some reasonably strange things like fine dining with your dog. Then there were the things that were just plain weird. Like karaoke, yeah, with your dog. I'm sorry, dogs don't sing. What else, oh yeah, counseling with your dog. Really? Your dog does not speak Japanese. Then, and this was my favorite, ofuro with your dog. Basically hopping in a bathtub of boiling water with your pooch. Japanese people have a weird double standard for things like needing to be super clean before jumping in the ofuro and at the same time having it be totally okay to take your dog in there with you. I guess you could bathe the dog first, but then there's all that fur. I don't get it. My gut reaction was incredulity, but now that I'm thinking about it a bit more it's starting to make a bit more sense. Maybe I've been here for too long.

Golden Week: Last day...Day 35

Day 35 - Wednesday, May 5

Last day of Golden Week! Rachel and I were supposed to visit Iga (I think it's Iga or maybe it's Ige or Isa or something that starts with an I and ends in some kind of vowel) known for it's ninja. Apparently there's some crazy ninja museum there with 'live demonstrations' don't entirely know what that means, but I was prepared to find out. Unfortunately late start yet again. This time I woke up for breakfast checked in with Rachel who sleepily said she would be down in a bit and then went to eat. Her host grandmother and grandfather were down there and served me breakfast and tea and I ate and talked story with then a bit, waiting for Rachel to come down...About an hour later Rachel had yet to come down. It was okay though, her host family is super cool and sweet. They were showing me some family photos and talking about random things. It was pretty funny, because they have such thick Kansai-ben that I couldn't really understand everything they were saying. I'd think they'd say something and turns out I heard them wrong, or I'd ask them to repeat it and they'd dumb it down for me and turns out I was right. All in all a fun experience.

When Rachel came down it was a bit too late to go to Iga, so I went home and skyped my parents for the first time in a long time and went to sleep early for a change. Oh yeah, and updated my blog.

Golden Week: Shirokawa-go...Day 34

Day 34 - Tuesday, May 4





I thought Fukuoka was far. I was wrong. Shirokawa-go is far. Far. Far. Far. It's like going back in time a few hundred years plus a three hour train ride and one hour bus ride. But so worth it. The train ride in itself was amazing. The train snaked along some river (didn't catch the name but I do know it is the third fastest river in Japan) and weaved between mountains. The river was clear and blue and the mountains were gorgeously green with specks of white and red trees.


I'm Sideways!!!

The train did not go all the way to Shirokawa-go, but instead stopped at a small-ish Edo period town, Takayama. Here, Rachel and I had to do a bit of rearranging so that we had enough time to go to Shirokawa-go, but we rebooked our JR tickets (thank you JR pass) and booked seats on the next bus. And by next bus I mean that after booking the tickets we were booking it (haha I'm so punny) to catch the bus because we had a minute before it departed. But we made it and had another beautiful ride to the village.



Given that it was Golden Week, there was a bit of traffic, so to err on the side of safety, Rachel and I decided to take the earlier bus home which only gave us about two hours to explore Shirokawa-go. Unfortunately this meant that there was no hike to the vantage point overlooking the village, and no onsen. But there was a lot of picture taking and consumption of delicious goods, as always. Let's see, I had a stick of Takayama beef (not as famous as Kobe beef, but well known in Japan) (it was good, but I really can't tell quality of beef, not my forte), a coroquette (don't know how to spell it in English), and shoyu soft serve, which thankfully tasted nothing like shoyu so was delicious.








But the village, yes the village, it's located deep in the mountains (obviously) in a region that receives some of the heaviest snowfall in Honshu. so the houses are called gasshoku and have these crazy cool slanted roofs designed to allow the snow to form a uniform layer along the top and have any excess roll off. So we wandered around the village stopping in some gift stores and admiring the flowers. Oh yeah, because it's in the mountains there were still a few trees with cherry blossoms and tulips were still in bloom so pretty.



Then back on the bus and back to Takayama. Remember how I said we erred on the side of safety, well yeah we had about an hour to kill before going back to Kyoto so we wandered Takayama a bit. And picked up some food for the train ride back.