(sidenote: I love that song!)
Day - Sunday, June 13
Study day! I can't believe I only have one week left. When did this happen.
Also, I'm super behind on the blog, so I decided to kind of fill in the days and hopefully go back and flesh out the details when I have more time/want to do some productive procrastination. We'll see, though.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Another curry day...Day 69
Day 69 - Tuesday, June 8
Class. Class. Essay. But I feel like I did something else. Yes, I went to Senbon curry. THE Curry Restaurant for lunch. The last time we were there, Kenny and I introduced ourselves. Mostly, because Kenny decided that he needed to name his first born after the man who brought such glorious curry into the world. And this time, when we went in for lunch, the guy actually remembered our names. He IS awesome.
I don't remember what else happened. Scouring brain. Nope, nothing. I think I worked on my paper for a bit. Yeah, something like that. But then when I got back to my homestay instead of finishing my paper like a good girl, I got sucked into watching Avatar the Last Airbender. Such a good show. Thanks, Milan!
Class. Class. Essay. But I feel like I did something else. Yes, I went to Senbon curry. THE Curry Restaurant for lunch. The last time we were there, Kenny and I introduced ourselves. Mostly, because Kenny decided that he needed to name his first born after the man who brought such glorious curry into the world. And this time, when we went in for lunch, the guy actually remembered our names. He IS awesome.
I don't remember what else happened. Scouring brain. Nope, nothing. I think I worked on my paper for a bit. Yeah, something like that. But then when I got back to my homestay instead of finishing my paper like a good girl, I got sucked into watching Avatar the Last Airbender. Such a good show. Thanks, Milan!
I'm sick!
Day 68 - Monday, June 7
I woke up this morning and knew it was going to be a rough day. No, not because I had a homework assignment for E40 due the following day. No, not because I had the Religion class essay looming over my head. It was more of the oh my gosh, I think I'm going to be sick kind of feeling. And I was.
Luckily my host family was not home so they did not have to witness me retching into their toilet. I then spent a very intimate few hours with their toilet. I actually alternated between going upstairs and lying in bed and hugging the porcelain. At the end of that ordeal main hurdle I had the option of trying to make it to school and quite possibly getting sick on the bus or staying home. I picked the latter and took a nice nap til 12.
But I did have to go to school, as I had lent Abe my E40 text book and had yet to work on the problem set. So I get to school all fine and dandy, but my tummy-tum-tum was still a little upset and empty as I hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before. After finding Abe and starting work on our problem set, we decided to make a conbini run where I purchased some Mitsuya Cider (Gross! Bubbles.) and sesame seed cracker stick things. I had to forgo the ice cream to instead settle my stomach, but those two bad boys managed to do the trick over the course of working over the problem set. Which was not fun, nor was finished by the time I left school.
Home (stay). Shower. Dinner. Work. Sleep.
I woke up randomly in the middle of the night to the whine of a mosquito and decided I had to kill it. Two and a half hours, a few blog updates and an outline of my paper later, I have succeeded. I will return to sleep, now.
I woke up this morning and knew it was going to be a rough day. No, not because I had a homework assignment for E40 due the following day. No, not because I had the Religion class essay looming over my head. It was more of the oh my gosh, I think I'm going to be sick kind of feeling. And I was.
Luckily my host family was not home so they did not have to witness me retching into their toilet. I then spent a very intimate few hours with their toilet. I actually alternated between going upstairs and lying in bed and hugging the porcelain. At the end of that ordeal main hurdle I had the option of trying to make it to school and quite possibly getting sick on the bus or staying home. I picked the latter and took a nice nap til 12.
But I did have to go to school, as I had lent Abe my E40 text book and had yet to work on the problem set. So I get to school all fine and dandy, but my tummy-tum-tum was still a little upset and empty as I hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before. After finding Abe and starting work on our problem set, we decided to make a conbini run where I purchased some Mitsuya Cider (Gross! Bubbles.) and sesame seed cracker stick things. I had to forgo the ice cream to instead settle my stomach, but those two bad boys managed to do the trick over the course of working over the problem set. Which was not fun, nor was finished by the time I left school.
Home (stay). Shower. Dinner. Work. Sleep.
I woke up randomly in the middle of the night to the whine of a mosquito and decided I had to kill it. Two and a half hours, a few blog updates and an outline of my paper later, I have succeeded. I will return to sleep, now.
Chillin with the host fam...Day 67
Day 67 - Sunday, June 6
Hanging with the host dad. Softball. Sake at momoyama. Uji. Dam. River. Bridge. Dinner. Yum!
Hanging with the host dad. Softball. Sake at momoyama. Uji. Dam. River. Bridge. Dinner. Yum!
Koya San Day 2...Day 66
Day 66 - Saturday, June 5
6am chant. Okonoin. Temples and wandering. Back to Kyoto. Curry. Converting Abe to curry.
6am chant. Okonoin. Temples and wandering. Back to Kyoto. Curry. Converting Abe to curry.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
I'm on a Mountain...Day 65
Day 65 - Friday, June 4
I packed the night before, so all I had to do was wake up and go meet the guys (Abe, Kenny, and David) at the station for Koya-san. We were all a bit nervous about certain people, (cough, Abe) getting there on time, but miraculously everyone showed up on time and things went smoothly without a hitch. We hopped on the right train and caught all the correct connecting trains go us! We left Kyoto Eki at 11:00 and all in all The trip took us about three hours. The smaller local train rides were rather gorgeous with mountains and bamboo groves all around, although not as scenic as the trip out to Shirokawa-go. We even got to ride a cable car. Fun!
We made it to the ryokan, which also happened to be a Buddhist temple, just on time for check in. When we first decided to go to Koya-san, we were planning on shelling out about 7000 yen a piece to stay overnight at this ryokan/temple. But being the college students that we are, we didn't book the ryokan until the Tuesday before and at that time the only room that was left was the most expensive one. This was almost enough to deter us, but we reasoned that we didn't know the next time we'd be in Japan and that from heresay, it would probably be worth it.
Our not so humble (AWESOME!) abode.
Fast forward to check in, turns out that instead of booking one of the rooms in the temple complex, we got a guest cottage less than a minute away from the temple and a very short walk away from Okonoin, Koya's famous graveyard. Don't worry, it's not as morbid as it sounds. Our room, I mean our house was awesome. There was the main room with a kotatsu. Two rooms for sleeping and an extra room for...awesomeness. Our room of awesomeness. There were also three different styles of toilet and a shower/ofuro. It was awesome.
Wandering. Wandering.
Once we dropped off our luggage we were kind of hungry so we wandered around Koya-san for a bit until we stumbled upon a tucked away combini. We were going to find somewhere to eat, but our guest house had a garden, so we figured, what better place than our own private garden. Great. After that we just lounged about and washed up for dinner. Dinner was a vegetarian meal, much like the meal on Monday. It was pretty cool. And by cool I mean delicious.
Following dinner we went to the graveyard. It was really nice and so huge. These pictures don't do it justice. I'm hoping to steal pictures from Abe or David later. They have those big fancy expensive cameras. We wandered around there until it was dark and then we wandered our way back to our guest cottage. I decided to take advantage of the ofuro at the temple while the boys made another conbini run.
The ofuro was awesome. There was no one in there, so I had it all to myself. I basically swam/floated around the giant ofuro all by my lonesome. When I returned the boys had purchased some sake and snacks, and that is pretty much how we occupied our evening. A tame tasteful night sipping sake and munching on yummies.
I packed the night before, so all I had to do was wake up and go meet the guys (Abe, Kenny, and David) at the station for Koya-san. We were all a bit nervous about certain people, (cough, Abe) getting there on time, but miraculously everyone showed up on time and things went smoothly without a hitch. We hopped on the right train and caught all the correct connecting trains go us! We left Kyoto Eki at 11:00 and all in all The trip took us about three hours. The smaller local train rides were rather gorgeous with mountains and bamboo groves all around, although not as scenic as the trip out to Shirokawa-go. We even got to ride a cable car. Fun!
We made it to the ryokan, which also happened to be a Buddhist temple, just on time for check in. When we first decided to go to Koya-san, we were planning on shelling out about 7000 yen a piece to stay overnight at this ryokan/temple. But being the college students that we are, we didn't book the ryokan until the Tuesday before and at that time the only room that was left was the most expensive one. This was almost enough to deter us, but we reasoned that we didn't know the next time we'd be in Japan and that from heresay, it would probably be worth it.
Our not so humble (AWESOME!) abode.
Fast forward to check in, turns out that instead of booking one of the rooms in the temple complex, we got a guest cottage less than a minute away from the temple and a very short walk away from Okonoin, Koya's famous graveyard. Don't worry, it's not as morbid as it sounds. Our room, I mean our house was awesome. There was the main room with a kotatsu. Two rooms for sleeping and an extra room for...awesomeness. Our room of awesomeness. There were also three different styles of toilet and a shower/ofuro. It was awesome.
Wandering. Wandering.
Once we dropped off our luggage we were kind of hungry so we wandered around Koya-san for a bit until we stumbled upon a tucked away combini. We were going to find somewhere to eat, but our guest house had a garden, so we figured, what better place than our own private garden. Great. After that we just lounged about and washed up for dinner. Dinner was a vegetarian meal, much like the meal on Monday. It was pretty cool. And by cool I mean delicious.
Following dinner we went to the graveyard. It was really nice and so huge. These pictures don't do it justice. I'm hoping to steal pictures from Abe or David later. They have those big fancy expensive cameras. We wandered around there until it was dark and then we wandered our way back to our guest cottage. I decided to take advantage of the ofuro at the temple while the boys made another conbini run.
The ofuro was awesome. There was no one in there, so I had it all to myself. I basically swam/floated around the giant ofuro all by my lonesome. When I returned the boys had purchased some sake and snacks, and that is pretty much how we occupied our evening. A tame tasteful night sipping sake and munching on yummies.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Zen Again...Day 64
Day 64 - Thursday, June 3
Thursdays, as always are my heavy class days. They make Anya a dull girl.
I kicked off the day with a lab for E 40. Fun. Fun. Fun. Then Japanese. Lunch. Religion.
Thankfully, to break up the monotony of straight class religion had another field trip. Hooray! I love field trips. They're not quite the same as mommy waking up at 5 to make me spam musubis for lunch awesome, but I still get pretty excited. We went to a zen temple for the field trip, where we met a monk who happened to be this 50 or 60 something year old white guy from Connecticut. Apparently he came to study abroad in Japan for the year and never left. I guess those things really do happen.
He talked to us about Zen and about meditation, for what seemed like hours. It probably seemed longer because we had to struggle to sit on tatami instead of chairs (hey, I'm American, I'm allowed to lament the lack of chairs at a Buddhist temple). But finally, we got to meditate in a sweet monk meditation hall, which meant more uncomfortable sitting, but this was uncomfortable sitting with a purpose where I could close my eyes without pangs of guilt attacking my conscience. Oh, and during the meditation, he walked around with a cedar stick and whacked people with it on their back near the top of their spine if they so desired. Apparently it hits some acupuncture site and wakes up the body. When he first described this to us I thought he was crazy. I mean, he did run off and become a monk after all. But then everyone tried it, and my curiosity won out and I tried it too. It's not as crazy as it sounds and it didn't even really hurt. It was just this sweet tingly jolt that did kind of wake you up. Or maybe that was just the adrenaline from the thought of getting hit by a cedar plank. Whatever works, I guess.
Rice paddies by Kenny's house.
Kenny had invited me for dinner at his host family's place, so after that Zen business, (did I mention it was at Arashiyama, which meant that I had ice cream yet again?) it was off to dinner. I've been hearing this whole trip how awesome a cook his host mother is and I finally got to taste his claims. They were delicious. We had a lot of really good food. There was tempura, karage chicken, tofu, somen, rice, tsukemono and I feel like I'm leaving things out, but let me tell you whatever that woman served me was delicious.
After dinner we sat around and chatted for a bit. His host father even took Kenny and I up to his hobby room, which was basically a hodgepodge of random things from baseball memorabilia to model planes and just some strange trinkets. Then dessert. Yum. It was some kind of cake thing and coffee. The host father runs a coffee shop and is kind of a coffee connoisseur. I don't even like coffee, but I took some to be polite. I put in a little bit of cream and a minimal amount of sugar, but even I who does not enjoy coffee enjoyed this.
It started to get late so I got a ride from Kenny's host mom to the station and went home to pack for Koya-san. Hooray for adventures!
Thursdays, as always are my heavy class days. They make Anya a dull girl.
I kicked off the day with a lab for E 40. Fun. Fun. Fun. Then Japanese. Lunch. Religion.
Thankfully, to break up the monotony of straight class religion had another field trip. Hooray! I love field trips. They're not quite the same as mommy waking up at 5 to make me spam musubis for lunch awesome, but I still get pretty excited. We went to a zen temple for the field trip, where we met a monk who happened to be this 50 or 60 something year old white guy from Connecticut. Apparently he came to study abroad in Japan for the year and never left. I guess those things really do happen.
He talked to us about Zen and about meditation, for what seemed like hours. It probably seemed longer because we had to struggle to sit on tatami instead of chairs (hey, I'm American, I'm allowed to lament the lack of chairs at a Buddhist temple). But finally, we got to meditate in a sweet monk meditation hall, which meant more uncomfortable sitting, but this was uncomfortable sitting with a purpose where I could close my eyes without pangs of guilt attacking my conscience. Oh, and during the meditation, he walked around with a cedar stick and whacked people with it on their back near the top of their spine if they so desired. Apparently it hits some acupuncture site and wakes up the body. When he first described this to us I thought he was crazy. I mean, he did run off and become a monk after all. But then everyone tried it, and my curiosity won out and I tried it too. It's not as crazy as it sounds and it didn't even really hurt. It was just this sweet tingly jolt that did kind of wake you up. Or maybe that was just the adrenaline from the thought of getting hit by a cedar plank. Whatever works, I guess.
Rice paddies by Kenny's house.
Kenny had invited me for dinner at his host family's place, so after that Zen business, (did I mention it was at Arashiyama, which meant that I had ice cream yet again?) it was off to dinner. I've been hearing this whole trip how awesome a cook his host mother is and I finally got to taste his claims. They were delicious. We had a lot of really good food. There was tempura, karage chicken, tofu, somen, rice, tsukemono and I feel like I'm leaving things out, but let me tell you whatever that woman served me was delicious.
After dinner we sat around and chatted for a bit. His host father even took Kenny and I up to his hobby room, which was basically a hodgepodge of random things from baseball memorabilia to model planes and just some strange trinkets. Then dessert. Yum. It was some kind of cake thing and coffee. The host father runs a coffee shop and is kind of a coffee connoisseur. I don't even like coffee, but I took some to be polite. I put in a little bit of cream and a minimal amount of sugar, but even I who does not enjoy coffee enjoyed this.
It started to get late so I got a ride from Kenny's host mom to the station and went home to pack for Koya-san. Hooray for adventures!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
I tube youtube...Day 63
Day 63 - Wednesday, June 2
So I was terribly unproductive. I watched youtube videos with some people hanging around the center. For about three hours. It was fun. Just really unproductive.
So I was terribly unproductive. I watched youtube videos with some people hanging around the center. For about three hours. It was fun. Just really unproductive.
No Noh...Day 62
I'm so clever, what a great play on words.
Day 62 - Tuesday, June 1
Today. Today. Today, what did I do today? Class. Yes, class. E40 then Japanese. As I mentioned before, I am presenting on the curry restaurant for my presentation and as I hadn't taken any presentation worthy photos of the place I decided to dine there for lunch instead of the shokudo.
It's always super crowded there, so Bridget, Kenny, David, and I walked over to the shop around two and snagged a few stools at the counter and enjoyed some of the most satisfying curry on Imadegawa. Yum. Meanwhile, in the restaurant, I was awkwardly taking photos of the food and shop owner like a tourist. Not that my non-Asian face didn't already give me away. Gosh, I love that restaurant. And the shop owner is super chill. He's also a part of the experience. Getting served curry by the shop owner/chef/waiter listening to good music (I don't think that I've mentioned this before, but he listens to the same kind of music as my dad. I think I've only been in there once where there was Japanese music playing) and eating with friends. Awesome.
As a part of our cultural observation portion for my religion class, the students had the option of attending a Noh performance. For those of you who don't know, Noh is a traditional Japanese drama where a set of plays are performed in order to take the audience through a series of emotions and eventually resolving them with the final play. Our performance was a set of four plays and while I was kind of excited about watching them, I was kind of nervous as well.
When we first got there.
Mostly nervous because I was quite sure that I would find them painfully boring. I was right. The plays are looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg and very sloooooooooooooooow. We received translations of the plays that are literally less than five pages in length, but with the acting and the dancing and the slow practiced movements, it took about an hour. I'd like to say I was a trooper and stuck it out for the whole thing, but I left partway through the fourth play.
After the torches were lit.
My reasons for leaving were twofold: firstly, I was bored and my elemu was in pain from sitting on hard bench for the past three plus hours, second, I wanted to beat the mass exodus of people from the temple and get home at a reasonable hour. Mission accomplished.
Night show!
I am grateful that I got the opportunity to go and be exposed to such an artsy side of the culture. I am also grateful that I did not foot the bill and know that my attention span is not wide enough to accommodate Noh in its spectrum. Perhaps the most important thing that I did yesterday was decide to go to Koya-san with a few guys from the program.
We leave Friday and stay overnight. Hooray! Hooray, for overpriced lodgings and monk food!
Day 62 - Tuesday, June 1
Today. Today. Today, what did I do today? Class. Yes, class. E40 then Japanese. As I mentioned before, I am presenting on the curry restaurant for my presentation and as I hadn't taken any presentation worthy photos of the place I decided to dine there for lunch instead of the shokudo.
It's always super crowded there, so Bridget, Kenny, David, and I walked over to the shop around two and snagged a few stools at the counter and enjoyed some of the most satisfying curry on Imadegawa. Yum. Meanwhile, in the restaurant, I was awkwardly taking photos of the food and shop owner like a tourist. Not that my non-Asian face didn't already give me away. Gosh, I love that restaurant. And the shop owner is super chill. He's also a part of the experience. Getting served curry by the shop owner/chef/waiter listening to good music (I don't think that I've mentioned this before, but he listens to the same kind of music as my dad. I think I've only been in there once where there was Japanese music playing) and eating with friends. Awesome.
As a part of our cultural observation portion for my religion class, the students had the option of attending a Noh performance. For those of you who don't know, Noh is a traditional Japanese drama where a set of plays are performed in order to take the audience through a series of emotions and eventually resolving them with the final play. Our performance was a set of four plays and while I was kind of excited about watching them, I was kind of nervous as well.
When we first got there.
Mostly nervous because I was quite sure that I would find them painfully boring. I was right. The plays are looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg and very sloooooooooooooooow. We received translations of the plays that are literally less than five pages in length, but with the acting and the dancing and the slow practiced movements, it took about an hour. I'd like to say I was a trooper and stuck it out for the whole thing, but I left partway through the fourth play.
After the torches were lit.
My reasons for leaving were twofold: firstly, I was bored and my elemu was in pain from sitting on hard bench for the past three plus hours, second, I wanted to beat the mass exodus of people from the temple and get home at a reasonable hour. Mission accomplished.
Night show!
I am grateful that I got the opportunity to go and be exposed to such an artsy side of the culture. I am also grateful that I did not foot the bill and know that my attention span is not wide enough to accommodate Noh in its spectrum. Perhaps the most important thing that I did yesterday was decide to go to Koya-san with a few guys from the program.
We leave Friday and stay overnight. Hooray! Hooray, for overpriced lodgings and monk food!
Enter the Zen...Day 61
Day 61 - Monday, May 31
Once again, the ever generous Bing family sponsored an outing for our program. It was even better this time because we got to miss class...I mean, it was ever so unfortunate that I had to miss Japanese class to attend this enriching cultural experience, but it was a necessary sacrifice.
Our monk guide.
All thirty or so of us, along with our Japanese teachers visited Taizoin, a Zen Buddhist temple. We were greeted at the front gate by one of the monks, who spoke impressively good English, and were led into the temple. We were led into a room with low tables set with brushes and paper. The monk then went on to explain the art of shodo (calligraphy) and once his explanation was pau, we got to try our hand with the brush.
There was a book with samples of characters to draw. I really wanted to paint the circle, but that was surprisingly difficult. I practiced a bunch of different characters just fooling around, and couldn't really decide on one to do for my "masterpiece". So I went with 気, mostly because I like drawing horizontal lines. They're easy!
Lunch was this vegetarian business, but surprisingly filling and delicious.
Dessert was equally yum!
Afterward, afterward...Oh, yeah, I went back to school and realized that I actually had a lot of work to do because my E40 homework was due the following day, so I enjoyed a bit of conbini ice cream (actually it was rather disappointing today, it was this melon ice business with ice cream, but there was this weird chalky candy in the melon ice, a poor description, but that's the gist of it) then homeward bound to work on E40. Hooray!
Once again, the ever generous Bing family sponsored an outing for our program. It was even better this time because we got to miss class...I mean, it was ever so unfortunate that I had to miss Japanese class to attend this enriching cultural experience, but it was a necessary sacrifice.
Our monk guide.
All thirty or so of us, along with our Japanese teachers visited Taizoin, a Zen Buddhist temple. We were greeted at the front gate by one of the monks, who spoke impressively good English, and were led into the temple. We were led into a room with low tables set with brushes and paper. The monk then went on to explain the art of shodo (calligraphy) and once his explanation was pau, we got to try our hand with the brush.
There was a book with samples of characters to draw. I really wanted to paint the circle, but that was surprisingly difficult. I practiced a bunch of different characters just fooling around, and couldn't really decide on one to do for my "masterpiece". So I went with 気, mostly because I like drawing horizontal lines. They're easy!
Lunch was this vegetarian business, but surprisingly filling and delicious.
Dessert was equally yum!
Afterward, afterward...Oh, yeah, I went back to school and realized that I actually had a lot of work to do because my E40 homework was due the following day, so I enjoyed a bit of conbini ice cream (actually it was rather disappointing today, it was this melon ice business with ice cream, but there was this weird chalky candy in the melon ice, a poor description, but that's the gist of it) then homeward bound to work on E40. Hooray!
Tag-along, take 2...Day 60
Day 60 - Sunday, May 30
Rachel and the river.
Bridget and Starbucks.
I tagged along again today. But this time with Rachel and Bridget for their Sounds of Kyoto project. We basically just wandered along the Kamagawa river all day. I like rivers. I like Rachel and Bridget. Good times were had.
Kittens, brought to you by Kittens!
Men and instruments:
Fun filled day of randomness, served with a side of sun.
Rachel and the river.
Bridget and Starbucks.
I tagged along again today. But this time with Rachel and Bridget for their Sounds of Kyoto project. We basically just wandered along the Kamagawa river all day. I like rivers. I like Rachel and Bridget. Good times were had.
Kittens, brought to you by Kittens!
Men and instruments:
Fun filled day of randomness, served with a side of sun.
どこでも踊りたい。。。Day 59
Yes, the day has come for me to bust out my nihongo for the title.
Day 59 - Saturday, May 29
Have I mentioned our presentations? I don't think so. One day, several weeks ago, I come home from school and my host mom tells me that she will be coming to school to see my presentation. I gave her a confused look, because I had no idea what she was talking about. Crazy talk, was my first thought. Then maybe, just maybe, I didn't understand what she was saying. Turns out I did know what she was saying, because a few days after that in class, the teachers introduced the fact that we would have to give a presentation. And that day has arrived. Or at least it will next week.
I give this lengthy preamble because I spent my Saturday helping Kenny and Abe shoot a rap video for their presentation. Did they have to make a rap video? No. That's just silly. Was it a lot of fun? Yes, probably the most fun I've had a single day. Mostly because the video required Abe to dance, basically, everywhere.
EVERYWHERE.
Along the river. At the train station. In front of Karaoke shops. In Ramen shops. On the street. On bridges. On trains. It was magnificent. It was fun. And the video has turned out pretty hilarious. When it goes up on youtube I'll post a link for sure.
We went all over the place in Kyoto, and even to Osaka. Good times, good times.
Day 59 - Saturday, May 29
Have I mentioned our presentations? I don't think so. One day, several weeks ago, I come home from school and my host mom tells me that she will be coming to school to see my presentation. I gave her a confused look, because I had no idea what she was talking about. Crazy talk, was my first thought. Then maybe, just maybe, I didn't understand what she was saying. Turns out I did know what she was saying, because a few days after that in class, the teachers introduced the fact that we would have to give a presentation. And that day has arrived. Or at least it will next week.
I give this lengthy preamble because I spent my Saturday helping Kenny and Abe shoot a rap video for their presentation. Did they have to make a rap video? No. That's just silly. Was it a lot of fun? Yes, probably the most fun I've had a single day. Mostly because the video required Abe to dance, basically, everywhere.
EVERYWHERE.
Along the river. At the train station. In front of Karaoke shops. In Ramen shops. On the street. On bridges. On trains. It was magnificent. It was fun. And the video has turned out pretty hilarious. When it goes up on youtube I'll post a link for sure.
We went all over the place in Kyoto, and even to Osaka. Good times, good times.
Mmmmmm, Kobe Beef...Day 58
Day 58 - Friday, May 28
When classes have field trips, everyone is invited to attend. I haven't really had much say in the matter of going or not, because my Religion class is the most field trip intensive (I make it sound like a bad thing, but field trips are awesome!) class offered. But a few weeks ago sign ups for the Political Economy class' (how does the apostrophe work on this? class' classs' classes') field trip went up my name was on that sign up sheet faster than most of the people in the class.
One reason: Kobe Beef.
My camera did not do this meal justice. But trust, it was good.
The class was going to Kobe and ever since getting here I've been hearing mythical tales of the delicacy known as Kobe Beef. Yes, this is the beef that Kobe Bryant is named after. It's that good.
One of the guys' host parents recommended a restaurant, so before meeting up with the class at the Disater Prevention site, a group of seven of us rolled out to A1. We got there and saw the price of the meat. We knew it was going to be more than 3000 yen, but when we saw that the price range was up in the 5000 region, our weak hearts wavered under the heavy pressure.
So yes, I paid a ridiculous amount for one meal. Yes, that was more than what I spend on lunches for a week. Yes, it was difficult. But was it worth it?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes! YES!
Watching them prepare it was super cool. They even lit that stuff on fire. On FIRE! And ahhh, it was so good. I have not the vocabulary to express how amazing that food tasted. I just don't. I don't think they've invented words to describe food of that caliber.
It has completely changed my relationship with meat. I don't think I ever want to eat a steak again because once that succulent tenderloin entered my mouth, it was christened anew. My mouth is now a temple and lesser bits of beef are not allowed. I don't think I'll ever eat steak that good again. Unless, of course I go to Kobe again. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I am salivating at the mere thought of eating that meat.
Following that momentous event our group sat in post coital-like bliss for about half an hour before we realized that we had to get a move on or we'd be late. We got a bit lost, but made it right on time. Like on the dot. We good, what can I say.
The disaster prevention center was okay. Honestly, everything about Kobe paled in comparison to it's meat. I even went to a park. I love parks. But that meat. Ahhhhhhhh, that meat. Sigh. So good.
Picture from the park.
When classes have field trips, everyone is invited to attend. I haven't really had much say in the matter of going or not, because my Religion class is the most field trip intensive (I make it sound like a bad thing, but field trips are awesome!) class offered. But a few weeks ago sign ups for the Political Economy class' (how does the apostrophe work on this? class' classs' classes') field trip went up my name was on that sign up sheet faster than most of the people in the class.
One reason: Kobe Beef.
My camera did not do this meal justice. But trust, it was good.
The class was going to Kobe and ever since getting here I've been hearing mythical tales of the delicacy known as Kobe Beef. Yes, this is the beef that Kobe Bryant is named after. It's that good.
One of the guys' host parents recommended a restaurant, so before meeting up with the class at the Disater Prevention site, a group of seven of us rolled out to A1. We got there and saw the price of the meat. We knew it was going to be more than 3000 yen, but when we saw that the price range was up in the 5000 region, our weak hearts wavered under the heavy pressure.
So yes, I paid a ridiculous amount for one meal. Yes, that was more than what I spend on lunches for a week. Yes, it was difficult. But was it worth it?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes! YES!
Watching them prepare it was super cool. They even lit that stuff on fire. On FIRE! And ahhh, it was so good. I have not the vocabulary to express how amazing that food tasted. I just don't. I don't think they've invented words to describe food of that caliber.
It has completely changed my relationship with meat. I don't think I ever want to eat a steak again because once that succulent tenderloin entered my mouth, it was christened anew. My mouth is now a temple and lesser bits of beef are not allowed. I don't think I'll ever eat steak that good again. Unless, of course I go to Kobe again. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. I am salivating at the mere thought of eating that meat.
Following that momentous event our group sat in post coital-like bliss for about half an hour before we realized that we had to get a move on or we'd be late. We got a bit lost, but made it right on time. Like on the dot. We good, what can I say.
The disaster prevention center was okay. Honestly, everything about Kobe paled in comparison to it's meat. I even went to a park. I love parks. But that meat. Ahhhhhhhh, that meat. Sigh. So good.
Picture from the park.
Otajobi, Abe!... Day 57
Day 57 - Thursday, May 27
Today was just a lot of class. Thursday is just my chock-full of class day. About six hours of class. Gross. But I got my Religion test back and I did better than I thought I would. Yay for me! Yay for school!
It was Abe's birthday, so a group of us went out to celebrate. And what I had initially thought would be a small group of five or so people ended up being a 20 plus person extravaganza at Izakaya on Sanjo and Shijo. It was pretty crazy and a lot of fun. Needless to say Abe thoroughly enjoyed his birthday (perhaps a bit too much) as did everyone else. It was just fun to hang out with a bunch (don't get me wrong, I hang out with people, but I lean toward smaller groups) of SCTIers and a few Japanese people outside of school.
Good times. Although I got back kind of late and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the mattress. Ahhhhhh, the best kind of sleep: instant.
Today was just a lot of class. Thursday is just my chock-full of class day. About six hours of class. Gross. But I got my Religion test back and I did better than I thought I would. Yay for me! Yay for school!
It was Abe's birthday, so a group of us went out to celebrate. And what I had initially thought would be a small group of five or so people ended up being a 20 plus person extravaganza at Izakaya on Sanjo and Shijo. It was pretty crazy and a lot of fun. Needless to say Abe thoroughly enjoyed his birthday (perhaps a bit too much) as did everyone else. It was just fun to hang out with a bunch (don't get me wrong, I hang out with people, but I lean toward smaller groups) of SCTIers and a few Japanese people outside of school.
Good times. Although I got back kind of late and fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the mattress. Ahhhhhh, the best kind of sleep: instant.
Nijo Castle...Day 56
Day 56 - Wednesday, May 26
Class. E40 then Japanese.
The walk over to Nijo. I took a detour to walk along Horikawa.
The weather was a bit dicey, but I took a chance and headed off toward Nijo castle. The walk took a bit longer than expected, but it was well worth it. The panels within the castle were old old, but impressive. To be perfectly honest, though I really liked walking barefoot on the floor. It was a normal wooden floor, but from all the traffic the lacquer on top has worn away so you can feel the grain against your feet. The tactile side to walking around the castle was definitely my favorite bit of the interior.
As for the grounds, they were gorgeous. I didn't walk all the way around the castle, but I covered a good three fourths. I only wish that I had been there during cherry blossom season or some season that had more interesting foliage to offer. Apparently, they plant a variety of trees there that will bloom at different times. The ones for late May were pretty boring. But the gardens as a whole were lovely.
I then walked back to campus, because I didn't want to chance getting lost and everyone was where I left them. I grabbed my bag and went home. Hooray for spontaneity and exploring! I haven't done the after class exploring thing in a while. It felt good.
Class. E40 then Japanese.
The walk over to Nijo. I took a detour to walk along Horikawa.
The weather was a bit dicey, but I took a chance and headed off toward Nijo castle. The walk took a bit longer than expected, but it was well worth it. The panels within the castle were old old, but impressive. To be perfectly honest, though I really liked walking barefoot on the floor. It was a normal wooden floor, but from all the traffic the lacquer on top has worn away so you can feel the grain against your feet. The tactile side to walking around the castle was definitely my favorite bit of the interior.
As for the grounds, they were gorgeous. I didn't walk all the way around the castle, but I covered a good three fourths. I only wish that I had been there during cherry blossom season or some season that had more interesting foliage to offer. Apparently, they plant a variety of trees there that will bloom at different times. The ones for late May were pretty boring. But the gardens as a whole were lovely.
I then walked back to campus, because I didn't want to chance getting lost and everyone was where I left them. I grabbed my bag and went home. Hooray for spontaneity and exploring! I haven't done the after class exploring thing in a while. It felt good.
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