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2007年11月26日

I haven't given up on this website, really. Sorry, at this rate I am starting to do only an update a month, aren't I? Well, that still leaves seven more updates, right?

Friday.............
Joshua came over this past weekend, and it was possibly one of the best I have had, yet! He arrived Friday morning so, I confess, I didn't go to classes at all on Friday. We spent most of the day just relaxing and catching up on lost time, but breakfast was special! Pancakes! I haven't had pancakes since I have been here, but I saw a sale of three packs (enough for three sets in each pack) for 500 yen and couldn't resist. Even though the community stove is hard to work with (as is true of all public use kitchens), Joshua perfected them after only 2 or three pancakes. We made way too many, though one benefit of being in a dorm is that all you have to do is leave food on the table with an "Eat me" sign, and it will all be put to use, soon enough...

Friday afternoon/evening we got on a train to Arashiyama, the westernmost area of Kyoto. Arashiyama is one of the most famous areas in Kyoto to go to see the changing seasons, so I thought it would be a nice place to go now that fall has kicked in. I hadn't been there yet, either, even though it's fairly close to where I live. As soon as we got off the train, we were dazzled by how much more traditional and open it seemed. I really loved being able to see the mountains so close, even though by that point the sun was setting and it was harder to see the fall colors. We crossed over a famous bridge, and I loved seeing the river. Even in a pretty city like Kyoto, it's times like these that I realize how rural Knoxville can be, and how much I was raised to love that.

Our goal in Arashiyama was Monkey Park. During the day, you can climb a mountain that is said to be inhabited by at least 170 wild monkeys. At the top, you walk into a cabin and are given food to feed them. However, for about a week every year around this season, at night they light up the path to the top so that the fall colors seem to glow in the night. I had one free ticket from Ritsumeikan to go, and we bought a second one for Josh. Climbing proved more treacherous than strenous, but actually it wasn't so bad. The colors were beautiful, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera so I can't share any pictures. Seeing all of Kyoto from the top of the mountain, at night, was a great experience as well. I finally understand how literally Kyoto is surrounded by mountain ranges (except for the south end).

To end the day, we went back to a steak restaurant as a treat to both of us. Joshua had been talking about this new sake he found that tasted more fruity than alcoholic, and how much he loved it, which brought to mind my own experiences about three years ago when I tasted something called 'apricot sake' and fell in love with it. We wondered if the two experiences were the same...so we went on a hunt to find whatever it was that he had. Mind you, I am notorious for hating the taste of alcohol, but otherwise liking the different flavors of drinks. I've been a little frustrated for awhile that I can't find at least one drink I like, if for no other reason than celebratory purposes.

We found the umeshu (yes, it really was the apricot/plum sake I had remembered) in a local grocery store and brought a carton back home with us. At first, I had no argument with the fruity half of the taste, but the alcohol was still a turn-off. However, what made this drink stand apart was that it had none of that nasty alcoholic aftertaste. Friday night, Saturday night, and a few sips out of a shared can on Sunday night have proven that I have finally found an alcoholic drink that I like!!

For all of you that might be worried, disapproving, or outright confused, let me clear a few things up. Firstly, it's anywhere from 4-10% alcoholic (depending on which kind you get) so don't put this in the same category as the sake you see in anime (~_^). Secondly, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, so I am now legal to drink for the rest of my life (considering that when I return to the US I will be 21). Thirdly, I already know where my limit is, and I intend to never get drunk.

That being said...if umeshu/Apricot sake is sold anywhere near you, give it a try! It's really good! (^_^)

Oh and, fun trivia................. Sake cans in Japan have two messages written on either side of the top:  O-sake desu [This is sake], and....a braille translation. Maybe it's immature of me to laugh, but having braille on a sake can (but not necessarily any others) seems a little bit amusing to me. Japan is surprisingly thoughtful with concern to the blind, at least in comparison to home.

Saturday...............
Saturday we got up early and departed for my ceramics class. It was a free day to make anything you like. I'm glad that Josh has background in ceramics, because it helped him from being too bored and gave him a lot to talk about with my teachers. He even got a mini tour of the studio that even I haven't experienced! Also, when I got to a point that I just couldn't get much more out of my pot (it had no real purpose), I asked Josh to make it prettier.......and got to sit back and watch him turn it into something amazing. I can't wait for >that< piece to get fired.

After ceramics, we walked over to Kiyomizu-tera. This is a temple known for its view of Kyoto. Come to find out, I have been here with Panasonic, too! This temple was the infamous location of my "caught in a thunderstorm on the mountain" story, for those of you who have heard it. It was eery and yet very exciting to trace my steps right down to the same bushes. Today was a sunny day, though, and I saw more of the temple than I had that time.

After Kiyomizu, and a little looking into some touristy shops, we headed back home, had a donburi at Sukiya, and relaxed the rest of the night. Ceramics takes a huge chunk out of my day!

Sunday...............
Sunday was by far the busiest. After Bible study we left for a huge flea market that happens every 25th of the month in Kyoto. It was huge and amazing. There were so many things to look at (and so many things to eat!!). It seems at every turn, we were finding more things that Josh and I have the same taste in. We turned more than a few heads, as well. An American couple stands out rather well in Japan. One woman said we looked straight out of a movie. Another comment focused on how we both had surprising blue eyes. I was flattered, but also very happy to hear some comments focused on us as a couple rather than just me.

This market is notorious as the best place to get kimono for cheaper than the market price. Kyoto is known for its kimono, so they tend to be particularly expensive here. However, at the market, you can easily buy them for 100 dollars or less (roughly) at the expense of them being, of course, used. Sometimes that's a large cut, when there is a huge stain on the sleeve or someone has had it hemmed incredibly short. Other times, there is little to no damage done at all. Joshua and I ended up on a mission to find an attractive (but not too expensive) kimono for me.

Well, we found one! A beautiful salmon/gold colored kimono. Very subtle, so to make it more eye catching we went with a bold green obi with some of the gold and silver brushed into it. The rope for the obi was also greens and golds. Finally, I found a pair of shoes that roughly matched and were my favorite wooden kind. I always wear those to death. All of this, total, amounted to about 10,000 yen. Not bad!!

Next month on Christmas we will try to dress Joshua up, next (~.^)

2007年10月22日

Oh my goodness, updates! It's only been roughly a month, ehehe....(^_^;)
So...where to begin? Classes have been going fairly steady now, but I still don't quite feel 'in the groove.' Maybe that's because almost every day still has something unique; I like that. The days that go 'normally' tend to be my most depressing ones, because who wants to do the 'norm' when living in a new and exciting country?
As for highlights since I last updated, Josh visited me here in Kyoto about a week ago. That has to have been one of my best weekends in a long time. Many couples struggle through long distance relationships, but I think our biggest struggle is simply missing one another dearly. Otherwise, it has only made us more serious (if that's even possible) about our commitment to one another. Please feel free to visit his site to view some pictures from our weekend. I will probably pick a few from what we took to add to mine as well. I might make a more detailed journal on what all we did later on; I don't know yet.

This past weekend went more normally. However, on Friday night I was invited for my first time to Karaoke with two new friends! I was very surprised and happy. It was an enjoyable, alcohol-free night in a room that is bigger than my bedroom! We were all very stunned at the size; it was atypical of most karaoke rooms. I say atypical not just because of the size, but also because it was complete with a couch, raised platform, large flat screen TV, wall mirror, and all furniture decked in leopard print. Simply put, it was the 'pimp' karaoke room, haha. (See cell phone image below.....)

Saturday went normally, with ceramics class and such. I spent a lot of my evening trying to fix my computer which was acting up on multiple levels, and went to bed too late. Therefore, I didn't go to church like I wanted to try to do on Sunday. Instead, I got some much needed rest (Sunday morning included some of the darkest sleep circles I have seen on my face yet!) and did all of my homework.

Monday started up the 'unique' trend once again. I made it up the last hill to school on my bike without slowing down a whole lot (hurray!). I met up with friends before class, and found out that they were all going to skip classes in favor of the once-a-year Jidai Matsuri/Festival here in Kyoto. Jidai means 'ages' basically, so it is a Festival of the Ages. It's a parade that takes you step by step back in time, showing the traditional garb of women, peasants, nobles, and war figures of each era in Japan. I really wanted to go too, and I know my teacher had already sympathized that she could understand if we skipped...so on impulse I hopped back on my bike and we rode to the other side of Kyoto to wait for the end of the festival! Of course, since I hadn't intended on going, I didn't have my camera, ahhgh!! Worse yet, my cell phone was running on it's last bar of battery, but somehow it stayed alive for the entire two hour parade. We even got front-row standing space. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and have painstakingly emailed the best of my keitai (cell) pictures into a compilation. Sorry for the bad quality; not only is it a cell phone but I was also shooting into the light which tended to further strip the images of detail and contrast. Later, I am hoping to ask to borrow some images from my friends who were with me with real cameras, so you can get a far better idea about how neat it looked.
Oh and by the way, the matsuri had lots of horses (and one bull, haha)! Yay! It was fantastic to see horses up close again...as one might imagine, they are not really a common site in Japan.

Okay, well, I hope this update was enjoyable! I will put a little more effort into the next update, I promise. (I'm on my way to bed so I apologize if this one feels rushed.)