Kyoto!

[Click here for video of Kyoto]
[Click here for more pictures]

Hi everyone! Today we had some more exciting meetings concerning safety and the like in the library again. I was finally scared out of getting a bike due to the numerous dangers about and the fact that I just learned how to ride one last year. Being a little wobbly and the like won't be too fun. Other topics included were Gaijin cards, earthquakes, and not drinking beer from the vending machines in the park and being noisy or looking like scary Gaijin all standing around and drinking... sadly that last one goes ignored. So many people here just don't know how to act. I'm definitely not saying I do, but I at least try to be more considerate and consious of my own actions.

At around 14:00 we lined up outside the CEI for the Kyoto tour, Gaijin on one side and Japanese on the other, and people met in the middle and took off. I ended up going with Joe, and this guy from Maryland named Justin who studied for about a year and a half and his speaking is better than mine, seemingly. I was impressed. We were paired up with two Japanese girls, Eriko and Sayuri. Eriko was only 18 and Sayuri 19, which was funny compared to our ages of 20, 21, and 24. We walked awhile to a station none of us have been to yet and took the train to some station in Kyoto, where we met one of their friends, Miho, who was also studying English, and French. She wants to move to Canada, haha. He english was great, and the other girls weren't bad at all for being second semester students. Justin and I mostly talked with them in Japanese, switching in and out so they can speak in English too, that's kind of how it works.

We took some bus to another part of the city, which I hope I can figure out again on my own, and walked for a bit. Our first stop was Kiyomizu-dera, one of the oldest Buddhist temples which belonged to the Tendai sect before the omiyage sect took over recently. Needless to say it was gorgeous. There were plenty of charms for sale, such as "lucky money" and "airplane safety" and "bike safety". There were intersting ones for lovers as well. Speaking of lovers there were two stones apart at one spot and if you walk from one to the other blind-folded, you'll be set for love, but if you mess up you are doomed! It could not be attempted due to the crowds though.

There were pools of water to drink form and to cleanse your hands with. The three main ones were for wisdom, health, and longevity. I think longevity cost 100 yen to drink from, so I stuck with wisdom and health.

We then walked back down the path lined with all kinds of interesting shops that I want to explore for gifts and the like when I return. Our next stop was Asakusa Shrine which was built in 1649 under Tokugawa. The story behind it goes something like: two fishermen caught a Buddhist statue and a rich man in town hears about it comes and lectures the fishermen on Kannon (the type of statue they found) and they impassionately convert and make a small temple to it and worshiped it daily.

We then found some park that we looked about, and then made our way to the main-drag, whatever the name of it was, and looked for somewhere to eat. We picked a noodle and ricebowl place with moderate prices. I got Kitsune Donburi which is Fox Ricebowl, and fox is some kind of style of noodle / ricebowl in what goes in it and so on. I think the main ingredient was fried tofu. It was only 800 yen and it was delicious. I think it's my favorite donburi now.

We then took the train back to Hirakata Station and Justin asked the girls where he could buy a pillow, detergent, and sheets, so they took him all around town until it was all found. They spent about 15 minutes in the bedding section in one department store, Justin felt so bad (and did Joe and I) that they had to stay out much later doing this for him. They were all really kind to us while they volunteered to show us around. They said they had fun though. I hope they did. They waited with us at the bus stop to Gaidai and I tried to tell them that they didn't have to wait for us and that they could go home since it's late, and it worked on the second attempt. They would have waited for us, but we felt bad keeping them up. I don't think we came across as rude, we thanked them quite a bit and told them how much fun we had.

Justin also got a number from Sayuri and flirted through texts, so we'll see where that goes, haha. He also is renting an old Japanese house, which is pretty cool, although old houses (especially here) can be rough. No internet either! But having your own floor brazer and Japanese style rooms must be pretty cool. And it's only 30,000 yen a month he said, surprisingly...

Anyway, I may have pictures up later. Check back for those. I hope the video works okay, but YouTube butchered the quality. I'll try to make more cohesive videos in the future, it might be a good idea.