Kyoto: Day 2

Day two was a day full of thought, that is to say i walked along the "Path of Philosophy," (above photo) and ducked into a few temples along the way. This path is on the eastern side of Kyoto and starts with Ginkakujin (silver pavilion) and goes down to Nanzenji, one of my favorite places in Kyoto. The path is a nice walk and has nice scenery; however with a name like "Path of philosophy" you would expect a more naturistic (is that a word?) path. Don't get me wrong, it is really nice walk and you are next to a stream, but to be honest the real nice part about it is all the temples and shrines along the way.

I actually didn't start at the very top but instead started with the next place down, the Honen shrine. it kind of small (compared to some of the more famous places) but just as if not more beautiful than a lot of places I have seen. check it out for yourself.




next i had a really interesting an cool experience, I go to see a normal Japanese person transformed into a maiko (similar to geisha but don't ask me what the differences are, but if you know, please comment about it). I was in Kyoto from the 18h-23rd and actually one of my friends was also in Kyoto from the 18th-20th. She had told me that she was going to do this and I asked if it was ok to go and take photos and she said it was ok. overall it was really amazing and interesting to see all the preparation and technique and the final product. also it seems almost impossible (coming from a guys point of view anyway) not to mess up the make up after it is all said and done with. afterwards we had about 15 minutes where we could walk around and take some photos, but anyway check out the photos.

Before....






After....






as always, check out the gallery for more photos.

Kyoto: Day 1

So Saturday I finally got to Kyoto, checked into my hostel and headed out to Saihou Temple (Moss Garden Temple). I had to make reservations in advance and pay 3000 yen (about 28 bucks) to get in. It was pretty amazing and I think it was worth the entry fee but I am not sure I would pay to go again. The place really is beautiful, but for 3000 yen and you can only stay one and half hours, so.... instead of you going, how bout you all just look at my photos and pay me 10 bucks?






After that, I went to a place called Mushi Dera (literally "insect temple"). Apparently here is one of the few places that bell crickets can live all year long. Why??? No idea, my Japanese isn't that good yet. Sorry! Really it wasn't that big of a place and the main reason why it is famous is that you can buy a charm and apparently the kami sama (the god) of this temple will grant you whatever wish you make....right........ anyway, I enjoyed seeing the place and when I talk about my trip and mention this place, everyone knows it and they are very surprised that I went there bc it is not famous with gaijin (foreigners).

that night I went to Kiyomizudera (healing water temple) for their "light up" show. This is what they call it when they shine lights on the fall leaves and temple. I had been here before in the summer and during the day, so it was nice to see it differently. check out the photos:




as always, check out the gallery for more photos.

Kyoto: Night 1 (Osaka)

Actually I flew into the Kansai region (just like saying the southeast or northeast region or something) on Friday night and stayed in Osaka bc all the hotels in Kyoto were sold out. I didn't get to see much of Osaka, but it kind of feels like Tokyo in the sense of it is a huge city that is just jammed with people and enormous buildings. Here are some photos:


I am not sure why but this clown is pretty famous.



the buildings on the upper left. which you can also see in the water also are famous as well. again I am not really sure of the significance. I think they have just become a symbol of Osaka. Here is a better photo of just the buildings:



So really the only other thing I did was go on this "ferris wheel" type ride. it really wasn't as cool as I thought it would be, but I bet it is really nice at sunset or sunrise.

Kyoto!!!

Ok, I have finally finished going through my 1785 photos of Kyoto! I'm not going to lie, if you haven't checked out my photos in a while and only have time for a few, hit up one of the four Kyoto galleries here. This was the third time I have been there, but the other two times were in the summer, so as you can imagine, things were drastically different this time. I can't wait to there in the winter with my sister and then I just have to go during cherry blossom season and all my coworkers will insist I am more "Japanese" than them for going to Kyoto once in each of the four seasons (some of them have already said that to me....)



anyway, I had to break Kyoto up into four days on my gallery site, so I will do the same here; however, after going through all those photos I am just not up to it right now.... So I am just going to have to leave you with some photos and the link above to see more. Expect more soon....

6 days, 5 nights and 1785 photos later...

I am back from my wonderful (but exhausting) trip to Kyoto. This was the third time I have been to Kyoto (and looks like there will be a 4th when my sister comes to visit in December...YAY!) and it was as beautiful and amazing as ever with the wonderful colors of the autumn season. Unlike my recent trips, the weather reminded me of Miami with Carolina Blue skies almost all day (Yes I know that it is ironic that Carolina Blue skies remind me of Miami, but what can I say...).Photos will be up as soon as I have the energy/time to look through them all....

School's Out

Not really, but that is the name of this 2003 commercial that just happens to be one of my favorite. You may remember it from the movies bc it was only played in movie theatres. Anyway, somebody sent this link to me and I have talked about it with some of you before and most of you had never seen it and thought I was a little crazy by the way I described it. Anyway, if you got some free time and can turn the sound on, check it out.

Bagjuice--This one is for you!

oh and btw, the answer is yes, my students are just like this.

Oh BTW, I am still a teacher...

So it has come to my attention, (mainly bc about 10-15 people have asked me recently) I haven't really posted about work here in a LONG time. I mean, it is great that I have been having a lot of fun and traveling and taking some photos, but how is teaching going???

All in all it is going great. In the past few months I have become very comfortable teaching and for the most part my students have really warmed up to me (there is one boys class that I think would rather eat nails than study English, but other than that....). Even some of the older students at the boys school, despite most of them not going to college and feeling they have no use for English, have at least become attentive in class and actually try.....sometimes. :-) I am still going to basketball practice, usually at least 2 days a week, and have started to make some really good connections there. I went to a couple of practices that the coach couldn't make it to, so that atmosphere was a little more relaxed than normal so that really helped. I have taught them some basic things, but it is a little hard since my Japanese (basketball) vocab is a pretty low! With the use of examples, body language and a few basic Japanese words like, "good, bad, best..." I can actually teach them some important things. There is a new professional basketball league in Japan and Sendai has a team, so I am trying to arrange something where we can go together.



At the girls school things are going really well. Some of my friends teaching here have told me stories about how their girl students (and sometimes boy students) spend all class looking into a mirror, doing their hair or makeup (boys don't do this one...) but I really haven't had any trouble with that yet. There is one girl that sometimes will have her mirror out looking at herself and doing her hair, but at the same time she still pays attention and is almost always volunteering to answer questions, so I just let it go the few times she does it. Also there were a few girls that really talked a lot in class who are in the dance club. One weekend there was this huge dance performance (hip hop, modern and jazz) with schools from all over the area. The girls from my school saw that I attended and every since then they have been a lot better in class. Below is just a photo a took from the roof of the girls school one day.



I know teaching is like parenting and I am not suppose to have favorites (even tho I was my parents favorite!!! :-)... JK Jenn!) but I feel like it is impossible not to like some students more than others. I think I just have to be careful about making sure I give everyone equal attention. Anyway, I do have about two students at each school that are just great people and really interested in me and want to learn English. A few of them often come to me just to talk despite their English not being so great, but they try really hard to talk to me so it is really great.


So what exactly have I been teaching?? Well I tend to do about 1 lesson plan a week (so the same lesson plan for every class) but sometimes a different lesson plan for each school. So far some of my lesson plans have been about: body parts, body language, how are you feeling (like having a headache, etc.), Halloween, telephone conversations and at a restaurant. I feel like they are learning some, but since I only have class with them once a week, unless the Japanese teachers review what we did or the students review by themselves, I not sure how much they are really learning....

ok sorry that was a little long, but I hope I answered some questions for you. If you have more ket me know!

Japanese make the best signs...part II

So EVERYONE in Japan smokes. OK, not everyone but a lot higher percent than the US. So to try to lower the amount of smokers there have been theses series of printed ads (usually on the trains); however, it should be noted that instead of using the reason to stop that it is bad for YOUR health, somebody thought it would be more persuasive to show how inconsiderate it is to others (difference btwn US and Japan). Anyway, here are some more that I found amusing...





all of these were taken from http://www.jti.co.jp/JTI/Welcome.html

Awesome wkd Part IV: Great Friends

The best part of the weekend was being in good company. I was able to meet up with some friends that I played basketball with last year at Sophia U and went out to dinner, played some billards and ate some delicious ramen.




Also I went to a wedding party that was a lot of fun and got to meet some great people. It was just a lot of fun being with such good friends (although it does make me miss my miami and NC friends even more...). I am happy in Shiogama, but I REALLY wish I could just move it right next to Tokyo.

Awesome wkd Part III: Things are still just cooler here...

so remember how I was saying that things are just cooler here? well once again I have a great example. There is this store called Yodobashi Camera which can be compared to that of Best Buy in the US. Imagine a regular sized Best Buy in the states. OK now add another floor of the same size. OK, now ad FIVE MORE floors of the same size. That is about the size of the new Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara (the electronic, game and anime district of Tokyo), that has EVERY type of cool electronic gadget you can think of. In it's first month of operation 3.5 million customers were served (that means 3.5 million people bought stuff there, who knows how many people just went in and looked around like me). what a great place....

also I went to this Hawaiian Hamburger place called Kua Aina that I went to last year with some U of Sophia friends. They serve 1/2 and 1/3 lbs mouthwatering burgers that would be delicious even if I was in the states...... but especially after I have been in Japan for a while... If only I could get my hands on a military ID and go to Taco Bell!!

Awesome wkd Part II: Xbox360 Cafe

Another part of my great weekend was going to the Xbox360 Cafe. The Xbox360 is Microsoft's new video game system that is being released this month in the states and in December here in Japan. While, I am not going to get one and I don't really like the Xbox (Im waiting for Sony's new PS3) it was still cool to see/play it before it is released. Available for playing was a wrestling game, ridge racer 6 (race car game and most impressive of the games), some action role-playing game and some weird Japanese game that I had no idea what was going on and it will only be sold in Japan. For those of you who care (all 3 of you) the graphics are really amazing and the controller was pretty comfortable.... Still the games and the system won't be able to take on Sony... Anyway here are some photos.



The coolest part about the Xbox360 is the interchangeable face plates....

Awesome weekend part I

Ok so besides all the good sports stuff this weekend, there were other things that made for an excellent weekend. For starters, I had a 4 day weekend bc of holidays. So I decided to go to Mt. Fuji/Tokyo.

Going to Mt. Fuji (or Fujisan as we say in Japanese) was really cool. It was too cold to actually climb Japan's tallest mountain (the climbing season ends in Aug) but the surrounding area is beautiful.

I went at a great time since it is fall and all the leaves are changing colors. The weather wasn't great and it was a little cloudy, but I guess that is just the theme of my traveling in Japan for this year...hopefully it will change in 2006 :-). Also, I guess it doesn't help that I keep going up into the mountains which are cloud prone. Anyway, here is Fujisan:



And here is one of the 5 (famous) lakes in the area:



Also I got a chance to go back to this really cool kimono museum that is great not only bc of the beautiful and unique kimonos but whoever designed this place did a wonderful job with the building and even better with the landscaping. check out the pics:





As always...more photos here.

Good year in sports....

Since the UNC Tarheels won the NCAA Championship I have been pretty happy with the sports fan aspect of my life. Even tho I do not like baseball so much, the White Sox are my favorite baseball team (bc Bo Jackson use to play for them) so once again I was happy. now things are looking better for "The U" aka University of Miami Hurricanes. So apparently nobody thoguht Miami would beat VT on saturday... let alone CRUSH them! Anyway things are looking a lot better for the Canes right about now, especially since FSU lost to NC State! Also UNC beat BC, Carolina Panthers won and the Caroina Hurricanes keep on winning...if the Hurricanes (miami) win the BCS somehow, I might just have to put all my money on the Panthers to win the Superbowl (just kidding dad........ kind of :-)....... no really, i am kidding dont worry) :-)