I apologize for the break in blogging: we have had the busiest week yet and my blogging fell to the wayside. Here is a taste of what we've been up to. I apologize for the lack of detail, but so much has happened! I will add details about certain parts in further blogs. Please let me know if you'd like to hear more about any particular event.
Mon Nov 30: Moving day! By taxi we moved from our little temporary apartment to an international house much closer to Kyoto University. All in all the move was very smooth and we are happy in our new place. (More details to come about that.)
Tues Dec 1: I ran around trying to get us settled (i.e. I had to figure out where to buy towels, groceries, etc.). In the afternoon, I met Kino-san (Mr. Kino), my new (and first!) English language student. It turns out that he wants me to help edit his grammar for science journal articles, and we'll meet weekly starting mid-Dec. From there, I joined Jim to visit Kiyomizudera temple. This magnificent temple is open at night for a short time and lit up to show the beauty of lights on the fall colors.
Wed Dec 2: Japanese class day from 8:45a-2:30p. From 3-5p I began my babysitting job for Claudia, a darling 18 month old of an American couple we've met here. Directly after, I met Jim and Satoko and Maiko (from Jim's lab) for a trip to the Noh theatre. It turns out Noh is a very ancient form of Japanese theatre with language that is so archaic even native Japanese speakers have a difficult time understanding it. The costumes were beautiful, but Noh is, well, quite slow, so after sitting for 2.5 hours I was relieved when it ended. (Not to mention I had been running around non-stop all day and hadn't had dinner yet, so I was sleepy and hungry: not a great combination for watching a slow art form. I admit I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only one struggling to stay awake in the theatre as heads bobbed all around me...) ;)
Thurs Dec 3: I met with a man who runs a small school that has students who need a native English speaking teacher for private English lessons. I think he was surprised when I turned down the opportunity to tutor on Saturday afternoons (since it would take me several hours to travel and would therefore eat up all my Saturdays) but I did agree to teach a student one weekday afternoon per week. In the afternoon I babysat for Claudia again. Immediately afterwards, I met Jim and some of his lab-mates to take a bus to our welcome party. Jim's lab organized this party for us and the whole lab (except his main professor) turned out. It was quite an event! More on this to follow...
Fri Dec 4: In the afternoon, I met Emi, a recent graduate of Doshisha Women's College in Kyoto who spent last year studying at my alma mater, Sweet Briar College. We met at a cute French/Western cafe and had cheesecake (yum!) and afterwards walked around Doshisha. Mai, another Doshisha student who also spent last year at Sweet Briar, and Jim joined us later for dinner and drinks at an izakaya (Japanese pub). I was introduced to Emi and Mai through my former undergrad advisor and friend, Sue Piepho, and I am very grateful for the introduction since Emi and Mai are lovely girls who speak beautiful English. (They are both English literature majors training to be teachers.)
Sat Dec 5: In the morning we met Andy and Rheanna, friends of friends from the US, who are traveling through Japan for two weeks. We joined them for a whirlwind and action-packed day of sight-seeing around Kyoto. They were the first people we've been around who know less Japanese than we do, so suddenly we became the experts, though it was a case of the blind leading the blind. (Or, as Rheanna suggested, the cataracts leading the blind...) :) A rainy morning cleared to a lovely day and we walked along the philosophers path (a gorgeous and quaint area), saw the Silver temple, ate a five course tofu special lunch (which fortunately the restaurant allowed us to split between couples to save money), saw Nanzen-ji temple, saw Kiyomizudera temple again, ate at our new-found favorite inexpensive sushi place and finally visited our first sento (public bath house). Since the sento water is really hot, it was the perfect end to soak our very sore feet (we—slightly regretfully—had walked everywhere instead of taking buses or trains...)
Sun Dec 6: We woke up just in time to head to Jim's lab for a BBQ with some other students. Apparently some students throughout his lab building organize a BBQ every few months. They had small charcoal tubs with grates on the top on which they cooked sweet potatoes, eggplant, peppers, chicken, fish, pork, mussels, mushrooms, etc. It was great to chat with those that speak English (I think they are more free around us after the big party) but eventually a cold wind caused us to head for home. (It hasn't been too cold outside, but for some reason Sunday was frigid.) Later that afternoon, we went to Jeff and Mery's house (which is amazingly just around the corner from our new place) for a Secret Santa name drawing. (A group of us exchanged names and will have a little gift exchange/Christmas party on Christmas day.)
Mon Dec 7: Jim had to work, but I met up with Andy and Rheanna again for more sight-seeing. (There is no end of sights to see in Kyoto. We are so lucky to live here!) We saw part of the Fushimi-Inari-taisha, a 4 kilometer series of torii (big traditional arches), had noodles (udon and soba) for lunch, visited Nishiki market downtown, and met up with Jim for dinner. Dinner was a bit of a misadventure since we went to the little restaurant next to our place and thanks to no English or paper menu, we had some confusion with ordering...ah well. It comes with the territory, I guess.
Today is Tuesday and I can finally catch up with laundry, errands and blogging before babysitting for Claudia tonight.
Tomorrow (Wed) we will leave language class early to travel to Kobe, a city about 90 minutes by train south, to have dinner with Jim's cousin who is in Japan on a business trip. So, the adventures are to be continued...
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Day 6 Japan
Socializing!
Today we were invited to join Nicolas and Francois, the French and French-Canadian researchers we met on Wednesday, along with some of their friends. The plan was to visit a famous Buddhist temple and then go to an izakaya, a Japanese pub.
Our group was a great cultural mix: Nicolas and his girlfriend Nina, from France, Francois and his girlfriend Hiromi, from Quebec (though Hiromi is also Japanese), Jeff from the US and his wife Mery from Singapore, Kuna from Japan, and Jim and I. Fortunately for us, everyone spoke English. (We are very lucky to be native English speakers since it has become the international language between people. Of course, that also means that native English speakers--Brits, Aussies and Kiwis included--often are less fluent in other languages!)
It turns out that Jeff is also working as a science researcher at Kyoto University and has the same fellowship that Jim has. Small world!
We all met near the University and took a bus down to the temple, Sanjusangen-do. According to our guidebook, the temple was originally constructed in 1164 but was completely destroyed by fire in 1249 and rebuilt in 1266. (Still a very long time ago...) It is apparently the longest wooden building in Japan and is so long in fact that archers used to shoot arrows down its corridor. (There is a festival here in January to commemorate the archery, so hopefully we'll get to see arrows flying!) The temple is to honor Kannon, the goddess of mercy, and there are 1001 (!) wooden statues (each maybe 5 feet tall) of her in the building. The statues are all as old as the building—around 750 years old—and I must say that they look pretty good for their age. The statues are painted with gold and to see so many, all in rows positioned on steps, is breathtaking! In the center of all these is a huge statue of Kannon that reminded me of a big Buddha, sitting on a lotus flower. Each statue of Kannon had 40 arms (4 in front, the rest to the sides) and elaborate headpieces. Apparently each arm is able to save 25 worlds, so with 40 arms, 1000 worlds could be saved. Wow, the power.
After feasting our eyes on gold statues, we all made our way to Kyoto Station because Hiromi needed to meet her brother there. Jim and I had not yet seen downtown Kyoto and whoa, was I surprised! Suddenly there were bright lights, big buildings, the huge Kyoto tower and shopping center...I felt like I was in Tokyo. (Yes, those of you who have been to Tokyo are probably amused. I can only imagine how overwhelmed I will be by that city.) We waited in the very modern and sleek mall attached to Kyoto Station (the main rail and subway hub) and ate donuts. Yes, in addition to French bakeries, there is a donut chain called “Mister Donut” which seems to always have a line. The donuts reminded me very much of Dunkin' Donuts, mmm. Once Hiromi was able to meet her brother, we all headed out to our izakaya for dinner and drinks.
The izakaya we went to was downtown on the 5th floor of a building, and I was very glad that we had several Japanese speakers with us since they had to order for us. (To their credit, all of our new friends speak and read at least some Japanese—and everyone in this group knows more than us since we are such new arrivals. I have been impressed that every (non-tourist) foreigner I have come into contact with here has known some Japanese. Of course, it really is a necessity for living here any length of time.) As soon as we entered the izakaya, we all had to remove our shoes and the greeter gave us each a plastic bag to place our shoes in. We had also had to remove our shoes in the temple, so this was the second time we had been walking around in public in our socks. [Word to the wise: when in Japan be sure there are no holes in your socks!! :) ]
The izakaya was really cool since, as a group, we got our own little room surrounded by wood and rice paper walls. The tables were low to the floor, but fortunately underneath the tables was open, so we didn't have to sit on our knees. (Jeff said that you do have to sit on your legs in some izakaya, which gets a little uncomfortable after a while if you are unaccustomed to that position.) Kuna and Hirumi expertly ordered for us a scrumptious selection of tasty plates. Izakaya food is probably the most unhealthy in Japan (much of it is influenced by the West) and is sold as small plates which everyone shares. (Think tapas!) We had fried cheese, omelet-type eggs with soy sauce, fried noodles, terriaki chicken on skewers, egg-tofu, fried shrimp, chicken wings and breaded ice cream balls for dessert. Not bad! For drinks, Mery and I had peach fizzy's (a peach mixed drink), others had beer and sake. We went to relatively inexpensive izakaya and Kuna had a coupon on her phone for this place, so our total bill was pretty comparable to what Jim and I would pay in our dinner club at home. However, many
“going out” meals with people can easily be from 5000 yen ($50) per person on up, so we may not be able to afford to socialize too much. Fortunately our new friends our all limited by small post-doc salaries as well, so we can all budget together. :)
After calling it a night, Jim and I discovered on our way home (on bikes at midnight—so nice that it's so safe here) that our local grocery store was still open. We needed milk, bread, etc, so we popped in and shopped. Surprisingly there were other shoppers—women, young people—as if it wasn't after midnight. We are so amazed by how late everything stays open here!
Today we were invited to join Nicolas and Francois, the French and French-Canadian researchers we met on Wednesday, along with some of their friends. The plan was to visit a famous Buddhist temple and then go to an izakaya, a Japanese pub.
Our group was a great cultural mix: Nicolas and his girlfriend Nina, from France, Francois and his girlfriend Hiromi, from Quebec (though Hiromi is also Japanese), Jeff from the US and his wife Mery from Singapore, Kuna from Japan, and Jim and I. Fortunately for us, everyone spoke English. (We are very lucky to be native English speakers since it has become the international language between people. Of course, that also means that native English speakers--Brits, Aussies and Kiwis included--often are less fluent in other languages!)
It turns out that Jeff is also working as a science researcher at Kyoto University and has the same fellowship that Jim has. Small world!
We all met near the University and took a bus down to the temple, Sanjusangen-do. According to our guidebook, the temple was originally constructed in 1164 but was completely destroyed by fire in 1249 and rebuilt in 1266. (Still a very long time ago...) It is apparently the longest wooden building in Japan and is so long in fact that archers used to shoot arrows down its corridor. (There is a festival here in January to commemorate the archery, so hopefully we'll get to see arrows flying!) The temple is to honor Kannon, the goddess of mercy, and there are 1001 (!) wooden statues (each maybe 5 feet tall) of her in the building. The statues are all as old as the building—around 750 years old—and I must say that they look pretty good for their age. The statues are painted with gold and to see so many, all in rows positioned on steps, is breathtaking! In the center of all these is a huge statue of Kannon that reminded me of a big Buddha, sitting on a lotus flower. Each statue of Kannon had 40 arms (4 in front, the rest to the sides) and elaborate headpieces. Apparently each arm is able to save 25 worlds, so with 40 arms, 1000 worlds could be saved. Wow, the power.
After feasting our eyes on gold statues, we all made our way to Kyoto Station because Hiromi needed to meet her brother there. Jim and I had not yet seen downtown Kyoto and whoa, was I surprised! Suddenly there were bright lights, big buildings, the huge Kyoto tower and shopping center...I felt like I was in Tokyo. (Yes, those of you who have been to Tokyo are probably amused. I can only imagine how overwhelmed I will be by that city.) We waited in the very modern and sleek mall attached to Kyoto Station (the main rail and subway hub) and ate donuts. Yes, in addition to French bakeries, there is a donut chain called “Mister Donut” which seems to always have a line. The donuts reminded me very much of Dunkin' Donuts, mmm. Once Hiromi was able to meet her brother, we all headed out to our izakaya for dinner and drinks.
The izakaya we went to was downtown on the 5th floor of a building, and I was very glad that we had several Japanese speakers with us since they had to order for us. (To their credit, all of our new friends speak and read at least some Japanese—and everyone in this group knows more than us since we are such new arrivals. I have been impressed that every (non-tourist) foreigner I have come into contact with here has known some Japanese. Of course, it really is a necessity for living here any length of time.) As soon as we entered the izakaya, we all had to remove our shoes and the greeter gave us each a plastic bag to place our shoes in. We had also had to remove our shoes in the temple, so this was the second time we had been walking around in public in our socks. [Word to the wise: when in Japan be sure there are no holes in your socks!! :) ]
The izakaya was really cool since, as a group, we got our own little room surrounded by wood and rice paper walls. The tables were low to the floor, but fortunately underneath the tables was open, so we didn't have to sit on our knees. (Jeff said that you do have to sit on your legs in some izakaya, which gets a little uncomfortable after a while if you are unaccustomed to that position.) Kuna and Hirumi expertly ordered for us a scrumptious selection of tasty plates. Izakaya food is probably the most unhealthy in Japan (much of it is influenced by the West) and is sold as small plates which everyone shares. (Think tapas!) We had fried cheese, omelet-type eggs with soy sauce, fried noodles, terriaki chicken on skewers, egg-tofu, fried shrimp, chicken wings and breaded ice cream balls for dessert. Not bad! For drinks, Mery and I had peach fizzy's (a peach mixed drink), others had beer and sake. We went to relatively inexpensive izakaya and Kuna had a coupon on her phone for this place, so our total bill was pretty comparable to what Jim and I would pay in our dinner club at home. However, many
“going out” meals with people can easily be from 5000 yen ($50) per person on up, so we may not be able to afford to socialize too much. Fortunately our new friends our all limited by small post-doc salaries as well, so we can all budget together. :)
After calling it a night, Jim and I discovered on our way home (on bikes at midnight—so nice that it's so safe here) that our local grocery store was still open. We needed milk, bread, etc, so we popped in and shopped. Surprisingly there were other shoppers—women, young people—as if it wasn't after midnight. We are so amazed by how late everything stays open here!
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