Pictures!

So, lessee, what exciting things happened today?

It's been raining steadily all day, which has made me a happy squid (I love the rain), but it's also been めちゃくちゃ蒸し暑い (crazy humid and hot) all day, which has made me a very, very sad squid.

After class and conversation practice and many, many hours of homework, I went with two of my classmates and the residential director to get cake. Why? Because we could. Anyway, the cake was surprisingly good, but the menu was even better. According to the menu, their quiche crusts "should, by all indication, melt in your mouth."

Then I went home and did homework and had dinner which was pretty much swoon inducing. Basically, my host mom put a giant grill in the middle of the table, and she had a bunch of cut up meat and vegetables, and we all cooked them on the grill AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS. Seriously, I think it was the best meal I've had since I got here. And then I surprised my host parents by liking something that looked suspiciously like squid, but they said was "kai" (which translates to "shellfish," so that doesn't really narrow it down a whole lot). They kept saying, "If you don't like it, you don't have to finish it," and I kept telling them, "No, it's really good! Really!" I am still convinced that they're trying to find something I won't eat.

Then, after dinner, we played Uno again (and we even got the older brother to play too) and I thoroughly trounced everyone. Also, I taught my host brother and host father how to shuffle. Cultural exchange, whoo!

Then I went and read about how Japanese people have a "female type" identity while Westerners have a "male type" identity. We're discussing this article in class tomorrow. I have a feeling that (if I can manage to get my words to come out correctly) I'm going to have a fair amount to say about this one. (Unlike the last article which was about animals' perceptions of time. I think it almost beat 「神の手・人の手」in the gratuitously weird department.)

Also! Thanks to my lovely classmate, Hu-san, I now have pictures to show you guys! Yay! You might want to note that I am the least photogenic person on the face of the earth, though, 'cause whenever people take pictures of me, I wind up looking like this.

Well, now you've been warned. Proceed with caution.

Looking all snazzy to meet with the representatives from the State Department...

Here we are on the bus to the airport...at about 3:30 a.m.

Okay, now skip ahead past all the terrible jet-lag to JAPAN! YAY! (There are terrible jet-lag pictures, but I'm not gonna subject you guys to them.)

This is the river near my homestay. The stepping stones are shaped like turtles. How cool is that?

When you visit a shrine, you should wash your hands (and mouth) first. (Usually the sign will say if the water's not safe for drinking.) Sometimes you use incense to purify yourself instead. (I've only been to one place that had that, and it was Nanzenji (see below). I purified myself and then proceeded to have a fit of intense coughing. I prefer the water, personally.)

Fushimi Inari Taisha! Pretty awesome shrine, if I do say so myself.

I made it to the top, you guys! And I only had to use my inhaler once.

This was a little bit odd. At one of the shrines at the top of the hill, a bunch of people had stuck their business cards in this hanging mat. And then someone else had stuck a coupon for Mario Kart in there. (Of course, the grad students were all carrying business cards with them, so they stuck theirs in there too.)

We're on a train, guys! A train back from Fushimi Inari!

This was the relatively inedible meat-oil thing I had on Friday night. It looked like meat, but didn't taste like it at all.

...I don't even know. He was really hungry?

"Guys, do you have any idea where the heck we're supposed to be going?"

"I am too fixated on my bus fare to worry about measly directions."

And now we are onto Saturday and our trip down the Philosopher's Path!

Oh, man, it was so hard to pick which pictures of Ginkakuji I wanted to show off. (And, yeah, Opal, it is the one founded by Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Sucky shogun, but he had a nice summer home, eh?) So, here, have a bunch of them. It was gorgeous! (See what I mean about the moss? Well, I guess you can't see a lot of it in these pictures. But it is THERE.)

Hey, look, a random shrine in the middle of a Buddhist temple complex! Wait, what?

Hon'en'in was the second temple we visited on Saturday. It was the smallest of the four, so I don't have many pictures of it to show off. Sorry. Here, have part of the (kind of dirty-looking) koi pond.

ENGRISH. YES, PREASE.

Eikanji, the third temple we visited, was built into the side of a hill, and included this awesome staircase which followed the contours of the landscape. Unfortunately, because of its odd shape, it was fairly terrifying for some people to climb up...and even worse to climb down. I saw a Japanese woman trying to get down while clutching the railing for dear life, going down one step at a time. (I had no problem with it, but then again, I like heights a little bit too much.)

Here's the view from the top of the pagoda at Eikanji. Needless to say, it took a lot of people whining that they were tired and hot to get me to come back down.

The gardens were absolutely gorgeous as well!

This was the aqueduct at Nanzenji, the last temple we visited on Saturday. We all lined up in the arches to take the picture.

And here's another picture.

YAY!

I'm gonna go to bed now. おやすみなさい！

Edit: URG, Blogger is cutting off the edges of some pictures. I...don't really know how to fix it, and I'm too tired to mess with it right now. Sorry!