On to the fun stuff! The other day we went out with our friends Kouki and Seung-kyu and went to Arashiyama, a beautiful place with lots of interesting historical sites. We visited some shrines, the bamboo forest, and saw the famous dragon painting in the hall of Tenryuji temple. Later, our friends Takashi and Pura joined us in Kawaramachi, a well known Kyoto shopping district, where we shopped and went to the famous Nishiki market. Finally we ended the night with dinner at a yakitori restaurant. It was our first experience of Japanese social culture in regards to dinner with friends and it was lots of fun and a good time was had by all.
After all that I was basically exhausted the whole next day. I didn't really think that anything we are doing is particularly strenuous, but somehow I managed to nap yesterday for 5 hours and sleep another 6. I guess it takes far more effort for my brain to continuously process Japanese, let alone all that walking! We did manage to go out yo a bookstore and a DVD rental shop. I bought the first part of the Hunger Games in Japanese we'll see if I can manage to get through it in six months. At the video store (which really rents all media including manga) we borrowed some manga and a movie, in the name of studying of course ;-). I would tell you how the movie was but I ended up sleeping through pretty much all of it.
Today was pretty good. It rained basically all day so we couldn't really go out anywhere fun, but we did have a Japanese warm up class for about five hours. Ryan and I were put in the more advanced class I guess and the other 16 or so students in it were from China. Needless to say their kanji knowledge is superior. But it was OK, we will see what the real classes are like Friday! With the free time today I managed to cook some soup for us and make a beef vegetable dish for later in the week. I have to say I REALLY miss having a counter top, full size kitchen and a sink my height :P! Well that's all for now folks! <3
I guess we really take things for granted until we lose them! John and I lived without counter tops in our house for nearly 10 years (believe it or not) I'm sure Ryan doesn;t even remember before we remodeled our kitchen. We had purchased a portable 7 ft banquet table to set our counter appliances on.
ReplyDeleteThe experience will make you appreciate these conveniences when you return =)
Have a great first day of classes! Miss you both and love you lots!