Sam in Japan!: May 2008

soooooooooo.... whats new?
the internet cafe has really spiffed itself up.... there are two new computers in a new Lady's Only section (probably because they want to shelter us from all the porn the guy next to us is looking at) AND they have a lunch menu (that i cant read because only the word lunch menu are in english and there are no pictures)... i hope its not more expensive. anyways...
steph steph got in march 31st. on my way to pick her up at the airport i saw the first cherry blossoms in sannomiya by the bus stop, they're beautiful it was pretty awsome i was happy. steph was like the last one off the plane so i was a little worried but it was cool, it was my fault because i forgot that you had to give them the address of where you were staying and i forgot to give her mine so they gave her a hard time but everything turned out all right. i lost the sushi restaurant so we had rice balls from the convenience store for dinner and these mouchis (japenese sweet rice mushed up cakes) with ice cream in them that were pretty good. steph woke me up at like six every morning. i went to work. she did stuff.
the first weekend
we went to kyoto!
we went to kyoto on sunday morning and it was really nice and warm out. kyoto station is really cool. its really new and shiny and stuff and much spiffier than any other station... tokyo is just a big ugly cement block. im sure davids told you all about it cause im pretty sure he loved it. this big temple that is the words biggest wooden structure and is made like a puzzle and there are no nails or anything and it has to be adjusted everyday so it stays together and is really really old is really close to the station so we went there. and there is this really big piece of rope in a glass case and its made out hair that all these devotees of the temple donated to rebuild it after something or other happened to it cause hair ropes are better than regular ropes and they used it to lug the big trees down from the mountain to build the temple. its sooo big and we only got to see the littler one cause the big one was under preservation renovation so it was under this big warehouse looking building but we got to go in some parts of it but not the really big cool looking room. and there's this other outside place thats really pretty too. and then we walked around a bunch in all these little streets for a long time and it was cool and we went to this really pretty street where there were soooo many cherry blossoms and it was sooo pretty and beautiful and wonderful. its defiantly one of the best places in japan. and there was this really little festival outside carnival thing in this really little park that was really cute. so we had some fried noodles but they had all these gross fish flakes on them so we didnt eat them and we got ice cream sandwishes instead with chocolate and strawberries that were much better. and the guy was really nice and took a picture of us. and this japanese lady kept laughing at us for some unknown reason. at some point i cant remember we went to gion which is the Pleasure District which means it is where all the really fancy, expensive tea houses are where the gieshas! and maikos! (the apprentice gieshas) go for the appointments to entertain rich men and i think they live there too. there's this big theatre there where the gieshas do dances too that everyone can go see but i just used the bathroom and there's this other area where there's a temple and a park and an area of houses thats all closed off and im pretty sure thats where the geishas and maikos and head geisha manger people live thats all closed off and you can only peek through big stone gates. and im pretty sure we saw some love hotels where you can have some love. then we walked up this really busy street that had all these red lanterns along it and kept walking for a really long time until we were walking up an big mountian. it was really busy and and there were all these little stores with pottery and unbrellas and fans and kimonos and stuff. my favorite streets are the little ones. thats where all the good stuff is. then when we got near the top off to the side there was this little shrine place and there was this little structure that had all these monkeys that looked like people with their hands and feet tied up and they were all colourful and made of cloth. it was sooo beautiful because they were all tied to this little wooden thing . i think its one of my favorite things in japan. and i talked to this girl that was selling them and spoke a little english and there was an english panphlet and it said that they were monkeys to help your wishes come true and they were buddhist things that help you be good so i bought one and wrote my wish on it and it was red and i hung it with all the other ones and it made me very happy. i also got a string of them to hang at my house but i haven't hung them up yet and some see no evil hear no evil say no evil bells. and i remember grandma having a string of the monkeys at her old house with the dark blue crushed velvet couch with the little light brown and white flowers and also the see no evil monkeys too. when we were there we saw four maiko! at first they were walking up the path and then they came where we were it was pretty cool and everyone was taking pictures of them but i felt kind of bad because it must be weird for them so i only took pictures secretly. a maiko doesnt have the pointy things on the back of their necks filled in with red and their back tail cloth thing is longer or shorter i cant remember and there's something different about the shapes of their lips but i cant remember what. we kept walking up the big mountain and at the top there was a big pagoda and we got to see what kyoto looked like from the top and it was soooo pretty especially with all the cherry blossoms. it was one of my favorite times in japan.
we got a little lost getting back to the station but steph pulled us through and we got the train to Nara. By the time we got to Nara it had been dark for quite a while and it took us a while longer to find our hotel eventually though we got it. we stayed in a ryokan.. this being a typical traditional japanese tatami mat and futon clad room with a 12pm curfew. in order to fill our empty stomachs we followed our concierge through back alleys and around corners to a definitely delicious indian restaurant after which i went down the street to the convenience store and chose a confection of waffle containing vanilla ice cream and chocolate. i thought maybe i remembered how to get home but i guess i was wrong. i probably should have paid more attention on the way there. we were lost. it was looking pretty hopeless. there was a boy and a girl, a couple you could say, behind us and i asked them if they knew how to get to the hotel. the boy spoke english, the girl knew where it was. she couldn't explain so they walked us back. the boy had on striped pants. they were pretty cool. along the way i ate my ice cream. i them proceeded to have an allergic reaction to what i can assume was the ice cream sandwich ( i have the wrapper stuck to my fridge with a big no written on it because aside from the itching it was quite delectable and so otherwise i would possibly attempt to consume it again). it was quite a strange reaction. whereas usually my insides get itchy and swollen ie. my mouth, tongue, throat, tonsils etc. in this case my insides remained as is the norm and my outsides got itchy like nothing else. the top of my head along my hairline and the back of my neck, my eyes and the insides of my ears, my thighs and arms, my neck. it kinda felt like i had bugs all over me and my skin was vibrating. i could breath all right but the inside corner of one eye swelled up and turned red and the inside of another ear felt as if it were going pop and was as hot as fire. so i called mom. i just wanted to know if i should use my epipen or not. because some told me its bad for you if you use it when you don't really need to. also i thought my ear might pop and burst my ear drum or something and i didnt want to go deaf. what ensued can be devised if not already known (that is to say moms reaction who was mad that i didnt have my allergy pills but i think the important thing is at least i had my epipen). what can be said is that i did not (thankfully) use the epipen and just waited it out. steph was very good and was nice and calm and examined me for hives and looked down my throat while talking to mom on the phone. anyways that was that and we went to sleep.
the next day was rainy... so it was a rainy day in nara. we walked to the park where we saw all the deer and fed them (i quite timedly and at first wanted nothing to do with them) wafers. the small one was actually quite nice but the big one butted us with its stubby sawn off antlers whenever we fed the others and not him. we went to a temple and saw the great big wooden statues of fat guardian men at the gates but did not go inside, caught the bus and took the train home.

me and steph having ice cream sandwishes at the very little festival on the very pretty street