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February 01, 2005

Kyoto

We spent so many hours just wandering around the streets and taking any turn that looked interesting. I tried to plan things for us to do, but Kyoto is just packed with sights, temples and shrines. On one hand you can get lost in the piles of things to do, and on the other you can just wander and know you’ll come across something interesting.

We stayed in the tiniest hostel I have ever seen, which made up for its size with really friendly people. Ben tried to learn to ride a bike for me. And he did really well. So now that he’s going to shot me for letting that cat out of the bag I’d like to add that he can now officially ride a bike, just not at a speed that makes it more efficient then just say..walking :P

I even had a chance to show off my Japanese in front of my guy when a shopkeeper asked a few questions that I understood and an hour long conversation ensued. She made us tea, taught us about some of the sweets in her shop (including some lovely samples…) and even threw in a mini Japanese lesson when I told her I thought the multiple meanings of so many words made Japanese interesting, rain and candy are the same word, so is cloud and spider, and chopsticks, bridge and edge. Of course there is some inflection that makes them different and the kanji is probably nowhere near similar, but that’s abit above my level right now.

Our last day in Kyoto was probably the best one as we got royal treatment from Ben’s Japanese coworker. This man and his girlfriend met us in the city, took us to a tofu restaurant for lunch, a shrine for intelligence, a bakery where we took a class on making a traditional Kyoto desert called Kyogashi, the most famous temple in Kyoto at the end of the main street in Gion, and then treated us to dinner in Osaka. All the while getting to talk to them was possibly the most interesting part as they both were stunning people.

Kyoto was amazing. (I'll put captions up later, it's been a crazy few weeks because I've been in the process of changing schools!)

This one goes out to a certain boy named John Witten (use asked, I delivered!). Though I can’t guarantee that they are used underwear…eww.

Posted by theinfonaut at 06:36 AM | Comments (2)

February 04, 2005

where am i?

Monday was my last day at Tanbara Nishi (west) middle school. I was much more sad than I thought I would be. At the end of last week and on Monday I kept getting little gifts from my students. They left me notes and little toys and my two favorites performed a mini concert. These two girls are truly amazing. One of them sings, and dances, and is an excellent student to boot. They other one plays the drums and has the greatest sense of humor. They both play the guitar and also some traditional Japanese instruments like the Koto. I made them little origami flower bouquets to throw at the end of their show. They showed me how to play the koto and then I bid them farewell.
My new school is Tanbara Higashi (east) middle school, and it’s massive in comparison to Nishi (400 students compared to 88). I had a full day of work today despite it being my first day. All was well though, and then I left to go to an elementary school. The elementary school was absolutely freezing, and it’s been snowing on and off all day. Despite the snow outside the schools are unheated!

It’s difficult to see, but there are snow flurries blowing into this exposed hallway. Those kids are making a mad dash for the bathroom.

Posted by theinfonaut at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2005

It's the halfway mark

My camera has been out of commission for the past few weeks while I was waiting to get a replacement lens cap (I dropped the last one between the crack while getting on a train to Osaka). Hence I’m going to post some older shots. This works nicely though. I’ve decided not re-contract and signed the papers two weeks ago. So I'll be a free agent on July 25th. The people I work for have spent this past week trying to convince me stay another year, but I feel like I’m making the right choice, I’m itching to get back into design! In the meantime I’d like to find a job in Japan, but I'm not crossing my fingers on that one. It’s strange though, the things that are most important to me are back in the states, but one year just doesn't feel like enough time here. Either way as long as I’m back in my field of choice I’ll be a happy camper! None-the-less I’ve hit the half way mark and it’s fun to look back on the past 6 months!



These country kids are awesome. Besides all the crazy acrobatics I’ve seen a whole bunch of them also have some wicked dance moves.

This woman gave me a thorough introduction into all the strange sounds that exist in the Japanese language, and she never laughed, she cackled or snickered, not exactly my first pick for desk neighbor. And standing is Kyoto-sensei (that means Vice Principle) I really liked like this guy, he had a great sense of humor and once a month or so he treated to me to lunch at a local coffee shop. He’s speaks almost no English so it was always a great chance to practice my Japanese.

At a Christmas party held by a local internationalization group this man talked to us about origami.

This woman danced the crain dance for us.

Ah, god ol’ Duncan playing his guitar, and rather well! All of the guests at the party had to prepare something to share. I read the “Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore (all that work for forensics back in high school has amounted to that, how amusing). Speaking of amusing; it’s nice to go to these internationalization parties, but it can also feel like being an amusement piece. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been expected to act like an entertainer! This place is always interesting.

At a market the chef’s room was surrounded by glass, so a few friends and I watched this man prepare some tuna sushi. My mouth was watering.

In the subways many of the staircases are labeled in brail.

This is Ai. She JUST moved to America and will be starting school, somewhere…in the fall! This picture is from outside the science museum in Osaka.

This is Calem. He was an exchange student, but he finished up in December. There were three English speakers on my taiko team but after Calem left and Alisdar abruptly left to go home now there is only me. I’m sad that they are gone, but now I’m using my Japanese more and more, so it all works out.

Posted by theinfonaut at 02:44 PM | Comments (1)