| September 24-26, 2004: Going to Nara
See the Pictures! The illustrious Five made a pact to meet over the long weekend. However, when the time came closer, it became impossible for Rachel to go because she had a prior
commitment (A basketball game, if you can believe that). So, the plan was to use the long weekend and spend a few days in Nara. Beth found out that she had a Sumo wrestling tournament to attend in Tokyo on the Thursday, so she would meet us the next day. However, I couldn't get the day off on Friday, so I left after school, putting me into Kyoto rather late. Aaron was already in town visiting friends so he was flexible and Alaina lives close, so she didn't care. Day 1: In Kyoto 京都 Though I arrived late, I was the first to arrive in Kyoto Station 京都駅) by way of Shinkansen bullet train, named "Ambitious Japan". I love this thing. A train that can go 125 mph (over 200 km/hr) is just freakin' awesome. That day we wandered, seeing the Silver Temple (銀閣寺), though we never actually got there. The temple itself was closed, but we wandered around the nearby park and took lots of pictures, or as I like to call them, desktop backgrounds. After all that, we made our way to the luxurious Kyoto's Cheapest Inn. Every accommodation was met, every need taken care of. If we wanted hot water, all we had to do was go out to the well in the back, draw up a pitcher, and heat it in the sun! Actually, it was quite a nice place for being called the Cheapest Inn (I'm not making this up). I would definitely stay there again, if only to say hi to my new friends, the cockroaches. Just kidding. There were no bugs that I knew of, there was running water in the tub. There were also closets full of other people's stuff. Someone had a Macintrash magazine over the years, and I gave that to Beth. She didn't find it funny. For being the Cheapest Inn (I really just like the name), they had quite a few rules, that we didn't bother obeying, but we were kind enough to not get in trouble for it. It was in fact, Engrish at it's best. Day 2: In Nara 奈良 We took the train to Nara for only forty minutes or so. Easy and cheap, that's how I like it. In Nara, deer are considered holy or good luck or rodents that nobody can get rid of. Either way, they have all these booths that the deer know to stay away from but yet have all the food, that they sell to ignorant tourists. Once that food is bought, fifteen, sixteen thousand deer all coming running and just want a piece. I offer this as proof that we as humans are more intelligent than deer. We would ban together and tackle over the cart selling the food. Free supply right there! If anyone gives us static, bite their head off! Anyway, Beth wanted to feed these deer for Katie's sake, and yes, fifteen deer came a runnin'. Katie freaked, Beth tried to stand on something raised, Aaron laughed, and I took pictures. Then we saw the great Todaiji (東大寺). The kanji means "East Big Temple." Not an incredibly spectacular name, is it? But the place itself is amazing. They have this wood pillar with a small hole in the bottom. Supposedly, this is the size of the Buddha's nostril, and if you can crawl your sorry ass through it, you have good luck. Maybe i'm just bitter about it though, because nobody except the Japanese are small enough to fit through it. Oh and Katie went through it three times, thinking it was just a game. So Katie'll have good luck, the rest of us clods have ill luck in Buddhism. After all this, we went to a hostel in Nara, where Katie made Aaron play a game involving the checkerboard design of the tiles. To this day, we still have no idea what the rules were or how to play or anything. But Katie won. I guess that's the important part. Day 3: Going Home (家) We went back to Todaiji for a little bit, but we had to account for travel times, so we went back to Kyoto Station. We said our goodbyes, hoping to stay in touch afterwards, until our next big adventure. Close this story |
| The Corridor
See the Pictures
First, I’m sure some of you are dying to see my apartment, or as I call it, The Corridor. It is quite literally little else. I know everything in Japan is small. In fact, I even understand that nobody needs much space in this country. That being said, I think I might have an inordinately small place. But apparently, they (the ubiquitous they) tell me that it’s standard size. I don’t believe them. Some of my friends have multiple floor apartments that really are more like half houses than anything else. Of course, they live in the sticks, and I get to live in the city. Just to answer your unspoken question, yes, I will be putting up pictures of the city, once it gets to be a nice day and I remember to take my camera. Pictures are now available on the left hand side. This is what you see right when you step into the door. Yep. That’s the view. Everything. Note the cleaning supplies on the floor as I desperately try to clean the grime and mold that accumulates quite fast here. Ah, yes…the bathroom. That’s it. see the shower curtain rod up at the top. I bought that though everyone told me I shouldn’t have. Apparently, the Japanese shower with no curtain so the water splashes everywhere. Now, yes, you probably can’t tell the size of the tub, but it’s about the size of me with my arms straight down. So there isn’t a whole lot of room there. So nobody uses a shower curtain because they don’t like to touch it….oooo….so for a while, I bought a little mat that I could stand on instead of standing in a pool of water that will eventually drain. Yeah…bad idea. That sucker was so molded in a week that it was sick. So I got the curtain. Next to the shower room, but not the same room, is my toilet. They share a common fan, which I’m not convinced works in the first place… And my kitchen. The whole thing. I’m not exaggerating. This area is my entire kitchen. See the stove top on the right side? Yep. Just one. No oven to speak of, but I do have a microwave, which they tell me acts as an oven. So we’ll see about that. When you go through the door that splits The Corridor, this is the right side. The couch and the closets. That’s right. For some reason, I get two closets. I don’t need two closets, I need a kitchen! This is the view of The Corridor from the other end, towards the door. You can kind of see it from a distance as a brown blob. I am actually quite lucky in one way. I have a bed frame. So my bed is a little higher than everyone else’s. they have to put out their futon on the floor and roll it up during the day. Just to give a sense of perspective, this is the size of my pillow. It is also made of rocks, or very small beans. Something horribly uncomfortable anyway. Actually, this was my pillow. I have since purchased one of those throw pillows that you use on the couch. It’s a lot more comfortable than this thing. This I give to guests now. :) My washing machine, which gives me a nice catch-22. I can either have clean clothes that are destroyed, stretched, and what not, or I can have dirty clothes that fit me. The thing actively makes the clothes dirtier! And there’s no dryer (in all of Japan!), so I get to line dry them outside. Since it is now colder, I hang them around my Corridor and wait a week. Fun! My clothes are nice and crunchy. Close this story |
