Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 2- Thur Jan 8


Woke up to an amazing view from the hotel window...



JAPANESE GRAVEYARD!!!!

...so compact. :D

Second day there, we got to meet some of the Kyoto University students who gave us a tour of the town and the school. I was really surprised to meet two Japanese students who are currently studying Spanish of all languages (our tour guide who could also speak perfect English and my friend Maho-chan who is currently studying that as well as Flameco dance).


Hmm, yeah, I wish I had taken more pictures but sadly I was very inactive with my camera the first few days (I always carry it around when I dont need it and when the perfect picture moment comes up I dont have it with me :P).

Random things I learned about Japan while touring...biking is intense! In the U.S. most people bike for fun but in japan its a serious and legit mode of transportation. You have to be really careful when walking down the street and be mindful of all the people riding towards you (or behind you) while walking. Japanese roads (especially in neighborhoods) are also super narrow! I think Id end up killing someone if I tried driving here :P. Yeah...a lot of the roads are two way roads so one car literally has to pull over on the side to let the other one pass...it also has to be mindful of the bikers and pedestrians on the streets.

After tours we went out to eat for dinner...I ate some delicious Okonomiyake!!!!

flower, cabbage and egg mixed together and fried with bacon...then doused with a whole mess of Japanese mayo, red sauce and topped off with bonito fish flakes. So good! probably my all time favorite food here ever!

Day 1- Wed Jan 7

(So I thought I'd finally update seeing as how I have failed to do so and have been here for a week.)





I arrived fairly tired and dead last Wednesday night. I landed in the Kansai airport at 4:30ish, 5, got to the hotel by 7:30 PM. Gah! I was so brain dead by the time I got to the hotel that I couldnt speak Japanese. The man at the desk had asked me "kagi?" (key...he was asking me my room number key). I was like..."what?eigo de hanasemasu ka" (Do you speak english). yeah it was that bad...haha.

After finally checking in and leaving my stuff in my room, I bumped into Dean in the lobby along with several other students in the KCJS program. Went out for dinner...my first meal in Japan was some delicious (and fairly cheap) tama negi gyudon (beef and onion with egg on top of rice). Its supposed to look like this...


...topped off with the raw egg yolk on top (unbroken) but I kinda failed miserably, made a mess with the egg >_<

Friday, December 19, 2008

Test

Just testing out the blog.