My BiRtHdAy PaRtAy !!!!

This was my birthday month and my birthday is SUPER IMPORTANT and so I had to celebrate it with a fun big party full of awesome. I made reservations at this parfait place for a bunch of people to come (27人!), and then put in an order for a ￥10,000 ($120) parfait. Ten people had already decided to go in for the big parfait:

When it arrived, we were impressed by both the giant parfait and the fact that they had given us a PRIVATE PARTAY ROOM :D

Halfway through the giant, we took a nihongo class picture. BEST NIHONGO CLASS EVER.

Once we were finished, we all felt like we would barf a little. Here's a picture of our internal struggle.

Afterwards, we went to hang out by the river and we met some other students that said they went to Doshisha. They were all dressed up in costumes. Martin, Julia and Kate had just bought their Halloween costumes too, so they decided to wear them and we all took pictures:

Martin's gonna be a panda for Halloween

HEY.

Jidai Matsuri and Kurama Fire Festival

Yesterday, Friday was both the Jidai and Kurama Fire Festivals. Jidai means 'era' in Japanese and the festival was a parade that showcased clothes worn during different eras of Japanese history. There were about 2000 or so people that participated in the parade, according to my host mom, and they march for the Imperial Palace down through the city. The parade is really slow and the march takes about 2-3.5 hours in all, so I've heard.

We were let out of Japanese class early yesterday so that we could catch the start of the parade at 12pm. Luckily, the start is at the Imperial Palace, which is right across the street from Doshisa University. I walked over with Martin and we met my host mom, who took us to the beginning of the parade.

Before they march, the people mill around the palace grounds in their costumes, so it was a great opportunity to take pictures. Okaasan knew one of the people that was marching, so I was able to meet with him and get a picture taken:

Later in the day, after sunset, was Kurama Matsuri (festival). Every year Kurama Matsuri takes place on Kurama Yama (mountain), north of Kyoto. My friends and I took a packed train up to the small town and were overwhelmed by the crowds when we arrived. It was so bad at one point that you could let all your body weight sag and still you wouldn't fall. The people on either side of me were pressed up so close they could support my weight. It took us almost an hour to make our way down the street. Kids and men in fundoshi (loin cloths) were carrying big pine torches up and down the side of the street.

We ended up leaving pretty early in the night, because the crowed was massive, but supposedly the festival goes on until 2am (?). The real fun was supposed to start around 8pm but we were already so tired we left before then. The train ride back wasn't as bad as the one there, but it was still surprisingly full for the early hour.

When we got back to Kyoto, a group of us went to get Okonomiyaki at a place near Kyoto University. It was tasty:

AKP Fall Field Trip

So, before we left for our fall field trip, a bunch of us went and did 'nomikai' at a local 'British pub' in downtown Kyoto. The place looked pretty legit and we went for drinks at happy hour on a Wednesday night, so it wasn't very crowded. The only other people that shared the upstairs room with us was this group of Slovaks dressed up in the Japanese flag. They were all about 45 years old and a bit rowdy/ drunk.

Since it was only the day after my birthday, Keita, a Doshisha student who came along, brought a cake for all of us to share. The 'British pub' didn't have any forks, so we had to cut and eat the cake with chopsticks :P They all sang about 10 minutes of Happy Birthday with the Solvaks randomly singing a Birthday song in their langauge. At least, I hope it was a birthday song and not something rowdy and dirty haha

The next day, we left for our field trip from Kyoto Station. While at the station we randomly saw the Slovaks again. They were dressed in the same clothes they had been wearing the previous night. This confirms my theory that if you're a gaijin (foreigner) in Kyoto, you will always meet up/ see other gaijin that you know, no matter where you go. (And its true too. This kind of thing has happened to me so many times).

By bus, we eventually reached Kurashiki and had lunch. The place was pretty touristy but it was good to hang out with friends...

...and eat ice cream >:D

We stayed in a ryokan our first night. It was in the middle of no where but the view was stellar and it had an outdoor bath on the roof. We slept on the floor on futon.

The next day we went to Hiroshima and went to the Genbakku (Atomic Bomb) museum that they have there to promote the halt of nuclear violence. It was a bit gorey at times and really sad. Afterwards, we were starving so we went to get some famous Hiroshima okonomiyaki. Hiroshima's okonomiyaki is different because it has soba noodles on the bottom. Super tastey.

On the last day of the trip we went to Miyajima which is famous for having a temple buit right on the ocean.

It's also known for the hoards of deer that roam the place. They smelled weird.

As the day drew to an close, I took a creeper shot of this wedding:

The video I made of our adventures:

Japanese Breakfast

My daily breakfast usually consists of at least three of the things listed above (click to make bigger). Before I came to Japan I was actually really concerned about what I'd have to eat for breakfast. Everybody told me that it's rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but that was a complete lie. It's only rice for lunch and dinner, but TOAST for breakfast! And ALWAYS a breakfast salad. I was really confused when I went downstairs for my breakfast on the first morning of my homestay and saw a pile of lettuce...but its actually pretty good!

October Weekend

Last week, AKP put on a Thank You lunch for the Doshisha students who showed us the commute to our houses way back during AKP orientation. The lunch was the best because we had sushi AND pizza (which I had a craving for..). It was also cool to chat with some of the Doshisha students, and we even made plans with some of them to go out to dinner.

They're kinda accidentally dressed like twins.. haha.

Our group that went out to dinner. It was stellar fun. Kind of like Tapas.

Later in the night we walked by this Pachinko parlour called 'Fiber'

The next day, Okaasan asked me to go to a concert with her at the crotch of the river. I agreed, thinking it would be neat to listen to some music, but it was totally not what I expected. It was this hippie affair put on by some old American dude who was fluent in Japanese. There were about ten or twelve us us there, total, sitting around on a blanket, shaking marakas (sp!?) and plucking at those little harp-like things (like the thing that grandma has in her house). We were supposed to play how we FEEL, or something. It was interesting.

After the concert, I went and got Crepes with Kate, Katie and Katie's guide from orientation. I think it was the first dessert crepe that I had ever eaten and it was really tasty.

The three of us took a walk to the imperial palace grounds across the street. The actual palace itself is only open to the public about four days a year or something. The next time its open is sometime in November. Since it's right across the street from Doshisha, I think it'll be easy to go take a look.

On Sunday, i met up with Kate and her host sister, Naho, and went to the flea market at Shimogamo Shrine, right next to my house. It was the first one they ever put on and it was more of a craft fair then a flea market. We didn't buy anything but just walked around. The weather was pretty lousy.

Because it started to rain, we decided to go shopping at Loft, San-jo and Teramachi. While at Loft, Kate and I were looking at the men's wear section and thinking about how men in the US would never wear anything like this unless they were possibly flamboyantly gay. It's kind of a bummer because men's fashion in Japan is so neat. It's nice seeing everybody look trendy (even though it makes me feel kind of dumpy and underdressed). Men in Japan aren't afraid to wear pink and purple. In fact, my host dad wears a pink shirt every day.

Hannah's Birthday and the Weekend

Last Friday, for Hannah P's birthday, a bunch of us celebrated with Parfaits on Shijo. This place was really fancy and had about a gazillion parfait choices. It was also really expensive and the parfaits ranged from about $7 to $150.

This picture is super awkward since I'm so close to the camera.. but there's a really big group of us.

Saturday, all of the Kates (there are 4 of them!!) met at Shi-jo. I went to lunch with Kate, Katie and Katilyn at a place where you can heat your food right infront of you. It was pretty fun :D

Saturday night, Okaasan toook me to a mall that's only a three minute bike ride from my house here. It's a pretty big place and has a grocery store and tons of clothes shops and everything, basically. Okaasan did some grocery shopping and then afterwards she took me to a moon-viewing matsuri that was taking place near the crotch of the river. She had never been to it before and so when we got there we realized that it was really more kid-oriented, but it was still pretty entertaining. The MCs read children's books about the moon and it was pretty depressing because I couldn't understand what they were saying. Okaasan said that it didn't matter because the stories were boring anyways. The best part of the night was that we got free dango to eat. The moon was also really pretty. We couldn't see it at first and then right when we were about to leave we spotted a glow behind the mountains. As we watched, the moon slowly rose up above the mountains.. we could see it move. It was HUGE and totally round, a full moon :D

The next day, Sunday, I went back to the mall to see if I could find any cool clothes but only ended up buying a cheap engrish shirt. In the afternoon, I got some snacks and met my friends at the crotch of the Kamo River. We chilled for a few hours and then talked.

Today was Monday and we went back to classes. They're not so bad but in film class I learned that I have to read a whole 300 page book by next Monday. Also, it seems like I have tons of homework. My birthday is next Tuesday, and I'm turning 20, which is really important in Japan, but I'm gonna hold off the celebrations because of people's workload and the fact that we're going on a three day field trip next week. We'll go to Hiroshima, among other places. I'm super excited for it.

For my birthday, I'm planning to get one of those $100 parfaits (which are SUPER gigantic) and then eat it with ten friends who will each chip in ten bucks. Then, we'll probably go do karaoke or something.

I'm also in the middle of planning my trip to Korea. Today I went and got my Reentry Visa, which will let me reenter Japan after my trip. All I have to do now is make sure my friends get THEIR visas and then we'll buy tickets, a room at a hostel, and start to plan our ADVENTURES.

Kaiyuukan Aquarium, Osaka

Yesterday we had another day off because of the Autumnal Equinox. I wasn't gonna go but because it was supposed to rain all day, I decided to hit up the aquarium in Osaka with some friends. I went to the Boston Aquarium with my family recently, but to be honest, the one in Osaka is better. It's newer and larger and has all kinds of fish.. INCLUDING A WHALE SHARK.

The aquarium aslo had some of my favorite animals including capybara. They're so CUTE.



We got to check out the whale shark. These things are massive and they eat by sucking a ton of water and fish into their mouths like a vacuum. We stuck around for feeding time and so we got to see it do this.



It was a really fun day even though it was rainy. The aquarium was super-crowed but I still got some pretty good fish footage:

Yesterday was also very traumatic. Before even leaving the house I was attacked in my room by the largest cockroach I've ever seen in my life. It was probably five inches long and disgusting. I'm sure I was sleeping with that thing in my room for at least a week. HOLY CRAP.

I had to get Kenshi, my host brother, to come in and kill it for me. He had some kind of roach spray that he attacked it with and then left it under the can so it would suffocate. It's still in my room, under the spray bottle....