This week was pretty uneventful, at least it seemed that way because I'm still rather down about losing Honey and Cash. Still no idea what happened. We had a Tea Ceremony demonstration on Thursday, but I didn't have my camera and I still haven't figured out how to move videos from my Japanese cell phone. So, no post on that until I get that figured out. Saturday, however, was chock-full of fun stuff. My left ankle is still swollen from me twisting it, that's how much fun it was. Seriously, I had a blast. We woke up super early, made our way to Sakae station, and caught a bus to Kyoto with the rest of the exchange students and a few Japanese girls. Saki and I ended up napping the entire way there and the entire way home, but, anyone who knows me, knows I can't stay awake during long vehicular trips unless I'm driving.
Our first stop was Kiyomizu Temple. There are many hills leading up the temple that are lined with traditional shops. They were quite cool.
Nausicaa eating candy. Lol
Giant bear
Once we made our way up the hill, we got to the temple, or should I say temples. It was almost like a small town, the number of temples and such. It was very cool and everything was so very green. It was beautiful, despite being ridiculously humid/misty/rainy. My hair was a mess before I even got on the bus, it was so wet outside. Anyways, temple pictures.
Natalia
Nausicaa and Iona
Saki, Nausicaa, and Iona
Newlyweds.
Saki "exercising"
Me getting my fortune. How's my hair look? It was straight a few hours earlier. Stupid humidity.
My not so good fortune
The leaves were so green and pretty.
Fountain shrine thing.
Cute little turtle
Now, as we were exploring, we came upon the Kyoto Jishu Shrine. This shrine is over 1,300 years old and is the dwelling of the god of love and matchmaking. It was rebuild in 1633 and has been a very famous place since World War II. Newlyweds often frequent the shrine to offer their thanks and have their names put up on the notice board in front of the shrine. One of the most interesting features are the love stones in front of the main building. Two stones set about 10 meters apart. If a person can walk from one stone to the other, with closed eyes, his or her love will be realized. And yes, I did it, Saki and I held hands and did it together because it was so crazy crowded we didn't want to do it alone. =P In one corner of the shrine, there are a lot of small wooden plaques hanging up. They are called "ema" and people write prayers and vows of love on them along with wishes of love to be granted and hang them up. It was really cool.
Ema
Ema
Love Stone
After the temple, we boarded the bus and drove to a place where we made Yatsuhashi. Yatsuhashi is a cookie made from rice flour, sugar and cinnamon. It is yummy, crunchy cinnamon-y goodness! We had to wear little robes, gloves, and hairnets, which made things quite amusing.
All dressed up and ready to go.
Random candies
Uncooked yatsuhashi
8 Yatsuhashi under each block of wood. Each set has different instructions before you slide them over.
My container of Yatsuhashi
Here's a video of me making some:
After making Yatsuhashi, we went to Nijo-jo Castle. It was built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of Tokugaway Ieyasu. The castle is a national treasure, so we weren't allowed pictures, not to mention my camera decided to die on the bus on the way there. Whoops. So, that's all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed it!
