♥ LIGHT UP ♥

Sounds Christmas-y doesn't it??? WELL IT'S NOT! Light up is when temples light up the trees. Because it's fall now, the trees are pretty fall colors, red, orange, yellow, etc. It is very pretty. So many people go and see the light up. Today I went to Kyoto with my friend Ryota and we walk around and went to a temple at night to see a light up :) Here are some pics!



Mountain with fall colors





Crowd of people from the front and behind us going up to Kiyomizudera



LOOK KANJIS! Can you read the pictures??? ;)



Sakura tree! But no sakura right now :(



Pretty tree :)



Pretty view going up to the temple



Light up in the zen garden



Light up with some SPIRITS =ooo!!!



A bunch of fall colors :)

Note: for light up, 1) wear comfy shoes, 2) get to the temple early unless you want to stand in an uber long line!, 3) don't forget your jacket if it's cold, 4) don't forget your camera!, 5) bring a good friend ♥

We met at 11 at school, got some lunch, then headed to Kyoto. We walked around for awhile, a long while, walking to many temples, including Kiyomizu... we didn't go in, but walked back to another temple to get in line for tickets for light up. This was like Disney World if you stretched the line for Splash Mountain! At least it moved fast. My feet were killing me from my boots, I kept trying to sit, but the line kept moving. The light up was pretty. I'm glad I got to see one!

Current status: tired!!!!!

Adventures in Volunteering and Modeling

This week was filled with awesome activities... and some not so awesome activities *cough* tests, quizzes *cough*

Tuesday, I had a test in Spoken Japanese, went to my teaching meeting and received the lesson plan, went to my relationships class, then to Tonoyama Daiichi Elementary school! We taught "I like..."/"I don't like..." using mainly school subjects. Speaking of school subjects, here is a schedule of a class at Tonoyama Daiichi. Subjects include: Reading, Japanese, Social Studies, Calligraphy, Integrated Studies, Math, PE, Music, Math, Science, etc etc



Wednesday, I had permission from my Kawano-sensei to go to an intercultural exchange at a kindergarten rather than going to class. I found asking the teachers and telling me what I am doing and I why I find it important and a great opportunity etc etc works very well. So, I went with a small group to Konoike Kindergarten. Note: This seems a lot like a preschool, meaning kindergarten is in preschools here, and also I'll note here elementary schools are 1st-6th grade.



This is Konoike Kindergarten. Looks like a castle eh? Pretty cool! We played with 5-6 year old kids. When we got there, we went up to the room and the kids were playing just some indoor games (tag, jump rope... wait those don't sound indoor LOL) and I jumped in and introduced myself and played with kids until they left temporarily. Basically here we played head, shoulders, knees, and toes with them and taught them Rock Paper Scissors in English. No matter what language I play this game in, the Japanese kids always win. I'm not sure why they are so good at! Moving on, I had a test that day in Communication. While studying, I was sitting in the lounge by myself when a guy came up to me and started chatting. Then he got to why he wanted to talk... he has a friend at a fashion school who needs someone to model clothes... well been there done that, guess I'll do it again. I gave him my email to pass on.

Thursday I had a quiz in Japanese, started watching a drama called "Kekkon Simulator" (Wedding Simulation) and we did our role plays in relationships. Ours was so-so. The other groups had some great ideas. My group had an idea but when I was trying to work on the script, I was finding it too short, so I started thinking the idea was too simple and slept on it... and wrote up a rough idea and new script which we adopted. This past Monday the group put it together. I guess because it was so hastily put together, it wasn't so good. It worked. At least I'm not the only one who feels the role play didn't act the actions perfectly...

Today, Friday, I woke up early and Skype'd with my family for Thanksgiving! It was nice to see them and talk... even though it was 5:30 am >.< I have decided to buy one of those tiny fleece blankies to wrap up in. Given they are worth the price.

This morning, another quiz in Japanese and continued to watch the drama. I took my work due in Communication to my professor since I was taking another holiday to do an intercultural exchange at an elementary school. Before going, I met up with Takuma and his girlfriend in the lounge near the atrium. We talked for awhile, his girlfriend and I trying to get him to stop smoking. It's a funny conversation. She is very pretty :) I'm going to his house next weekend for a Nabe party. His girlfriend will be there too.

I went to Kasuga Elementary with a decent size group of Japanese and exchange students. It took 4 taxis, free for us, to get to the school.



There is the school. We arrived and the kids were so excited to see us... constantly saying hello... in fact some started yelling "HISASHIBURI" (long time no see) and I was thinking "Hisashiburi???? Have I met you before???" haha. We made name tags and visited two classrooms where students made various booths and taught us about various aspects of Japanese culture such as places, pop culture, sports, etc. Afterward we played dodgeball outside. Not as scary as the dodgeball game from hell that we played at Meirin.



Mai and I sitting at the tiny desks :) Oh elementary school... to be young again!

After volunteering I broke the Amber record from walking to the station from the school. Today I was meeting Junko, the design student, to model clothes in the a photo shoot. I was only a few minutes late thanks to my fast walking. I didn't realize the school was so far away so that messed me up.

The school is in Shinsaibashi and originated in Paris. A very good school, very pretty. The guy who took the photos designed the clothes and the photos are for a competition, if he wins he gets to go to London. A girl did my make up for about 15 minutes before doing my hair. I wore 3 different outfits. Took a lot of photos. Modeling is harder than it seems, but it was enjoyable :) I was paid too, a bit more than I expected... I do not mind them paying for my travel expenses and buying a drink for me... but anymore just makes me feel weird. I understand though from the previous stylist I modeled for in the fashion show that even as students they take their work seriously and it's like a business to them. I hope the guy does good! His clothes were awesome! He is going to mail me pictures as well. I'm excited to see! I kept hearing good compliments during the photo shoot, and I laughed inside when he said "STAY" and took the picture of my pose from every angle.

Tomorrow, I'm going to hang out with Ryota. Looking forward to it :) This week has been pretty good.

Current status: PooPeD!!! as in tired...

Time to layout my schedule for next week to see what to expect! Going back to Tonoyama Daiichi :)

Kyoto: Fushimi Inari and Kiyomizudera

Monday my dad and I finally traveled somewhere: KYOTO! My usual Monday alarm went off, waking me during my REM sleep and my eyes were still REMing when I woke up >.< I got dressed, almost forgot the big duffel of my clothes my dad is taking back to the US for me (my suitcases were packed when I came here... and after all the things I bought... ZETTAI MURIDAYO!), and met my dad at the hotel. I had to run to catch my bus. Lately, I've been using the bus schedule to get to the bus stop just in time... and I look at it and the next bus is in 10 minutes, which is plenty of time if I go right then. And with the big heavy bag on my shoulder I had to try to run a bit faster.

I got the just when dad was trying to figure how much it would be if he didn't checkout by 10, which he didn't have to worry about after all. We planned to go meet my friends at 11 at the Fushimi Inari station so with time to spare we hit up Starbucks before hopping on a train. For the record, no express trains go to Fushimi Inari... I think the fastest train was the blue train. Which is almost no better than a local train HAHA.

So we start riding and I get off at the wrong stop... in fact I exit the station at the wrong stop! We got off at Fushimi Momoyama (I think is the name). I check my train map in my schedule book (I have the entire train map of Tokyo and Osaka and subways from all over Japan... did I mention these maps are entirely in Japanese? Kanji too), and we buy a 200 yen ticket and continue on to the correct station. Where we meet Mai (we volunteer together). Mai's friend, luckily had my email address because I forgot to write hers down, also had traveling problems. So it all worked out good. We all waited for each other.

Fushimi Inari was awesome. So many toriis!!! I wonder how many there are. We didn't climb all the way to the top though. I guess we took the weenie route down 1/3 of the way up LOL. We did run into TWO pet-able kitties :D I haven't pet a kitty since I left home! The cats here are wild and just run away :( I bought a torii (a little one) and my cell phone charm + a soft Inari cats eye charm! I mean so sooooo soft too! Super cute :) Here are some pictures!!



Inari the fox. His temple!



Seeing double? Both paths went the same way by the way.



Toriis! Feel like you are in Memoirs of a Geisha yet?



Me and the toriis



Fall leaves!!!



The second of two kitties I got to pet :) This one was comfortably sun bathing.

Afterward we went to Kiyomizudera. I decided to go to the Kiyomizu Gojo station... after walking to the temple I started thinking the Gion station that we went to when I went with the dance booth members was closer. Not sure if I am wrong or right... I got a little lost trying to go back the way I went with the dance booth members. I knew I saw a Family Mart and I hadn't eaten really the whole day and I wanted to find it. Anyways, at Kiyomizu we walked around... it was really crowded. I bought an omamori :) AND GOT A GOOD FORTUNE FOR ONCE!! YAY :) I drunk from the fountain... I'm not sure what kind of luck I drank though LOL. I could use some luck no matter what kind it is.

After Kiyomizu we headed back on an overly crowded limited express train. Next time, I'm just going to take sub express. It's not like we were in a hurry. Sub express wouldn't have been so crowded. I was so pooped by the time we go to back to Hirakata-shi. We sat in the atrium of the station and I tried to think of something that to do that involves sitting since we had time to spare before needing to go to the airport... come on... what did I choose to do???? Shouldn't be that hard to figure out... What is something fun to do that involves sitting? KARAOKE!!! So we hit up karaoke for an hour before heading to the airport. It was fun :)

I took dad back to the airport, an easier way that when I went to pick him up. It may not have been cheaper, and may or may not have taken as long, but it was sooo much easier. Hirakata-shi to Kyobashi on the Keihan line, Kyobashi to Tennoji on the JR Loop Line, Tennoji to Kansai Airport on the Airport express train. Then do it in reverse!! I didn't get back to the dorm til almost 11. I hate how much I have been eating McDs lately but I've been so busy. I think starting today it is back to cooking and packing bento.

I'm trying to remember what day of the week it is LOL. Holidays throw me off. Festivals too. And we just had both!

Current status: hungry, sleepy, but mostly hungry.