Monday Night

Dinner with the students was really fun. A woman and her sisters invited us over for dinner at their house. Two of their kids were also there. They served us sushi and some other stuff that was pretty good but I have no idea what it was. Nothing too exotic, phew! They asked lots of questions. It was like being interviewed. It always started like "Um, Kevin..." So aside from the questions I was asked in the previous post (yes, every single one was asked again), here are some others:

What is the weather like where you are from?
What is your job?
Do you like sushi?
Do you like wasabi?
What did you have for lunch?
What is your favorite item on this table? You can only pick one.
Do you like Japanese women or American women more?
Where are you from?
Do you know Britney Spears?
Do you know Hilary Duff?

The last three were from the lady's daughter. She showed us her karate skills which was pretty awesome. She was a champion in Osaka. I tried to video it but instead of capturing the cool karate, I recorded my crotch for 30 seconds. Needless to say, I erased it. Doh! Wouldn't you know it they asked me what I had for lunch on the only day I had McDonald's, ha ha.

After dinner we played cards for a bit and then we left.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we went to Kyoto. We got up at about 6:30am cuz Aaron said I had to witness the rush hour on the metro. It was pretty intense cuz the train was full when I got on, but somehow I ended up on the other side of the train when I got in, ha ha. When we got to Kyoto, we checked out the Clearwater Temple. I forget it's Japanese name. I had never been to a pagan temple before. There were people there all dressed in white who were on their pilgrimage. There were these two rocks at the temple and it is said if you walk from one to the other with your eyes closed, you will find your soul mate. There were a few people doing it. I totally wanted to mess with them and stand at the other rock with my arms wide open. Yeah, but I didn't.

Then we met up with a couple of Aaron's friends in Kyoto and they showed us around the city a bit. First we went to the Golden Shrine which is a shrine completely covered in gold leaf. It looked pretty awesome. It was in this big pond with these little tiny islands. I suspect if you can run across the pond from island to island, you will find your soul mate.

Then we went to Kyoto Castle. We had to take our shoes off to go inside. I kept thinking how screwed I would be if my shoes weren't there when I got back. It's not like they carry my shoe size in Japan. The floor was really cool in the castle cuz it made lots of squeaks which sounded like birds. They called it the nightingale floor or something like that which warned the guards of assassins. Pretty cool, eh?

Then we went to Kyoto Tower which was only like 300 feet high. All the towers in Japan were about that high, but I guess that would be freaky to have anything higher in a country that gets like 1000 earthquakes a year. It still provided some nice views of the city.

Wednesday

On Wednesday I woke up as sick as a dog. I think I got it from the orphanage cuz Aaron's roommate, Jun, got sick too. But I didn't know how bad I was until we had already left for Nara. That's when my fever hit. I was pretty low energy that day on top of being totally worn out from walking the previous day. So in Nara we saw the deer park which had a ton of deer but none of them looked that healthy. Nara also has the biggest Buddha in Japan. It was pretty huge, maybe like 5 stories high. After walking forever and feeling totally sick I didn't want to see much else. Aaron being tired too did not disagree. So I got home like at 5pm and slept until the next morning.

Thursday

I feel better today, but still kinda sick. Hopefully I'll kick this by today. Anyways, most of today has been a rest day. Even if I was well, I doubt I could handle another day of walking. Tonight we are going to the Umeda Sky Building which are these tall twin buildings in Osaka that have a garden on top that connects the two buildings together. Anyways, I'm off.