Kyoto: The City of History and Charm

While Tokyo may be bright, colorful and a fantastic place to people watch, Kyoto had more charm than any other city we visited in Japan.

We arrived in kyoto a little before lunch and immediately wanted to start exploring. We rented bikes for the day and made our way to kinkaku-ji, or the Golden Pavillion.  The Pavillion was beautiful but the area was filled with tourists. Once we took our pictures and wandered for a bit we decided to bike to a castle recommended by Ben's friend. The Nijo Castle was featured in the popular film The Last Samurai and was pretty cool. You were able to explore the inside of the castle but the paintings on the walls were all reproductions.

Riding around Kyoto on our first (and only sunny) day

Super gold, super pretty. 

Taking picture at the Golden Pavillion of girls in kimonos

On our ride back to the hostel we came across  the Nishiki market. We tried a few traditional sweets, looked at the wares at the stalls and then we were on our way. Closer to our hostel we encountered a few people holding a traditional tea ceremony on a platform in the canal. We stopped to take pictures and they kindly offered us tea. It was Matcha (not my favorite) but we drank it in the polite 4 sips necessary and went back to the hostel.

Busy market in the afternoon

Drinking Matcha in the canal 

That night we grabbed dinner with some other people from our hostel. We went to downtown Gion and I SAW A REAL LIFE GEISHA. I was so excited to spot her (it's rare to see one and we definitely weren't paying the high cost to be entertained by one), so this was a really pleasant surprise. I tried to ask for her photo but she politely ran away. 

The next day, we tried to beat the rain and crowds by waking up early for Fushimi Inari Shrine.

And we were successful!

Fushimi Inari is breathtakingly beautiful and feels otherworldly. Walking up the mountain takes almost 3 hrs top to bottom (at least for us). There are varies shrines with guardian fox deities throughout the walk and we saw quite a few people lighting candles and praying. Since we got there so early (7ish), there were very few tourist and the majority of people were visiting shrines. It started drizzling slightly as we walked and that made the shrine seem even more ethereal. I could go on and on another how much I enjoyed this shrine.

It wasn't even 10 by the time we had finished, but the weather was gross. We didn't want to spend too much time walking around outside so we made our way to the Yudanaka Shibu hotsprings area. The hotsprings are famous for it's monkey patrons that like to hang out in the springs in the winter. The water was relaxing, the view was beautiful (you were looking out at mountains) and the rain didn't bother us.

The next day we went to Nara but that place gets a post to itself. I loved it there.

When we returned from Nara, Ben rested at the hostel while I explored the nearby Kiyomizu temple. It was really beautiful and I was determined to go back. It's a popular place to rent kimono and take pictures so the streets were filled with the colorful outfits. The street going to Kiyomizu was also host to many shops filled with pottery, jewelry and traditional art. I don't know how but I was able to use some self restraint and didn't spend all my money there.

That night Ben and I ate dinner along the river and walked around downtown Gion for a bit. No Geisha sightings this time :(

The following day we left the hostel early (what a surprise!) to go to the nearby town of Arashiyama to play with monkeys and hang out in bamboo. Since the Arashiyama monkey park didn't open until 9am, we made our way to the famous bamboo forest first. I think we had fairly high expectations (it's on the cover of Lonely Planet!), so we were pretty underwhelmed. It was definitely beautiful but it was much smaller than we expected.

The monkey park was a short 15 minute walk away (plus another 10 minute walk up the mountain). There's a small building at the top of the trail and all the monkeys hang out there. Why? Visitors can buy food to feed the monkeys. But be warned. Don't make eye contact with them! There were signs all over about making the monkeys nervous with eye contact.

That night we stayed at a Ryokan, a type of hotel with traditional Japanese style room. This includes tatami mats, floor bedding and robes. While it was relaxing to be out of a dorm, we didn't really like our Ryokan.  It wasn't anything special and, at least to me, smelled really weird.

That night we ventured maybe 100 ft from the Ryokan to a Okonomiyaki restaurant. It's a Japansee pancake made from cabbage and your choice of meat or noodles. It was really delicious.

The next day we left for Osaka.

Peace!

The beginning to the Fushimi Inari Shrine 

We were practically the only ones there

So many pictures were taken. 

You can see the fox statues amongst the shrines 

We stopped at an antique market before going to the hotsprings. 

Had to take this outside the bath bUT this was pretty much our view. 

Old meets new at the kiyomizu temple

A street near kiyomizudera 

The bamboo forest 

Posing with a monkey 

A curious monkey with staff

With a view of the city

Monkeying around 

There were a bunch of baby monkeys 

So cute 

More kiyomizudera 

Visiting monks at kiyomizudera 

The streets of kiyomizudera 

Ben resting at our Ryokan 

Tokyo, Train Rides and being Tourists

I'm not going to elaborate on everything (so I don't bore you) but I will expand on my favorite things. If anyone has any questions about places we went or wants more details, feel free to reach out to me.

Additionally, Ben and I had both purchased 2 week Japan Rail Passes. This meant that we had already paid for all trains that were owned by JR. Although expensive, we only had to flash our pass to get onto the metro in Tokyo and we just showed the pass when we reserved seats in trains. Convenient and easy.

Ben landed in Tokyo late Tuesday night and, being the experienced and insane traveler that he is (with most likely a hint of jetlag), we were up early the next day. Ben had made plans with Anthony, who also worked for ABC as there Japan correspondent. He had been living in Japan for 20 years and was willing to show us around.

We ended up having a crazy long, wonderful day wandering around Tokyo. We began by going to Sensoji, a temple located in Asakusa. It's one of the oldest temples in Tokyo and was fun to wander around. The best part was when we decided to find out our luck. We had to shake a container with skinny wooden sticks until one would slip out of a small hole. The stick had a number on it that corresponded with a drawers. Each drawer told you what your luck was. I ended up getting Good Luck while Ben got Bad Luck.

From there we checked out the Tokyo Imperial Palace. You need to make reservations in advance to visit around the palace itself, but we walked along the moat and enjoyed contemplating why the Emperor and Empress never leave the residence.

Sensoji Temple. It was already crowded early in the day.

Next stop was Harajuku, an area of Tokyo that I'd always see in movies and manga.
Harajuku wasn't actually as eventful as I thought it would be. After years of reading manga, I was under the impression that I would see young people in colorful, flashy clothing hanging out in the area. Specifically, I thought I would see people dressed in Gothic Lolita clothing (baby doll style). Nope. Nada. No one. Although I didn't see any fun outfits, the area was really great to walk around. There were people everywhere and more stores devoted to punk/alternative clothing.

The gate leading to the famous Harajuku area.

With the sun beginning to set, we made our way to the famous Shibuya crossing. We exited the train station to immediately see the statue of Hachinko, a dog that loyally waited for his master at the Shibuya train station for over 9 years after his master's death. This statue was something I was familiar with from manga and it was surreal to see it in real life. We wanted to get pictures of the crossing from above so we snuck into a nearby hotel to take pictures. Afterwards, we took pictures in the middle of the crossing. The crossing wasn't actually as big as I thought it would be but it was still a crazy sight. The street looked normal until everyone began to crisscross through the intersection- then it was organized chaos.

Shibuya from above.

For dinner we made our way to Shinjuku, an area in Tokyo known for its night life. Specifically, we were heading to Golden Gai- six small alleys that are reminiscent of old Tokyo archetict. As we learned throughout our time in Japan, a lot of Japan's old buildings/temples/everything were either destroyed by the 1923 earthquake, burned down during World War II, or just destroyed for more modern buildings. Thus, having something that lasted through all of this was a sight to see. The alleys were narrow, smokey and interesting to walk through. You would get glimpses into tiny bars as you breathed in the scent of ramen and Yakitori (skewered chicken). We had a delicious ramen dinner and then made our way back to our hostel.

Shinjuku area. Japan's really great about being bright and colorful.

Waiting for our ramen from the small shop we stopped at.

That next day we started our day at 3am. No regrets (ok, maybe I should have gone to bed a little earlier...). We made our way to the Tsukiju Fish Market for the early morning Tuna Auction. Our visit to the worlds largest fish market began with us sitting in a small room at 4:30am. Only 120 people are allowed into the Tuna Auction everyday and we rushed to be part of that select group. We made it in time to receive a weird plastic vest and sat for the next hour and a half in the small room making small talk with the people around us. We were part of the second group so at 5:30 sharp we were herded to the Tuna Auction. They had warned us about staying with the group for our safety and it became apparent right away that they weren't joking. The fish market was bustling with activity when we walked to the auction and the workers didn't care about the tourists walking around- they had to do their jobs and nothing was getting in their way. The Tuna Auction was amazing to watch. I never knew tuna was that huge. Seriously, I've been tricked all these years because they show up in tiny cans or something. The tuna was gigantic and the men walked around poking at the fish and looking at its coloring (or something, not too sure what they were looking for). Then, it was time to bid. A man stood above the others and started shouting and pointing. Men responded by holding up their hands and making symbols. It was a flurry of activity, confusing as could be and I would go back once a week if I could.

We all wore fancy vests to show what group we were in. The TV just had instructions (don't bother the fish market workers). Everyone was just sleeping against the walls or sitting around in a daze for a few hours.

Some of the fish market action.

Checking the fish for quility.

Ordering sushi at 7am? Normal right?

When our time at the Tuna Auction was over, we went out for a sushi/sashimi breakfast with two people we had met while waiting. After our delicious breakfast (seriously, sushi will never be the same after eating it fresh in Japan), we walked to a nearby park called Hama-rikyu. The park was actually really beautiful and they had an informative audio tour. We enjoyed some Matcha, a traditional powdered green tea drink, in a traditional tea house but then I was done. After waking up so early, I was practically falling over with every step. We ended up taking an hour nap in the park (not sure if we were supposed to do that...) and felt so much better.

Even though we were still groggy, we attempted to go to Tokyo Tower. We deemed it too gray and cloudy and went back to the hostel to rest before going to the Robot Restaurant.

Enjoying some traditional Matcha at the tea house in the park. We look so sleepy.

Pretty park in the middle of the city.

Ben and I had debated going to the Robot Restaurant due to how touristy it seems but our curiosity was too much. We had walked by the restaurant the previous night with Anthony and it just looked too colorful and crazy to miss.

And that's what it was.

It was colorful, crazy, weird and just everything I should have expected from a show in Japan. It began with us waiting in a room that looked like a mix between something you would find in Willy Wonka's house if he lived in Vegas. Yhere was gold, mirrors, and wacky art galore. The show is so hard to describe. It had some wacky storyline about saving a planet from robot aliens. There was singing, dancing, drumming, fake fighting and, of course, robots. If you want to see the weird parts of Japan, I recommend this show.

The waiting room for the robot restaurant.

Dinosaur? At a robot restaurant? Of course.

Women in tiny outfits danced and fought with the robots all night.

Robots, colors, lights, oh my!

The next day we took the train to the nearby city of Nikko. The town is most famous for Toshogu temple, home to the famous see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkey carvings. While these three monkeys are the most famous, they're part of a carving of 8 monkeys that are supposed to be a caricature of human life. While the monkeys were an interesting sight, Ben was most interested in some elephant carvings done on an adjacent building. The elephants were notable because the artist had never seen elephants and was only going off what he had heard. Toshogu was also home to the Sleeping Cat (a carving by a famous artist). All were really beautiful to see. We had plans to also go hiking but we deemed it to expensive and time consuming to get to the area. Thus, back to Tokyo we went.

Toshogu temple.

Silly, famous monkeys.

More of the temple. So elaborate and beautiful.

Since we didn't actually make it up the Tokyo Tower the previous day, we decided to have a go at it again. The first day we were stopped by bad weather and tired feet. For our second attempt at the tower, we tried to make it up for sunset. We were close but no cigar. Although we didn't get to watch the sun set over Tokyo, we were able to see Tokyo after dark. The lights and colors were beautiful.

Our few from the top.

That evening we stayed at a Capsule hotel. Men and women slept in separate dorm rooms with capsule style beds. I really thought it would be a claustrophobic night but the bed areas were really spacious and comfortable. Not only did you get a nice bed space to yourself, but they gave you a robe to use and there was a public bath to enjoy.

My dorm room.

I actually made it to Akibahara my first evening in Japan before Ben arrived and explored the colorful, electronic, geeky mecca with people from my hostel. Akibahara is full of anime related stores, electronics and maid cafes (women dress as old fashion western style maids and serve you coffee and treats). Ben and I stopped by the area after the Tokyo tower. Unfortunately we made it out to the area around 9pm and many stores had already closed. Getting there in the early evening is the most exciting time as people are getting out of work and taking full advantage of the many shops. Plus, it's fantastic for people watching. We re-explored the area the day before we flew out of Japan to get a better feel for Akibahara in the daytime so I'll include pictures in a later post.

Peace!

Saying Goodbye to My Students

I'm wrote part of this at 5am at the airport after sleeping maybe an hour. Hopefully it makes sense. If not...well, I tried. 

Although there were many days where I reverted to my elementary school self- curled up under my blankets in the morning, hoping that school got canceled due to snow/rain/anything- for the majority of my time in Korea I really enjoyed teaching.

Last August I started at the english center not knowing what to expect. I was immediately greeted by wonderful coworkers, cute students and a beautiful school. While my morning classes were made up from 5th graders visiting from schools around Gwangju for two day experiences in the English Center, my afternoon classes were mine. I saw the same faces four days a week- whether either of us wanted to be there. I had three afternoon classes; 1-2 grade, 3-4 grade and 5-6 grade. For the first few semesters I taught the lower level classes   My 1st and 2nd graders were adorable as they learned phonics, my 3rd and 4th graders struggled but overcame in the beginner classes, and my 5th and 6th graders were sassy but sweet in my beginner/intermediate classes.

I really enjoyed teaching the lower levels because you could see their progress so quickly and clearly. While it was challenging at times to get information across, it was always rewarding when they understood an answer or responded well in English. As someone who was always in low level language classes, I really related to the beginner/lower level class kids.

When the new school year started in February, I was switched from low level classes to all advanced classes. This was a totally different world. Gone were the days when it was a challenge to make kids speak a sentence- now it was a challenge to keep them quiet so I could teach new concepts. The kids were all brilliant (and they were not afraid to remind me of their genius). I loved being able to hold conversations with my 3rd-6th graders and it was amazing that the 1st and 2nd graders understood almost everything I said in class. I felt like I was really able to bond with these classes. I learned about their families, likes, dislikes, dreams, hopes and everything in between.

While I really liked teaching in Korea, I knew it was time to move on come August. It just felt right. What I didn't realize was how sad leaving the kids would make me. For my last classes I brought ice cream, cards and things for them to sign. I had them fill out some information sheets for the new teacher and then we took pictures. It was a really relaxed atmosphere and made me really sad.

I'll never forget how fantastic these kids were and I expect to hear more about them in the future.

Goodbye English Center!

My adorable 1st and 2nd graders. I swear the kids in the front are usually really happy. They froze for the camera.

Thanks to my old phone this is the only decent picture I have of my other 1st and 2nd grade class.

1st and 2nd graders signing a bag I brought to school on the last day. They were so cute. 

More 1st and 2nd grade cuteness

They're so cute.

3rd and 4th grade. They were always so funny.

Our funny picture? 

My 5th and 6th graders are absolute weirdos and this was me trying to get them to move in  together but nooooo BOYS VS GIRLS ALL DAY, EVERYDAY.

They're so smart. 

Peace!