Last weekend...
...alot of fun things happened!
Saturday we went to have an extra class in the day (I know, there must be something wrong with me). They have classes for teachers-to-be at our school too and they needed some "subjects" to practise teaching on. And we needed some extra practise of speaking Japanese. So we are to meet up every Saturday from now on to talk and also discuss grammatical things that we find difficult. It's actually alot of fun. These teacher aspirants are about our age too and we talk about alot of fun things.
After class we went back to Henric and Bella's apartment because some Swedish representants of Blueberry (the Swedish travel agency that I went through to get into this language school) came to see how we are doing here. They also wanted to see how couples solve the problem with living spaces. Since in Japan, at the guesthouses and study apartments, it's not quite alright to live together as a couple. It is also much, much quicker to get an apartment in Japan than in Sweden. Something that I would have liked to know before I came here.
After their visit we went out to eat dinner and then just randomly walked around town trying to explore parts we had not yet been to. And were we lucky or what? We randomly came upon this sort of festival when we rounded a corner. They had food, candy, contests, raffles, and much more. It was really entertaining!
Kyoto is beautiful by night. There are lights everywhere.
Wohoo! It's me!
Mats and Bella. Henric didn't want to be in the picture.
A shot of the stands from outside. They were on the sidewalk, and the road was free for walking (it had been cut off for traffic during this festival (?).
This was one of the most awesome things with it all. What you see here is Kurohige, a popular Japanese toy. What you see there in the middle is a (rare) alternate version, namely...
Hard Gay Kurohige! In our class Razor Ramon Hard Gay is mentioned at least once a day. The show is really popular in our class, it seems, and we make jokes and refer to it all the time. Even the teachers are joining in, haha. So seeing this made us incredibly happy. The episode where he invades Tomy and makes them create a Hard Gay Kurohige is hilarious. Seriously, watch it!
Another thing you could do there was to catch these little fish that you then got to take home in a plastic bag with water.
You could also try to catch mini turtles. You didn't get to keep them (to my disappointment). But rather you were supposed to try and catch as many as you could with your little landing net made out of paper before it broke. The more you could catch, the better the prize you got.
Random photo.
Mats used a cork rifle and tried for prizes. He really wanted a Doraemon figure for some reason. He almost shot the big one down but it just staggered and didn't fall down. But then he got the smaller one. He seems really happy, ne?
Yay! Little Doraemon.
This was some huge-ass temple that was the center of attention. We're not quite sure what they were going to do, but alot of Japanese men in white clothes with sort of bandanas wrapped around their heads gathered around it.
Then, last Sunday, we went to the Golden Pavilion - or Kinkaku-ji as the Japanese call it (although it's actual name is Rokuon-ji). It's really magnificent and clad with pure gold leaf. It's a shame that this isn't the original temple, as it was burnt down by a fanatic monk in the 1950's. This temple is the reconstruction that was finished 1955. We went there on such a beautiful day too. It was really breathtaking to see the gold shine and reflect in the water.
Me and Bella just inside the first gates. I won't go anywhere when it's sunny outside without my parasol. The UV index here is like 5 times what we have in Sweden, and I don't want cancer D: I already got some heat rashes last week. I actually fear the Japanese summer (it's only spring now). Kyoto is located in a valley with surrounding mountains. Which means that in the summer, living here is like being slowly boiled in a pot.
On the way in.
Me, Mats and Bella. It's the temple there behind us!
Here is a beautiful shot of the temple and the lake. In the sun there it almost looked a bit surreal.
And a shot of the temple from behind. You can really see the gold here. So beautiful!
Some shots of the surrounding vegetation. The small islands with trees on them were so pretty. I really love blue Irises too, they're one of my favourite flowers.:
This last shot is actually a turtle peeking up. They lived in the lake and took sunbaths on the small islands. There were also a whole lot of karps - like in Takaragaike.
This is one of the surrounding houses. You had to be signed up for a special tour to be allowed to take a look in there.
We walked along a pathway through the surrounding forest after we had looked at the temple itself. Then we spotted this cute bird.
Not sure what this is - but it was kinda cool!
This was kind of amusing. Japan's answer to wishing wells I guess. You were supposed to throw a coin and try to hit that little bowl. We did it with varying success (I was pretty close though).
Bella and Mats being cute.
Posing nicely.
Posing... not so nicely?
Drinking water. I loved the little spoon/cup that was made out of bamboo.
This was pretty cool. An outdoor tea salon (or what to call it). The red parasols and benches made a nice effect to the green forest background. It looked nice so we went there ourselves and ordered some green tea and dessert. It only cost ¥500 (~$5) after all.
And we were very pleased! It was sooo relaxing after walking around and with the heat and all.
Tea and dessert. This is real Japanese green tea. Sort of skimmed and a bit bitter. But combined with the sweet dessert it was sooo delicious!
Also, the desserts had gold leaf on them! They were truly a piece of art. See the shape of the Golden Pavilion on them too?
These cute girls dressed in kimono's came and sat beside us. So, we kindly asked if we could snap a photo of them. To which they happily agreed. I'd love to dress up in a kimono while staying here too. Maybe I should rent one for New Years?
A temple. People pull those ropes and a bell sounds.
We think these are prayers or wishes tied to those ropes. I remember seeing something like it in movies.
We also bought "written oracles". They're pretty similar to European horoscopes in their randomicity, haha.
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I've had to wait with this entry because I didn't have my camera with me on Sunday. So the one who took those photos was not me - but Mats.
Saturday we went to have an extra class in the day (I know, there must be something wrong with me). They have classes for teachers-to-be at our school too and they needed some "subjects" to practise teaching on. And we needed some extra practise of speaking Japanese. So we are to meet up every Saturday from now on to talk and also discuss grammatical things that we find difficult. It's actually alot of fun. These teacher aspirants are about our age too and we talk about alot of fun things.
After class we went back to Henric and Bella's apartment because some Swedish representants of Blueberry (the Swedish travel agency that I went through to get into this language school) came to see how we are doing here. They also wanted to see how couples solve the problem with living spaces. Since in Japan, at the guesthouses and study apartments, it's not quite alright to live together as a couple. It is also much, much quicker to get an apartment in Japan than in Sweden. Something that I would have liked to know before I came here.
After their visit we went out to eat dinner and then just randomly walked around town trying to explore parts we had not yet been to. And were we lucky or what? We randomly came upon this sort of festival when we rounded a corner. They had food, candy, contests, raffles, and much more. It was really entertaining!
Kyoto is beautiful by night. There are lights everywhere.
Wohoo! It's me!
Mats and Bella. Henric didn't want to be in the picture.
A shot of the stands from outside. They were on the sidewalk, and the road was free for walking (it had been cut off for traffic during this festival (?).
This was one of the most awesome things with it all. What you see here is Kurohige, a popular Japanese toy. What you see there in the middle is a (rare) alternate version, namely...
Hard Gay Kurohige! In our class Razor Ramon Hard Gay is mentioned at least once a day. The show is really popular in our class, it seems, and we make jokes and refer to it all the time. Even the teachers are joining in, haha. So seeing this made us incredibly happy. The episode where he invades Tomy and makes them create a Hard Gay Kurohige is hilarious. Seriously, watch it!
Another thing you could do there was to catch these little fish that you then got to take home in a plastic bag with water.
You could also try to catch mini turtles. You didn't get to keep them (to my disappointment). But rather you were supposed to try and catch as many as you could with your little landing net made out of paper before it broke. The more you could catch, the better the prize you got.
Random photo.
Mats used a cork rifle and tried for prizes. He really wanted a Doraemon figure for some reason. He almost shot the big one down but it just staggered and didn't fall down. But then he got the smaller one. He seems really happy, ne?
Yay! Little Doraemon.
This was some huge-ass temple that was the center of attention. We're not quite sure what they were going to do, but alot of Japanese men in white clothes with sort of bandanas wrapped around their heads gathered around it.
Then, last Sunday, we went to the Golden Pavilion - or Kinkaku-ji as the Japanese call it (although it's actual name is Rokuon-ji). It's really magnificent and clad with pure gold leaf. It's a shame that this isn't the original temple, as it was burnt down by a fanatic monk in the 1950's. This temple is the reconstruction that was finished 1955. We went there on such a beautiful day too. It was really breathtaking to see the gold shine and reflect in the water.
Me and Bella just inside the first gates. I won't go anywhere when it's sunny outside without my parasol. The UV index here is like 5 times what we have in Sweden, and I don't want cancer D: I already got some heat rashes last week. I actually fear the Japanese summer (it's only spring now). Kyoto is located in a valley with surrounding mountains. Which means that in the summer, living here is like being slowly boiled in a pot.
On the way in.
Me, Mats and Bella. It's the temple there behind us!
Here is a beautiful shot of the temple and the lake. In the sun there it almost looked a bit surreal.
And a shot of the temple from behind. You can really see the gold here. So beautiful!
Some shots of the surrounding vegetation. The small islands with trees on them were so pretty. I really love blue Irises too, they're one of my favourite flowers.:
This last shot is actually a turtle peeking up. They lived in the lake and took sunbaths on the small islands. There were also a whole lot of karps - like in Takaragaike.
This is one of the surrounding houses. You had to be signed up for a special tour to be allowed to take a look in there.
We walked along a pathway through the surrounding forest after we had looked at the temple itself. Then we spotted this cute bird.
Not sure what this is - but it was kinda cool!
This was kind of amusing. Japan's answer to wishing wells I guess. You were supposed to throw a coin and try to hit that little bowl. We did it with varying success (I was pretty close though).
Bella and Mats being cute.
Posing nicely.
Posing... not so nicely?
Drinking water. I loved the little spoon/cup that was made out of bamboo.
This was pretty cool. An outdoor tea salon (or what to call it). The red parasols and benches made a nice effect to the green forest background. It looked nice so we went there ourselves and ordered some green tea and dessert. It only cost ¥500 (~$5) after all.
And we were very pleased! It was sooo relaxing after walking around and with the heat and all.
Tea and dessert. This is real Japanese green tea. Sort of skimmed and a bit bitter. But combined with the sweet dessert it was sooo delicious!
Also, the desserts had gold leaf on them! They were truly a piece of art. See the shape of the Golden Pavilion on them too?
These cute girls dressed in kimono's came and sat beside us. So, we kindly asked if we could snap a photo of them. To which they happily agreed. I'd love to dress up in a kimono while staying here too. Maybe I should rent one for New Years?
A temple. People pull those ropes and a bell sounds.
We think these are prayers or wishes tied to those ropes. I remember seeing something like it in movies.
We also bought "written oracles". They're pretty similar to European horoscopes in their randomicity, haha.
I've had to wait with this entry because I didn't have my camera with me on Sunday. So the one who took those photos was not me - but Mats.