People! Visit Me! That's an Order!

Japanese Lesson #5:

Ginkakuji: The Silver Pavillion (that is not really Silver, since they ran outta money back in the day to make it silver plated, as a contrast to Kinkakuji).
Momiji: Japanese maple trees, when they turn vibrant colors that are even better than the trees in New England.

Because I was lazy last week, I had neglected to mention one very important thing.

I had visitors!

This is I hope the first round of many. To the college mates - you can stay with me!
(And that means you Elisa, even if you have to take a sedative to survive the flight.)

:::My audience scratches their heads - Already? You have been there less than a month!:::

Not just any visitors. Cool visitors, to be exact.

My Aunt Stella and Uncle George came from Greece. They aren't really my aunt an uncle by blood, that is - Uncle George is my dad's best friend from childhood, and he has known me since I was born. They used to visit alot when I was younger, but the last time I saw them was back in 2002, when I went to Greece with my mom and my sister.

They were in Okayama for a conference (Uncle George is a biochemist, so he is another academic hero of mine, even though it is totally different fields) so they decided to come to Kyoto for a few days after the conference. Total coincidence - they knew I got the scholarship to Japan, but they didn't know what city I was in or when I was going. Through the grapevine that is known as "The Family in Thessaloniki," they found out that I was in Kyoto the same time that they were going to visit. So Uncle George emailed me and we set up a time to meet up last Monday.

It was fun. I took them to the tonkatsu restaurant that Deena and I went to on my second day in Kyoto (the one at Kyoto Station - it's SOO good! I am going to take EVERYONE there) and they enjoyed it alot. Uncle George and Aunt Stella like to take alot of pictures; if that is one thing that I remember growing up it's that I had alot of pictures with them whenever they visited.

I told them what's going on with me (engaged, scholarship, plans for grad school, etc. etc.) and updated on the "NYC Family." On Tuesday I didn't meet up with them since they went sightseeing all day, but on Wednesday, we went to Ginkakuji before my class at 1pm.

The landscaping of Ginkakuji is gorgeous. Very Zen-like. Uncle George didn't like it because it wasn't like Kinkakuji. However, at Ginkakuji, I can get a more serene feeling out of it. Maybe because it wasn't sivler, so it was more "in harmony" with the natural surroundings. The silver plating would make it stand out ALOT.

Still, I plan to visit both places after a good snow. I saw pictures and it's gorgeous, so I hope to see it for real. And in the fall when the momiji turn colors and in the spring for "Sakura Madness." It's still very warm here - 70 degrees!! - so the leaves haven't changed yet.