Of All the People, in All the Places in the World

Today I was in the library at the study abroad program puttering away on my laptop, procrastinating and using the internet. I was also doing some work - I am going to lead a part of the class tomorrow so I figured a powerpoint presentation will help a bit, since I still have nerves about talking in front of people.

I print, and head down to Prof. S's office to show it to him. I knock on the door, and see him talking with a petite Japanese woman. She looks...familiar.

We both realized it at the same time - she was my old Japanese teacher from when I started Japanese waaaay back in January 2003 at the Japan Society. I continued with her for about a year, then I went off to London. Oh my god! Of all the places in the world - Kyoto and in particular in Prof. S's office to see my old Japanese language teacher. Prof. S explained what I was doing and in particular why I was in his office - "course assistant."

I waited outside until the two of them were done with their meeting. At first, I thought she was coming here to be a new Japanese language teacher, but turns out she is now at another school and the representative for the school since some of their students are here. After getting over our initial shock, we compared notes.

She asked how Mel was doing; when I began studying Japanese, I dragged him along, and she taught the both of us and knew we were a couple. She asked if I was married (guess she saw something on my finger) and told her I was engaged, and to him as well.

We exchanged emails, and I told her I would email her some photos of my time in Japan. I still can't believe it! So surprising, but a nice one too. She is a good teacher.

The Sun is Always Brighter on the Other Side

Firstly, I want to say thanks to two people who helped me regarding yesterday's post - Saisquoi and Libby, you totally rock and thanks to you, I feel so much better now.

Unfortunately, it looks like Thailand is off the hook - Deena is the process of getting a job and is thisclose to getting one - and I liked how she used "we" to refer to me and her in terms of what she wants to do in the future (something in library sciences possibly). So that's good, I'm happy for her.

So, unless certain person A reads my blog (and by the time CPA does, the previous post will probable be at the bottom of the page now that I am back in blogging gear and got that off my chest) CPA will not know about my rant which is all the better. I did mention to CPA about Singapore for Christmas...I was looking at some places and emailed a quick note to Ingram if he was interested.

I am listening to NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" right now via my iTunes podcasts and I totally forgot about Taiwan, since they just mentioned it. Taiwan seems to be like China, but more managable, maybe? Options, options. Hong Kong looks to be for February regardless of whether or not I go to Australia (though that would be an awesome plus!). Then there is the Philippines to with Mel - oh dear I am going to be SO broke when I get back home...but it will be worth it in the end, I think.

A lot of people have gone through the same thing that I am going through now, so I just really can't sit on my bum and go "woe is me." I need to be proactive. That said, on the agenda for the future (I looked at the Kyoto Event's Web Magazine for things going on for the next three months):

1) Antiques Grand Fair this Sunday
2) Interesting field trips for my class that I am the CA for
3) Maybe a trip to Okinawa/Hokkaido with some of my students/classmates?
4) Japanese language classes start up next week at Kyodai
5) Need to blog on the Kyoto Botanical Garden
6) Fall Light-Ups at the Temples (and a VERY delayed post on last March's Spring Light-Up for context, and another delayed post on Shirahama)
7) I need to go to Osaka to get Kate Spade refills for my organizer (yeah yeah, I know I can get a cheaper refill but KS is so pretty! And I am a stationary whore). And I want to go to the Umeda Sky Building.
8) Random free festivals at Shinto Shrines
9) Momiji Madness Month (aka people go gaga for fall leaves in November)
10) More flea markets
11) TRY to see Kabuki in December
12) Check out a Sake Museum possibly
13) Get my bum over to Kobe for the Illuminarie in December and eat Kobe beef!!!
14) I get to play teacher November 22, when I give a lecture to my students/classmates on expositions in the Meiji period
15) Oh yeah...grad apps.

KICKIN'!!! And Knittin'

This is just so awesome!!!

First, my old advisor from Fordham comes to Kyoto on his way to China and I meet up with him.

Second, he tells me that he will write me a rec letter for grad school.

Third, my advisor over at Rits agrees to write me a rec letter.

Fourth, my advisor back from London agrees to write me a rec letter...and is currently in Osaka for the next nine months. I will probably get to meet up with him in the first time in about two years - June 2005 was the last time I saw him.

That is just so kickin'! If it weren't for London advisor, I would not really be here right now. He was the one that told me about my scholarship, let me sit in on his grad class as a junior and helped me start my undergrad thesis which is now my research project.

Fifthly, I finished my first ball of yarn for Alisa's scarf, and it is now about 21cm. I forgot what that was in inches, but I have 10 40g balls of this stuff and I did the math - it will be just about 6 to 6.5 feet. I am going to add tassels, just to funk it up a bit.

I even mastered the skill of adding on another piece of yarn from a new ball - granted its the same color, but whatever. My Knit Knack kit suggests that one way to do it is to "knit with both strands for 2 or 3 stitches, to secure it then continue to work with the new yarn alone...weave loose ends later into the knit fabric." Well, I just did my first knitting mod (to me at least) - instead of leaving loose ends, I just kept knitting with both strands till I had no more of the old yarn. No loose ends to weave in later! Saves a step.

Unfortunately, the one non-kickin'is is my GSPS - Grad School Personal Statement. Remember that acronym! It feels quite messy, but I will try to finish something of the sort tomorrow to type up and print.

"I'll Be There for You..."

The "Friends" theme song is running through my head. I am thinking about how lucky I am to have such good friends here. When I was in England, I felt like I really couldn't relate to anyone and as such, felt very much like the odd one out. Here, I was able to make friends here and relate to them and feel like yes, I do belong here, yes this is going to be a great time, and yes, I will keep in touch with these people even after I leave.

This was further amplified today when Chen, who is now a full fledged master's student, helped me out with library issues. The Ritsumeikan library obviously is at Ritsumeikan and is very far away and I was not really planning to make the trip on the weekends and figured I would study elsewhere like Starbucks on the weekends. She said that she now has her old library card from when she was a research student and her new ID card with the master's designation (which is also a library card). I had asked her if she could check out a book for me beforehand (Rits doesn't have some books I need, and Colleen also helped me out with this) and when she said that she now has two ID cards, I asked her if it was OK if I could use her old one (which actually expires in 2008) and she lent her old library card to me, just asking me to let her know if I am going to borrow books. (I only plan to get books out of Kyodai if they aren't at Rits).

I am very grateful for that, in that I can use the Kyodai library on the weekends and won't really have to schlep about since Rits is pretty far. All I need is a place to sit where it is quiet and nearby. I COULD have moved to that neck fo the woods, but the only thing there is school, and I am 15 minutes away from downtown where I live now. And all my friends are here. Of course, I will make new friends at Rits (and I have made one) but I like my Kyodai friends alot.

Not only will they get me into the library, they helped me out at salsa when I needed it. (^_~)

Now, Isn't that Cute?

Amongst all the cute Hello Kitty products and stationary in Japan, an interesting tidbit:

I share my birthday with HIH Princess Aiko of Japan.

Spring is in the Air...

The weather was so gorgeous that I could not stay in my apartment. The sun was shining, the air was (sort of) warm, the plum blossoms were blooming and I was sick and tired of being cooped up due to the cold weather.

Hooray! Spring is (almost) here!

On Friday, I had lunch outside on the terrace at Rune/Lune (however you pronounce it) with Colleen and some of the KCJS kids - it was so nice that I decided that instead of staying in my apartment, I was going to get my book, and ride my bike to the Imperial Park and read it there.

It was still a bit nippy but if you were in a sunny spot, then all was well. I found a seat in a picnic area with benches and tables; turned my back against the table, faced the outside (so that my back was supported by the table) and proceeded to try and continue "Memory and the Mediterranean" by Braudel.

There were a few other people in the little area that I was in: an elderly couple eating lunch, a gaijin reading a book as well, and two Japanese men. There was also this cat, lying on one of the benches that was carved out of a tree trunk; at first, I thought it was dead or sick because it was just lying so still and calmy in spite of the fact that there was a man on the same bench. Turns out, the cat had quite a "ho-hum" attitude about the people around him; even when the other foriegner when he sat next to the cat tickled him with a leaf, the cat didn't hiss or run away, just got up, turned around and settled himself back to sleep. Ho-hum.

Today, the weather was even better, so I went to the Kamo River (Kamogawa) and took with me "Mao: The Unknown Story," and my lunch for a me-myself-and-I picnic. Found a bench, parked my bike and plopped myself down and read my book for about 2 hours or so, and even took a nap in the sun with the book as a pillow (the book is about 6 inches thick, 1000pages) for a few minutes. Unfortunately, the weatehr forecast says that it's going to go back down to 40 degrees, so one can only enjoy the weather for as long as it lasts.

One Fine Day

Saturday was such I nice day and for once, I did not have anything planned. No "To Do Lists" no laundry, no cleaning of apartment (postponed to the day before I leave for Korea) no grocery shopping.

Nothing, nothing.

I was faced with the prospect of a somewhat quiet day in my apartment playing Final Fantasy on my DS or piddling away on the internet, when I remembered that there was a special exhibition of the Imperial Palace screens at the Kyoto National Musuem. It ends on the 18th and since I will be in Korea then, Saturday was a very good day to go, indeed. I woke up in the morning and it was sunny and clear.

I rode my bike down to Shichi-jo and was very proud of myself, as I wasn't huffing, puffing or sweating like a pig when I finally arrived. Even though it was the 2nd Saturday of the month where the museum was free (2nd and 4th Saturdays), I paid 800yen (student discount) so that I could attend the special exhibition.


The special exhibition hall was extremely crowded and quiet at the same time. There wasn't much in English - just the title of the screen and who made it - so after a quick glance at the placard and then a look at the screens I moved on. There were audio guides but they were in Japanese as well.

I went to the main collections hall and was politely reminded that there was no photography, even when I was just outside the galleries. Pfft. Oh well. The museum overall was no Met but it was enjoyable. I thought it was going to be alot bigger, but I covered it all in about 2 hours.

After the museum, I began to make my trek back uptown but made an impromptu stop at Yasaka Jinja. The day was really nice so I figured it was a good time to check the shrine out. I stopped at a stall and got some takoyaki and was treated to a pleasant scene: a traditional Japanese wedding complete with the bride in head-to-toe white kimono with a demure and yet melancholic look at the same time.

I then headed up to San-jo where I went to Ogawa Coffee and had a cappucino and a green tea roll cake. I worked on reading "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in Japanese while at the cafe. I stayed there for about an hour and then had a realization: Book-Off, the discount bookstore that also has a branch in NYC was right across the river from Ogawa and on my way home. I had been meaning to get "Memoirs of a Geisha" in Japanese so I went to check out and see if they had it. After a little difficulty, I got both parts of the book (in Japan, books are small so they break larger books into little pieces) and even picked up "The Joy Luck Club" for 105yen.

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.