DAY 7: Untainted beauty.

Hi there~

Today was a real busy day again~
We went touring around Kyoto today~
Had a nice breakfast and left the Ryokan at 10am.
Had a taxi which could fit 5 of us take us around.
Talked with the Taxi driver and decided that we should visit the Golden Pavilion first (金閣寺 = KinKakuJi)
So he took us there~
There we saw a temple which was like… fully… GOLD!
Surrounded by a beautiful garden and pond.
Here are the pics and vids:

Then we proceeded to 竜安寺 (RyouAnJi)
Another temple.
This temple had the rock garden and other beautiful gardens all around~
Of course lots of beautiful sakura~
Here are the pics and vids:

This is a wash basin which is called "Tsukubai"
Apparently it has a square shape to represent 口.
So if you combine those 4 words at the side with 口, you will get "吾唯足知"which means "I learn only to be contented"
He who learns to be contented is spiritually rich, while one who does not learn to be contented is spiritually poor even if he is materially wealthy.
This concept is important in the Zen philosophy.

From there we proceeded to 嵐山(Arashi Yama = Storm Mountain)
What we saw there was just breath taking!
It was exactly like the scenery in Samurai X!!!
Pics:

Then we didn't have much time for lunch so we decided to buy some instant vending machine lunch meals.
It was only like ￥400 for one. Well it was kind of small so I bought another one~
Here is the pic of it~:

Then we got into the taxi and he took us for a drive around Arashiyama and also took us into the bamboo growth Place also known as 竹やぶ(take yabu).
Apparently, they film a lot of samurai or olden days dramas and movies here in this bamboo growth.
They also film a lot of those shows in this little village which was kept to look like how the villages where in the olden days.
We passed by that village on the way.
Vid (sorry for the vids gotta wait for a while… I need to get a video converter):

After that we proceeded to NijouJou 二条城(Nijo Castle)
Over there, we were allowed to walk all around the castle and inside the living quarters of the War Lord who lived there, Shogun Ieyasu.
Apparently the floors in the castle were designed in such a way that when you walk on it, it will make a sound.
And with so many people walking on it you can hear it clearly.
The floor is called Nightingale.
The sound which is produced when it is being stepped, is like a bird chirping!
It's really fascinating.
It was actually designed this was so that Ieyasu will know when there are any intruders.
Then we were also allowed to go up to the watch tower.
You can really see everything from there.
These pics are of the garden which belonged to Ieyasu.

Left Nijoujou and proceeded to the Manga Museum!
A dangerous place for me to go… @_@
Anyways, went there to see what it is all about.
When I was in there, my jaw dropped.
There was this whole timeline of mangas which was from 1945 till 2005.
The time line was like this 5 meter tall shelves all next to each other all round the big hall, filled with manga books!
And we found out that the museum was actually a primary school before.
They revamped the whole place.
You should go read about it~

After that, we went back to the hotel and had our dinner which was Nabe!
Nabe is like steamboat.
They forgot to serve our dessert which they eventually gave us later in the night.
Our dessert was Black Sesame Ice-cream and orange jelly.
Too bad I don't have any pictures of it.
This was really comfort food compared to the night before!
We were all full and contented~

That night we were too tired so we didn't go anywhere.
We just stayed in our room and relaxed.
Watched some TV.
Watched an old English movie which was like totally dubbed in Japanese.
It was quite funny~ ;p

Then everyone slept.
I watched TV till I slept cause the TV is just above my head~
Tomorrow I'm off to Osaka~
A new adventure~

DAY 6: Departures and Meetings

Hi there~
Today was my last morning with the Suzukis… =( This is the Suzuki's little plantation behind their house~
Woke up at the same time as Reina which was at 6.30am
She needed to leave to her dance camp.
Had breakfast with her and her mom and her grandpa.
Then we said our goodbyes and she left for camp.
She just had to cry *tears*
Apparently she couldn't stop crying.
Sigh… oh well… I WILL BE BACK IN 2 YEARS!

So that was that, then I went to pack my bags.
Yurina woke up just in time to eat and get ready.
Then Yurina, Reina's mom and me left the house at 9.30 and drove to the train station.
From there we rode the train to the Nagoya station.
From Nagoya station we took the bullet-train to Kyoto station.
Then we bought Eki-ben! To eat on the train.
Eki 駅 = Station , ben is the short form for bento 弁と.
So to put it together, you get Ekiben~~
Here is a pic of it:

It is cheap, small but… FILLING!
If you notice, there is an egg there.
That egg actually contains half boil eggs.
So imagine this, you need to crack an half boil egg in a Bullet-train~ how fun it that?
And I tell you, the shell was HARD!
Then we reached Kyoto station, we went to activate my messaging service for my phone.
Then we took a taxi to the Ryokan.
Gion Fukuzumi.
There Yurina and her mom waited with me until my Aunt and Uncle and my cousins arrived.
Once they arrived, Yurina and her mom took their leave.
*sobs*

We then left our luggage at the lobby and left for lunch.
I already had my ekiben so I was full~
The rest had their lunch.
Then we walked past this nicely done up street.
Here is like a short video of it:

After that we proceeded to the Zen Temple :
Walked around and saw many beautiful zen gardens and absorbed the peacefulness around the place~
Here are the pics and the vids:
After that we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.
Dinner was… wow… that's all I can say.
Here is a vid of the lady preparing our dinner:

It was really extravagant. The kind of food served was too sophisticated for my taste buds.
Anyways ate as much as possible … swallowed about 40%... rice was my back up…
Then we left to see the Sakuras lighted up along the street at night.
It was really beautiful!
Here are some pics and vids:
Then we proceeded back to the Ryokan which I found out was in the red light district.
We saw this group of guys walking out from on the lady host club.
One of the guys was DRUNK!
I can't believe I'm seeing this real life.
Only watched it in dramas~
Anyways, we stayed as far as possible from the whole group of them and proceeded back to our ryokan.
When we reached, we found all our 5 futons laid ready for us.

Then we took our baths and slept.
Tomorrow was going to be a full day~
And I'm kind of like a translator for the next 2 days~
Nights everyone~

DAY 5: High School Experience Part 2 + Last day with the SUZUKIs

Hi there~

Today I woke up at………… 12pm…. * runs and hides in a far away corner*
Sigh… I can't believe I woke up that late… and to think that I was still so tired… ><

So… again… my breakfast became lunch… ><
On top of that, Yurina cooked fried rice with tuna~~~ <3
It was yummY~
Had that with miso soup and left over breakfast~

Then we left to see Reina's practise.
Reina's mom drove us to Reina's school.
There, Yurina took me to the hall.
It was…… HUGE!!!
Just like in all those anime and dramas…
I really feel like I'm part of all those high school mangas that I have read.
Anyways, today Reina had a dance work shop.
So I watched their practise until it finished.
During that time, I got to know Yurina's seniors who were there too to take a look and give advice.
Then during the practise the workshop instructor wanted to watch some videos of the school's past performances so they went into the staff room.
Guess what? They invited me to go in and watch too!! @_@
I really can't believe how lucky I was.
Although… it was really awkward but WHO CARES MAN~~~
Then the workshop instructor left and Reina had her meeting which was to discuss about her Dance Training Camp which will be from the 1^st till the 3^rd.
For some reason… the meeting dragged on for 3 hours and for some reason…………. I got involved in the meeting!! @_@
What a day… @_@
But it was really interesting
The main topic in the meeting was, What is the meaning of :

1. To believe in your self
2. To believe in your team mates
3. To believe in your teacher
   

It was really deep and awesome stuff which teachers in Malaysia will rarely have the patience to sit down for 3 hours to help guide their students to achieve their goals.
I only remember my parents guiding me through this but never a teacher.
So this topic made me feel a little nostalgic and I missed my mom and dad!

Hmm… yea so that finished at about 7.30pm
Then Reina's father picked us up from Reina's school and we went to have dinner in Echizen~!
Echizen is a restaurant which I have ate in before 2 and a half years ago when I first came to Japan and had my home stay with Reina.
So they brought us all there and we had dinner there.
The food was just as awesome as it was 2 and a half years back.
Sadly… the restaurant will soon be replaced by a steak House… *cries*
It's not fair! That restaurant has such important memories for me!
Anyways, it was my treat for them that night.
Here are some videos and pictures:

I had the honour of puring sake for Reina's granpa~

Then we went home.
On the way back, we bought Hagen Dazz ice-cream~~
Apparently, Hagen Dazz ice-cream is normal ice-cream for them in Japan.
They can buy it everyday for all they care.
So… awesome @_@
So they were shocked when I told them that I only get to eat it like twice a year.
So… yea this marks the last day I have with the Suzukis… *cries*

Tomorrow I will be off to Kyoto to meet my aunt and uncle and cousins from Australia~
They are also spending a week in Japan~

DAY 4 : Japanese High School Experience Part 1

Today I woke up at… 10.30am :P

Everyone was out so Reina's mom left Breakfast for me which… I ate as brunch XD
Then Reina's mom returned to finish up her Job.
Her colleague came over to help with the work.
I think it was something like distribution of some flyers and such.
Her colleague was a really interesting person!

She talked real fast!! My poor ears and head…
I tried to keep up but could only catch about 40%... sadness…
Anyways, Reina's mom told her that I want to do CG in Japan.
She was SOOO HAPPY!!
She suddenly stuck out her right hand and asked me to shake hands with her!
She was so happy cause she also studied CG and now her other job involves CG.
She shook my hands and was SOOO excited about it!
Reina's mom was like… "Kelli… So sorry that you had to meet another strange Japanese person…"
She's been saying that a lot!
Really… I'm so glad that I came here.
I got to meet all these interesting people.
Then they left to finish distributing everything.

I was alone at home again with Reina's grandpa.
Reina's grandpa was watching TV in his room.
I then decided to tune my violin.
I knew it was going to be out of tune since it was really cold the past few days.
So I tuned it and practised a little.

Then Reina's mom came back and I got ready to follow Reina's mom to watch Reina's Dance performance~!
It was in a civic hall.
It was really interesting as I have said in my previous post.
There were performances from all the 1^st and 2^nd years.
They were all split into groups of 1, 2 or 3s.
Then they will pick the best 5 dances which will be used in the future for their dance club.
Sadly, Reina's group didn't get selected.
I took a video of it but I think I'm not allowed to post it up here… sorry about that…
But it's alright, it was a good experience.
Besides that, I realised ALL the mothers knew each other!!
There were probably over 20 mothers there?
In Malaysia I think it would be a totally different story…

After the whole event, they left the place and went to the PTA president's house which was nearby.
It was a really big house considering Japanese standards.
And it was really nice too~
But I felt really awkward I guess…
So all the parents involved in the PTA organisation had their meeting and all the daughters of the parents went to another room downstairs.
The owner's daughter is Reina's senior.
So the parents had their meeting upstairs and the daughters had their own talk downstairs.
I couldn't believe what I was experiencing.
I was actually involved in a high school girls talk~!
They talked about everything from their performances to their funny moments and etc.
Again, I was there trying to keep up with everything.
Their talking speed can beat the speed of the machine gun I tell you!
At that moment, I also thought about the Dash Ones back home…
I miss you all!
I miss the hours of talking we had amongst each other everyday~
But anyways, I still consider myself lucky cause if I came a year earlier or a year later, I wouldn't have this chance.
So this continued of… 3 hours @_@
Plus the small room which fit the 10 of us and a table and many other things around us, didn't have a heater…
And for some reason, that night was really EXTREMELY COLD!!
After that 3 hours, we left the room and went out side…
It was COLD!!! Gosh… I swear… I was shivering from head to toe and my teeth was chattering so badly!

Anyways~~~ We went to AEON for dinner.
Had Italian food.
Two other friends and their moms joined us.
So it was another experience.
Then we went home.
And that was it for the day~~~

Tomorrow I'm going to see Reina's dance practise~~! That also means I get to see the inside of Reina's school~
It's a really beautiful school~