kelsey goes to japan!

2008-04-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

WOAH that last post is probably the only time you will see me using proper capitalization, aside from professional work emails... that is so weird. i did it without even noticing!

pictures from shojoshin-in and okuno-in at mt koya

2008-04-10T08:45:00.001-07:00

buddhist statue at okuno-in

pyramid of doll icons at okuno-in

nicole and i jumping in the forest!

traditional japanese rock garden

me in my full kesa robe

temple garden at shojoshin-in

okuno-in at mt koya

offerings at okuno-in

2008-04-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

I woke up feeling surprisingly refreshed... I think it was the onsen bath before bedtime! So we all woke up, ate some vegan macrobotic "brunch" (its lunch food, people in Japan don't eat breakfast!) and decided to get an early start on the trek to Mt. Koya.

The train ride was pretty long, and Tesni and I sat on the sunny side... We had an excellent view of all the small villages passing by. It was nice to see countryside Japan for awhile after being surrounded by the lights and sounds of Shinsaibashi! I drifted in and out of daydreams and naps, but was really anxious to visit Koyasan. In planning our trip, Tesni and Nicole kept asking me what kinds of things I wanted to do while I was in Japan... Since I didn't really consult any travel books and didn't know *too* much about Japan, I didn't have many suggestions. The usual, karaoke, photobooth, peace sign pictures at tourist spots, mostly hanging out with my friends... oh and A TEMPLE STAY. Ideally, I would have liked to spend the entire time in Japan at a temple... ok, maybe not really, but the thought is just so peaceful and seems typically Japanese to me. Buddhist temples are such a major part of traditional Japan, and I was anxious to experience that for myself.

As soon as the train stopped, I could feel that Koya was going to be an amazing time. We took this cable car up to the top of the mountain, and then got on a city bus to take us right to the ryokan. When we got to our temple, Shojoshin-in, we had to take off our shoes and put on our temple slippers, which we wouldn't take off for most of the time. No locks for your shoe box, just out in the open. Its nice to think that I didn't even consider "would someone steal my shoes?" until right now. Most of Japan is like that, just honor system. I'm sure some people take advantange of it, but I like thinking that there are still places in the world that can run that way.

We filled out our paperwork and got the lay of the temple, there was a rush to retreat to the rooms since we were anxious to relax. Well, that sounds strange. Not anxious, but relieved! The atmosphere of the temple was so peaceful, filled with sounds of running water and birds chirping around the gardens. There was a traditional Japanese rock garden and another mossy green area with plenty of flora and fauna to admire from the balcony in your room.

The rooms were simplistic bliss, very traditional Japanese architecture and design style. Bamboo walls, Japanese wall hangings, sliding doors, futon beds and my very first kotatsu! Kotatsu is a coffee table that is heated underneath where you put your legs... genius! Apparently a lot of older people go to the hospital with severe kotatsu burns though... yikes. And Nicole said people have told her sometimes they sleep under their kotatsu in the winter time. Sounds cozy!

While Adam kept reading his book and napped, I went over to Tesni and Nicole's room to have an afternoon tea session. It was so nice to be on the other side of the world with two of my wonderful friends, enjoying a cup of tea in one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to. Bliss! We talked until dinner time, and went downstairs at 5pm for our first shôjin ryôri, which is a traditional and typical Buddhist dinner. All vegan, much to Tesni and Nicole's delight! And Adam's dismay... hahaha. Lots of random root vegetables, pickled plums, broth soups and of course, white rice and green tea!

After dinner, we all went back to Tesni and Nicole's room to relax to the max. We pushed their futons together and just took a group nap, or group rest... whatever you want to call it. At about 8pm, I decided to go back to the room to read or something, but ended up falling asleep. That's right, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you, I went to bed at 8pm. Sounds crazy, but I think I was so relaxed, my body just wanted to rest and enjoy the deepest sleep. It was also important because we had to wake up to the bells at 6am for the morning ceremony! Tesni and Nicole had set some kind of alarm so we would have enough time to get ready in the morning...

So I woke up in the morning to the sound of the bells they ring 5 mins before the morning ceremony is to begin. I suppose it is a kind of warning like, start walking now! But I was totally out of it and I'm like, how come Tesni and Nicole haven't woken us up yet? Oh no, maybe they're not awake yet! Sure enough, they were still asleep and I was in a frenzy like, AHHH WAKE UP! I really didn't want to be late to the ceremony, but we hurried and were only about 2-3 mins behind schedule and other people came in after we did, so it was ok. I think for the first half of the ceremony we were all still asleep, but it was very impressive. Two monks chanted from their prayer books and ushered us through a part of the ceremony that visitors were allowed to participate in. We each got to kneel down and close our eyes in prayer, asking for a hope or dream to be fufilled. I don't know if sharing my hope would be like jinxing it, but I was pleased with my thoughts.

After the ceremony was over, we were ushered back to our dining rooms for breakfast. This morning shôjin ryôri was similar to our dinner, so I am still not sure what Japanese eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It always seems like vegetables, broth and rice to me! I would definitely miss breakfast sandwiches if I lived in Japan, they don't know what they are missing!

Adam left after breakfast because he was going to head to the southern part of Japan for a bike race, and then back to Tokyo to catch his plane home. Our goodbye was sad, but couldn't have asked for nicer surroundings, and the memories of this incredible trip together! What a surprise! I still kind of can't believe that my best friend showed up in Japan to surprise me. I don't think anyone will ever be able to top that, although I am encouraging that everyone try. I love surprises!

And then there were three... Tesni, Nicole and I took to the forest, through the cemetary to one of the most beautiful Buddhist shrines I have ever seen. No pictures were allowed past the cemetary, so I missed out on a lot of good shots, but I suppose that is what your brain is for. Every once in awhile, its ok to leave the camera out of it and just take in every thing you see...

I was definitely loving the endless greenery we were seeing in Koyasan, but after awhile it was time to head back to Osaka and meet up with Jordan! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

pictures from karaoke & indie dance night

2008-04-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

tesni, nicole, jeremy, adam and mika singing karaoke

adam and i dancing at indie dance night!

the boys getting wild... oh, hello tesni!

double peace times in osaka!

getting clazy on the streets of shinsaibashi

2008-04-10T07:11:00.000-07:00

now that we were rolling five deep, we knew it would be the perfect night to rage in osaka. tesni called mika and got her on the party train. after some puri kura (i have been spelling it wrong, my bad!) photos and playing this drum game we decided to KARAOKE. that was one of my essential must-do activities in japan. i mean, lost in translation is one of my favorite flicks and ultimate inspiration for any and all things related to the japan trip!

we haggled a price of about $16 pp for an hour and a half of karaoke fun and unlimited drinks so once we got settled into the room (shoes off, party attitude on) we started ordering whatever we could think of and adding songs to the queue. lets just say it was the most fun we had in japan, i think. you know, party fun times wise. what could be better than singing cheesy songs with a bunch of your best friends in japan?!! when jeremy sang born in the USA and the cocktail waiter came in during the line "...to kill the yellow man" i lost my mind. CLAZY. guess you had to be there!

after an hour and a half, we stayed for another thirty minutes just because we wanted to sing some more mariah carey and beastie boys. i took a million pictures, brought the karaoke to the bathrooms, played air guitar on tesni's leg and did group vocals to a wu-tang song... good times.

once we were done with karaoke, we hit up the combini for some more drinks. open containers on the streets of shinsaibashi is still weird, but its legal so whatever. when in japan... etc. tesni called john and got the scoop on the dance night and on our way, we picked up a japanese dude who was like "crub? crub?" yeah dude, we are gonna get clunk in the crub, come chill with us! so we brought along our friend and went to the only indie dance night in western japan. once we paid our 1500 yen (!!! yeah $15 !!!) we got inside and john was like "oh man, i was just going to text you and say how lame it is and that you guys shouldn't come" well, TOO LATE! we already brought the party!

instead of calling it a night, we all took to the dance floor on a mission to make this thing fun and it wasn't that hard. i had tesni, adam, nicole, jeremy, mika, john, john's friends and random japanese dude who joined our group and we just raged. it felt like being in a club in the UK, pretty much all brit pop songs with the occasional US-wannabe-UK dance song playing. eventually the DJ started taking requests from us since we were the people who brought the party back. the smiths, le tigre, vampire weekend, etc. i was in heaven! again, took a million pictures, joked on people drinking zima, dance dance dance... so much fun.

after party time, we all went back to the capsule. the boys went to bed and us girls went to the onsen baths!!!!! nothing like bathing with your girl friends after a clazy night and a couple drinks!

gotta sleep well because the next morning was our trip to koyasan. time to detox and get heavy!

2008-04-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

once we had tesni in tow, our group was coming together nicely. the four of us woke up fairly early and took the JR to nara. tesni had been to the deer park there before, and gave it an incredible recommendation -- so we had to do it. i mean, feeding deer in the open? yes, please!

we walked up to the area where the deer were and saw tons of little guys (and girls!) just milling around. at first we were all kind of creeped out because the "festival" where they cut off the antlers had just happened, so a lot of them had wax tips on the nubs where their antlers had once been... some of them had rubbed the wax off though, and it was just like an open bloody stub. barf! so i'm like, ok lets get these deer some cookies. we hit up a cookie stand and the deer were going bonkers. they obviously know what to do, act real innocent until they see you are going to buy them some treats and then they get excited! tesni was freaked because the deer were just going for her, so she dropped the cookies and ran. nicole was doing a good job until the deer decided the cookies weren't enough and went after her jacket! haha... priceless. i kept my cookies long enough to get comfortable with the deer and it worked out well because i didn't flip out. i just fed each deer, and it was kind of nice, but they get really aggressive quickly!

after walking a bit more, and we came upon a really nice traditional pagoda. perfect pit stop for a jumping picture! adam agreed to take the picture while us girls jumped... i accidentally got a little too close to nicole, and a bit too extreme with my jump ended up kicking her in the shin which caused her to fall on the ground. its funny now, and it was even funny at the time. nicole can attest! i didn't mean it and i am still sorry nicole, but that was funny. whew!

jeremy had planned on meeting us in nara, so once we got the call saying he had arrived at the nara train station, we decided to chill at the temple gates to wait for him. once he showed up, we were now five strong and ready to see the todai-ji temple! it is apparently the biggest wooden building in the world? and another unesco world heritage site! i keep checking them off my list on this trip to japan. it houses the "great big buddha" which is this colossal bronze statue, definitely incredible. flanked by temple warriors, there was a lot to look at and several information points with "simply stated" (lol jeremy) historical facts.

there is also this wooden column with a cut out where you are supposed to try and slide through... if you can make it, it means you will have a long life or a wonderful life or something. well, its not fair because only children and small women can fit through it! actually, i could have probably fit, but i wasn't about to get stuck. even the thought of getting stuck in some wooden contraption in the middle of japan makes me shiver now... but tesni and nicole tried it, and succeeded! nicole required a little bit of jeremy's help because we were all laughing so hard, but i got some quality pictures. good times at todai-ji!

2008-04-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

japan continued...

ok so our secondday in kyoto got off to a rainy start. luckily, j-hoppers had several umbrellas for hostel use which was really nice. umbrellas are only about $3-6, but i didn't want to spend money on something i would only use for (hopefully) that day. so i picked out a cute navy blue one with bright blue and red polka dots. it just so happened i was wearing bright blue jeans and a red hoodie, so it matched my outfit perfectly!

we had picked out a couple spots we wanted to see around kyoto and looked at several maps to come up with the best plan of attack. we figured if we hit up the torii gates in the north and took the bus back to kiyomizudera, then we might be able to get to the golden temple before tesni came. so we grabbed our umbrellas and hit the streets to get to fushimi inari taisha.

fushimi inari is a shrine with thousands of donated torii gates. merchants and manufacturers have donated them in hopes of incredible wealth... kinda wack if you ask me, but i guess everyone has to wish for something! there were several large shrines, and several small ones tucked away along the path. we took some mary poppins inspired jumping pictures in front of the torii and i took a .gif file set of nicole doing cartwheels down the torii path, amazing. somewhere along the way, we fell off the path and ended up in a small neighborhood setting. maybe where the people who tend to the landscape of the shrines live or something? i got my first hot cocoa from a vending machine and we enjoyed the scenery while the rain drizzled on...

we took the train back to the center of town and ate lunch at... guess! mos burger! when in doubt, mos it out. i got my normal burdock rice burger thing, as did nicole. adam was daring enough to try the a-spiceee-mos-a-cheeburger. he said it wasn't so spicy, i think the japanese are afraid of real spice. except for wasabe, that's a whole different beast.

after lunch, we hopped on the bus again to head to kiyomizudera - a buddhist temple and unesco world heritage site. it is high up on stilts and looks over a really lush green canopy of trees. apparently it used to be the cool thing to jump off the platform at kiyomizu (they say their phrase "jump off the platform at kiyomizu" is the english equivalent of "take the plunge") and if you landed, your wish would be granted. now people go to pray and drink the sacred three waters hoping for health, longevity and success in studies. nicole and adam waited in line to drink the water, i stayed back to take pictures. we walked the short loop and it began to rain harder, so we thought we should probably head back to the hostel.

we didn't get to go to the golden temple, but its ok... the rain was so horrible, we just wanted to go back to the hostel so we could let our shoes dry out. tesni was coming around dinner time so while adam stayed behind to finish his book, nicole and i went shopping. we oogled the japanese fashion trends and found a lot of lol-worthy shirts and i took pictures of the heels & boots. we finally found a bookstore and nicole worked her magic skills to find the japanese photography section so that i could find the books that andrew had wanted. finally, a success in buying gifts!

we met tesni at the train station and brought her back to the hostel. we all agreed we were pretty hungry, and wanted to eat something close by. no trains, buses or long walks in the rain. luckily, we found a place around the corner from our hostel with okonomiyake! yummy. tesni, nicole and i split a couple vegan noodle and rice dishes and adam chowed on chicken... it was delicious. we sat at the bar, so they cooked right in front of us and we looked at some weird porn book. you know, light reading before a casual dinner... no big deal. we stopped by the combini (aka. seven and i holdings) on the way back to grab some weird spritzer type drinks.

with drinks and snacks in hand, we went up to the chiller floor. hostels are always kind of strange, they draw a really weird crowd and this was no exception. we just hung around and drew pictures of each other, and aliens, and read some odd british magazine that had been left behind by some previous hostel visitor. again, we were all exhausted after a very full day, and the three of us girls slept well while adam was away on another floor... finishing that book!

2008-04-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

ok so lets get right into it... my second day in obama was such a blast. what a memorable experience! maybe the kids in america are similar and i'm really freaking out over nothing, but the kids in japan were just exceptionally fun. maybe i should start hanging out with more elementary schoolers?

we showed up and went through the same schpiel as the day before at the middle school. morning meeting, introduction to the principals and important teachers. this time, they got extra stoked on me being from boston though. one of the more animated teachers asked me all about the red sox and dice-k, like "do you know him?" of course i do! and then he wanted to know about ichiro and matsui too and i was like, "no i don't like the yankees! NO WAY EW!" and he thought that was funny. he probably doesn't know about the rivalry, but i wasn't gonna say i liked matsui just because i was in japan. then they asked me if i knew obama, as in barack obama. tesni's town has been getting a lot of international coverage because of its name, and so they assume every american, or even foreigner, is in town because of him. not really, but ok. they asked me if i was going to vote for him, and as an american i was kind of taken back. no one discusses politics in the workplace in america! not with a complete stranger anyway, but since i have nothing to hide, i'm like -- "actually, no but..." and they're like "ohh you like mccain?" NO, i didn't say that. i tried to explain in simple english that i had voted for clinton in the primary, but i would support obama if he became the democratic candidate. it felt kind of weird trying to explain that, and i'm not sure they even understood what i was saying, but i just finished it off with "but i love obama, japan!" and that got a good reception.

once the morning meetings were done, we just waited for one of the kids to come and get us. again, it might be like this in america too, but i just don't recall my elementary years being so lax... a couple little girls (7-8 yrs old) came to bring us to the classroom and they just waltzed into the teachers lounge. i was like, are they allowed to just come in here? wow. walking into the classroom was fun because the kids' eyes just get as big as saucers and they are like, a real american girl! oh my god, so cool! tesni and i started in on our same presentation, just a little simpler than the one we'd given the middle schoolers. "my name is kelsey" repeat "hello kelsey" "i am 26" how old? 26. etc. and "i am from america! i live in richmond, virginia" richmondu, bar-ginia. i showed where virginia is on a map of america and got to write on the chalkboard, i felt like a real teacher.

after that, the teacher suggested i introduce myself to each child separately. that was really nice because i got to go around and shake their little hands and use each of their names. they had nametags on so we could call them by their names and it made it feel extra special. some of them were very shy, but when i would say "it's very nice to meet you kaito" i could tell that they thought it was nice to meet me too.

after that, the kids wanted to play games and show us some traditional japanese games. the teacher was like, this one is a special string game. and after watching the kids for a couple second, i'm like "no way, this is called cat's cradle and i can do this too! watch!" and i blew so many minds.

and then tesni and i taught them some american games, miss mary mack style. then we let some of the kids come up and play with us, that got a little messy, but it was fun! then they just kind of let loose and got buck wild, jump roping and juggling all over the place. waving the american flag, asking to play cat's cradle with me again, etc. elementary school is so much fun!

after that, we went to another classroom and met some more kids. this time we did a shorter presentation, and played more games. the kids didn't get as crazy until i pulled out my camera, and then they ALL wanted pictures. tesni's favorite little girl, ayana, was in this class and (sorry to the others!) we totally favored her, but how could you not? she is the cutest thing ever. they walked us all back to the teacher's lounge and before long, we were off to have lunch before i was supposed to take the train --

we ate a super quick lunch at mos burger, and i experience my first fried burdock, sesame seed, carrot burger with rice buns. insanely delicious, but i barely got to enjoy it because we were so rushed! i got on the train with my 120 yen ticket, which technically should have taken me one single stop. instead, i played the ignorant american (sorry mom, i am not a bad person!) and rode the whole way to kyoto on that same ticket. i saved myself about $42 by doing that, so whatever. tough times call for serious actions! i got off the train, and thanks to tesni's extra cell phone, i found nicole with little to no hassle. it makes me really wonder how we did it before cell phones! pathetic, but true. we walked a couple blocks to our j-hoppers hostel and got settled in. nicole had told me that a friend of hers from her prefecture was also going to be in kyoto and that we were going to go out to dinner with him, and she's like "you are REALLY going to like him!" oh yeah? ok, cool... so at 6pm, we head down to meet said friend and its --

ADAM!

i already mentioned it in a previous post, and its pretty self-explanitory (best friend showed up in japan!) but seriously, i think it was the biggest surprise that has ever been pulled on me. what a good one! and so after the initial shock wore off, we jumped on a city bus to find one of the vegan spots listen in nicole's vegan japan magazine. we looked for about two hours, up and down the cutest little streets in kyoto. it was a nice night, and we got to see the real kyoto searching for this place, but we finally had to give up. the local police didn't even know where it was, and after calling, nicole found out that they were closed on tuesdays. WHAT! so instead we hit up a decent indian place and got to rest our feet a bit.

during spring in kyoto, the gion district is all lit up from 7-10pm and so we walked all around. it was totally gorgeous, and i kept thinking how lucky people are to have a neighborhood like this in their city. it seemed like a lot of people were taking advantage too, beautiful trees, temples, shrines, bamboo gardens, pathways, etc... all lit up like christmas. except, way less tacky! i tried to spot a geisha, but no luck. its ok, i will get to watch "memoirs of a geisha" this week and be able to spot all the local gion sights like a pro!

after the long search for the vegan place and walking around gion, we were exhausted so we just got some juice and hagen-dazs from the combini and called it a night. looking back on this post, i can't believe i did all of that in one single day! it makes me feel like i need to be more productive here at home. whew! no wonder i was so tired...

2008-04-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

i realize that i never finished my blog. in fact, i didn't really fill in the blanks past my first day in obama, and believe me... the trip got real mental right after that! so, now that i have some time i am going to try and recall everything i did. plus, my co-workers took me out to kabuto, a local japanese steakhouse, for dinner last night so i could show them my pictures. so i got all sentimental again thinking about all the cool things i did on my trip! gotta write it down before i forget, like my second trip to england... upon entrance to japan, at the passport stamping station, the guy was like "oh you've been to england three times!" and i was like hmm, no only two. good thing i didn't say that out loud because i'll bet he would have had me brought to the holding cell because yeah! i have been to england three times. i just totally spaced out and completely forgot that trip. bummer! and i won't let that happen to this japan trip. way too cool to forget.

ps, i miss you tesni, nicole, jordan, adam and jeremy. oh and mika, john and shinya too. i wish we could all just travel the world together forever!

2008-03-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

2008-03-24T17:50:00.001-07:00

home safely and uploading pictures...

i think i left my head in the clouds, i feel kind of insane right now. two days for the price of one!

2008-03-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

last night in japan and i am at the capsule in shinsaibashi by myself. its kind of depressing but i am going to chill in the onsen bath for awhile and not think about how i am sad my trip is over. i will spill the dish on the rest of my incredible trip when i get home! oh and i have like 1,200 pictures to upload too so get your eyes ready for a visual feast for real !!

2008-03-20T18:13:00.001-07:00

headed to koyasan (buddhist temple stay on a mountain) this afternoon... i'm ready to bliss out!

updates are getting few & further between because we are constantly on the go with more people traveling in the group. jordan, see you tomorrow!

i miss everyone, but i am having the time of my life.

2008-03-19T01:45:00.001-07:00

rain rain go away come again when i'm not in japan

2008-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

this keyboard is super hard to use. the spacebar is as big as the shift key so basically i feel like i am using my toes to type... anyway, ADAM CAME TO JAPAN! that is the whole zing of the post. i came downstairs after chillin in the hostel dorm with nicole for a bit and there is adam, checking into our hostel. apparently after he told me he was going to san fran w/ his vacation time because the IRS made him pay big money... he emailed tesni and nicole and said, jk i am really coming to japan but don't tell kelsey. GOOD ONE! zing! you got me.

ok more later, but we are about to check out some shrines in kyoto. SEE YA!

2008-03-17T06:41:00.001-07:00

so its 10:41, i am getting a bit of an earlier start on this entry since i am super tired today. not so much jetlag as just getting 5 hrs of sleep last night and spending the whole day doing things around obama! tesni and i woke up super early to go to her jr. high school. grade 1-2-3, ages 12-15 i think? i went in and got to meet the principal and vice principal... i made poor attempts at saying little things in japanese all day, but i suppose it is nice to try anyway. we sat through a short staff meeting and then we went to the first class.

tesni had prepared a DVD with pictures of me and my life to show the kids. mostly "this is my cat, her name is savannah" and "these are my friends" (liana and cassie, they thought you were "sooo cute") afterwards, tesni asked if they had any questions for me. it took a minute to drag some out, but yes, i like the boston red sox and yes, my glasses are chanel. SO COOL! SO CUTE! and my hair is natural blond and yes, i have blue eyes. after the 50 min. lesson was up, they get 10 mins. to talk between classes and a couple of the more talkative girls would ask me more questions, it was really sweet. when we left that class and walked back to the teachers room, more kids would pop their heads out of classrooms or be walking in the hallway and would say "tesni! tesni!" and she would explain i was her friend visiting from america and then they would yell "KELSEY!" i guess word traveled fast around school.

we went into the second class and i presented the same DVD, same questions, same funny kids. one kid is super talkative and wanted me to know he is "cool boy". awesome! we were only there for 20 mins, but it was still really fun. then we went back to the teachers room again and had to kill 2 hrs so we made a list of all the fun things we get to do for the rest of the week and then we decided to play MASH! always a good way to kill time, still fun after all these years. tesni's life was awesome and mine sucked. i'm a professional mom with zero kids -- boring!

at 12:30 we got to eat lunch with one of tesni's favorite classes. they had drawn names to decide who would get to sit with each of us at lunch. half way through we had to switch between the boys and the girls so no one would get jelly! the girls wanted to know if i had a boyfriend and if i liked japanese food. and if i have any more chanel things... uhh not real ones. and then we switched and they asked me what i was eating (pasta, tesni cooked it) and if i play any sports. then i asked them about pets and siblings, and they told me about video games, super cool. after lunch we peaced out and went home to change.

once we had gotten out of stuffy teacher clothes, and stopped by a sweets shop to get some matchi. tesni's favorite thing in all of japan is this fresh strawberry motchi, so i had to try some. it is the pounded rice stuff w/ sweet red bean paste inside. its pretty good, not as good as hazelnut kit kats, but you know... then we headed to wakasa myotsuji-temple. a really beautiful, well preserved, buddhist temple. no nails, only fashioned woodwork. we looked around and took some pictures, said a little prayer and headed on our way to mackerel street. it is a very traditional old style japan street. apparently when people used to walk from obama to kyoto or osaka, they would walk on this road with a little stream running alongside the road. its very nice. we found a small path to another hidden temple. i like thinking that you can come across a really beautiful temple pretty much anywhere you go in japan.

after temple time, we drove a short way to... JAPANESE WALMART. its called PLANT 2 super center, and they have pretty much everything a regular person in obama could ever need. i looked around, but started to feel sleepy, and knew we had a big dinner ahead so we came home for a quick nap. woke up about 6:35 and ran next door to hang out with tesni's neighbors. she always talks about how they are some of her best friends in japan, no joke, and now i can see why. sweet older ladies (like 50s?) who like to practice their english, but also tell tesni stories about japanese history and explain a lot of things. it seems like a really nice relationship and they cooked a wonderful dinner. noodles with cabbage and red pepper on a hot plate w/ soy sauce. i need to remember some of the things over here that are so simple because they are so delicious! rice balls with shallots, egg and pepper too -- yum.

so dinner was wonderful. good food, fun company and of course, really funny stories. i brought some traditional american "easter candy" as a gift... peeps and cadbury creme eggs, what else! and they loved them. i think! i mean, japanese people are so polite anyway its not like they would say "these things suck and so do you" but, yeah. we are home now and i'm gonna sleep so i can get ready for a super big day tomorrow. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL! (this is where the kids are gonna get buck wild, i can't wait!) and meeting up with NICOLE IN KYOTO!!! ahhhhh!!

2008-03-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

japan photo set on flickr

2008-03-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

so today we woke up with the full intention of shopping hard in osaka, and shop we did. another communal shower in the morning, and i'm totally a pro now. the capsule kind of feels like home! we went to maman terrace for "breakfast" (it was 11 am and japanese people don't really eat breakfast anyway so this was an in between kind of thing) and it was sooo delicious. a 'one week plate' for 1300 yen with some kind of potato croquettes, veggies in peanut sauce, brown rice, pickled things, daikon, little salad & tea. seriously, so much food, so yummy. we ate up and headed out for a long day ahead.

we started out at LOFT which is like... well ikea kinda, but think -- knick knacks. really, really cool ones. six floors, and we spent more than two hours just going crazy over everything. i spent well over $50 on stationery, pens, pencils, pencil cases, stamps, lip gloss, nail polish and it was so worth it. for some reason, its just a lot of regular stuff but its so much cooler because its japanese. very minimalistic, nice colors, better in every possible way. i am going back for housewares before i leave!

then we met up with john & mika for a bit and walked through shinsaibashi covered streets. its like a mall indoors, but its also kind of outdoors? i suppose sunday is a major shopping day and it was totally packed out. good people watching! we looked into a lot of stores, but didn't actually browse because they're kind of weird. expensive, tiny and lots of clothes i would never actually wear but just like looking at because, well... its japanese. hit up uniqlo (even though its in nyc, total snooze) and got a shirt. john peaced out and then we went to choco cro for a snack. chocolate croissants to die for, delicious. talked about pirated tv from china and mika headed to the animal collective show (we thought about going, but $50? no thanks!) tesni and i went to muji and just freaked out over everything. it is also a bit like LOFT, but with all clothes and more home goods. incredible design in japan, i can't stop taking pictures of displays that i like here.

by this time, my 'dogs was barking'... i thought my feet were going to fall off. vans authentics don't necessarily make the best walking shoes, fyi. oh yeah, and i guess after browsing in a couple stores for several hours, it was dark out. we went to the big 100 yen store (japanese version of the dollar store but waaayyy cooler, again i think its because its japanese, therefore everything is cool) picked up some nice traditional fabrics and a fanta orange soda (i am addicted). after complaining and commiserating about our poor feet we headed back to the shin station to head to tesni's town. good thing we had each other and caught a fit of giggles, because we both wanted to end it all in front of the train when it finally came! several trains a car (tesni's car is insane, pictures to follow) and three hours later, we got to obama. (yeah she lives in a town called obama, its gotten major int'l press from the whole, you know, guy named obama) so now i'm here, its 1am and i have to wake up in six hours to go to her middle school tomorrow. she made a dvd of pictures i sent her so i can do a presentation of what's up with kelsey. should be interesting! but seriously, SO MUCH FUN. i can't wait to party with kids because i guess that has been one of my favorite things about japan so far... cute kids, cute outfits on girls, really nice design and well, i guess hanging out with tesni is ok too.

BUT -- i can't wait to see nicole on tuesday!!! and jordan on saturday!!!

overall, it is just a really nice feeling to see japan and understand what my friends are doing over here. to hang out with tesni and to meet her incredible friends and see what her day-to-day life is like is just so wonderful. japan is seriously super cool and i love it. that sounds so corny, but its true dude. i am super tired, even though jetlag hasn't really hit me yet (here's hoping my grandpa's magic NO JETLAG pills worked!) i guess it is 1 am here and i think i walked 500 miles today.

oh yeah, and i added about 300 pictures to flickr. check it out, stay busy and i will def report back tomorrow on my first day at a japanese school, its gonna be insane.

2008-03-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

i could only get like 10 pictures up on flickr, but some is better than none!

flickr.com/photos/misskelsey

2008-03-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

ok so now i have been in japan for over 24 hours and i think i've got it together now... in fact, some of the streets in osaka look familiar! we are staying our second night in capsule hotel-asahiplaza in shinsaibashi. i told tesni i think i could live in a capsule and she thinks i'm crazy, but seriously... very nice. all the amenities you could ever need before/after sleep. a little tv, am/fm radio, air conditioning, a mirror, etc. very nice. (i said 'very nice' twice in one sentence, which basically explains my whole method of communication here so far... all smiling, nodding and mmm) so capsule life is what's up, love it.

this morning we woke up super early and i got to experience my first japanese communal shower. it was 6 am, but i was half asleep and didn't have my glasses on so it was nothing special. i figured, if i can't really see anyone else, maybe they can't see me either. then we took the subway to meet mika (tesni's wonderful friend who is a JET in osaka) and head to nagoya for this uhh, spring fertility festival. basically, a penis festival. phalli everywhere. and tons of american tourists giggling while the japanese people throw rice and money at the shrines to pray for a healthy baby to come fast. we ate our share of festival food, super delicious, and look around. we had a couple groups of young girls come up to us and just start saying HI HI HI... and we would be like, oh hi and they would say like, its nice! and we would ask how old they were... 10. 11. it was really sweet. and one just came up to me and it like, cute. i was stoked. it seemed like every JET from tesni's prefecture was there so i met a lot of people and took tons of pictures of cute little kids. i had little to no interest in participating in the ha-ha-ohmygod-its-a-penis thing, but it was still good to experience one of japan's festivals. tesni said her neighbors say there is a festival in japan every day of the year!

after we'd had enough of the miscellaneous penis and vagina candies, we decided to head back into nagoya center to see an art show of a friend of tesni's from RISD. after we looked at the art and couldn't figure out which was shinya's, she called him and he said he would be at the museum in 30 mins. he showed up in no time and we got to see his art which was very nice. he said we should go get some coffee, food or something... and so we walked and walked for a long time, but somehow walking is perfect. i get to see a lot of people and new sights. well, everything is new! but it makes for good sightseeing and people watching. we went into a couple of stores and finally found a spot that would have to do since we were all super hungry. we sat traditional japanese style on an elevated platform and had shinya order us something w/out meat or egg or... whatever ended up coming. and who knows what it was... some soba noodles in some broth with some machi (pounded rice) which is like... sticky and like the inside of a mozzarella cheese stick. tesni said old people in japan often go to the emergency room for getting too much machi stuck in their throat! ahh! the meal was so-so, but the company was so good. shinya made the three of us laugh for hours... liana, he sends mad love your way!! after dinner we wanted to do ピｃツレ or, picture booth things. we did it last night, but we wanted ones with shinya, so funny. i think i could spend an entire day just taking picture booths! after that, we decided we should probs head home since the shinkasen takes an hour back to osaka... tesni and i just got off the subway a bit ago and went to the convenience store for some green tea ice cream and to check out the skater dudes. its times like this when i really wish i had freeze frame so i could check out the teenage girls outfits w/out looking like a creep, but its cool because they stare back.

ok, well there is more. i wish i could upload these pictures to blogger, but its not working for some reason. i'm going to try and upload them to flickr? more tomorrow maybe... tesni and i are gonna shop like crazee... i haven't even stepped into a store where i would (or should i say COULD) actually buy anything, so it should be interesting to see how much money i can blow on stationery and pens. i guess i have already blown through some cash just buying random drinks, candy, rice balls and what not. i told tesni i want to spend an hour just looking through everything at the convenience stores because it all looks so weird! and probably delicious!

oops its almost midnight on saturday, time for bed SEE YA!

2008-03-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

well, i made it... half way across the world, maybe more than half, in osaka, japan. more later, because right now sensory overload is preventing me from collecting any coherent thoughts! ahhh

2008-03-13T04:45:00.001-07:00

goodbye america!

2008-03-12T17:10:00.001-07:00

ok so i leave tomorrow at noon. i was going to do some weird sleep schedule thing where i went to bed after work and then slept til midnight, etc but i decided to just stay awake like a normal person and only sleep for 4-5 hours tonight. hopefully it will work out, but i will probs be jetlagged either way. besides, who can sleep at a time like this?!! too much excitement!

why are travel sized things so much more fun?

2008-03-08T13:20:00.000-08:00

today i bought a bunch of stuff for the trip; a macaroni & cheese colored toothbrush, mini toothpaste, new socks (thanks to nina stressing the importance of socks w/out holes in the toes, oops!) and a travel blowdryer at the thrift store for $3. oh yeah, and these "marshmallow" ipod headphones that liana said jeremy has that are super comfortable and work well. $20 for headphones? but if they will make the 18-hr flight more enjoyable, then whatever. i also scored some books that i now have duplicates of, but i figure i can read it on the plane, and then leave it in the front seat pocket for someone else to enjoy!

i am still really excited about this trip, just for the record.

where will i be? when will i be there?

2008-03-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

one of the best things about this trip is i have two built in tour guides. tesni and nicole have been so incredibly helpful while planning everything, because they have basically done all of it haha... nicole even made this EXCEL SPREADSHEET for us, which i love because duhhh that is amazing.

highlights from the schedule include a penis festival in kyoto, temple stay with early morning buddhist service, sumo wrestling tournament, petting deer in nara, chillin' in a love hotel and skinny dipping with japanese elders at an onsen. its gonna be so much fun!! i can't wait!

packing

2008-03-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

packing for a country you have never been to is so crazee! i don't know what to bring... or how i'm gonna fit it all in a daypack. oh well, i guess i will just bring some things and hope it all works out.