10 April 2009

I was once again tired when I woke up this morning. My arms and shoulders were also sore from dragging my luggage so far during the move yesterday in the hot weather. This morning was the first time we headed to Japanese language class from our new accommodations. We had to take the train, and we left half an hour early to ensure that we would have extra time to find our way. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t a large enough buffer, and we ended up getting lost a couple different times. Luckily, we were only ten minutes late, and we weren’t the last people to arrive. Every new location I am put in is always equally confusing, and it is really difficult to find your way. Hopefully with time, I will get better at figuring out how to get around in our new area.
After language class, it was pointless to spend money to take the train back to our apartments. Instead, Shae, Trudy, and I decided to do some shopping around the Teramachi Shopping Arcade. I found a really cute coin purse for only 350 yen. It was a great deal compared to many of the other coin purse places I have seen. I may very likely go back there to get gifts for my friends as well. We shall see. We proceeded to walk all the way from the downtown Kyoto area all the way to our studio class. It was good 45 minute walk, and the weather was hot again. Studio was boring, and I was anxious to get done so I could meet up with Nadine and Kimberly for dinner.
We got out of class a half hour early, and I decided it was more economical to walk all the way back to the downtown area rather than pay the fee to take the subway. I ended up being able to walk with Shae since she was headed downtown as well. I helped her find a store she was looking for, then went to the Central Kyoto Inn. Nadine and Kimberly were waiting in the lobby for me, so I didn’t have to worry about trying to talk to the people at the front desk. Whew! They wanted okonomiyaki, so we set off to find a restaurant with okonomiyaki. It took us a very long time to actually find a place that didn’t have a wait, but we eventually found one. It was a very nice restaurant located below some retail shops. We decided we would just order different dishes and share them all since that is usually what you do with okonomiyaki. I am not picky about what I eat, so I let Nadine and Kimberly choose what sounded good to them. We ended up getting a fried bean sprout dish, yakisoba, and two okonomiyakis. When the food came out, it was way more than we expected. The okonomiyaki was at least one foot in diameter, and we had two of them! As expected, we had leftovers, but luckily, this was the first place I have eaten at that had takeout containers. I was so relieved since I did not want the good food to go to waste. Nadine insisted that I take the leftovers home since they leave Kyoto for another city tomorrow. I didn’t want to, since she paid for the meal, but she made a good point since they really wouldn’t have had time to eat it. I’m very fortunate to have dinner for the next couple of days!
The rest of my night consisted of uploading photos and updating my blog. I have been so busy and tired that I have fallen somewhat behind on my correspondence with everyone back home. Hopefully by the end of tonight, I will be all caught up. Tomorrow Don is taking us on the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto. It is a scenic walk through the East hills of Kyoto, and it stops at multiple temples and shrines along the way. I’m hoping to visit something else during the early morning or evening as well. We shall see how tired I am tomorrow though. I continue to enjoy all aspects of Kyoto, and I still can’t decide what I have time to see and what I don’t.