kyoto 1

it's a little chilly here and i mostly packed for the weather at the equator!

today was our first real day in kyoto - and of "school" - we went out to several palaces and temples and it was incredible.
(yesterday evening some of us walked around the city and wandered over to the river and the old district of town - geon - where the geishas are - AND we saw a geisha on the street! she was beautiful)

this is ryoan-ji --- the very first thing i was assigned to study in my arch 114 class at 10 on monday of my very first day of college ever --- it's basically the most famous rock garden ever.

it has fifteen rocks and 7 groupings. 15 is an important number in buddhism and there are 7 groupings because it was believed that you can only hold 6 thoughts in your head at once. also, you can never see all fifteen rocks at once.

we also went to the golden pavilion today, a home a shogun who abdicated the thrown built for himself. (a shogun is like the head military leader of japan, head samurai in a way. they coexisted with the emporers for a while.)
it is the gold-est thing i have EVER seen.



the colors of everything are super saturated and wonderful (still).

but most noticeably - i have never met a more wonderful people. the japanese are incredibly and unimaginably friendly at all times. they are always smiling and saying thank you and though communicating is difficult, they are never annoyed.

nevertheless, i have also never felt intimidated the way i do here. there is such a communication barrier (hand gestures only take you so far) it's....well, very different.

oh -- and maybe the coolest thing -- each of the temples has their own calligrapher and their own symbols. you have to buy a special book and then take it to the temple's calligrapher and for about 3 dollars (300 yen) they will draw in it. by the end the book will be (hopefully) full, but definitely incredibly gorgeous.


need to run off and shower in a bathroom that is as big as my shower at home! (everything is so small!!) we are headed out to dinner somewhere for my friend eric's 22nd birthday. should be fun!