sayonara

Haha, I like making these lists   Will not bore you with long lists of the sights we have been seeing, since they are far too numerous…. and the names of the places all kind of sound the same — but lists are fun to make nonetheless and here are some choice “our vacation” moments since my last post.

• A girl in a coffee shop on crutches dropped a crutch on Joe’s foot.  He hurried to retrieve it for her and she was so so cute while apologetically squeaking “gomen nasai” (I’m sorry) over and over and over again, that he just stared at her and didn’t give her crutch back to her.  PS – brown men CAN blush, after all

• Doug is quite the odd spectacle here.  On a doorway at the Imperial Palace marked “Watch Your Head”, he was way too tall to make it through — we stopped to take a picture of his head next to the sign, and little old ladies appeared out of nowhere to run up and take their picture with the giant man.

• Derek believes he was a samurai in a past life.  I believe him.

• Visited a zen garden, supposedly the most famous rock garden in the world — comprised of a few giant rocks, surrounded by a million smaller rocks raked into tidy lines and patterns.  We meditated here in “silence” (punctuated by the loudspeaker repeatedly telling everyone to please be quiet).  I asked Joe what he was thinking about.  His response: I thought there would be more rocks.

• Doug is completely obsessed with chopsticks.  Spent at least 40 minutes in chopstick stores poring over the selection, at least three separate times.  Admittedly, they are gorgeous chopsticks… but ranging from $30 to $250 a pair (no joke), it’s just not for me.

• Derek held a long and interesting (I think it was interesting anyway, but then again I speak no Japanese) conversation with a cabbie the other night, about Obama and universal healthcare.  I was mightily impressed at his major language skills.  Don’t tell him, but I taped part of the conversation.

• Bathed in a true onsen (hot springs) in the mountains north of Kyoto.  Men and women have to bathe separately of course.  I don’t know how the fellas did, naked in a room together.  None of them will talk about it.

• On the way to the onsen, we walked past an orange cat.  I think it was blind, but Doug thinks it was just squinting because it was bright out.  We also saw a super cute poodle with little bows on her ears.  As we walked past, Derek called out KAWAII!! (means CUTE!!)  Joe asked if he should go kick it.

• One of the train systems in Kyoto operates pretty much fully on the honor system, where the amount you pay is dictated by the distance you traveled.  Can you imagine anything like that working in the States??

• Ate lunch at a tiny little shop that makes their own soba noodles — the true Japanese experience, eating in what feels like someone’s home, perched on pillows on tatami mats, sitting at low tables sucking down a bowl full of hot broth and soba noodles.  The owner was cheerful, and quick to pick up on the fact that out of the four of us, Derek was the one that spoke Japanese and not me (despite the color of my skin!)  There have been many other instances where the person immediately picked me out of the group and started babbling in Japanese — my bewildered look doesn’t stop them from soldiering on.

• I held a long conversation with an old old old lady who was very amused that I was taking pictures of a shoe rack.  I showed her the pictures, and I talked to her in English about shoes and America and Kyoto and vacation… gesturing wildly to make my stories understood.  She spoke back in Japanese, laughing at my stories.  We got along like pals.  A few minutes later, the shopkeeper came and shouted “OKASHI??????” (means “COOKIES???”) in first one of the old lady’s ears, and then again in the other.  The old lady nodded that yes, she wanted to buy some cookies.  Turns out, the old lady was deaf as a doornail and hadn’t heard a word I’d said.

• Tried a pachinko parlor.  Pachinko is like pinball+plinko+slots+random images of anime girls in seductive poses.  The game makes zero sense.  They might as well re-name the game “Give Us All Your Money”.

• Subway (the sandwich shop, not the mode of transportation) is here in Kyoto.  They make a kalbi sub.  It’s pretty good.

• Derek left us to go back to his life in Nagoya.  We were sad and went to Mister Donut to eat away our feelings.  Mister Donut is not very good though, so this made us more sad.  Derek!  We miss you!

It is our last night in Japan, and it’s been quite a week.  Japan, I will miss your very polite shopkeepers thanking me profusely, your recorded subway voice reading me the upcoming stop as though it were a delicious secret to be whispered in private, your OCD (I identify!), and your wonderful toilets.  In the morning, Joe is headed home, and Doug and I are headed to SE Asia.  Catch you on the flip side.

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