Kyoto

So, I've been in Japan for two weeks and they're already giving me a week's vacation! That's nice, but I have no where to go.
That's what I thought at first anyway. Luckily, Jaclyn in Fuji had the idea to go to Kyoto. She spent a few months there studying abroad and wanted to show me around. We connected with some others from our training group that happened to be going to Kyoto too.
The night we got there, Jaclyn and I met up with Ann (my roomie from training) and this guy she was couch surfing with, Andy. We went to a shrine (I think...) and then off to Nijo castle for a "lantern festival". I put that in quotations because one would expect a lantern festival to be a well lit, fun...well...festival. This was a dark, not as fun, not festival. I miss Hanukkah. Now that, is a festival of lights. We walked around the castle and then walked this long stretch through some other part of a castle or something and looked at some lights in a stream, wish lists hanging from a tree, and there was no exit for miles. I'm happy I was out and about, but it wasn't what I expected.

Jaclyn and Ann at the shine

Part of Nijo Castle

Nijo Castle

These are not lanterns at the lantern festival

For the rest of the week, we just hung out around Kyoto, met up with Masika (another girl from training) and tried to enjoy Kyoto, even in the unbearable heat. It was a good time and a great way to relax before a hectic first week of working alone!! Until next time! またね!

Okonomiyaki

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New Vocabulary:
~新幹線  sheen-kan-sen   bullet train
~お好み焼き   oh-ko-no-me-yah-ki   pancake with cabbage and/or noodles and perhaps some sort of beef.