Burns' in Japan...Part Ni (that means 2)

Now, where was I? Ah, yes. We made our way down to Kyoto (京都) and took a cooking class my mother found online.  The guy spoke fluent English and he had the cutest little daughter, Haruka (Maybe..Haru something). I tried talking to her in Japanese, but I realized that even my Japanese was too advanced for a 2 year old. Winning. We made kinpira (きんぴら) which is just chopped cooked veggies, usually made with carrots and gobo (ごぼう) (burdock root that tastes and looks like a tree branch), but we used carrots and lotus root. We also made sunomono salad (酢の物)--a vinegared cucumber salad and tamagoyaki (卵焼き)--a Japanese omelet in which the egg is rolled into a square shape. Not as easy as it sounds. Lastly, we got to make teriyaki (照り焼き) and ponzu (ポン酢) chicken. Everything was so yummy and so easy to make!! If my mom would send me the recipes, I would be happy to make them again. She also has all the photos from this event (hint Carol...)

The next day, I had planned a whole Kyoto sightseeing route for us, but we made it to two stops before we called it quits. The owner of a restaurant I frequent in Shizuoka told us that the building on the back of a 10 yen coin was in Kyoto in a place called Uji (宇治). It's called Byodoin Temple (平等院). This area is also very famous for tea and we happened to stumble upon a tea museum and tons of tea shops with free samples. We made our way back to the main Kyoto area and hopped on a bus to Ginkakuji Temple (銀閣寺)--the Silver Temple, only to find out it closed right as we got there. That also meant that all the other temples would be closed as well. Not wanting to waste our bus passes, we rode the bus until we found something interesting, which happened to be a GIANT shrine gate. We walked down the street that was lined with street vendors, had at some snacks and visited the Heian-Jingu Shrine (平安神宮) before finding the sushi restaurant recommended by our cooking instructor.

On the way to cooking class!

Byodoin Temple in Uji

It's on the 10 yen coin! 

Heian Shrine Torii--the GIANT gate

Heian shrine. Very orange.

The next day we headed to Osaka to meet with my old host family. We hadn't seen the two girls since 2003 when they visited us in America. I hadn't seen the parents since I was 13. It was like nostalgia overload walking into their house. Unfortunately the nostalgic feelings stopped there. I was reminded of all the different places I had been to, but I couldn't remember anything. That afternoon, Emi (the older sister who recently got married) took us to Kishiwada Castle (岸和田城) and then to lunch, followed by bowling, and Kaizuka City Hall. For those of you who don't know, Culver City's (my hometown) sister city is Kaizuka in Osaka. At the City Hall there is a statue representing the sisterhood of these two cities. My mom took like 500 pictures of the statue in hopes that maybe one will wind up in the local newspaper. That night we had dinner with the whole family and the next day we all went to Nara (奈良). That place is infested with deer. After wandering through the deer maze, we saw the Giant Buddha. Dude, that thing is BIG. Inside the temple where Buddha is, there is a tree with a cutout at the bottom big enough for a person to crawl through. The cutout is the size of Buddha's nostril. And should you choose to crawl through, you are a booger. We returned to the house and prepared ingredients for our make-your-own-sushi dinner. BIG NEWS. We ate blowfish. AND..we survived. We deserve t-shirts. 

Kishiwada Castle 

The infamous Culver City/Kaizuka statue

Dinner time with the fams...

...Emi...Saki...Alli...

Mom feeding a deer

That's where they keep Buddha

BIG Buddha

fanning rice for sushi making

Please come back to America!!

It was so good to see them again. It really felt like no time had gone by. And my parents got to meet their parents! It wouldn't have been possible without...Facebook. Thanks, Facebook. ♥

I had such a great time with my parents and I am happy that they finally got to see first hand that putting me through 14 years of Japanese class was not a waste (I'm starting to think you didn't really need that router thing you had me inquire about, Dad...). It was a great trip, but it would have been so much better if Aaron was able to join us. We missed you Bro!! Also, congratulations to my parents for finally leaving the Americas. Yay! With only minor injuries. I'd love to invite them to come again, but I have a little over 5 months left and minimal time off and that week is booked. I will be home in no time. It's official. I faxed my response last week. ☺

I have lots of posts to catch up on, so stay tuned!! Until next time! またね！

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New Vocabulary:

~鳥居    toe-ree    Shrine gate

~料理する  ryo-ree-sue-roo   cooking

~観光  kahn-ko   sightseeing

~ふぐ  foo-goo   blowfish

~鹿   she-kah  deer

~大仏  die-boo-tsu   Big Buddha

~またアメリカに来てください mah-tah America-knee-key-teh-koo-dah-sigh    Please come back to America.