06/23/2019
Work has been going well! It has been a little slow for me because my mentor has a meeting with the executives of Omron in a week or two, so he has been preparing materials for the meeting. I have about 6 weeks left until I go back the USA. I can't wait to go home, but I also am going to be sad when I leave. Diego leaves this coming Wednesday, and Terry leaves in two weeks. I will definitely miss them a lot, we have become pretty close over the past few months. After work on Friday, I watched Free Solo with Alex. It was very impressive. It was about a rock climber who free solos (climbing without any ropes or belays) up El Capitan, which is a sheer granite cliff. It took him about three hours, which is crazy. I could never do that, I would be entirely too scared. It is neat to see some of the things that humans are capable of. After the movie, I stayed up talking with Alex for about another hour before going to bed.
On Saturday, I went to Arashiyama with Denny, Diego, and Terry! I woke up around 8:35 am, about an hour before we left. I was rushing around and talking to Alex while I was making breakfast and getting ready. The weather was beautiful, even though the forecast called for rain. The temperature was warm, turning hot by 11 am, with bright blue sunny skies. Of course, I forgot my sunscreen. Luckily, my face only got slightly burnt because I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. It took us around 1.5 hours to arrive at Arashiyama. Once we walked to the main bridge, the view was breathtaking. The skies were blue, the mountains were lush with vegetation, and the water reflected the deep beautiful color of the forests and mountains surrounding the area. We immediately started taking pictures, captivated by the view. We walked over the bridge and spent some time in one of the touristy shops, where I bought a fan for Caroline and my mom. I hope that they like them! Afterwards, we went to an owl sanctuary. They had around 15 owls there. They were so adorable, but I felt really bad because they were all locked up to tree branches or wooden perches. They looked pretty sad in all honesty. We were allowed to pet them if we were gentle, so I decided to only pet one owl's back. Its feathers were so soft, but he kinda turned around and faced me so that I couldn't pet his back anymore. It was a neat experience because you were able to get so close to them and touch them, but I felt really bad overall because they were just so sad looking for being locked up. I took a ton of pictures of them so that you can see some of the different breeds!
After visiting with the owls, we searched for a restaurant to eat lunch at. We settled at a restaurant known for their noodles. I ordered yasai (vegetable) tempura and cold udon, Denny ordered the chicken version. Diego ordered curry and Terry had duck udon. Diego's curry had a random boiled egg in it, so he gave it to Terry because Terry LOVES eggs. I'm pretty sure he would eat eggs instead of chocolate, which seems insane to me. I think overall, everyone really enjoyed their meals. Mine was delicious, I even tried a fried leaf! It was surprisingly good and I was completely full from all the yummy food. Terry ordered a matcha and vanilla ice cream cone after we ate, which looked super good. I wanted to try the sweet potato ice cream, but was too full so I didn't get a chance. We walked over to pier and felt the water, along with taking a few photos. Then, we started heading towards the bamboo forest. We passed a man with a model boat that had barbie dolls driving it, it was really cute. On the way to the forest, we stopped at an outlook that had a picturesque view of the mountain split by the river. I could have sat there and looked at the view for hours, but we didn't have time. Arashiyama is KNOWN for its bamboo forest, that is the main reason people go to the park. It was truly beautiful, but there were so many people there that I didn't take many pictures because there would have been like 50 people in the photo. I did end up getting one photo with the bamboo though! I think it was especially busy because the weather was perfect, it's summer, and a weekend. It was totally worth going and probably is one of my favorite places in Japan. It was just stunningly beautiful. It reminded me of some of the national park pictures in the United States that I have seen. I can't wait to go to some in the US when I return. As we were leaving the bamboo forest, we stopped so that Denny could try some tofu and black sesame ice cream (IDK, Japan has SO MANY weird flavors for ice cream and kitkats but actually usually is pretty tasty). Terry also had a piece of fresh tofu, which he dubbed as OK but not great.Â
Once everyone was finished snacking, we walked for about 10 minutes to some small local trains. They were literally SINGLE car trains. I have never seen anything like it, but it was super cute. We made our way to the Romantic Train Station, where we were hoping to buy tickets to ride a train that has a great path along the river. We successfully bought our tickets and had around 40 minutes before our scheduled time slot. I walked around the shops and bought a coke and looked at the little toy machines. I bought a cat hat for Kim because I was literally looking for one since my second trip to Nara earlier in the Spring. It's literally this little pink hat that her cat can wear. Later, we boarded the train. I sat with Diego, across from two very nice elderly Japanese ladies. They told me that I was beautiful and Diego handsome and took a picture for us and I took a picture of them. They also told me my Japanese was very good, even though it's not, they were just being nice. I think they were just impressed that I could have a basic conversation with them in Japanese. The train ride was so beautiful and had wonderful views of the river! We rode with Denny and Terry on the way back. I bought some tart heart shaped cookies to bring home for a few people to try once we got back to the station. After we left, we took a few more small local trains and then walked to Monster Street because Diego wanted to see it. We stopped at a small mom and pop store on the way to the town, where Denny bought a green tea. The area we were in was so small and cute. Once we got to monster street, there were actually speakers that played music, which was really adorable. Monster street basically is just some 'monsters' that are decorated in front of many stores, I took several pictures because it is easier to see than for me to explain.Â
We continued walking for about 20-25 minutes to the old imperial palace in Kyoto. Once we arrived, we tried walking around some of the gardens because the palace was closed. It was HUGE, but we couldn't see much. We decided to head to the restaurant that we were meeting Kazuki and his friend at for dinner. On the way, we stopped so that I could try to buy stamps for some postcards I wanted to send. We crossed the river in Kyoto by hopping across large shaped stones. My legs were a little shorter than Terry and Diego's so I struggled a little more getting across. I didn't fall in though! We laid in the grass for about 30 minutes, finally making our way over to the train station.Â
We arrived at the restaurant a little early, but Kazuki was already there. It was an all you can eat restaurant with SO many vegetables. Kyoto is actually known for their vegetables. I am not really sure if they are unique or like special, but it was really good nonetheless. They had purple potatoes, which are like sweet potatoes of some sort which were delicious. We left around 9:45 pm and arrived home at 11:00 pm. Once I arrived home, I showered and then talked to Alex for a few minutes and headed to bed.Â
I woke up at 8 am on Sunday morning to make up the bible study I missed last week. They changed the meeting times in California, so now I cannot attend because it is during the time that I am at work, so I have to make them up each week. I went to church, wearing my new shirt that I had bought last week! I went to church, and came home to finish the the study. I cleaned up and did some laundry, along with my weekly grocery shopping. I also did my reading for the week in Mere Christianity to discuss with Alex and did a little work for IEEE. Later in the evening, Diego came and gave Terry and I a picture of some famous architectural sites in Spain. They were so beautiful, I will have to go see them someday!