Fourth!

Fun fact: This is the first post I am writing directly into the web window, instead of into a notepad, because I'm doing it after our architecture class was canceled for a meeting about summer internships at UBS (sucks). Speaking of classes, they are going well. I have learned that 1) the Japanese program at my school is really good 2) I am still terrible compared to everyone else here, because I did not spend the time I should have on Japanese at home. We are really moving here, though, and there are few enough distractions that I'm actually going along- a good thing. I am getting used to the little differences, and my knees are slowly but surely becoming more flexible (thank god). We've also had some pretty fun adventures.
My favorite so far has been an excursion to a neighborhood north of where my host family lives, Arashiyama (嵐山)(wikipedia page!). We didn't go to the monkey park, but we nabbed some delicious noodles and visited the big temple in that region, tenryuji. One of the most interesting things is, as the temple has burned down multiple times (as a side note, this is true of almost everything in Japan. This never stops the Japanese), what the signage and pamphlet really emphasize is the fact that there remains a pond there whose relation to the nearby mountains was decided by one the original head monk of the temple in the 1400s. It was a pretty nice pond, and it had some huuuuge koi in it. The gardens around it were also spectacular. It was an extra 300 yen to get into the temple itself, so we gave that a pass and headed out the back gate. After wandering through the bamboo grove that's on the wikipedia page (bamboo is pretty much the coolest plant ever- touching it is a bizarre experience.. They're also reeeaaally taaaall), we found ourselves at another pond and a little shrine. Next to the shrine was a drainage ditch from higher up a hill. My two friends declared, as there was nothing stopping them, they should climb the ditch. I said 'no, that is silly and they will laugh at us, we should go look at that shrine, I will wait here.' So I waited, and eventually they called me from the top, saying it led to a path, so I climbed the ditch, people laughed at us, but then we followed the path up a mountain! It was pretty cool. That's where the picture at the top comes from. All in all, a pretty good weekend. Next weekend: Hieizan! Another mountain, another temple, but this time the temple is on top of the mountain, and you go up on a cable car instead of walking. Until then, homewooooork.