Christmas Eve Mission

Christmas Eve began with a mission, a tag team journey to the happiest burger this side of the International Dateline: Smile Burger. It was cold, more so than usual, and the sun was making its way down past the distant shadows in the western part of the city. There was a buzz in the campus air, the unique kind reserved for the beginning of an extended break, with chatter of trips and gatherings, and not of upcoming tests nor reports. But we were different, we had a mission.
We biked through 400 meters of foot traffic, followed the river, broke multiple traffic codes of the Sanjo bus terminal, and got a rainy, up-close view of the shops and umbrella wielding tourists of Gion. Hung a left on a small road, and up a hill we went for a few minutes, the cold refusing to let us slow our pace. We reached the main road at the top of the hill, full of traffic and tourists as always. Smile Burger was just a block away and it was still early, but unfortunately it was also Tuesday. As the metal shutter pulled down in front of the store said, they're closed every Tuesday.
So we compromised. We settled for a far inferior fast food burger that really couldn't be any further from a Smile Burger. But it's Christmas Eve, and that's where the minuses end. The food and the restaurant were warm, and we settled right in for over an hour, into the plastic seats on the second floor above the storefront. As I watched our illegally-parked bicycles (and a dozen more) being rained on outside, I thought about this burger. Yes, it tastes the same here as it does back home, and probably just about everywhere else in the world. It's a nostalgic taste, and I'm all the more impressed with the human digestive system when I think about how many I (we?) had growing up. But when I'm tasting it, I can't help but think that the last one I had was probably at the Staples Center while watching the Kings, and it probably cost $11. The price aside, that made me happy. It could have been a coke, a bag of peanuts, or chocolate-covered popcorn to take me back, but this time it was that distinct, internationally reproducible taste.
We went back up the hill to Smile Burger a few nights later. It was rainier and colder, but that really only made it more delicious.

Push

Last week's break in the school schedule brought a few days of down-beat in a semester that's been very up-beat. With the school lounge, library, and dining commons closed, the McDonald's around every corner was a very capable substitute. With its second and third floors, smoking section, light speed service, and bossa nova in the background, it would seem completely unrelated to its American twin if it weren't for the food. Some people sit for hours, punching into a laptop, flipping through stacks of folders and books, or thumbing away on a smart phone. This atmosphere is subject to change of course, as it's not uncommon to find throngs of high school students doing lots of talking and very little studying. Business professional, studying student, or high school chatterbox, it's pretty clear that quite a few people go there to do something besides eat.
My first November break in five years is followed by the nostalgic short push through the weeks leading up to the holidays. A push through lengthy assignments, cold morning bike rides to school, late night rides home, and everything in between. Beanies, scarves, instant noodles, and slow-cooked broths should do the trick. No sign yet of the first snow of the season, but the temperature will be down to 0 Celsius a few days this week.

Test to Test

Test week comes to an end tomorrow, but the studies will continue to be in full-swing. The Japanese language proficiency test is laying in wait at the beginning of next month, ready to dry my eyes, drain my brain, steal my heart, and take up four hours of my Sunday afternoon. Luckily, we have a few days off this week for the anniversary of our school's founding. While I intend to partake in a few school festivities with my Jo Niijima mustache, and upon completing all assigned homework, I plan on devoting a significant amount of time to vocabulary and advanced grammar. There should also be time for some long awaited visits to Mt. Hiei, Daitokuji, and Kitano Tenmangu. Sharpen the pencils and heat up the coffee, it's game time.

Free Books

The first floor of the School of Commerce was lined with about three dozen cardboard boxes, all filled with books that seemed to have fulfilled their roles in the curriculum, but did not garner enough demand to be re-sold and re-used. Or maybe there's a faculty member who is simply a nice person and likes to give people free books. Posted signs saying "Free books, take as many as you like." would suggest one or the other, but based on the selection, I would guess it was the former.
There were countless handbooks to accounting, four inches thick, and even analyses of past markets, global and domestic. Making our way swiftly through the boxes before our Japanese literature class upstairs, my friend from Taiwan picked up a book on English conversation, the curly fry in a basket of regular fries. I stuffed my bag with two books, one on the history of the American television between 1925-1941, and the other on advertising in Japan in the 1980's.

With mornings and nights regularly below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, I now have plenty of excuses to stay in, drink hot tea, study, and of course get a lot of extra-curricular reading done. There is also a lot of gathering, cooking, and baking to be done. We're still waiting for hints of the first snow this season, with simultaneous feelings of excitement and fear. Will the snow be as beautiful without a warm car to drive around in? Or will it be even more calming now that I don't have to drive around in it?

Walking to School

Last Sunday I joined a club at my school called the "Walking to School Project". My school has a main campus in the city, as well as a campus out in the countryside, a fair 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) away. I rode an early morning train out there, got a little lost along the way, but made it with time to spare before our 9 a.m. departure time. Just over a hundred of us walked single file, two by two, or three by three, slowly making our way from the fields and highways of the countryside to our main campus in the city. We walked for a few hours at a time, took some breaks, had lunch in a park, and played some games along the way. We made it to our destination at around 7 p.m., with 100 plates of curry and rice waiting for us in the dining hall. Walking that far really made the curry taste better, but the next two or three days were a struggle: getting up from my futon, climbing the stairs to class, and especially walking around after having sat for an hour or two. But it was worth it, and would be a lot of fun to do again. Here are some photos:

No Rain

Two typhoons in just over a week, but we were lucky enough to not get hit very hard from either one. The rain was here for a few days, but classes continued as normal. It finally cleared yesterday afternoon, leaving a blue sky and rainbow bright enough to interrupt class for a minute. I'm impressed with what the camera on my low-end phone can pick up.

Hooves

Buried in my weekend punch list, well below the grocery shopping, apartment cleaning, and grammar studying, and just above updating the blog, was the task of tracking down a pair of affordable dress shoes. Tools such as Google, and...well, there really is only Google, would direct me to the hip, fashionable store around the corner, or possibly to one of the dozen ABC Marts in the city, a chain shoe store. With all of those undoubtedly out of my price range, and being too impatient to order anything online, I venture out after Sunday lunch to find a pair of hoof covers. It took me all but fifteen minutes, finding a small, old store that must have slipped through the cracks of time, Google, and free market economic theory.
The old couple greeted me nervously, but seemed to relax after some small talk in Japanese. The husband moved some boxes and cleared the way, and the wife showed the various black dress shoes they had to offer. When I came across the winning pair, I double-checked my size in centimeters, and the husband grabbed a box from the top of a tall stack near the back.
With this quick and unexpected solution to my predicament, I had plenty of time to get back and study some more grammar.

Camera Shop

Wheels

The new wheels for the coming year.

A Place to Sit

After weeks of preparation, registration, and anticipation, classes and lectures finally began this week. With tables packed, and groups and allegiances being established, even the brand new building and enormous dining hall seemed to have trouble meeting the demand. Those looking for a place to sit, eat, and chat would surely find a seat outside on the benches, near the mosquitoes and gigantic ants. Those who want to sit and study should go no farther than the library, where a seat and desk is almost guaranteed.
The last few days have had a bit of a chill, but I'm expecting another hot day or two before the autumn winds comes around in full swing. The city's sights are gradually being invaded by 6th graders from elementary schools from around the country on their school trip. They are most often recognized by their bright yellow hats, traveling in groups of three or four, or forty. A chance to see the colored autumn leaves around the city is what brings most tourists here in the fall, similar to the blooming flowers in the spring. I'm personally hoping to see some snow here this year, and making my way over to Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, when that happens.
This morning I biked my way around Nijo Castle, up a small street, around a bend, past a driving school, and through a local shopping street to get to my usual grocery store. There are closer grocery stores, but this one is certainly worth the trek. Even if it's only to see this very realistic mannequin sitting outside one of the stores along the way. At least he found a nice place to sit.

Ramen Experiment #1

Ingredients: fresh ramen noodles, red miso, garlic, sesame, green onion, bean sprouts, maitake mushrooms, and a hard-boiled egg.

What's the buzz? Tell me what's a happenin.

It might be the elevator, or maybe a generator or spaceship of some kind. My ears have more or less gotten used to the few minutes of buzzing and rumbling that happens randomly throughout the day, or night, or early morning. How did this slip through the two-paged, detailed description of this place? Alas, there was no buzz nor rumble when I came here for a preview, nor were there voices of construction workers and machinery echoing all the way to my view-less veranda.
It's been a week and a half since I moved into my apartment, and yesterday I finally set up, configured, and reestablished my connection with the world wide web. Not having it made it easier to focus on tasks at hand, like buying necessary items for the apartment, and uh, really that was it actually. I made regular rounds of the recycle shops and 100 yen stores, and may have been seen biking up and down a Sanjo shopping street while carrying a futon, or a desk, or a rice cooker and hot water boiler. The apartment is at a point now where I can start the school year, no problem, but there are still a few additions to make. Hopefully I can keep it just uncomfortable enough to force myself to go out and do things, but still be able to come home, study, and relax. Comfortably uncomfortable.
It took the empty kitchen here to remind me how well-stocked my kitchen in Gifu was. A week and half in, and I'm halfway through a bottle of olive oil, nearly finished with 1 kg of rice, and have tossed down four bundles of udon and two of soba. The overall leader of my meals has been natto, rice, and miso soup (8); followed by curry and rice (7); udon and vegetables (4); soba and vegetables (2); mapo eggplant and rice (1); salt and pork tsukemen (similar to ramen) (1); sesame pork katsu (1); and one Smile Burger. The last item, that of transcontinental fame, wrapped in unprecedented legend, ever-elusive, and exclusive to a one-manned small shop in eastern Kyoto, costs about 20% of my weekly budget for now, and I think that will make it all the more special when I have it.
No internet forced me to get a ton of reading done as well, mainly Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe, and Fraud by David Rakoff. Both fantastic. I've also fallen into a pretty good study schedule, now that most of the apartment is set. School orientation was last week, and tomorrow is the day we officially register for our classes. There's an opening ceremony this weekend, classes officially start next week,  and the avalanche of things to do will come roaring.

Back and posting

Four years, four cities, five jobs, three JLPTs, and dozens of Smile Burgers later, I am back in the Heian period capital. I'll be studying full-time and working part-time, and I'll do my best to share some adventures, updates, and photos along the way.
I have just arrived and have nothing to report that any jet-lagged traveler wouldn't report.  For a nice quick read, I posted the Holstee Manifesto courtesy of Brain Pickings . Brain Pickings always has great reads, so check it out!