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!

Hotels and Sightseeing/Baseball

I'll be in hotels for the next few weeks with my family. We've been sightseeing, and plan to do plenty more. So far I've taken them to Nijo Castle, Gion Corner, Kaitenzushi (sushi on a conveyor belt), Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, Mr. Donut, and numerous breads, coffees, and mochas.
The first thing we did that I had never done before was go out to Osaka and watch a Hanshin Tigers baseball game! It was really fun, very different than baseball in America. Fans have organized cheers and chants, and every player on the Tigers has his own chant for when he is up to bat. Because of this lively atmosphere, it was very easy to stay interested in the game the entire time, though it was unfortunate our Tigers lost. The three of us swore our allegiance to the Tigers before the game, so we're willing to stick out a few losses. There is also a more friendly atmosphere than in American baseball. Both teams' mascots were friends, and when a player on one team got hurt, even a player on the other team would check to see if he was okay, which I feel like I rarely see in American baseball. There was a little bit more of a Disney-type of feeling with the whole fans/mascots thing, but that's somehow justified by the fans' diehard attitude in supporting their team. Most people were chanting, most were wearing some kind of awesome combination of jersey or hat or towel. They either wear the towels around their necks or around their heads as bandanas, which I think are really cool. Having fans so into it made it a lot easier to have fun, maybe I can bring some of that atmosphere back to America!

Finishing Up/Smileburger

So things are finishing up here at my apartment. I don't know if I'll be completely done moving out by Saturday, which is when my dad and cousin arrive, but Sunday is the official move out day, so definitely by then. I bought a cardboard box to mail winter clothing and a few other things home in advance, to free up space in my luggage for gifts, etc. I'm also figuring out a way to send my bike home, since the bike shops here will buy it for virtually nothing, and in actuality I probably wouldn't get anything in return that comes close to this bike's value to me. My bike and I had a bit of fall the other day, and though there are only a few more scratches on each of us, I'm sure it has made it that much harder to get anything for the bike.
These last days have just started to be filled with various good-byes, with some leaving right after the last day of school, others starting vacations with families, and one friend of mine on a mission to Tokyo to look for a job. This afternoon my friends and I had hamburgers at the best burger place any of us have ever been to, and we're a rainbow coalition of America, Scotland, Britain, and Japan. The place is called Smileburger, and they serve huge, delicious hamburgers for about $10 each, which is reasonable considering how big and good they are. In fact, half the fun in going is my Scottish friend's enthusiasm for the place. While we all agreed it wouldn't be our last trips to Smileburger, it might have been the last one with all of us together. It's a place I plan on taking any guests that come visit Kyoto.
It's gonna be tough packing everything up and moving out, but it'll happen one way or another. Going through everything will bring back memories, and probably also remind of things I forgot to do. The plus in all of this is that I get to see all kinds of family members, and then eventually go home and see everyone there too. It'll be nice to be home, but it'll also be sad to leave this great city :)

Photos from my film camera

These were all taken with my plastic white camera throughout the semester, and I finally got them developed. This first photo is from Kiyomizu Temple.

The view from my building.

These next few are from our bike adventure we had a few months back.




This restaurant is somewhat near place, I like the sign. It says the day's special on the board.




This was this crazy band we saw in Osaka, they were loads of fun.




The Kamo River, which I had an epic fall into yesterday...

Finals Done

~~~, I am actually done with finals. I didn't think they would ever end. We had tests everyday for the past week, every morning, and sometimes again in the afternoons too. I finished writing my paper for my writing class, and after I have my friend look over it, I'll email it to my teacher, and then well, officially done! I guess the finals can explain the recent lack of posting. Not only was there not time to post and write, there really wasn't a lot to post or write about. Studying is studying, and figured I shouldn't post about that.
I have a week until family members arrive, so I'll be doing some last minute preparations for them and packing up stuff so I can move out of my apartment and into hotel after hotel after hotel with the family. It'll be great to see all of them, and I'm excited to introduce them to all kinds of things here. I know a few non-touristy places that I think are great, and I'll only search for more since they won't always have a local to show them around :)
Well, this next week should be filled with plenty of adventures, so expect many posts!