More Pictures! Pt. 1 (Tanabata Festival)

This was at a shrine near my school...



The bucket hat pictured below becomes obligatory when turning 50. I can't wait!

These Weeks/Curry

Yay, I'm able to post again! I've tried a few times in the last few days, but for some reason the "New Post" button wasn't working very well. It's actually been a little hectic the last few weeks with all sorts of engagements and obligations. I was asked to write a little blurb in Japanese about my Japanese studies/experience here for the newsletter of the sister city group I came to Japan through five years ago, so I wrote about living in Kyoto, and you might say it's a nice summary of what I've written on this blog. When I get the energy I'll translate it to English, but for the time being that sounds too much like homework. I went to school today, but my brain was still recovering from the traffic jam of a proficiency test I took yesterday. A nice way to cap off a few weeks of friends visiting from out of town, flashcard kanji-memorization, article writing, news of various Los Angeles Kings player acquisition, and the usual daily going-ons of studying abroad over here. I also took some very cool pictures, but am sad to say that I managed to delete them while trying to put them on computer. However, I'm sure I can take plenty of pictures in the future that will do them justice, it's just that I don't have them right now to show you guys.
I may have written this earlier, but it's officially rainy season over here. It's said that 20 years ago it would be humid and rainy for most of June and July without any breaks, but we've actually had more days without rain than with rain. And for some reason, the weather was actually very nice a few days ago. It started raining again last night, and there was about half an hour of intense rain today, with more and bigger thunder than one would have guessed. It's strange carrying an umbrella and wearing a T-shirt and shorts to school. But it's also necessary, just like taking off your shoes when you eat curry.
I've been hooked on curry for a while now. It started from two things: curry bread and the convenient price of curry packets. Curry bread, also known sometimes as a "curry donut", has been my favorite Japanese treat for a few years now. And having it around everywhere here hasn't lessened my desire for it. It comes in the form of a large roll (and occasionally slightly sweetened and flaked like a donut) with curry and small bits of vegetables and meat inside. I usually get it from bakeries (as opposed to convenience stores or supermarkets), and I always go straight for it since it's the purpose of my mission. If for some reason the bakery doesn't have it, I usually ask just to double check, ahaha. You can have them heat it up for you, or eat it cold. It's great either way as far as I'm concerned. I want some already, and I just had curry for dinner! Hmm, maybe I have a problem?
The other source of my curry problem is the low price of curry packets at the grocery store. They're less then a dollar, and all I have to do is pour one over some boiled carrots, potatoes, and onions, let it cook a little more, then put that over steamed rice, and well, that's an easy, cheap, somewhat rounded, and very delicious dinner. So I eat curry at home pretty easily. Then there's also the curry in the dining hall, which isn't the cheapest thing but well-priced anyway, and satisfies my craving. There's also a curry chain across the street from apartment called CoCo Curry, which probably tastes the best, but also costs three times as much (about $6-7), which still isn't expensive considering it's a sitdown place.
So I guess I should probably try to curb my curry consumption, so I don't get sick of it. CoCo Curry has some interesting toppings for it, as well as extreme degrees of spiciness. It's useful for ideas to make at home, though I usually just keeep it simple with something similar to what you read above. Whenever I eat there I just get the regular spiciness (which isn't spicy at all), but they have up to level 10, so one day I'll venture to higher reaches of curry civilization.
Well, I hope this curry bit was as fun to read as it was to write! Maybe I'll do an entire curry post sometime, and eventually become some kind of curry expert? But for now, a long bath sounds like a good idea, I haven't had time for one in a while. I have been showering everyday though, so don't worry about anything on that front.

Test

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is this weekend, and I've spent the last week or so studying more specifically for it. I took a practice test for it last weekend and got a good feel for what I need to focus on. The two biggest obstacles are kanji (the more complicated characters borrowed from China associated with meaning) and the rarely-used grammar. There are all kinds of grammar forms that no one uses in daily conversation that are on there, so similar to kanji, it really just takes memorization. I've made a huge stack of kanji flashcards (just like old times) and just plan on going through them a bunch of times throughout this week. People say the only sure things in life are death and taxes, but I've always liked to include "more kanji" on that list too. There's always more kanji. It's said you need to know 2,000 kanji to be considered fluent and/or read a newspaper, and I think I'm getting close to that number, but I still have trouble with the newspaper. In time, in time, just like Sly says.
Good News: I've managed to carry my camera around with me more than I was, and have some more pictures on their way. But for now, I have to finish morning preparations for school.

Camera, etc.

Hey kids, so I just realized something. A reason I haven't been posting as much is because I haven't been carrying my digital camera around with me as much, and therefore have fewer pictures to post. I mostly use my film camera, and haven't gotten those pictures developed yet. I also think it'd be fun to post some of my random pictures from my phone. They include my friends goofing off in restaurants, cute postcards, delicious food, and a beautiful lake. So step one will be to start carrying around my digital camera in my pocket like I did the first 2 months here. Step two will be to develop that roll of film, and step three to get the pictures from my phone onto my computer and then up here eventually. Sounds fun, wish me luck! I have a few people visiting this week, and also have the proficiency test next weekend (which will require lots of studying), and my friend Good Sam's birthday party on the 4th (the night before the test), so there will probably be more things going on than one really knows. Oh, and Good Sam is British, but he still gets a kick out of sharing his birthday with our country. I think he was saying he wants to have hot dogs on Saturday...

Bento

"Bento" means pretty much "box lunch", but I feel like that doesn't adequately express what it is. A bento usually includes a main item, which could be really anything from katsu to sushi to fried chicken. Then they usually come with rice and a few other side items such as pickled vegetables, potato salad, kimchee, etc., but for your information, I've even seen spaghetti as one of the sides, with a hamburger patty as the main item. They are filling, and usually delicious. The reason I said "box lunch" doesn't adequately express the meaning is that I get the impression that I a lot of thought is usually put into a bento, more thought than what we generally think of when we hear "box lunch". The combinations of food are important, and I think they often include the Japanese idea that a good meal has many different colors in it. There's a certain number of colors that I can't remember, but I think it's somewhere between 10 and 31. I think the idea is that the meal is well-balanced, though these bentos aren't always well-balanced. Bentos can be bought at convenience stores, cafeterias, and bento shops, but people often make them at home and take them to school or work. That's probably where the idea of having a variety and well-balance of things came from, since I think that 30 colors idea mainly has to do with eating at home. I can't quite say I've made anything close to what I've described above, but I've brought rice and vegetables to school on many occasions. When I finally make my own, I'll be sure to take a picture and let all of you know. For now, he's a picture of the bento place next to my apartment.

Here's another one, closer to my school. This picture also includes my friend Vinit, who I took Japanese with at UCSC and is a video game expert and all-around rad guy, and he is holding a large chicken katsu that this bento place also sells. This place is our cheap destination usually, since they have a regular size bento that fills you up for only 292 yen, or about $3 I suppose. There's nothing special about the food, but seeing as it only costs $3 and fills you up, the fact that it tastes average actually makes it a really good deal.

Between these two places, the place next to my building tastes a lot better than this place near my school. As expected, it also costs twice as much or more ($6-$10), but they are really good. That's why a direct translation of "bento" to "box lunch" would cause a problem when simply saying "I spent $9 on my box lunch".

Adventure Day Pt. II

My body was a little slower and worn out today thanks to a successful Adventure Day yesterday. I was also mentally worn out from a lack of sleep, which was also due to the successful Adventure Day. My body was so tired that my mind really couldn't relax and fall asleep, which was a first of its kind. We (me, Bad Sam, and Felix) actually went back in search of the same lake as last week, and found it! It was about 14-15 miles away, up and down hills, around windy curves, through small dirt paths, all surrounded by millions of the greenest trees I've seen. We were exhausted at many points on the way up, it took us about two hours under the sun to get there, so when we finally walked over a sandy hill and saw the big, sparkling lake, we had that magical moment that doesn't occur in reality enough. There was one guy leaving as we parked our bikes, and after that we had the lake all to ourselves. We walked around to the opposite side and set up camp on some 20 ft. rocks right on the water. We only had tea, chips, and chocolates this time, but the tea was really all that mattered to us at that point. And not having to bike uphill anymore, that was also important to us. We eventually waded into the water to cool off a little, and Sam was ofcourse the only one willing to go for a full swim out into deeper water. That sounded like it'd be really refreshing, but I also didn't feel like biking home all wet, so I stayed in knee-high water. A little later we decided to head back, which was mostly downhill. The thrill of the long ride down, along with our sense of accomplishment, provided us with plenty of energy to finish the adventure and make our way back into the heart of the city. Before we got back to Felix's apartment to get all of our stuff, we were already planning our next adventure. But we're not sure where exactly, maybe the same lake again! It's definitely high up on the list.
So my body and mind were worn out today, but it's okay because it was the day that I have the two teachers that I don't like very much. I have my two favorite teachers tomorrow, so I'll be nice and recharged by then for class, and the weekend.

Kiyomizu Temple

Here are some shots I got at Kiyomizu Temple a while back...