Shaler Area In Japan: Monday, 6/24

I apologize for the lack of updates. The days have been crazy busy and students have been unable to submit their posts. Lots of exhausting sightseeing!

Hello! This is Amy, a senior at the high school, and I’d like to introduce our first day in Kyoto. This morning we had to say goodbye to our host families. It was incredibly sad as we took our final pictures and said our goodbyes. From there, we stopped at the hotel to drop off our luggage, and then began our tour with a trip to Sanjuusangendo, where our former assistant teacher, Inokuchi-sensei, came out from Hiroshima to meet us. We went into the temple, which is famous for its 1001 golden Buddha statues. It was really awe inspiring.

Our next stop was Kiyomizudera, a large temple complex at the top of a mountain overlooking Kyoto. The view was breathtaking. The contrast between the modern city in the background and the traditional buildings that surrounded us was unique. At the bottom of the complex, there are three springs, and drinking from one will give you luck in a certain area. One is for love, another for study, and the third for long life. I decided to drink from the third.

The street going down the mountain was lined with all kinds of shops, many of which are over a 100 years old. It was very crowded, but the snacks they sold were worth the crowds. For dinner we went to a Shabu Shabu restaurant. Here, set into the table, is a big pot of boiling soup. The waitresses would bring vegetables and thinly sliced meat to your table, and you would cook it yourself. The meat was so thin it would only take a couple of seconds before it was ready to eat. The added bonus is that the restaurant was all you can eat, and while some of us were too tired to really eat a lot, others really tried to beat the restaurant.

On our way back to the hotel, we had another round of goodbyes as we had to leave Inokuchi-sensei. It was another sad moment, because she is just the nicest person ever. We went back to the hotel, and found ourselves looking forward to the next day’s travel.