ジェト・プログラムのジャスティン

２００８年５月６日

今週の漢字: 京都

Kyoto:
I finally went to Kyoto during the long weekend we just had, which is why I couldn’t update on time. I went with some AET friends by car from Saturday morning until last night (Monday). On Friday night, we went over to the driver’s apartment to sleep over, because it’s closer to Kyoto and we wanted to play a board game called “Settlers of Catan.” If you don’t know anything about this board game, it’s sort of like a cross between “Risk” and “Monopoly.” I don’t really like “Risk,” but I was sold after hearing how the game has some similarities to “Monopoly.” Anyway, Kyoto is closer to me compared to Tokyo, so it took a little less than 2 hours to get there. I heard that it takes only about a half hour by shinkansen from Nagoya.

We stayed at a hostel aptly named “Kyoto’s Cheapest Inn.” The accommodations are good for the price. There are some private rooms, but it was hard to find a room for 5 people plus we booked only 2 weeks before. Golden week is one of the busiest times in Kyoto, so hotels and hostels were full a long time before 2 weeks ago. When we got to the hostel, we actually bumped into a fellow Aichi JET who was also checking in. She joined us as we went sightseeing in Kyoto. We saw many temples and walked many streets. Kyoto was once the capital of Japan, and a lot of the old has been kept in the city as plenty of the new has been mixed in. I’ll write about what we did on the next post.

Stay tuned this weekend for another update!

En français:
Nous avons mangé une variété de nourritures en Kyoto. Le premier soir, nous avons mangé «okonomiyaki» et crème brûlée. Okonomiyaki est une spécialité de Kyoto, alors il était très délicieux. Pour le prochain dîner, nous avons mangé sushi. Il était bon aussi. Nous avons mangé à McDonald’s ou nous avons acheté des nourritures à un marché pour le déjeuner. J’ai des photos pour le prochain post.

今週の聖書の詩: “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.”
- Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)

今週の写真: I saw a clown show, which was marketed as a circus two weeks ago. 1) Kids introduced the clown show; 2) The clowns threw out giant balloons into the audience; 3, 4, 5) At a shrine near me on the same day as the clown show, people were throwing mochi and other goodies into the crowd.