Brian: Sunday, the day before school

I spent exactly ¥0 today. yokatta ne (that's good, huh).

I got up at around 7:30AM and uploaded some more pictures before heading downstairs to greet my host parents. Charlie apparently sleeps until noon or later, which is probably what I'll do once I get over any residual jet lag. Anyways, my okaasan (host mom) likes it when I get up early so I'll try to keep it up as long as possible. Breakfast was interesting... okaasan brought out a hot plate and we made pancakes, bacon, and an egg for my breakfast (they had eaten already). We talked about various things (that I can't remember now), of which one was an electronic dictionary. I said that I wanted to buy one, so she brought out some advertisements and told me to go to Teramachi in downtown Kyoto or this other area in Osaka to buy one. It looks like they go for around ¥20,000 which is kind of expensive for my budget, but I just might suck it up because it is so useful. The problem with my pocket dictionary is that it only has characters, so if I want to look up a kana phrase, for example "chanto", which has no kanji, I'm out of luck. It can also be time consuming to look up kanji I don't know the radical for. Plus, it can't go from English to Japanese, which I don't really need yet, but will when I start writing compositions in my Japanese class.

Lunch was instant ramen, which reminded me of the kind my dad makes because they put in various things. For example, they also put an egg inside. It seems like they like breaking the egg, however, instead of leaving it in one piece. I was a little surprised because the program said they weren't expected to provide lunch on weekends, but I guess it wouldn't really be proper to eat lunch without me while I am home. So, I just decided to thank them. My luggage arrived soon after, and otoosan and I got all 70 pounds of it up the narrow suitcase with only a little difficulty. In the privacy of my room, I got out the omiyage I wanted to give them and prepared the gift bags. For okaasan, I decided on the Ghirardelli chocolates (blueberry and cherry) and the Stanford teddy bear. I was a little surprised at how nicely it turned out. The white bear wearing a red Stanford shirt fit perfectly between the red and blue chocolates, in a deep red bag with white paper packing. It looked really swell, I think. The cards I bought were also really pretty. Using the pink pen I bought at Tokyu Hands in Ikebukuro, I wrote out her name, Fujiwara Mieko. For otoosan, I decided on the Stanford cap and the divot repair keychain. In similar fashion, I put both items inside the bag, filled it with packing, and wrote Fujiwara Fuyuki on the card, this time in blue. For Itaru, I decided on the Underarmor Stanford shirt, a long-sleeve shirt designed to hot weather and sports. I'm not sure he'd use it too much - he's 32 and works probably 6-7 days a week for a political party, but I'm sure he'd like it anyhow. I wrote his name out in green. I only got a chance to give okaasan her bag today, but at a suitable time tomorrow I'll give the other two their omiyage gifts.

In the afternoon, okaasan and I walked the dog to Arashiyama, a popular tourist destination for Chinese tourists. The dog is a really cute thing, Duka-chan it's called, a small dog with really short legs but a long body. I'm usually somewhat uncomfortable around dogs, but it's so affectionate that I was very natural around it. Okaasan even asked me if I owned a dog. I was surprised myself that I got along so well with Duka-chan. Duka-chan gave us a lot of problems on the trip, however. Not long after we left the front door, she stopped at the side of the road and did a #2 business, which okaasan cleaned up. But, we had to go back because she didn't want to carry "it" with us. Then, Duka-chan was always sniffing at poles and peeing on them. It was very interesting how this very small and domesticated dog was so territorial. By the way, it was raining when we left, so we tried to get Duka-chan to wear a raincoat. But after we put it on, he refused to walk. He cut the cutest figure. So, we had to take it off and let him walk around and get himself dirty. When we got on the train, we had to put him in a bag. And he was constantly running around in circles, tangling up his leash. But he was cute nonetheless.

Arashiyama was beautiful as promised. Also as promised, there were lots of Chinese tourists. Some of them were riding rickshaws, like the one I took a picture of in Asakusa next to the Kaminarimon gate. I don't blame them, the view from the bridge was quite amazing. As okaasan explained, the bridge was called the moon-crossing-bridge and people would come by the river to watch the cherry blossoms and drink during the spring. Otoosan would swim in the river every day when he was a boy. She also pointed out Monkey Mountain and other landmarks, but I didn't fully understand everything she said. For example, we went to a large rock engraved with a poem, and she tried to explain the poem, but I didn't get most of it. The Chinese tourists came to see the poem, I think. On the way back, okaasan treated me to a coke float. It was a long walk, but it was fun, I think.

I had so much for dinner I think I might burst. First there was fish, of course. Then I had two katsu, or fried pork, with shredded cabbage. Then there was a bowl of rise and tempura. Then there was a bowl of miso soup. Then there was 2-bowls-worth of potato salad. If I eat like this every day, I might even gain weight here rather than lose it, as I expected.

Kyoto Day 3