Duermete feel my soul Again

I've been slacking!

So Thursday we were let out of classes early so we could all go watch the Jidai Matsuri (時代祭).  They hold it at the old Imperial Palace which is right across the street from school.  They put on a big fashion show, basically.  They dress people up in garb from across the centuries in Japan and turn one of the paths into a giant runway and have a procession.  It's pretty cool to see.  They dress up royalty as well as peasants. 

When I was standing on my tip-toes to see who was coming next, the two ladies in front of me offered their spot at the railing so I could see better.  They were so sweet! I refused at first, but they said they see it every year so it was fine.  As a result I got some good pictures.

After we left Jidai, we killed time until Cosmopolitan met up at 4:30 to head over to Kurama. 

It was ridiculously crowded at Demachianagi (I think that's the right romaji...) station.  We bought our round trip tickets and then waited for about 45 minutes to get onto the train. I literally ran to get a seat.  

The ride was pretty long, so I was glad I had one.  Jen was chilling in my lap the whole time. It was a fun ride.  One of my Japanese friends, Jun, was talking with us in English and Japanese and one of the women next to us noticed.  So when he went to ask them a question (of course, in Japanese), the woman comments "You speak very good Japanese" (日本語をよく話せるの)! We all just burst out laughing. It was hilarious. The woman so so embarrassed, but she laughed it off. We joked with her for the rest of the ride.  It was the perfect atmosphere headed to a matsuri.   

When we finally arrived it was dark out and very cold. As I exited the station it took me a bit to realize that there was a mountain looming right next to me. The entrance to the forest was about 100 meters from where I stood. It was so cool!

 

Lilly, Jen and I waited at the station for a bit for Hide to arrive then we headed up.  There were tons of people there.  The street was long and narrow, winding up the hill and ending at an Onsen.  We got in just before it started.  

At first we didn't understand what was going on, then we realized that the main event was the 10-odd groups of 3 or 4 guys in fundoshi carrying these monstrous torches up and down the hill.  

Just before the road turns to keep going up the hill, there's a shrine.  I think that's where they were mostly headed.  For the next couple of hours they paraded back and forth.  

As you kept going up the street you'd see a few taiko banging along as the men chanted "Saya Sairo" (or something close to that).  

We watched and got some awesome photos, but what we really wanted was some food! It took us a while, but eventually we found out that all the food is at the top at the onsen, so we worked our way through the crowd.  When we made it to the top they had all sorts of delicious things for sale. 

 

I had a niku-man (肉まん) which is a steamed bun filled with meat, some tako-yaki (たこ焼き) which is like a donut thing with squid (octopus?) in the middle, and a cat tail thing which was flaky pastry with a light glaze.  It was all well worth the wait.  

When we'd all had our fill and had enough of the cold, we headed back to the station.  We waited a good 1.5 hours to get on the train.  It was insane. I got in a little past midnight.  

It was was a great experience.  I think I like Kyoto matsuri more than Tokyo ones. I definitely enjoyed myself more this time around.  

Apart from that, I got my health insurance problem taken care of last week.  I don't know what happened, but my monthly bills were 3x more than they'd originally told me.  No worries, though.  It's all fixed.

Sunday night I skyped with all my taiko buddies back home! It was their halloween party.  I missed everyone so much. I don't think I realized just how much I missed them until I got online with them all at once.  I got to meet some of the newbies as well.  I can't wait to meet them all in person when I get back. 

It makes me happy to think that I can still connect with them even though I'm so far away.  I felt very loved that evening. Which is sweet, but it made me more homesick than I've been since I came here.  Can't wait for that group hug. I don't even care if it pulverizes me into sweet oblivion because it'll mean I'm back home.

Sigh.

Anyway, Jen and I started P90X yesterday.  I'm feeling pretty sore right now.  I can't wait to keep going! I've been feeling like a bump on a log without the crazy amount of taiko practice I used to get.  

And on that note, I leave you to go do some Plyometrics. 

Love until later,

Caitlin D.