Two Weeks Gone

Yeah, I'm a bad person. Deal with it. I've been really, really busy lately, and I am sorry. Let me start off by saying that this will not (I hope) turn out to be a gynormous post. I have a speech tomorrow, and it's about 10 minutes long and I need to begin to memorize it. I went to Kyoto on the 16th-18th for the Gion Matsuri, one of the largest festivals in Kyoto. It was started when the plague ended many, many years ago. They carry huge "floats" which are like huge wagons down the roads over a few miles. It's a big to-do, and it was crowded beyond belief. Elmer, Allan, Rob, Jamie, Meghan, and Scott went with me. We got there after class Friday, which was after our second mid-term. We didn't particularly want to think of anything class-related, so we went to a huge festival! That night, we went to Sanjo-Keihan to go to Shakey's Pizza, an all-you-can-eat pizza place. I won a pin-badge there, because I am cool. I was a pig and ate about 23 slices of pizza (roughly equivalent to 10 American slices of pizza, these are paper thin!). After pizza gorging, Elmer and I went to go find our little ryokan (inn). It was the cheapest (and therefore shadiest) place we could possibly find. So Elmer and I trot off, and end up going the wrong way for a while, and then backtrack, and hit the place about an hour and a half after we started walking. It seems to have been designed by taking the alleyways behind buildings and putting a roof over it and boards on the ground. Shady. But for 1650Y a night ($15) I would go there again. We slept dorm-style in a room. Read: 6 of us on a floor. But I am getting ahead of myself. Elmer and I rejoined the group at a Game Center (arcade) which wasn't very good. So we went to another one, but it turns out you need a membership to get into it. So we went on. We wandered around, and all the people were having their massive festivities, selling beer on the streets. We walked down a street that seems to scream red-light district with empty rooms plastered with girlie pictures and a door at the back guarded by a Japanese guy in a suit with an earpiece, or the places called "Pink Office," "Pink Tomato," and so on. Pink is the color of eroticism. Guess why. Eventually, a convenience store or two later, we get tired and get back to the Uno House, where we have to cross through two rooms, the place with the sink for brushing teeth, turn left, go down a 3 foot step, walk on the boards down a hallway that I had to turn sideways in (crazy American shoulders), ignore the urinals on the wall (they're fakes, apparently), go to the end of that hall, turn left and go through a cubby hole about 4 feet high (watch your head!) and then on the left is a sliding door to a little room with 6 futon mattresses on the floor. On the right is a mysterious stairway to nowhere, and it's open to the sky also. Lovely place. We slept just fine though, got up, showered, and Rob, Allan, and I wore our jimbe. Scott, Meghan, and Jamie wore yukata. Elmer just wore shorts and a tank top, because he's cool like that. Heading out, we watched the floats. They are amazing, but it was hot and sweaty, and crazy gross being pushed around like that. Meghan and I almost made it all the way to the front of the crowd. The best picture I got was when I picked Meghan up and she took a picture for me. She only weighs 95 pounds! Tiny!! After the parade, we wandered for a while, split up while Elmer, Jamie, and Rob went one way, and we went another. We (Scott, Meghan, Allan, and myself) went to sit by the river on the Kawamachi bridge area and look at the fun little river. We waded into it (the river is about 10 inches deep here, man made), and it was nice and cool. Up the river, I saw some Ronin (masterless samurai). Going up the river a bit, a Shinsengumi (all of you who know Kenshin know who this is) member comes up, and they enact a fight scene!! It was great! One Shinsengumi guy versus three Ronin (one was female). After the demonstration, they had some people come and try a combination. They wouldn't let me though. I kept raising my hand, and he (Shinsengumi guy) says 'Who are you?' I respond with 'I'm me,' to which his reply is, 'Oh, never heard of you. Next?' But it was in Japanese. Oh well. After the fighting is done, we walk a year and a half to Kiyomizudera (the shrine of the pure water), which has the most amazing view, which it should, since it is on top of Kyoto. Uphill the whole way. But it was gorgeous. To be continued. I am only on the 18th right now as a matter of fact. Lots of catching up to do. And miles to go before I sleep. I mean, many things to read before I sleep.