Kyoto with UGA friends (July 1st)

Josho no michi ga meccha hiroi ne?!

Katie and I went to go meet two of my friends from UGA, Akiko and Natsuko, both who live in the Kobe area. Well, Akiko actually live in Okayama right now with her family as she's finishing school, but she plans on living in Kobe soon. Akiko and Natsuko were studying abroad in Athens last year and I became friends with them through the Japanese classes I was taking, which they were assisting. It's so funny that a year ago I spoke no Japanese, didn't really know anyone from Japan, had never really eaten much sushi, watched little anime, etc.––and now I'm living Japanese. Strange huh. I even have friends, yeah!



So we met and toured Kyoto. We went to Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion), wandered around a bit along the Kamogawa (duck river), and toured the Josho (Imperial Palace) grounds. It was all fun and gorgeous and a low cloud cover kept the air cool and comfortable with only a few drizzily patches. But my favorite part was just goofing around and talking with everyone I hadn't seen in a while, and introducing Katie to a bit of my friends/life she didn't get to see while I was in Athens the last year. I left the day feeling so giddily contented and hopeful about the upcoming years here with her.

The Golden Pavilion Bush visited last November––I hear he offered Koizumi half of Iraq and a quarter of Afghanistan for it. Koizumi said no, but I’ll give it to you for half your naval fleet and nuclear disarmament. Bush chuckled like a good-natured redneck and said, “You know, Koee-zumee-san, you’re a funny guy. Let’s go get drunk and sing us some Elvis karee-okee.” (HAHA)!

So there isn't much more to say so the pictures can do the talking. Thank you Natsuko for taking and forwarding so many great pictures!

This is the photo-op mecca at Kinkakuji––I think there were lines of people waiting to get their shutter-snap off.