No Swimsuits...

Okay, I am alive.  For those who were concerned, I live.  I have a lot to catch y'all up on, so get ready.

The day after we went to Nara, we took a hike up Kurama-san.  "San" is the Japanese approximation of the Chinese word for mountain.  So basically Mt. Kurama.

The sign at the train station

The hike was really beautiful.  It was a little hot that day, and very humid, of course, so there was the right amount of complaining the whole way up.  I think this area was one of my favorites to walk through.

This is a Tengu, which is a supernatural being that was supposed to have taught Yoshitsune how to fight....or something.  I forget.

A lovely garden about halfway up the mountain.

Random piece of modern art

Once we reached the top, we went into this shrine where they keep the ashes of

After that, we went to a hot spring there.  In Japan, hot springs are called "onsen".  We were all really excited to go, but also pretty nervous.  Most of us had never been, so it was going to be a very new experience.  In Japan, onsens are half pool of spring water to soak in, half public bath.  Which means, as the title of this blog indicates, you don't wear swimsuits.  Imagine the horror flashing through thirteen Mormon BYU students' minds at the thought of de-robing in front of everyone.  The tension was nearly tangible.

As it turned out, the whole experience wasn't nearly as traumatic as we had anticipated.  It's amazing how normal anything can become when everyone is doing it, and treats it like it's normal.  It was actually way fun.  Of course, the girls and the boys were separate, so the eight of us girls went in together.  Our female teacher with us had been before, and showed us the ropes.  Thankfully, there weren't that many other people there, so we didn't have to worry too much about using Japanese while dealing with being naked.  Basically, this is what you do:  Undress, wash off at little shower stations, then soak in the onsen water.  Public baths usually have body soap, shampoo, and sometimes conditioner sitting at each station, where you sit on a bucket (no joke, a bucket), and use a shower head and another bucket to wash yourself as thoroughly as you can.  You don't want to get the onsen water dirty.  It's got natural minerals in it that are supposed to be good for your skin.  You also have to keep your hair pinned up.  You don't want the minerals getting in your hair, nor do you want your hair to end up floating in the water.  That's just unsanitary.

Anyway, it was really fun.  The water wasn't heated too much, so we could stay in for awhile.  Although you have to be careful--stay in too long, and you get lightheaded.  You really have to regulate yourself, and make sure you stay hydrated by drinking lots of water, especially if you're in for long, or going to multiple onsen in one day.  Needless to say, this part of the trip has no photographic evidence.

The next day was Saturday, and my family had plans to take me to see the shrine at Ise.  This shrine is a very famous one, because they rebuild it every 20 years, and the architectural style is reminiscent (possibly) of Polynesian descent.  You can't take pictures of the shrine, so here's one from the internet:

Kinda pixelly...oh, well

For fun, we walked a lovely trail to the shrine, where we "paid homage" to the kami that lives there.  Remember, "kami" is like a spirit deity thing.  It's usually translated as a god, but that's not entirely accurate, in my mind.  But whatever.  Paying homage includes tossing a monetary offering (in our case, since we weren't actually worshipping, it was a one-yen coin, which is even more worthless than an American penny; there were some 1000-yen notes in there, though, which is about $13 bucks) and clapping twice before bowing your head to pray.  We just clapped our hands, though.  That attracts the attention of the kami to your prayer.

So basically, we didn't stay very long there.  The real attraction was the shopping nearby.  I didn't really buy a whole lot, but I did manage to get some pictures of my family:

So, from right to left (Japanese style), Sonomi-chan, Sakura-chan, and Subaru-kun

I think this is the only shot I could get with everyone in it...Again, right to left, Sister Matsunaga, Subaru-kun, Sonomi-chan, Shizuku-chan, Brother Matsunaga, and Sakura-chan

Me with Sonomi-chan and Sakura-chan

Subaru-kun.  Not the best shot of his face, but the best shot of his personality.  If anyone was wondering, he IS the cutest thing on the face of the earth

The trip was super-duper fun, and I got closer to Shizuku-chan and Sakura-chan, the oldest and third-oldest.  It was a really long day though.  We drove, and one way took 3 hours.  We did get to amuse ourselves with movies.  We watched "Coraline" (which was very, very creepy in Japanese, more so than I think it was supposed to be), "Arrietty", and some movie about an Australian girl and and man in New York....that one was pretty trippy.  But some of that was in English, so it was amusing to me, cuz I understood the jokes the kids didn't.

Sunday was interesting, because another BYU study abroad came through.  It was the Asian Business group, and because of that, the stake YSA has a social, and invited us to go, as well.  I can now attest that YSA is the same all over the globe--awkward.

Monday we went to Kinkakuji, which is the famous Golden Pavilion.  It didn't take too long to see, so afterwards some of us went to the Toji shrine, aw well.  Every 21st of the month, a flea market is set up at Toji, so we went to do some shopping.

The Pavilion

Katie and me in front of the Pavilion

Our classmates, some triumphant middle school boys, Katie, and me in front of the Pavilion

The next day was our last full day in Kyoto, so we had a farewell party with all of our host families.  That was really fun, to be able to see the people everyone had been living with.  Everyone found my family excessively cute.  Which they are.  Subaru-kun and I ran around the building afterwards from his older sisters, taking the elevator for no reason, and hiding.  I think we got disapproving looks, but I was just happy he was playing with me.  He's usually so shy of me...  Then he, Sakura-chan, and I started to challenge each other to rock, paper, scissors.  In Japan, it's jankenpo, and the rhythm is just different enough that I get thrown each time we do it.  So we did it American style, too.  Although the Japanese have a different American style than Americans do.  They slowly chant, "rock, scissors, papers."  Which threw me off just as much as jankenpo.  So I taught them the thumb war chant.  By the end of the night, neither one would be satisfied to just let me sit.  I always had to be challenging them in one contest or another.  It was so fun.  I was really sad to be leaving in the morning.

I did get to see the kids off to school the next morning, though, and I obligatorily conceded both the thumb war and the slap game (which I also taught them) to both Sakura-chan and Subaru-kun.  Then the Matsunagas drove me to the train station and saw me off.  And I've been on the road ever since!