I love Japan!

OK, I love Kyoto. Still working on the Japan bit - I haven't decided on that one yet. I like Japan, but I don't think I love it yet, not on the whole, at least. That will develop, I am sure.

Anyway, I digress. I am excited since I am sitting here in the funkiest Internet cafe in the entire world (it has a sunken Zen garden partway up that you have to walk over on clear, clear glass, and plays music that Sigur Ros should have composed), and not only is it the funkiest Internet cafe in the world, it is the same Internet cafe that I came to a number of times two years ago when I was in Japan. I searched it out because I am in Kyoto, and it is almost as cool as the beautiful temples in Kyoto, and I wanted Randal to see it. Needless to say, he was duly impressed and I shall keep him around for a while longer...

So, we are in Kyoto. We decided yesterday to take today off and come to Kyoto for the weekend. No train tickets booked (easily rectified, but for some mysterious reason, the local train was not running, so we had to shell out for the more pricey shinkansen,　no hotel reserved (it took us about 1 1/2 hours to find one that wasn't full) - the perfect way to travel. We are staying in the Pension Station Kyoto　which　is sparse but quaint - we took a tatami mat Japanese-style room (because we don't get enough of that at home with Randal's tatami bedroom and futons (I have a futon at my place but no tatami, sadly)) - and will probably have to stay smelly all weekend because there are just shared baths and the bathtime is only from 5:00 p.m. onwards (usually until 10:00 or maybe 11:00, so we may not make it home in time).

This afternoon, after settling in, we headed to Nijo Castle, where of course I have been but was sooooo happy to return to. (I'm too lazy to link over - go to my Flickr site and look under Japan for pics from my previous trip.) Not many pictures, unfortunately; Randal's camera was running low on batteries and mine was almost out of film - I know: film! how quaint! But never fear, this problem shall not repeat itself. We found out at an electronics shop this evening that Randal did not need a fancy-shmancy transformer in order to recharge his battery here in Japan (we thought he did), and we were so excited to hear this news that we up and bought ME a digital camera.* I'm so excited. I don't know all my fancy specs yet,　but it's a Pentax 6 megapixel, digital/optical zoom and other fancy stuff. It's nice and I like it.

Time running out here so I should go. I can't promise fun pics on my blog yet as I still don't have Internet at home (I don't even have a phone yet, and it's getting to be way too long). I may upload some at school, transfer them to my email and then upload at a cafe in the meantime, but no promises!


* OK, anyone who knows me will know that when I make it sound like such a quick, easy decision, it was actually preceded by over an hour of hemming and hawing, much to the chagrin of the store clerk who was roped into helping us because he was the only one who spoke good enough English...

I just blogged...

to say I love you?

Very quick note to say I am alive. I have found an internet cafe and spent the first hour of my time here (90 minutes for the price of a drink) trying to get the keyboard to switch to English (I now know the trick) and emailing my mother (a worthy cause, methinks).

In a nutshell, Gifu is good. But I have been sick, Randal has been having apartment woes, and Rion has been having problems in Vancouver. No one in this family gets off scot-free these days! Anyway, looks like things in Van are going to be resolved soon (involving, possibly, a move to Winnipeg) and I am almost better, and hopefully Randal's lodging straightens itself out.

I have two long(ish) posts from my first and second weeks here that I will post in the next little while. Unfortunately, I do not have Internet at home yet, and Blogspot is blocked at school. So no luck there. And I wasn't planning on hitting the cafe today so didn't bring the files with me. You will just have to wait!