Zen

“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” – Rosalia de Castro


JAPAN... I've waited so long to get here and you're more than I could have hoped.


Osaka

Day 1 - upon arrival we decided to just get out and do our best with the language. YOLO (You Only Live Once). We went to a mall near our hotel and tried to find some local food. This was an experience in itself!  We ended up at a restaurant and we couldn't read the menu and the owner and waitresses didn't speak English...we did a lot of pointing.  But the owner was so amazing.  She was so patient and willing to help us.  We all had fun and laughed a lot.  She taught us  and ended up having a great time with everyone in this tiny restaurant.  Already I was in love with the people of Japan. 

Next we decided to venture out to the Osaka castle.  We thought, subway, easy!  We can do this...lol it was a bit more difficult than that.  None of the signs are in English nor are the ticket booths, but soon people noticed us struggling and helped point us in the right direction.  We got our tickets and with only one transfer we would make it.  Along the way I made a friend who liked my camera. He walked into the train and came straight to me, (no personal space boundaries).  He wanted to know where I was from and about my camera.  We talked with him and his mates for a bit.  He was learning English so we were good practice for him.  I Loved him.  Soon (2 hours later) we arrived at our destination, the Osaka castle.  As we are walking up I see some kids doing flips on a tree, so I started taking pictures of them.  Quickly one of the kids came over and started talking to me.  But he realized quickly that I only spoke English, so a girl came over when he called.  I asked if they were gymnast...oh no, they do parcore.  Never would I have imagined to meet a group of people doing parcore outside a Japanese temple.  They told me to hurry up to the castle cause it was about to close and I'd see them after.  I did as I was told. 

Parcore - for real.

The amazing lady who showed me where to take the best photos!

The view

After the beautiful temple, things just keep getting better.  Everyone was waiting for me as usual because I was taking pictures.  I was trying to get shots of a man feeding birds and they would come right into his hand and eat, it was fantastic.  A Japanese woman came up to me and pointed to a lake behind me and so I began to take pictures, but she said 'no'.  I was lost...so she started walking around the lake and then stood there, I assumed she wanted me to take a picture of her, so I did an waved.  Ha.  The she gestured to me to come where he was, and so I obeyed, these people have yet to lead me astray.  When I got there I was in awe. The view of the temple in the lake was so incredible! I sat there for a minute and then the woman waved and left me. I took some photos and then went to meet everyone.  I told them of my experience and they wanted to see what I saw.  So we went and got some group shots. 

Jay, Aaron, Kathy, Daisy and me

We made it home almost perfectly and got dinner at the market close to us. And went back to sleep. 

Day 2 - Kansai University 

We spent the day at the university learning about their education and goals for their future, both the administration and the students.  It was pretty fun and interesting, but for me the best part was the evening spending with the students, having real conversation about real life things.  We met some very fun and amazing students, had conversations about things from family life, school, plastic surgery, goals, etc.  It was a great evening.  Hopefully we can keep in contact and learn from each other continually. 

Some of our incredible Japanese friends

I love people and coming to Japan and being able to spend time getting to know these students just makes me realize how important all my travels have been in creating the person I am today. 

Day 3 - Kyoto

Today we took a journey to the Shrines and Temples in the capital city, Kyoto.  It was raining ALL day, which almost made it a little bit more magical.  We went to 3 of the thousands of honored spaces.  Each varied in meaning and had different energy to them.  I savor the honor and respect that people bring as they pray to the different diety or kami.  My favorite was at Kiyomizudera and was the love shrine - Jishu Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the deity of love and matchmaking. In front of the shrine are two stones, placed 18 meters apart. Successfully finding your way from one to the other with your eyes closed is said to bring luck in finding love. I did this and supposidly I will have the luck of the diety Jishu to find my love.  My fingers are crossed xoxoxo!

Yep... I made it, eyes closed. 

Our last stop was to the Ginkakuji (銀閣寺, Silver Pavilion) is a Zen temple along Kyoto's eastern mountains (Higashiyama).  This Buddhist temple was unbelievably beautiful.  It was a garden, rock, trees and flowers.  I got some amazing shots that I hope turn out.  After our tour we headed back to our hotel in Osaka and grabbed food from the market (which we don't know what we are reading, so it's a lot of looking at pictures, ha).  Then we had our free 2 hours of Karaoke in a floor below our rooms. haha.  Once again Asian Karaoke is pretty fabulous.  

Zen

(these pics are from my big camera... no phone pics, thats why they finally look good!)