Nara

I went to Nara a while ago, I think it was on Oct 14th or something like that. Anyway, it was nice. There were dear everywhere and they weren't even scared of us. People were selling these little treats for them that tasted a little bit like a waffle ice cream cone, yeah I tried a little bite out of curiosity. Anyway, we went to two temples and a shrine and had a great time.

This is a Japanese porta-potty, hole-in-the-ground style, I was very amused

They remind me of Mexico 'cause this type of toy (different characters) are sold at county fairs and such

He looked a little bit sad

DEER!

They sold a ninja costume, I thought it was cool but it didn't come out very good

Todai-ji Temple, World Heritage (patrimonio mundial), Buddhist

These were so freaking awesome! I got really excited when I saw it and for some reason thought of all my friends and family who like fighting video games

This is Agyo, a Nio guardian of the temple

The temple!

People always offer prayers outside temples with incense, it smelled really good

I love these little water fountains, the water is so tasty

Todai-ji is the lagest wooden building in the world! This is Daibatsu (Buddha)

• Height : 14.98 meters
• Face : 5.33 meters
• Eyes : 1.02 meters
• Nose : 0.5 meters
• Ears : 2.54 meters
• Weight : 500 metric tonnes
• the fingers are the size of a human!
  

Blueprint (is that the right word) of the temple

Can you see Daibutsu's face?

There was a pillar in the temple with a hole through it, kids went through and their moms took pictures

Calligraphy

Mmmm I love macha (green tea) ice cream

Kasuga Taisha (shrine) also World Heritage

There was a wedding going on so we couldn't go to that side. She looked beautiful, I think she married a gaijin (foreigner)

Those barrels are full of sake!!

You can usually purchase this type of thing and write a prayer on it. Obviously, these were love prayers. "Always love-love" is my favorite part.

Found some cool-looking mushrooms, took pics

This guy was practicing horseback archery (don't know the actual name)

Kofuku-ji temple, Buddhist, World Heritage

I thought it was cool that the train had two "stories"

I thought this one was cool-looking, futuristic

Elementary school band, they were really good!

Yukata fitting

On September 29 we went to the school for a yukata (less formal than a kimono, usually worn at festivals) fitting. The school hired a local dance troupe so that they could dress us up in yukatas and teach us a few dances. It was fun and we all had a great time. Some of us will be dancing with the troupe on October 26 so we have to practice for the next few Saturdays. They'll dress us up and do our hair and make up. We even get to miss school hahaha. I'm looking forward to it!

Do I look Japanese?

Haha, we thought they'd have the proper shoes for us but they didn't so we had to wear our sneakers : (

Hai chiizu! (it's what the Japanese say before taking a picture, the equivalent of "say cheese")

In fron of the main bulding. I still have to take pictures of Kansai Gaidai and post them here, sorry!

Mmmm I love kitsune udon!!

I couldn't live without onigiri (rice balls)

The dance troupe

The participants and dance troupe, can you find me?

This is called the "baseball game". You dance to something related to baseball (they talk about batting, running, strike, safe, etc) and at the end you draw rock papers or scissors. The winner moves on to the next phase until only one person is left, the person gets a price. My okasan said she played strip baseball game so that if you lost you had to take an item of clothing off...interesting.

Picnic weee!!!

On Septmeber 24 Takeshi (student at Kansai Gaidai who speaks VERY good Spanish) invited us to a picnic in Kisaichi a station 20 min aways from Hirakata-shi station (the largest station closest to school, usual meeting place). It was soo nice! It was more in the country side so it was very green and not as crowded as the city. There were a bunch of fireflies too. We rented a table at a picnic area. Many people were, especially children. There was a shallow river where most kids were playing and fishing.

We bought some food from the grocery store and had a small BBQ. The people there were very nice and we all had a good time. It rained so we had to wait before we went home. We were on the bottom of a hill so we hiked to the top, it took about 10 min to get there. We could see the city from where we were (I think it was Hirakata but I'm not sure), it was nice. I've been thinking about going back with my friends or Yuji so we can hike for most of the day. Anyway, here are the pictures.

P.S. I've enabled public comments so you should be able to leave me comments on the blog. Take care!!

Green!

River. Told you it was shallow.

Hehehe, cute

Our table

The view from the hilltop

Majo

Hehehe I love this picture, he looks so adorable ^_^

The guy with the glasses is Takeshi. He's pretty adorable, he has a baby face. I actually had a crush on him after I met him. He's a nice guy.

Mmmm smells good.