japanese jazz festival

Ok, here's the program that they gave us which had the band information and everything.



we came into a standard jazz band, cool.
and then they brought out the hippies. they were good, but we really needed to be outside, around a campfire, and sitting in a circle to enjoy it properly.


ahh, the blue grass band, they were awesome! i think that they were the best band there!

eww! eww! gross!

can you see it? its right on the inside edge on the left side. eeewwww!

been biking around

kyoto part two

there were lots of these little shops by the temples, they sold prayers, candles, and incense.
inside the kyoto station, it was pretty big, eh?

lol, we found a hummer!!!! and right next to it is a street that it could NEVER drive down! lol!
hmm, they don't look six years old to me...
this is the inside of one of the temples. i'm not sure if i was suppose to take this, but i didn't see any signs telling me not to, and there was a monk right next to me and he didn't look at me funny or anything.

KYOTO

this is the cute resturaunt that we ate at twice becuase it was one of the only places open early, it was well priced, it was tasty, and it was right next to the kyoto station.
this is a big temple way up the side of the mountain that we "hiked" up. there were all sorts of stores and graveyards on the way up.
another shot of the same temple, but with me in it.
this is another big temple at the bottom of that hill/mountain. to the side there was this gift shop/clerk thing. it looked like people were there to do business or something. maybe registering births and deaths with the temple?
some of the graveyard that we walked past on the way up
the river that runs through the city. it reminds me of kenshin (anime) like when he's walking home with tofu and that guy bumps into him and makes him mess it up.
it seems that all religions provide a sense of hope for their followers.
yes, it's blurry. this is the place we had dinner, it was good and had a very authentic atmosphere!

and finally, the reason we went: the fire festival! it's several hundred meters across and on the side of a mountain. you could see the flames, so you knew that the individual fires where really big!

third installment, hopefully the last from this weekend

"the wheels on the bus go round and round!" that's louise in the bottom corner. and the guy that plays Magic the Gathering is the one behind her in the blue shirt.
on the walk down the mountain. on the left is the island that we canoe'd to.
from the front building. isn't it nice?
sunset, and slightly cooler weather moving in. horray!
Diaske in a skirt. this is what you get when you don't want to participate! lol, i thought it was hilarious that the boys would rather wear women's clothes and be called the ugly sisters rather than speak in public!

second installment

first installment of this weekend's pictures

they took us to this party at this big convention hall with almost 300 people. this was our dancing group. there was beer and some socializing, then the band started up with the awa odori music and people started dancing on the stage and around the room. the music is very contagious. this was our "dance lesson"
the band standing around when they were getting us into proper lines of 5 before we hit the street to go to the first area.
jon (remember the drunk guy from last weekend?), don't remember her name (really nice though), brian, me, and ...don't remember!
a whole crowd was watching this group perform on this little barge as we walked across the bridge.
this is us getting ready to go through the first area, there were hundreds of people on either side to watch us dance down this section of road. it's pretty crazy.
some girls that i met at the party earlier. the one on the far right is an elementary teacher from hokkido (the cold island), all three of them spoke spanish, so we had fun drinking beer and speaking spanish together.
this is TEAM SANDWICH! this was my row of five. from left to right we have: bread, tomato, meat, mayo, and bread (me). we had a really good time together


this is right before we went in for the last area, i was tired, sweaty, sore, drunk, sunburnt, bug-bit, and de-hydrated but it was crazy fun! does this picture convey the energy?

clear day today

yum, sawdust...oh wait!

alright. here's my lunch: cabbage pancake, noodles, and tasty little fried dumpling things. and then they dumped a giant handful of this dried fish shavings on top of everything. it's suppose to be really good for you, so i ate most of it. it's really dry, and it looks and has the texture of sawdust. so you put it in your mouth, and that's what you think you're eating at first, and then as it moistens in your mouth it gets really fishy. there are very VERY few americans that i know that could stomach it.



here's the awa mall i love how it says "shopping plaza OURS" it's so cute!
here's our meeting with the mayor, who's the guy in the middle. the guy in the white shirt is the head of the board of education, and then the two elementary english teachers in the front.

this one's nice. i took it after the cell phone place, before the long bike home.
here were two girls in komonos at the family mart.

i think whisky jugs this big should be illegal, you could get into some really big trouble with this!!