During that Chuseok (the Korean Thanksgiving holiday), we only had five days to cram in as many attractions as possible, so the city was kind of a whirlwind. Now that we have a full four weeks here, we are able to take in the place more slowly (and it's a good thing, too, since Joel has been sick and I can feel myself heading in that direction). Our general daily plan is to wake up early, have Joel pack lunch while I work on my freelance assignments, and then choose one destination each day to go sightseeing.
The House
The boarding house where we are staying is an older place, one of several owned by a group of Israeli guys. Our boisterous "landlord" (for lack of a better term) has seven houses in the neighborhood - from which he rents rooms to a variety of travelers, teachers, job-seekers, and other vagabonds - as well as a bar. The place is pretty rustic (and gets really cold at night), but there is plenty of kitchen space and a large-ish common area for lounging.
Our own "room" is pretty spacious, with two sections separated by a sliding glass door.
We share the house with a French couple that live and work here semi-permanently and an Irish guy whose story remains unknown to me. The French woman teaches English at a French school for French-Japanese children (you can imagine that I had no idea that such a thing existed), and her boyfriend teaches English to students of all ages. The only thing I know about the Irishman is that he is most definitely the skinniest dude I have seen in recent memory. They are nice enough but mostly keep to themselves, which is fine by us.
The City (and Culture)
Like I mentioned before, I am absolutely in love with the city of Kyoto. It is everything that Gwangju isn't: clean, quiet, polite, not crowded, orderly, and secretive. The streets are well-paved with sidewalks and bike lines, and people drive slowly and follow traffic laws. In fact, they won't even cross a one-lane one-way street if the crosswalk signal is red, even if there are no cars. No one litters, everyone waits in line, and every single salesperson is cheerful and exceptionally polite. One of the things I hated most about living in Korea was being shoved around and having people cut in front of me in line, so it has been a major sigh of relief to come to a place that has such reverence for social order...though I must say that I sometimes miss the warmth and familiarity of Korean shop owners. Japanese society is extraordinarily polite, but warm and friendly it is not. It makes for a nice change of pace, though.
One thing that has been frustrating, though, is finding ourselves suddenly illiterate. There is almost no English on any signs or menus, and it is impossible to read Japanese kanji without serious study (and I haven't seriously studied any Japanese for over a year). It is slowly coming back to me, and I have begun reviewing the material I learned before, but I still constantly garble Japanese and Korean in my mind.
The Plan
I feel like if you lived here for a lifetime you could still never see everything that this place has to offer. Joel has planned for us to try to visit all of the UNESCO sites (except the museum, which is closed for repairs). We are also going to schedule an appointment to tour the Imperial Palace, and today we sent a return postcard requesting admission to a temple called Saiho-ji. Apparently, the moss that grows on the grounds is very delicate, so they only allow twenty visitors per day, and you can only request a visit by snail mail at least seven days in advance. We will also visit the famous Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion, hopefully when it snows), go to an onsen, visit the monkey park, and take a day trip to Nara.
What I am most looking forward to is a chance to spend some time being quiet, to visit places and just absorb them. We spent the last month in Gwangju seeing as many people as possible and spending every minute possible with the friends we love. One of our friends graciously opened his apartment to us and gave us a place to stay (after our contracts were unexpectedly - and rather ungraciously - shortened by a month). We are so thankful for that time, but the time here will hopefully give us a chance to be still and unpack everything that we experienced in Korea, and to understand the connections we made (and hopefully give our friends the chance to get some sleep and recup their finances).
The winter season, while not necessarily an ideal time for sightseeing, is an ideal time for reflection. Most of the trees are bare, but there is still life in the evergreens and the beautiful ground moss that blankets much of the city. It is a time for rest, for us to turn inward and soul-search and write while nature sleeps and gathers its strength to blossom in spring. Soon we will have to begin applying for jobs and figuring out what our next life and career moves are. But for now, I can write, rebuild myself professionally, and reconnect with my husband.
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