day 49! kyoto

So after getting 0 sleep and then spending pretty much the whole day going around doing stuff, we figured we were entitled to sleep in a bit. :) At least, that's what we told okaasan, in our note. She left the house at around 8, and then came and went two more times before we finally got up, at around 1pm. lol. I was a little embarrassed, which is why I don't think I would stay with a host family (the judging!! D:) but I was too tired to care much.

When we finally got up and got ready to go, we only had a few hours before we had to be back at the house, for a dinner appointment we'd made with okaa-san. Since we didn't have enough time to go see more tourist spots, and since Kurt had to get some work done (since he said he'd do some working-from-home), we went back to Teramachi to find a cafe to work at.

Found a really awesome guy's backpack. Isn't that cool? I love the mini packs they have here for guys. So cute. The colors on this one are awesome, but it's really the redonk zipper that seals the deal. :D It cost $40 though. :( Seriously, I need to learn how to sew. I swear this would sell like hotcakes after I blatantly plagiarize the idea....

Well we finally found our cafe. But guess what cafe it was?!?!? Thas right, another freakin' Holly's Cafe! It was so weird, the Starbucks we went to had a sign that expressly prohibited people using their laptops in there. lolwut?? I guess they wanted to keep a high turnover rate. Still, not ok. Esp not when we're forced to go to Holly's. -_-

Here's me reading (The Three Musketeers), while Kurt does some coding.

After an hour or so, it was already time to head back. We had a reservation at 6pm at a soba restaurant (a fancier one), so we had to be home by 5:30pm. Pretty much as soon as we got back, we headed out again to make our reservation.

Ok. :( :( And now I have a horrible confession to make. For the first time in this blog, I left home without bringing my camera with me. T^T NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I'm so sorry. The pics of the dinner were AMAZING too cuz this is by far the "nicest" and most traditional looking meal we'd had so far in Japan. Gah. I am so disappoint. Describing it just doesn't do it justice.

Well so, the restaurant is a small family owned place, with tatami mats and sliding screen doors and the works. Kurt came here one time with okaa-san, and he specifically requested it again. At first I was like @_@ soba? that's so....soba. BUT. The restaurant was really pretty, and okaa-san requested the table near the window if it was available -- which it was -- and there was a running river nearby that made the ambiance that much better. :D

The meal had a few (light) courses. There were a bunch of like pickled vegetables, some thinly sliced cucumbers in a light peanut/sesame sauce, and Kurt and I got this sweet, hard fish thing. <insert pic here> It looks like how you picture Japanese food looks like, very small but delicious portions, all beautifully arranged, with small garnishes and nice color composition, in tiny cute ceramic dishes shaped like leaves and flowers.

At first glance you're like okkkkk I could eat 10 of these. -_- But that's just the America in you talking. :) It's actually quite filling because when you eat many different kinds of foods, and different flavors, it makes you fuller than just eating a lot of one thing. Also everything is delicate so you have to eat carefully or you look like a boor. :o So 20 minutes later you're still picking up individual slivers of cucumbers when you suddenly realize that you're somewhat full. :o

After that came the soba, and it was zarusoba which I'd described to you before. The arrangement was quite pretty and it was really refreshing, but to be honest my unskilled baboon tongue would only rate it as being marginally better than the fast food one Kurt got. And that's not because this one was BAD, but because, well, soba is soba and it's all pretty good. You can't make it bad, really. O_o

Oh but with the soba there was a bunch of tempura, the first we'd had so far, and it was really nice. :) Tempura by itself is a bit heavy, I think? Since the batter has no taste, and the vegetables have been nuked, the whole thing is rather oily. But paired with zarusoba it's actually REALLY really good. You can dip the tempura in the zarusoba sauce, and since the soba is light, it balances out. Yum!

Then after the soba we got these little bowls of rice with gooey stuff on top. Apparently it's Japanese yam/potato stuff that's been pureed, and due to the starch in it, it gets kind of gooey. Okaa-san said that gooey foods are good for you, which is why Japanese people like eating natto, okra, and this strange yam goo. Overall it was not...bad. But Steph does not like goo. :(

Anyway dinner was really nice, it was a bit hard at times, communicating with okaa-san since I haven't regained all my Japanese, plus the Kansai-ben is a total curve ball. But she is so energetic and good about talking that it never got awkward or quiet. We talked about lots of random things, too, like Chinese medicine, and how Kevin had to drink boiled cockroach-shell soup as a Chinese remedy. Kurt and I also got reprimanded for not making it to one really famous, big temple, and then for sleeping through the next morning when we could have been seeing it. :3 Hehe.

After dinner, we headed back, cleaned up and folded up our stuff, hung out with okaa-san for a bit, and then at around 10 it was time to head out. It was sad saying bye to her, she was so nice and warm and friendly. :) But she said many times that we should come back, that if I ever get the chance to come back but Kurt can't make it that I can stay with her. She even said if I bring my mom that we can stay with her lol. :) She's just really warm and nice. Aaaaand I'm really really angry with myself for not getting pics with her, and taking pics of her and Kurt. I'm horrible and thoughtless. :( Sigh. But anyway it was really sweet and Kurt said she liked me. Woohoo!! Adults never like me!!! :D

Took a bit of searching but we found out where the buses were waiting. This bus was DEFINITELY a 5 star bus. The seats were bigger, and way more cushy. Each seat has a hood on it to block out light. Kurt had mentioned that the bus on the way back was nicer than on the way there (they show you pics when you book tix online) but I didn't think it would be so much awesomer. :o Apparently the nice bus was all booked for the trip there, but yay for getting it on the way back.

And here is Kurt to demonstrate the groundbreaking hood technology. :D Hopefully the trip back will be way better....!! Bye Kyoto. ^^/)