A Hazy Shade Of Winter

Wednesday was the first truly freezing day in Kyoto. It reminded me of winter in Pennsylvania; crisp air, strong gusts of wind, and low temperatures. Today, Eri helped me run a bunch of crucial errands. We first went to the Sakyo-ku ward office to get my gaikokujin tourokushou (foreigner registration certification). This was needed for our next stop, Shinsei Bank, to open an account. I need to send the bank info to LOHAS by the 21st so I actually get a paycheck deposited on the 25th. I then wrote up two of my thank you’s for the four women who assisted me in finding an apartment, and delivered the notes and small gifts to Yoggy in Kyoto. After that, it was a trip to Tim’s to drop off an apology letter. Then I met Eri after her belly dance lesson at Flying Karasuma. Home for dinner and a much deserved rest.

Thursday was another very cold day, and more errands, but we didn’t get out of the apartment until around 2pm. Thursdays are one of two days in which I can sleep in, so I took full advantage of it. After a lovely breakfast, we headed to Kyoto station to purchase shinkansen (bullet train) tickets for our journey to Eri’s parent’s cabin this coming New Year’s. After that it was off to Falafel Garden for some emails. I am still finalizing my flight plans for my return to California this January, and because we haven’t any internet at our place, it is a slow process. After completing that work, it was off to meet Eri’s friend Keiko at a cultural festival being held at one of Kyoto’s prestigious universities. It was outdoors, and very cold. After sampling some food there, we decided to head indoors at an izakaya. Izakayas are places that serve small dishes, which allows one to sample a few things. We began with hot sake, then had kaki (oyster) soup, which had two varieties of mushrooms and mizuna (a yummy salad green) in it. Next came umaki, which is a dashimaki (Japanese-style omelette in a roll) filled with unagi (eel). The eel was a fantastic addition to one of my favorite Japanese dishes. After, as Eri and I were waiting for the bus, I still felt hungry, and Eri produced our half-eaten bag of purple sweet potato fries from her bag. Perfect emergency snack! I find I have been eating more here. I think a lot of what I eat gets burned up in my attempts to comprehend and speak Japanese.