First time in Japan as a tourist! First time in Kyoto!

I promised to reward myself with sightseeing treats almost every weekend when I get a job. Now that I have one, I can afford to tour around Japan! Yay! :D
My first tour was to Kyoto and our tour guide was Hiro! You guys met Hiro in my previous posts, by the way.
Noah and I decided to meet up with Hiro on Sunday at Kyoto station. You guys won't believe it's a train station! It is GINORMOUS! After getting there at 10:15am, Hiro helped us get bus tickets to go around town. We got our all-day bus passes and took the bus to our first stop, Sanjusangendo. The temple is centered around Kannon, the (Japanese) Buddhist goddess of mercy. She has 11 faces and 1000 hands. The temple is called sanjusangendo (三十三間堂-33 "length" hall) because the goddess can assume 33 different shapes on her missions of mercy. Since I saw 1001 statues in the hall, and believe me it's a HUGE temple, there must be 33033 different shapes that the goddess can assume. Unfortunately for my blog readers, I couldn't take any pictures of the inside since it was against the policy. Well, all the more reason for YOU GUYS to visit Japan! Here are the pictures we took outside the temple:

Our next stop was at KiyoMizuDera (清水寺), another temple. This temple was beautiful in every aspect. You'll have to see it for yourself when you actually get there. 

The gate to KiyoMizuDera

The main hall has a large "balcony" for large numbers of people who visit the temple every single day. Ever since Edo period (early 1600's - 1868), this temple has been accommodating many many religious pilgrims.

Part-view from the veranda/balcony

This is what you see when you look down from the veranda/balcony

View of Kyoto behind us

The large veranda/balcony from a different angle

 Although it was freezing and snowing on that day I  was able to enjoy the whole trip without feeling exhausted. I also promised myself to go there again during Spring time for Hanami (花見). It will be BEAUTIFUL! After visiting Kiyomizu-Dera, we walked down the main street and took pictures and tried some traditional Japanese snacks! 

Front

Back

Itadakimasu! (I will gladly receive the food!)

They showed us how it's made too! :D

Japanese candies(colorful!)

Japanese bento candies! lol

As we were walking down the street, I saw people running towards something to take pictures and that's when Hiro said, "Yanna take picture! Take picture! Maiko-san! Maiko-san!" So, I quickly got my camera out and took a snapshot of 3 Maiko-san(s)! (For those of you who didn't know what Maiko-san was: Maiko-san is another term for Geisha :D). 

When we got to the end part of the street, Noah poked me and said, "Look, Boo! Look inside!" and guess what I found?! :D

 Yup, a mini-Ghilbli Store!!! YAYYYY :D
Oh and I saw Obama mask in one of the street stores!:P

After the temple-visits, our next destination was to a shrine. For those who don't know much about the differences between Temples and Shrines, Temples are Buddhism-based and Shrines are Shinto-based. Shintoism is more spiritual than Buddhism. Shintoism originated from Japan. Buddhism came from India. I hope this quick explanation helped clear things up. Anyway, our visit to Yasaka Shrine was very pleasant as well.  It was constructed in 656 (yes 3 digits, I didn't have any typos here). 

 One very interesting/funny thing happened while we were there though. An Asian lady tapped on my shoulder and requested me to take a picture  for her. I gladly agreed to her request and held her camera. What I didn't realize was that she was running towards Noah to stand right next to him for THE picture! Apparently she hasn't seen a white person before! She and her friend regarded Noah like a celebrity and they were very happy to have a picture taken with him. Hiro and I couldn't stop laughing at Noah for a good ten-minutes. (LMAOxD)

After visiting temples and shrines according to plan, Hiro took me to a "surprise" location! It is called Hanami-koji street and all the houses on the street are traditional Japanese houses (and by houses, I mean restaurants and traditional/souvenir shops).

We crossed Kyoto's biggest river on our way to the modern-looking side of Kyoto.

After shopping a little bit here and there, we went back to Kyoto Station to eat ramen (and by ramen it's not the ramen you think! This is REAL ramen and it tastes like "See Chat Kout Swae" (in Burmese). I was blown away when I took the escalators (yes, escalatorS) to the ramen "street" (and by street I mean a hallway filled with ramen shops left and right). 

 I couldn't help but be awed by the grand-ness of the station (at night). This was the climax of the trip!Hiro really planned this trip very very well! I am so grateful for his effort and kindness!

View from Sky Walk (top of the station)

Kyoto Station

Kyoto Tower at Night

One view coming down from an escalator

Another view of part-of-Kyoto-station

First few days of work

I love my job. I really do. What's better than getting to see cute kids everyday while you sing and do arts and crafts with them? (Just my opinion though). We have our trouble maker, a happy elf (who, btw, looks just like me when I was a toddler), monkey, Mr. ShinKanSen (who knows all the train "stops" along the regular train line he takes), Mr. stubborn, a princess, a kid that never talks, Ms, Pe-ra Pe-ra (because she talks too much), and a slow eater. Yes, 9 kids in total. It's very very entertaining to be with them. They always always crack me up, especially when they do their Jump-and-Roll game. They would have to jump from what looks like a stool onto a big, long gym mat, and roll. They all jump well, but roll in many different ways. One kid has her butt in the air and falls side ways to "roll". Another kid holds his breath before he jumps. Our trouble maker would roll off the mat on purpose and would giggle hysterically if the teacher "yells" at him for being naughty. 


Our staff is awesome as well. Although unfortunately I might not end up working with them since our boss is going to transfer me and another new teacher to a different school. But overall, we will be in essentially the same environment (staff-wise at least). 


Today, my boss told me that I have really long arms and legs. He was saying that I remind him of Kamaji (the six-armed man from "千と千尋の神隠し(Sen to Chihiro no Kamikaushi) aka Spirited Away." He said I might have to help him get things from high up the shelves since I have really long arms. LOL I love my boss as well. He is very very kindhearted and caring. He loves to make jokes. He gives off a very pleasant qi (or atmosphere). :)

Side note: if you haven't watched Spirited Away, you definitely should check it out! (Ghibli should pay me for this shout out ;P )

Finally! 3 Job Offers!

Busy, busy, busy...I know I haven't been updating my blog but I've been extremely busy with going to interviews non-stop for the past week. But it's all worth it in the end! I have gone to 6 interviews in total and I had 3 job offers. Not bad for someone who just got to Japan, I guess. Two weeks is a very short time, people say. But I would like to thank you all for the support!
So, what kind of experiences did I get from going to interviews after interviews? Well, at least I know how to sing "Old McDonald had a farm" VERY well now. (I made flash cards of farm animals and demonstrated my teaching skills by singing the song with the kids).

Oh and I also found out a really messed up school that tells you "We would like to offer you a full time job. Please let us know by tomorrow so that we can process your work visa" and screws you over by saying "We didn't realize your visa would take a month, so we apologize, we don't wanna hire you anymore." But my overall experience of finding a teaching job in Japan is not bad at all. I met some really really awesome people and I'm very happy and proud to announce that both Noah and I are working with those people! Acorn and Tree House are our school names! Here are the links:
Noah's school ACORN :  http://www.acornenglishacademy.com 
Yanna's school TREE HOUSE :http://www.tree-house.jp/english.htm
So since we got our jobs, what's next? CELEBRATION and SHOPPING!! We got Takoyaki (which is one of Osaka delicacies)

and went bento (lunch box) shopping yesterday and today. I also got new shoes since I didn't bring any sneakers from America.
We went to a department store called Loft, which is pretty much like a Hyakin but things sold at a more expensive price and of better quality. It reminded me of Target in America, well at least it was Target until the 6th floor. The 6th floor turned into Urban Outfitters and the 7th floor turned into Ikea. LOL But we found lots of goodies that are very useful.

My shoes, my bento box

My thermo-flask

The red button is a coaster in case you're wondering...o.<

My lunch bag

After work related things, I tried to find a duffle bag or something like a duffle bag to put my things when I go to Tokyo. Look what I found?!  and yes, that whole big bag was inside that little bag. Japan is AMAZING at making things useful and efficient.

This is Noah's thermo-flask/tea flask and his bento box.

Lazy Day but GREAT Day!

I got 3 interviews coming up this Monday and Tuesday! Yay!
Me and Noah decided that we don't wanna go out today so today will be our lazy day! Sorry guys, no fun for now, job job job job job. >,<;;
But it's a good thing that we're getting interviews right away! :D
Wish us luck! <3

Hiro's Visit!

We started applying for jobs today. Funny fact: it is illegal to request a picture of the job applicant in America, but it is "preferred" to send your resume with your recent picture in Japan. After the busy busy job applications in the morning and the afternoon, my reward awaits in the evening.

My Job Application Picture

Hiro's Visit!

Hiro's a friend of ours when we were in Davis. We contacted him on Skype and he came to visit us! Yayee x)

We met up for dinner and we had OkonomiYaki (I don't know how to describe/translate this one so you'll just have to see the pictures and decide!). The shop is very Japanese. You have to take off your shoes (as shown in the picture) in order to sit down and eat.

I was so glad he came because now we have a rice cooker and a hair dryer! Rice cookers are expensive here. It's like $100 for a 4-cup size one! But thanks to Hiro, we got a great deal! It was around $60 for the 3-cup size. But the highlight of the shop was the super tiny/cute vacuum cleaners at the store!