Classes with an Irish pub lunch and pancake dinner

I went to my usual breakfast place before heading off to a full day of classes. As a group, we walked through the maze of Kyoto station to our meeting spot about 10 minutes away. Luckily, because we go through the station, it's a bit cooler than if we were to be on the surface streets. I'm thankful for that but my little necklace fan has been a lifesaver.

I always enjoy the welcome home lecture because I do feel like I've come home. The faculty readings are all so interesting. Our interrelatedness of the arts assignment was assigned. I'm both annoyed and looking forward to it.

With our morning classes concluded, a group of us went to lunch at an Irish pub across from our hotel. It's a place I had wanted to try. I got the fish and chips and although they were a little different they were still good. If I wasn't so hot, I would have gotten a Guinness because they had it on tap. I maybe visiting that place later. They had all these dollar bills that people had signed and put on the walls and ceiling, so we did that as well. We left a little piece of Spalding behind.



We were shown a cool little lounge place in the hotel in view of the wedding chapel. Weddings here are a big thing. I've seen advertisements all over the place.

Afternoon classes included one of my small group discussion sections and two hours of workshop. I forgot how much I enjoyed workshop. The room we were in was super cold, had no windows, and had what felt like a bank vault door closing us in. It made me really focus on the task at hand and forget I was in Japan. I was in the writing world.

Emerging from the dome of writing we headed back to the hotel to drop stuff off before going to dinner. We went to a place where they made Japanese pancakes which are a specialty in this region. We walked downstairs and had to take off our shoes, the first time I've had to do that. They had lockers to put your shoes in and you got a wooden key to hold on to. They than led us to our table. It seemed like a normal set up, just underground. You had to walk on the bench, sit down, and put your legs under the table. It took a little maneuvering. There are doors on either side of the table creating a 'private' little room for you and your dinner guests. We ordered via ipad. In the middle of the table was a griddle that they turned on and heated up the room, but is necessary so they can put your food on it and cook it some more. We had turned ours off because it was so hot in the room, but we had to turn it back on when the food came back. Nothing like eating in a sauna.

The food itself was really good. I got a pancake that's made of potato and cabbage (maybe) with cheese and leeks. It arrived covered in a giant heap of leeks. They give you a little paddle and that's how you cut up your food and put it on your plate. I wish I could have eaten more, but with this heat, I just can't eat that much. Of course, the giant beetle on the wall at the end of dinner kind of turned me off as well.

Back at the hotel, I knew I couldn't lay down because I needed to finish my poetry assignment, so I decided I could work on that and soak my poor tired feet at the same time. I was trying to sit on the edge of the tub, which is a precarious position. In trying to turn off the tub, I turned on the shower and prayed myself, so the only logical thing to do was to get into bath in my clothes. I got my poem done, so maybe that's a new trick to try.

On the docket today is breakfast with my fb writing group, morning classes, and then the afternoon tour of the Tale of Genji. I might use my proper camera today.  :)