Nishiki Market: Tasting a Bit of Kyoto's Culture

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope you're all enjoying your winter vacations with your loved ones :) And it's almost the end of 2013! I seriously don't know where the year went--time seems to have gone by so quickly.

My friend and I went out into Kyoto again, but this time, we decided to visit Nishiki Market which first started out as a fish market in 1615. Today, the market has more than a hundred vendors and shops that sell things from fresh miso to dried fish and handmade hashi. It was bustling with people- both locals and tourists and it was so much fun to try sample after sample as well as buy a few goodies to snack on throughout the day :) Not gonna lie, I had to eat something while I looked through the pictures because I got super~ hungry. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed looking through some of the food that was sold at the market ^^ Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful winter vacation! Don't forget to stay warm :) Are you doing anything in preparation for New Year's? :D

Merry Christmas!!

Happy Wednesday everyone and Merry Christmas from Japan!!

This is my first time spending Christmas away from my family and while it can be pretty hard and lonely, I think it makes so many smaller things that we might take for granted, matter that much more. Emails make me absolutely giddy, letters make my entire day and skype sessions leave me happy for days. 

Last Christmas, I saw gift ideas on Pinterest and made candy sleighs for my friends. This year, I wanted to make the sleighs again, but for my teachers :) It took awhile to make and required multiple trips to school to bring them all, but it was well worth it when I was able to see their expressions when they saw the sleighs sitting on their desks :)

Thank goodness my town has a Costco nearby! 

Several hours later :D 

 I think the green granola bar added a nice touch of festivity to the candy cane :)

My little space to decorate at school! :) I had so much fun making Christmas decorations ^^

I hope you are all keeping yourselves warm and filled with yummy food! Don't forget to leave cookies and milk for Santa (he works hard to give presents to all the children in the world on time ^^) and soak in the excitement and anticipation for tomorrow. Enjoy the company of your loved ones and may your living rooms be littered with piles of Christmas wrappings and ribbons :) Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! 

'Tis the Season to Give: Kobe JET Charity Bake Sale Event

Happy Tuesday everyone! Can you believe Christmas is already next week?? It's coming so fast! I hope you all are almost finished with your Christmas shopping and whatnot :) I know I'll be broke after Christmas, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that I spent the money on my family and friends ^^

Christmas is always a season for giving so a couple weekends ago, a bunch of Kobe JETs and some high school and college students came together for a charity bake sale! Most of the goodies that we sold were handmade and a few were bought from the store. However, all the money that we made was donated to a children's orphanage and after two days, we ended up donating over $1,000! Shout out to Sandy for planning and organizing the whole thing :) It was a wonderful feeling to give to those who are not as lucky as others and it was an incredibly humbling experience as well.

Deck the pillars :)

One of the many goodies that we sold! 

Also made Sausage Sizzles! Australia's version of the American hot dog :) So yummy!

The mastermind behind the entire event :)

Gotta advertise! 

Befriended some genki kids who kept coming back ^^

Gotta give it to these lovely singers- they sang Christmas carols for the entire day! 

Thank you so much for reading :) I hope you all have a wonderful week and finish wrapping presents and decorating your houses! Does anyone have any suggestions for Christmas songs? :) 

Lights of Hope: Kobe Luminarie

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend :) December is already here so that means Christmas is around the corner! I don't know about you guys, but I'm in full swing with Christmas decorations and music ^^

My friend and I went to see the Kobe Luminarie this past weekend and it was gorgeous! This annual event draws in thousands of people and was first started in 1995 after the Hanshin earthquake as a way to give people hope. Ever since then, it's been a very popular event and we were very lucky to see it! Japan may not have as many Christmas lights as America does, but the patterns and designs definitely blew me away :) Please click on the pictures for better quality!

Getting geared up and ready for the hordes of people 

There was seriously no end to the amount of people that I could see in back...

..and in front! 

Daimaru looks more like a grand hotel than a store! 

Trees lit the way for everyone before the start of the Luminarie :)

So beautiful~ it was definitely awe-inspiring :)

The lights (and crowd) seemed to go on forever

Once we exited the gates, we were greeted by this magnificent lit up gondola :) 

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a wonderful week and good luck with Christmas shopping :) 

Kyoto: Part III

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! :) I hope you've all been enjoying today with your friends and family ^^ We have so much to be thankful for on a daily basis. I am grateful for so many things such as my family who have supported me in everything that I've done and my friends, both old and new, but I would like to say how thankful I am to be living and teaching in Japan :) It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am so blessed to be able to be doing what I am doing and to be able to travel to wonderful places such as Kyoto. So, without further ado, here is the third part! As before, click on it for a better quality picture :)

If you wanted a different experience other than walking up to the temple, you could plan out a route with one of these men who would pull you along! :) 

Yummy food vendors and shops lined the entire way up to the temple. It's hard to resist stopping to get a sample or even buy something to nibble on ^^

And yes, they had a Studio Ghibli shop!! I'm not sure if I would pay 90,000 yen for Jiji though...

The entire length of ninenzaka and sanenzaka was crowded with tourist from all over as well as locals =]

A rare time where a street was quite empty. I love the old, traditional wooden shops and stores that takes you back to a different era :)

We arrived at the top, with a lot of other people, but the main entrance was so impressive and breathtaking. Many people were getting their pictures taken at this spot to remember their special day~

A different angle shot that I thought was interesting ^^

Once we paid the entrance fee of 300 yen, we followed the crowds to the veranda where hordes of people waited to find an opening to snap some quick pictures of the view. Sadly, a part of the area was undergoing construction so there was blue tarp that covered various places =[

If you wrote down your troubles onto the paper and put it into the water, the paper would dissolve thus symbolizing that your troubles would be over with. 

The oh-so-famous shot of Kiyomizu-dera :) I've gotta say, it was absolutely breathtaking to finally see it in person instead of through the internet. I was so humbled and thankful to be able to experience it :]

We decided to not stand in line to drink the water from one of the three channels of water from the Otowa waterfall after seeing just how long it was...

Although not all of the trees had turned color, the ones that did were so vibrant ant colorful :) 

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and shop safely for those of you who are facing the hordes of shoppers on Black Friday :) 

Kyoto: Part II

Happy Saturday everyone!!

I hope everyone's weekend has been relaxing and fun so far :) Here is the second part of our Kyoto daytime adventures~ =] click on the pictures for a larger size and better quality ^^

A sharp contrast: city on the left and traditional on the right

A glimpse at Yasaka-jinja~ :) 

We arrived a little after lunchtime so the large crowds weren't a surprise for us

Lots and lots of vendors were selling so many yummy foods!! We decided to wait until we reached Kiyomizu-dera to decide if we wanted to buy some on the way back :) 

And so many omiyage to purchase as well! These adorable Geisha geta charms were so very tempting to buy 

November 15th was 七五三 which is a traditional rite of passage in Japan for three and five-year old boys and seven and three-year old girls. There were many children dressed up in a variety of colorful kimonos and hakama :) 

We were lucky enough to witness a traditional wedding ceremony! The maiko led the bride in with her traditional white kimono and headpiece along with the groom and her mother and the rest of the wedding party coming in after. Not many people do traditional weddings anymore so it was truly an amazing experience for us :)

There were a variety of shrines within Yasaka-jinja and one of these were dedicated to beauty. Many people wrote their wishes whether it was to become a beautician in the future, to become more beautiful as they grew up or to be beautiful on the inside.

If you splashed the water at the shrine on your face, it was said to help grant your wish of becoming beautiful. 

I definitely wasn't the only one who wanted a picture of the gorgeous fall colors and view

Japanese photoshoot in the middle of the park? She was stunning! :)

Sorry I didn't make it to Kiyomizu-dera in this post! I will try and get to it in part III though~ Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :) Please stay and warm and take care of your health!