Spider Apocalypse

So this past weekend, I was able to go to Fushimi Inari Shrine (the shrine in Memiors of a Geisha). It was one of the places that was on my list of things to see before I left for Japan, but my determination wavered when my friend Tine told me about the giant spiders. Now, when I say giant, I don't mean the size of camel spiders of even trantulas, but I was told they were pretty big. Maybe half the size of your fist. She told me that they were everywhere and that one was crawling on a guy's leg, and all I could think was 'It's the spider apocalypse.' And it wasn't like I was going with someone that can handle spiders. No, I was going with someone who is more arachnophobic than I am. We're talking can't-look-at-a-spider-even-in-a-movie-or-videogame type phobia, so if a spider fell on one of us. I was going to have to be the one to get it off...knowing this, my interest in Fushimi Inari just soared, but I was still determined to go (despite being told by two other people that there were spiders too, so it wasn't just a one time thing).

I literally spent a half hour talking to two girls, Heather and Sarah, in the seminar house about spiders and Fushimi Inari Shrine and how its more likely for me to get killed by a refrigerator falling on me rather than being bit by a spider. Somewhere in there, there was a discussion on the uselessness of pandas and how they are a waste of money trying to save.

Anyway, before I left for Fushimi Inari Shrine the Heather I talked to about the spiders found the Heather I was going with and told her that if I was nervous about spiders falling on my head, I should take an umbrella because two other people in the seminar house went with their Japanese friend who told them that they should have umbrellas up the whole time. I hadn't told the Heather I was going with about the spiders because I knew she wouldn't want to go if I did, but so much for that! But it's actually good that she knew so we could both take umbrellas.

When we got to Fushimi Inari Shrine, we looked at a bunch of shops and I bought golden poop stickers! Golden poop is supposed to be good luck and poop is like my favorite word so of course I bought them! Then, I bought a yukata (2000 yen) and an obi (1500 yen), which I'm going to wear for the international student graduation ceremony. Now, I just need to buy the socks and sandals for it!
Right after I bought my yukata, a group of elderly Japanese came up to Heather and I and started talking in English. They were studying English and needed to practice with foreigners. They were so friendly. When they asked why we were in Japan, Heather said we were studying abroad, but they somehow thought she said bird watching. Even though Heather said we weren't bird watching, they kept mentioning it, so we think that they think we go to Kansaid Gaidai University to learn about bird watching. haha But that's ok! They gave us candy, to which Heather pointed out after we talked to them, 'Did you notice that we just took the candy unquestioningly in Japan, yet you don't take candy unquestioningly in the U.S. unless it's Halloween.?' lol Also when we were shaking hands to say goodbye, one of the women began stroking my hand and said something in Japanese to another woman, who also felt my hand. Then, a man looked at my hand because of what the woman was saying and then shook my hand. I don't know if that was a good thing to a bad thing! But it was nice talking to them!

Right after, Heather and I began our climb up Fushimi Inari Shrine with our umbrellas out, making us look like super weird gaijin (foreigners). Whenever we went up hill, I eventually got out of breath (man, I miss working out because then I know I'm in shape), but it wasn't as bad as the Great Wall. The Great Wall doesn't have breaks where the path goes straight or downhill. It's all uphill with high uneven steps. Fushimi Inari's steps were the annoying couple inch steps that were too long to take steps by two. But in all honesty, it wasn't that bad, and...we didn't see any spiders at all! Or at least I didn't. Heather said that she might have seen a few small ones, but she didn't freak out. We picked a good day to go!

Also, I can only buy Mountain Dew at select places in Japan. What a wonderful surprise it was finding that, when going through Fushimi Inari Shrine, someone was selling Mountain Dew, so I bought one (though I wanted to buy four! XD)

After we were done climbing Fushimi Inari, we went to the stores again to see if anyone was selling sandals for a yukata. One store was, but I think the sandals were for kids, but I'm not sure. Instead, at another store, I found cinnamon KitKats and bought a box (along with a bag of fox-faced cookies). The KitKats are so delicious! I want to buy more! If only they weren't $10 for twelve (mini)! It's funny because the night before, I was eating a normal KitKat and thought it tasted like cinnamon so I thought 'it would be a good idea to make cinnamon Kitkats.' Low and behold, they actually do exist (in Japan)!

After getting back to Makino Station near the seminar house, Heather and I stopped at a couple stores and asked about boxes for shipping stuff back to the U.S. (but before that, on the way to Sanko, we heard this guy playing the accordian in a park; he was awesome! I wanted to tell him that his music was good, and Heather wanted to stop to listen, but when we did, he kept looking at us so we decided to walk slowly so we could hear him longer). Anway, I have three umbrellas that are too long for my suitcase so I need so find a box long enough to fit them, and I need to find one in two weeks. The stores we went to didn't have big enough boxes, so we were planning to go to the post office today, which I was looking forward to so that I could get it over with (and so I would know where the post office was), but Heather told me that, at a store called Life, a bunch of boxes are available for people to take. So she wants to go there to see before going to the post office where you have to pay for boxes, and we're not going today. I doubt Life has a box long enough for my umbrellas, and I'm willing to pay for a box just to get it over with (I still might go to Life though), but first, I have to find someone who knows where the post office is. If I can't find a box, then I'm just going to have to try to get them on the plane. These are awesome umbrellas so I am not leaving them here. Plus, two of them are gifts. I hope I can deal with the whole shipping thing soon, which reminds me. I have to practice packing soon to see if I need to ship anything else back home as well.

Oh the joys of moving...in less than two weeks! I really don't want to go home. I'm also not going to see anyone from here (probably) ever again because we all come from different places. But I do have an incentive to travel to Europe one day because I have two friends from there now.

I am looking forward to going home though so I can see my puppy (though she's old so she's technically a dog)! And my family and my friends!

Wednesday through Tuesday next week are my finals, and I've finished my papers and my study guides so all I have to do is study for my tests, which is pretty easy. I recently got my Betraying the Martyrs: Breathe in Life CD, and I can't stop listening to it! It really helps me study.

So most of you guys are on summer break now. I hope you are all enjoying the pleasant warm weather!