Tough Times

Ahh, I'm so fixated by what's happening back in the States right now, and yet it's depressing me to no end! Obama is comparing the financial situation to the Great Depression, and he's probably right. I keep wondering, can it get any worse?

I'm trying to be positive, I don't want to feel like I wasted my time in Japan worrying. I should just cast my vote and... I don't know, pray? Feels kinda' silly.

Anyway, I went to Nara the other day. It was absolutely beautiful. The weather was warm, a bit too humid, but nice and sunny all the same. Nara is know for its deer, which populate a large forest area, or park. This park is equally populated with various shrines and temples, the biggest being Todaiji. It's so beautifully old, the wood, the statues, everything. I would post pics, unfortunately my computer is a bit on the dead side... long story....

I am taking a class called, "Buddhist Art in Japan" and I felt like I knew what I was viewing. Like how you want to take an art survey class so you don't feel so ignorant in museums. I understood the layout, why there were smaller statues surrounding the large buddha in the center, why pagodas were built, etc. I love it; the best thing is that there are class trips to temples in the Kansai area, which is apparently the most important area for Buddhist art (Japanese Buddhism started here). And I learned that the Japanese adopted Chinese script so that they could read sutras (scriptures) of the Buddhist relics that the Chinese were importing into the country. Before that, Japanese was purely a verbal language (well, "purely" might be a bit untrue...).

Since the international students have been on campus, there was a very small amount of Japanese students around. Thursday was their first day of school. It was so fucking crowded after that! Trying to find a spot at the cafeteria during lunch makes you feel like the new student trying to find a place to sit and not stand out. And then there's the mutual staring. Japanese students staring at us, for obvious reasons. And us staring at them, mainly to see what the hell they're wearing. I have never seen so many girls wear high heels around. All that walking! There are some very curious fashion styles here. Like wearing a mini skirt and very, very high socks, and then, I don't know, boots, or high heels. That's something I won't even try to pull off. I'll just stick to jeans and a shirt. Maybe a dress if I want to seem a little fancy.

Have I said anything about food? hmm... pastries are so good here. Almost as good as the patisseries in France. Ils me manquent....