May 21^st, 2017 (Kiyomizu & SAKAMOTO RYOMA TOUR)

We started our day at Kiyomizu-dera: also known as the clear water temple. Beautiful is an understatement for Kiyomizu temple. We can see the sky view from top of the mountain and the temple was bustling with tourists as well as local visitors. There were also shops that sol charms like any other temples. I think Kiyomizu is known for its love blessing shrines because as I walked above there were shrines for blessing for good love fortune, blessing to see love, blessings for a continuous relationship.

There was a love stone. It said that one is supposed to walk from the stone right in front of it with our eyes close. If one is able to reach the other side with no problem, then that person will be successful in love, but if he/she failed, then it will be long before one’s love is recognized, and may possibly need the help of others to achieve love. I was curious so I tried it. I arrived at the wrong stone unfortunately T_T …..

It seems my love will not be realize in a while. I tried not to believe it, but it is still bothering me. But I’m still young and not seeking for love, but it’s still like that stapler clip that I couldn’t get out of my Mac charger port, a white board stain that the teacher didn’t clean when they erase, um.. that feeling?

Anyways, I bought charms for my relatives, friends and family there. Hope they like the presents. It's culture to present family, friends and people you care for with lucky charms. Charms that grants wishes, give good health, brings in wealth, longevity, etc,. I think it’s amazing to believe in something strongly.

Today, a lot of things make sense with science. Science is tangible. It takes away the idea that anything spiritual or from “above” or “God” is unbelievable. I’m a Buddhist and we believe that there is Buddha, and that if we do good deeds, we will go to a good place, like a better next life (born to a good family) or to heaven where we don’t have body (therefore, don’t have physical greed and needs), etc,. Not that science can explain if we go to heaven or hell. 

I think I might be a hybrid being? I believe in both science and Buddhism. I've always been a hybrid my whole life anyways. So maybe that's why accepting that I can believe in both science and buddhism at the same time without giving both up entirely doesn't come as an extreme challenge? I have great grand parents who came from mainland China, but I was born and rainsed in Myanmar. Everyone here called me a Chinese girl, but when I arrived in the United States, I it doesn't make sense for me to introduce myself as Chinese because I'm not from China, yet I look like a Chinese. I started introducing myself as a Chinese-Burmese. Thus, a hybrid?

Also, I studied English as long as I can remember. I'm also crazily obsessed with Korean culture and language. There are other languages that I want to learn and get to know as well. But the culture and languages that most influenced me are English, Burmese, Chinese and Korean. By the age of 20, I've been exposed to these languages. Not that it's anything compare to other people who knows better. I think I've just accepted that I'm a hybrid only in the past year. Being a hybrid allows me to interact with different cultures easily, but it's also a double edged sword. I'm not entirely Chinese, Burmese, or American enough to be accepted as a true Chinese, Burmese or American.

Wishfully, hopefully, this double-edged sword can cut a path to being a global citizen and not a path where I'm a fish out of water.

Anyways, I think I side tracked. After walking around the temple, we were told to reunite at near the stairs, at the place we first parted. Dr. Rothstein was talking about a place where we can drink water that come from the Otowa waterfall. Otowa waterfall flows down in three streams, which are believed to possess wish-granting powers for academic achievement, success in love, and longevity, respectively. We are not allowed to drink from all three streams because that would mean that we're being greedy and our wishes will not be granted. I went for the academic achievement stream. Dr. Rothsteim took the picture for me as I drank the water. The water was very refreshing and quenched my thirst as I was thirsty. 

We decided to head into the shopping place where there shops that sells souvenirs, food, pickles, teas, etc, but we got distracted by a shaved ice store. We Dr. Rothstein bought us two sticks of Oh Dango and Green Tea Shaved Ice with Red Beans. How nice of him! It was so delicious. We had a long conversation talking about ourselves and what we think of the culture in Japan. We talked about how busy the people in Tokyo were and how they were like robots and about religion of Myanmar and how it differs from Shintoism. We talked and lost track of time that we didn't even get enough time to explore the markets. I felt bad for Dr. Rothstein because I think he wanted to look around the stores but didn't get the chance because he was talking with me.

We head down, wait for the rest of the group and took the train to see Akao-san for the Sakamoto Ryoma tour. The weather was rather hot so a lot of people were tired. Akao-san did he best to explain about the history of Kyoto, about Shinkansen, and the rebellion, as well as Ryoma. After the tour, we were all allowed free time as we didn't have any plans until dinner. We split up. In our group, we had Haruka, DQ, Qian, Qin Yu, Zi Xuan, and Michael. We all decided that we wanted to go to a cheap place we can sit because we were all tired after the walking. And the Karaoke place seemed like a very tempting place to rest. We all rested a small room. Sang a lot of Karaoke in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese; we were a multi-cultural karaoke team indeed. I order so many drinks, still dehydrated from all the walking this morning as well as from the singing. Ha-ha. 

We had an evening banquet for Ryoma Soceity and Juniata alums. The meal was japanese style; small portions with lots of free drinks.  Our meals came course by course, all of the dishes simple yet elaborately decorated. They were also very tasty, but the portions were too small! Although, there were a lot free drinks which we thought was very generous of them. It's cultural to have a lot of drinks in Japan. That night I tried my first actual sake with no mixture. It was super strong. I think I liked Mei Ju better. I think I drank more alcohol than I ate food that day.

We took the bus back home and called it a day.