I went to Kyoto yesterday, just for the day. I did some quality shopping although I left my bank card at home. I had to borrow off Tom for the day. Thanks buddy! It rained all day but I didn’t care. I got a serious sunburn the day before playing tennis so I welcomed the cool weather. I wanted to go to my favourite spots one last time. Sometimes when you walk around in the rain it can make you feel depressed but it was quite the opposite. I found all the things I was looking for and it was really nice. I went with Tom and Dec. Tom had a few things he wanted to see that I had already seen so I parted from the boys and had a lovely time on my own. I have grown to love solo traveling since I have been here. It is nice to go somewhere on your own. I used to think that I needed to share everything with someone but it is ok to keep things just in your own mind. I took a few photos but mainly I just enjoyed city life. I had some Starbucks; I got that coconut and banana frappaccino. I just had to add frappaccino to my computer’s dictionary. I wanted a soymilk one but I think I got regular milk because my stomach was really upset on the train back. I hate feeling ill on the train.
I visited Gion and Arashiyama districts. Arashiyama is a little far away so I spent a lot of time on the bus. The positive side was that there were few people there. Gion was completely packed. I found a bunch of nice, out of the way places to shop too. I am gathering gifts for people back home. I am in a bit of a quandary now because the yen is at a low and the Canadian dollar is at a high. It isn’t worth while for me to convert it. All of you financial geniuses that I know, put your heads together and tell what to do!
On Saturday night I went to Tatsuno after a three hour nap. I was quite tired from the tennis and the sun burn. I set my alarm but just woke up and turned it off. They were having a firefly festival. The festival was very crowded. The fireflies were so beautiful though. There were loads of them in the surrounding fields although I heard that there have been a lot more of them in previous years. It is impossible to take a good photo of them though. I love festivals! I am glad the season has begun again.
Friday night I was so tired from the week that I went to bed as quickly as possible which still turned out to be later than I had planned. Two times this past week, I have fallen asleep as soon as I came home from work and just slept through to the next day. I have packed a few boxes and have sent them back the cheapest slowest way possible. Other than that, nothing is getting done around the house.

Recently, my friend Kyon made me a kanji for my name. That was nice because my current name stamp that I use has my name written in katakana. I will make this kanji stamp but it won’t be for official use. No one will be able to read it. The meaning is a bit strange for Japanese people too. It is something like rich flowing pear music. If I made that my regular name I would get a lot of weird looks down at the bank. Everyone says I should just use Haru 春which means spring or Shigatsu 四月which means fourth month. I’ll put what it looks like here but I don’t know if it will display properly. 永富梨流 is the kanji that Kyon made. Luke made me a similar one a while back. It’s meaning was house of the abundant musical pears. Both are good but I don’t have the one Luke made for my written down. I will have to locate that. Usually, my name looks like this エイプリル。Writing your name like this is a sure way to indicate that you are foreign. I got onto the topic of names because I was teaching about names in my private classes this week. The most popular baby name for Japanese boys in 2006 was Riku. The most popular girls name was a three way tie, Yuna, Hina, and Haruna. I asked my students and they said that they choose a name by the sound first and then decide on good kanji character for that name. I have really enjoyed studying kanji since I have been here. I want to keep studying Japanese when I come home but it certainly won’t be as easy when I am not immersed in it anymore. I will need to continuously watch anime on the internet to keep the sound in my ears. Haha.
Anyways, I had better get something done today so I will leave it here. Today's photos are of Kyoto, a large radish that someone left at a crosswalk, the dodgeballs that the fat kid at elementary school sat on, and Tom sleeping on the train. You may be able to see me laughing in the reflection of the window. Tom sleeps like a champ on basically all modes of transportation. Good man!