Gaijin Farewell

Gaijin Farewell
Originally uploaded by juanerubio.

On the last day my friends were here, we decided to organize a typical spanish dinner, using food and wine that they had brought from home.

It was very nice to eat some jamon, lomo, chorizo, etc. and spend the last minutes together before their departure. All of us have already gone back to our duties and routine, but I hope that they have a nice memory of the trip, as I do.

From left to right: Uge, Rasa, Nacho, Nico, Inex, Alex and myself.

Ukimi-do en el Parque de Nara

Ukimi-do in Nara Park
Originally uploaded by juanerubio.

In Spanish this time...

Dedicado a todos mis lectores hispanohablantes, en especial a mi padre, quien me sorprendio hace poco cuando me dijo que estaba pendiente del blog :)

Este es uno de los lugares mas bonitos de Nara, especialmente durante la epoca de 'sakura' (cerezo en flor). Es una estructura no religiosa en medio de un estanque, a la cual se accede por medio de un puente, y cuyo reflejo en el agua sirve de inspiracion para muchos artistas.

Espero que os guste... intentare escribir algo en castellano de vez en cuando!

Ninja Museum

Ninja Museum
Originally uploaded by juanerubio.

One of the day-trips I did with my friends who were visiting from Europe was to Iga-Ueno, home to one of the main ninja schools in Japan.

In this town, to the north-east of Nara, there is a feudal castle and a ninja museum. The museum was quite interesting, and there were ninja techniques performances. Although we almost missed the main performance completely, Nacho, Uge and myself could take a couple of pictures with the ninja masters :)

Takkyuu no Toki

Takkyuu no Toki
Originally uploaded by juanerubio.

Lately we've been quite lazy for 'takkyuu' (ping-pong), but we used to play for about half an hour after lunch every day. Now, since the weather is getting nicer, we're trying to switch to badminton.

At NTT, apart from the table tennis room, we also have a small but very well equipped gym, a library and a tennis/soccer court. All this is meant to increase productivity, of course ;)

Kinkakuji

Kinkakuji - Golden Pavilion
Originally uploaded by juanerubio.

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) is arguably the most popular sightseeing spot in Kyoto, and probably in Japan.

It is a three-storied building, built in a different architectural style for every floor. The building is actually covered in real gold, and the shiny reflection on the surrounding pond makes a very nice sight.

Anecdote: the original temple remained until 1950, when a mentally disturbed monk burned it. Yukio Mishima, a famous writer who commited ritual suicide ('seppuku', incorrectly known as 'harakiri' in western countries), made a fictional version of these facts in his novel 'Kinkaku-ji (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion)'.