Ohisashiburi!

In Japanese, the word ohisashiburi is used to greet someone you haven't seen in ages. And for me, this completely sums up my meeting with old high school friends.
Four of my old friends from the taiko club met up with me in Kyoto for a day of sightseeing and catching up. Even though it has been ...erm...*a few* years since we last met, it was just like old times. They even said my Japanese hadn't changed at all! (which was supposed to be a compliment, but....I know how bad my Japanese is!) It was really interesting meeting up again as 'adults' - they all look so much more grown up than our school days, but in other ways we haven't changed much at all :)

some of the gang :)

We went to Kiyomizu-dera which is a beautiful old temple in Kyoto, built on stilts.

The water is sacred and good to drink, but...instead we went to a different section that I hadn't seen before - there is a part where you go down under a building into the dark - and just feel your way with the handrail (how did I end up being the leader in this!) until you come to a stone with a spotlight shining on the carving. Here you touch the stone and make a wish. It was scarey (you can't see ANYTHING) but cool.
We also saw the love stones - this temple is apparently quite famous for 'love' and relationships. There are two stones in the footpath and if you walk from one to the other with your eyes closed your love wishes will come true quickly. If you miss the other stone then....it may take some time for love to find you. After watching a few different attempts by people we all decided it wasn't worth the risk ;P

love stone