5 Days in Kyoto and My Busy Days Back Home

5 days in Kyoto passed by in a blur as I visited my daughter studying in Japan before returning home to an urgent project.

I haven’t written on the blog for more than two weeks. These past two weeks passed by in a blur, with a Kyoto visit to see my daughter who is studying in Japan, followed by an urgent project as soon as I returned home.

Rather than thinking, “I should write, I should write,” my mind was more focused on, “I need to finish this work quickly.”

I enjoy writing, and knowing that my words might be helpful to someone gives me a small sense of happiness. So I did want to write. But since Uni is not someone who just plays around and does housework all day, I had a truly hectic time.

5 Days in Kyoto with My Daughter

First, I went to see my daughter, who is studying in Japan. It was a five-day trip to Kyoto.

If you roughly take out the day I arrived and the day I left, I had about three actual days to spend with her. But out of those three days, I spent two days cleaning the house where my daughter lives. Haha.

For my daughter, who said she missed kimchi, I made a very improvised batch of napa cabbage kimchi and kkakdugi using Japanese ingredients. And before she went to school, when she said, “I want gimbap today,” I made gimbap for her, boldly ignoring danmuji, which is practically the soul of gimbap.

The trip included a weekend, but since my daughter works part-time on weekends, we had to visit her workplace to see her.

We could have simply waited until she finished work, but meeting the owner and his wife was also part of our plan. They take such good care of my daughter that we often joke, “She has a Japanese mom and dad now.”

From Korea, we brought dried seaweed, gochujang, soy sauce, red ginseng extract, and wine. I knew those things could never fully express our gratitude, but I still wanted to give them something and thank them in person. That is why we visited her workplace.

Nyannyan-ji, the Cat Temple I Found in Kyoto

And then, Nyannyan-ji!

On the map, it simply appears as a temple, but in reality, it was another kind of cat temple filled with cuteness, charm, and artistic feeling. It is a place that cannot be fully captured through words or photos.

If you love cats, it is definitely a place worth visiting at least once.

This trip to Japan happened quite suddenly because my husband had a business trip there, and I ended up tagging along. So rather than traveling according to my daughter’s schedule, I found myself cleaning out an old refrigerator, doing piles of laundry, and organizing her closet.

Even though the house was small, there was enough to clean for two full days. Haha.

The Japanese Home-Style Meal My Daughter Recommended

On a day when my daughter had no class, she recommended a Japanese home-style restaurant because she really wanted her mom to try it. It was a small restaurant run by an elderly man in the neighborhood, open for only four hours a day.

It felt like the kind of place that would appear in Solitary Gourmet. The meal of the day is simply whatever the elderly owner prepares that day.

Just as my daughter recommended, it was a clean, warm, and deeply memorable experience.

We rented a car and went around Kinkaku-ji and Sanzen-in with my daughter. Then we stopped by a supermarket and filled our cart with this and that. Those five days passed so quickly.

Still, after seeing where my daughter lives and taking care of the things she needed, I felt as if I had completed an important assignment. My body was tired, but I was truly glad I went.

Sleepless Project Days After the Kyoto Visit

After finishing the Kyoto visit and returning home, an urgent project was waiting for me. Website work and video production overlapped, so I spent several days almost staying up all night.

My days and nights were reversed, my meal times became irregular, and I could not sleep properly. My daily routine completely fell apart.

I knew I needed to write a blog post, but there is always a priority to the things that must be done. After finishing everything on Monday, I thought, “Tomorrow, I’ll wake up early and prepare a blog post!”

Then my older sister called. Hahahahaha.

“Uni, can you go to Dongdaemun and buy some fabric for me?”

My sister makes clothing in another region. She had received an order but could not come to Seoul, so this morning I had to visit Dongdaemun and gather the materials she needed.

It had been a few months since I walked around the fabric market, the accessory market, and button shops. While I was there, I saw foreign visitors standing near the entrances, looking completely confused.

Ah! Foreign visitors probably have no idea what each building in this huge Dongdaemun market is for.

There are shoe markets along Cheonggyecheon, clothing markets, accessory markets, jewelry and accessory shops, places to buy fabric at good prices, candle shops in Bangsan Market, and packaging markets.

Since Uni does many different kinds of work for the company, I often visit Dongdaemun and Namdaemun for goods, products for sale, event items, and clothing-related materials. I cannot say I know every corner of Dongdaemun and Namdaemun, but I suddenly thought, “I should write a post about a Dongdaemun course!”

And then I immediately sighed. Hahaha.

The next post is going to be long again!

I want to write shorter posts. I really need to write shorter posts. Haha.

But once I start writing, the posts often become so long that it gets exhausting. Haha.

Next time, I should organize Dongdaemun and Namdaemun Market into a useful information post. I have no idea why so many places I “must include” keep coming to mind.