The week that maybe made me

Admittedly as auspicious weeks go this one didn’t start so well. Having a bout of gastroenteritis is not begin a period of hard work really. I’ve gotten more used to stomach discomfort than I’d like but it was still  unpleasant. Fortunately I had a wonderful first thanksgiving meal with some friends to cheer me up.

Better fueled I embarked on what would be one of the hardest weeks of beamtime I’ve had since I’ve been here. We spent 3 days performing experiments on the XFEL, something less than 100 people in the world have done. It was tiring, stressful, scary and exciting all at once. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it, we had the whole institute breathing down our necks at.

Due to the inability to eat or sleep during the experiment I’m still a bit of a mess , hence the concise length of this entry. Sadly I can't share too much of what went on, I can't believe I'm doing work were I can legitimately say that, but I think we got some decent results out of it. Plenty of things learnt and plenty to build on.

What really struck home for me this time, more than any of my other experiments, is just how much hard work this is going to be. Whilst I’ve thought I’d worked mad hours before this was something else. It’s not just the time spent working but the sheer intensity of it whilst you are there. When the payoff for good data is high expectations are high and therefore preparations need to be immaculate. I guess this is what I need to do if I want to continue in high end science. A daunting thought but I’m up for the challenge.

I’ve been having a bit of a hard time lately. I was feeling like I was losing direction, losing my focus and that is something I’ve always struggled with. This experiment is something I don’t think I could of managed a year ago and I’ve surprised myself a bit. I dunno when the change happened but my group are very aggressive and very dedicated. It’s infectious and I’m glad I’ve been placed with them.

Well that's enough personal musings. In amongst all that hard graft I managed to get out to Kyoto for a day for a bit of Momiji viewing. Momiji are the autumnal flowers of the Japanese maple trees. The colors out here are quite spectacular in autumn, so much so that people will flock from all over Japan to particular hotspots to view them.

Well I was a little bleary eyed after not sleeping for 30 hours the previous day but I wasn’t about to let a little thing like sleep deprivation get in the way of exploration and seeing friends. I bundled myself onto the bus at about 6:30am and was on my way. I do believe I spent the whole day grumbling about lack of sleep, so sorry guys but hey I earned the right.

Our first stop was the Tofukuji zen temples complex. Before entering however we stopped by a nearby shrine for a great view of one of Kyoto's many Zen gardens. This site is world famous as an excellent place to view 紅葉 (autumn leaves) and so naturally it was very crowded. It was however worth braving the hordes as the view across the bridge at the temple's entrance was beautiful, rows and rows of momiji of all different autumnal colours. 

 

It was lovely up there and had it not been so crowded would have possibly been nicer to stay a bit longer, but we had a lot to go see so we pushed onwards, back onto the train and up into Gion where we would do some shrine hoping. The first was a very little one just down a side street dedicated to an eye Go (目のために神様)always worth a visit since I need all the help I can get.

Our next stop was Kennin-ji, apparently the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto, though it’s easy to lose track. This one is a little special though. It has some incredible pieces of artwork including a paper screen depicting Rajin and Fujin, the Gods of Thunder and wind, and amazing ceiling painting of twin dragons. The floors here were also interesting, yes you heard me interesting floors. All of the panels had a peculiar chirp when you stepped on them, earning them the name nightingale floor (鶯張り). Their purpose was to stop assassination by stealth, quite a sinister purpose for something so charming.

After saying good bye to the dragons we stopped by another small shrine dedicated to いぬしし (wild boar) something I assume is a bit of an oddity. I’ve not seen anything dedicated to the porcine inhabitants of this earth in Japan before at any rate. A real shame as they are such wonderful creatures and the statues in this shrine were wonderful.

We rounded off the trip by heading north to Hokan-ji temple. This temple is also known as Yasaka no to, on account of it’s 40 meter tall pagoda. It’s quite a site and actually the first pagoda I’ve seen up close since coming here. It would have been nice to go inside but I think it was closed for the day by the time we arrived also. On the way back I managed to grab a few quick Christmas gifs for some people thankfully. I’ve had no time to do any shopping yet.

Last time I was in Kyoto I most definitely got temple fatigue but this visit was much more pleasant thanks to the milder weather, and awesome company of course. That and we had a very enthusiastic (unofficial) tour guide who’d put in a lot of effort to plan things, makes me wish I planned my outings more really.

Right back to work I guess

Mata ne.