I should be updating with more regularity, but hey, I've been busy (sorta) and lazy. :)
The new school year for ECC just started, and I've been a little bogged down planning for my kids classes (I've got 5 of em!) and my university classes. That's PROFESSOR Norm, bitches! I teach 3 classes twice a week at Mukogawa Women's University. Suffice to say, my first day was a little nerve wracking as I've never taught a 30 person class let alone a room of only ladies. I've only taught there for a full week so hopefully the rest of the semester will go smoothly. So far so good. :)
About a month and a half ago, we had the good fortune of being invited to a student's house for a traditional tea ceremony. The one really cool thing about teaching so many different people is that you get to so much about Japanese culture. One day Val was teaching Natsumi and they got talking about tea ceremony. Lo and behold, Natsumi is a tea ceremony teacher.
Natsumi's house is HUGE, even by North American standards. The even more amazing thing is that her house is over 300 years old. Granted, it's been maintained very well over time and just had a pretty major renovation last year. The front yard is a huge garden, and there's are two gardens in the back. One with huge trees and the other is of the stone/zen variety. The tree you see above is a peach tree with full blossom effect.
When we arrived, we were given the option of donning kimonos for the ceremony. Who could say no to that? Anh and Val went first and it took forever for them to get "dressed" because kimonos are so damn intricate and complicated to put on. It's usually a tag team affair. Unless you have lots of training I don't think you can do it yourself. Thankfully, Natsumi's regular student Mai was there to lend a hand to the proceedings. I don't remember how long Mai has been learning, but apparently it takes a good 4 or 5 years until you can fully master the ceremony. Aaron and I got our own kimonos too. Pic to follow.
After getting all gussied up, it was time to get our drink on. Natsumi's house is so damn big there's a room purely dedicated for tea ceremony. The door you see before you is something reminiscent of a doggy door. As the story goes, the creator of the tea ceremony made it mandatory for all guests to enter through this door. This was used as a method of removing the rank of all entering, therefore making all participants equal. It's pretty amazing considering how so much of Japanese culture is based on rank and seniority.
Getting in the room is such a bitch. You gotta crawl in headfirst and slide in on your knees. Seeing as how I was wearing a robe, it took all my gracefulness (of which I already have so little of) to not flash my goods. :P Here you can see Val sliding on in.
It's funny when you think of a tea ceremony just as people pouring tea, but THIS tea ceremony was flippin' complicated. The tea itself is a green tea powder that is mixed with the boiling water from the huge pot in the floor. The tea is then frothed up using a bamboo whisk. Natsumi let us try whisking it afterwards and lemme tell you, it's hella hard. It's all in the wrist? The tea itself was probably one of the most bitter things I've ever tasted. It's nothing like the green tea that we're all used to. Thankfully there were sweets. One was ball shaped with a ricey outer layer and a super sweet potato inside. We also had Mochi, the delicious sweetened rice snack. Sometimes I wonder if anything in this country ISN'T made with rice.
Natsumi kept a watchful eye on Mai making sure she was following all the proper procedures to ensure we had an authentic experience. On top of that she was explaining to us n00bs how to accept the tea, pass the sweets, drink the tea and all that good stuff. There's also little phrases to say when accepting and passing. When you receive your bowl/cup of tea, you have to turn it so that the opposite lip is facing you and then drink from there. Can't remember if it's clock or counter-clockwise. Sorry! We all felt really bad for Mai because the whole time she was sitting on her knees. I can't even do that for more than 10 minutes. I think over time Japanese people have trained themselves from since they were little to sit like that. Your legs just go numb after a while and you get the fun of pins and needles later. After it was all over, Mai had a tough time standing up. Thanks Mai!
Being here for just over 5 months now, it's easy to get bogged down with the job and city living. It's totally awesome when you get to do super Japanese stuff like this to really remind yourself of why you came here in the first place. It's all about the culture friends.
On a sad note, Anh and Aaron are leaving us (bastards!) so we'll be heading to Tokyo next week for a few days as a last hurrah. Gotta go out with a bang right? You can expect me to be super asian and take a gajillion pictures. Should be interesting...
Smell ya later!
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