Fall Colors and Conversations

November 2, 2009-November 8, 2009
Another week down. Wow. Hope the time is flying for you too, but in the best way possible.
This week, we continued registering for classes (ah, excitement) and I’m looking at a Japaneseful semester (Japanese 302, Japanese Linguistics, and Traditional Japan), with Counseling and Psychotherapy (Human Development and Social Relations) thrown in for good measure. Also rock climbing and Women’s Chorus I THINK. We’ll see what Bonita the Boss (Bonita Washington-Lacey, the Registrar) says, but Nelson B (Nelson Bingham, my advisor) says I’m good to go.
Monday night (11/2) was joyous-drinking with Abhi at a local bar (Monkey’s Kitchen) and talking about life. That’s basically what I want to do for the rest of my life, so it was time well spent. Rode home (alcohol and biking are NOT supposed to mix) and bumped into a construction cone. Ordinarily, in the not ingenious United States, the cone would have been moved a few inches. Here, it’s attached to the ground, so it just popped back into its original position (very Bobo Doll-like for you Psych majors). Got home safe though, but I never worry so there’s really no need for anyone else to. If you’re worried, it’s dangerous and you should call a cab.
Tuesday (11/3) was a Culture Day, so a holiday. We, as a group, took the train an hour and a half south to Hiraizumi, an old, historyful city that used to be on par with Kyoto in terms of power. Old castle site and temples and gardens galore. BEUATIFUL FALL COLORS. I actually took more pictures of the fall colors than I did of the sites... We met at the station at a shining 7:50 in the morning (some people rode their bikes, some were driven; Tsukie kindly chose the latter though the former is always good because, sing it with me now, “I want to ride my bicycle/I want to ride my bike…”) and many were tired on the train. The day was QUITE chilly…
Motsuji was the old temple, so the site included a few temples (a given) and a gorgeous pond (which was more like a small lake). Lots of iris plants and every tree was planted just so in order to create the beauty we were able to witness. AND THE FALL COLORS!!!!!! RHAHDINBFWNNMDKAMDADNKNFFJ!!!!! SO COOL!!!!! Some trees like fire, some like the color of pears or apples. Tamara, Mitchell, and Abhi made wishes and rang a large bell (by ceremoniously pulling an suspended log into it; you bow your head and think of your wish until the sound stops). Saw a type of spider we don’t see in Morioka with a fatter thorax, but it’s not called a thorax. Hey Bio majors and nature lovers, what’s the hind part of a spider?
Bussed to Chusonji, where we first ate lunch at a noodle (ramen and soba and udon)/donburi (noodles or rice and meat in a bowl)/gyuudon (meat and rice in a bowl) shop and then looked around a souvenir shop next door. Then we began the trek up a stone pathway to get to the main area of Chusonji. First, it was commented on the fact that my snowboarding parka (which is my winter jacket for the semester) makes me look pregnant-“So Hannah, didja get knocked up on the way here?” And I will agree with this because if I have ANYTHING in my pockets, it magically resembles a fetus. (Especially if I have my gloves and hat in there in order to cool off after climbing up the steep incline.)
Continued on, walking along stone pathways through GLORIOUS trees of orange, yellow, gold, red, crimson, cranberry, goldenrod; some trees all green with their tips JUST turning red…Past little “gift huts” selling charms, “rest areas” looking out on the towns and fields below and the mountains across the way. Light streaming through trees JUST so. Displayed close to the ACTUAL Chusonji temple were individually potted tall, leafy stemmed dahlia-like flowers. Also: small Bonsai flowering trees, draping blankets of a single color of flower, large circular and spherical metal frames housing multiple individual flowers (the same Dahlia-like type, or is it Zinnia…?) so it looked like an EXPLOSION of a flowering plant.
Moved on to watch kyogen (comedy) and noh (slow drama) being performed in succession on an outdoor stage. Large crowd, many photographs being taken. One guy in the front row taking pictures had a Yankees jacket with a Mariners baseball cap. Thought that was the BEST. Way to represent the teams with Japanese players. There’s one more team with a Japanese player (and here is where I fail in baseball knowledge) and perhaps the man had that player’s/team’s t-shirt on, but I never saw. 
Went to a museum with many artifacts from when Hiraizumi was at its prime. Hiraizumi’s location is near the center of old Mutsu. In the eleventh century, Hiraizumi was ruled by the powerful Abe family and in 1053, Yoriyoshi, a warrior-noble from the powerful Miramoto clan, was appointed peacekeeper and general of Mutsu and attempted to contain the Abe. Conflict erupted and the Abe leader stopped Yoriyoshi from extending his control. (This is known in history as the Former Nine Years’ War, though it lasted a dozen years, from 1051-1062.) The Abe were defeated. A local noble administrator, Fujiwara no Tsunekiyo had sided with the Abe family. He had married an Abe woman and their son, Kiyohira, would found the Oshu Fujiwara Dynasty. (Oshu was another name for Mutsu.) When Kiyohira grew up, he became the leader of Mutsu incidentally (moving to Hiraizumi later) and wished to spread Buddhism to the land. THIS is what I was trying to get at to describe the museum-MANY statues of Buddha all around.
To Konjikido (Hiraizumi’s Golden Temple), which was moved from inside one building (nearby) to inside another though I HAVE NO IDEA HOW. Enclosed behind glass in the “new location”, it stood QUITE IMPRESSIVELY. Gold leaf EVERYWHERE. MY GOSH. Trained back, many people fell asleep, and then we were given money for dinner. (We are told to go out because we should give our host families their own time without us. We’re not offended at all though…*sniff*…not even a little *tear*) Abhi, Nicole, Mitchell, and I found a gyoza (potstickers) place in the basement of the station, connected to Isetan department store. DELISH. THEN, while we stood wondering what to do next, we were happened upon by some Iwate University/Gandai exchange students and one Japanese guy who we met at our orientation in August and often stops to say hi to us at Gandai. They were off to grab a drink on Odoori and why didn’t we join them. Why not?! So we walked, Nicole and Abhi with their bikes, to Odoori. Mitchell parted ways with us to go to the bookstore before being picked up by his host mother. Went to the Moon Soon Café where we nomikai-ed it up for 150 minutes (The usual length is either 120 minutes or 150 minutes and the price was great: ¥1500 I think; however, it always ends up being more because they make you buy food. HOWEVER, it was different at the Moon Soon Café because they only made us buy one plate person, rather than two.). Good drinks, good company, good sharing of experiences/hopes/fears. Two Italians, two French, three Americans (actually two Americans and an Indian/Ugandan), and a Japanese. Wonderful beyond wonderful. And English is quickly becoming a universal language as we spoke mostly English that night THOUGH we also used Japanese in order to communicate across language barriers. THAT was even cooler. Made it home okay AGAIN.
Left a little earlier because walked home (about 30 minutes), but made it back home around 11pm. Had called my host mother when we got to the Café and she had said my curfew was 11:30pm, the same that it is for weekends. I never want to cut it close, so I always leave early. ALSO, when she realized that I come back on time and I’m not stumbling drunk and I always call to tell her my plans, she made the curfew later (it started out at 10pm) because there is faith in my abilities. This I love.
The next day, Wednesday (11/4), Abhi, Nicole, Tamara, Mitchell, and I met after our half days at our host schools and biked to a Moss Burger (like McDonald’s, but better) near Gandai (near where the uchiage party was after the Gandai Festival). There we ate fast food in order to complete an assignment for Sensei about the atmosphere/menu/experience of fast food dining in Japan. There is a May Term (Earlham College, for those who don’t know, offers an additional “class” for about a month during may, depending on the date of Commencement of course. There are about five or six offered per year and they are worth 3-4 credits. Students have gone to Mexico, Argentina, Yellowstone National Park, Germany, etc.) she is doing that is “Food Culture in Japan” and she has given us a taste of what will be on the docket through our food education (looking at school lunches) in a kindergarten, two elementary schools, and a high school (so far).
Thursday (it rained) was our visit to Morioka Ichikoo (Morioka’s #1 high school), which is conveniently across the street from Gandai and where my host brother and Nicole’s host sister go to school. We had to eat lunch quickly (ate there in the cafeteria, which is underused, but convenient if student’s forget their lunch or teachers want a bento) in ~5 minutes. Had a delicious Chinese dish of vegetables and shrimp in a gravy-like substance over rice. Then went into the school (it was lunchtime) and watched the students buying snacks (made in the cafeteria) such as yakisoba, pudding, onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed), mochi with azuki (red bean paste) and whipped cream, fried potato, etc. Some students apparently eat their bento during the morning break (school starts at 8am and some come without having eaten breakfast). Some students studied during lunch. Observed three different English classes: a third grade (10th grade) reading-focused one, a second grade (11th grade) intermediate one, and a second grade (11th grade) writing-focused one. We all helped with pronunciation in the last one, which was quite fun. Seating is not gendered. Classes are quiet. We had free time afterwards, so Elizabeth and I went to a second grade math class, third grade Classics class, and first grade English class. In the first grade English class, the teacher employed more technology than junior high school teachers do-using a PowerPoint and Paint to label parts of a sentence as well as to introduce new vocab.
Students learn 80-100 new English words a week and have English class everyday. It is more and more difficult to push students tough, one teacher said (the first English teacher we saw, of the third grade class; talked with us afterwards for Q & A time), because they are impatient and therefore “weak”. The third graders at Ichikoo use, apparently, one of the hardest English textbooks (which the teachers choose). In 2nd grade, the students have a choice-go on a literature track or a science track (less English classes). Ko is on the science track, though he still has a great deal of English work to do. 3rd graders are more focused on the coming exams, so they have less art, home economics, etc. classes. And though they love P.E., from January to March, they do not have P.E. in order to study more for the fast-approaching entrance exams for university. Like nearly every school, it seems, Ichikoo has received numerous awards for their clubs and student involvement in clubs is active, though I am sure it is even required. The English curriculum emphasizes reading and writing, in line with what the exam asks, so little opportunities exist to converse. The school has one Assistant Language Teacher/Native Speaker who works mainly with the first and second graders. Student government members plan school events like meetings and festivals, have good leadership skills, and are chosen via election process. Juku (cram school) is popular, but the teacher estimated that less than 50% of Ichikoo students go. It is NEVER encouraged because the schoolteachers want students to “trust [them]” to adequately prepare them for the exams. Juku attendance is high in junior high, but drops in high school because students become busy with club activities and homework. In the teacher’s opinion, class participation and homework is demanding enough and enough preparation for the exams. I once asked Ko why he didn’t go to juku and he said he didn’t need to.
Afterwards, attended English Café at Gandai. Basically the companion to the Hello Party we hosted back in (GAH!) early October. Talked only in English with many Japanese Gandai students, exchanged cell phone numbers and emails. What I find the most frustrating is how contact information is exchanged and WHY. In America, you often exchange numbers or emails because you KNOW you will see each other again (or you HAVE to), like you’re working together on a project and need to set up meeting times. BUT here, it’s more like “I’ll-call/mail-you-if-I-want-to-see-you-again.” And that has been a tough idea. Like always, I form plans in my mind and then vocalize them (“Let’s do lunch at Yoshinoya some time!”) and then don’t follow through (because I get busy or I’m tired, etc.), thus frustrating my soul. A habit I’m trying to break.
School on Friday (11/6) was good-helped in three first year (7th grade) English classes because the second years didn’t have English class that day. The first years are at that age and enthusiasm level where they are (a) easily amused and (b) easy to connect with. It was a BLAST. And Tohru Sensei and I just work well together in team teaching situations. He is also VERY energetic, so that helps. In the first class, the principal came in for thirty minutes, took some pictures, gave Tohru Sensei a great scare, and then left. Afterwards, Tohru Sensei said he was SO nervous. Once again, I have realized that something only scares me or makes me nervous if I am given time and context. The principal’s presence didn’t wrack me, but maybe since Tohru Sensei has a REAL job teaching, then he SHOULD be nervous. He, as always, did great. 
Was tired getting up for Friday and didn’t want to get any sicker than the sore throat (that always come and goes) and the sniffles, so came home and took a nap and didn’t go to volleyball with Yoriko (Abhi’s host mother). MAN, will ya LOOK at those priorities?!?! Will ya LOOK at that self-care?!?! I surprise myself sometimes. Ah logic, thank you for being with me this semester. W watched ‘Ponyo’ during dinner (the new Hayao Miyazaki film). I HIGHLY recommend it. Has a similar feel as ‘Wall-E’, but without the underlying criticism of the human beings’ treatment of the planet Earth.
Saturday (11/7) was a BEAUTIFUL day. It was Skype time with me madre following breakfast and homework. Having quiet Friday nights and quiet Saturdays (only what YOU make them sometimes) is such a gift. Elizabeth and I met up at 1:45pm and walked the 10-15 minutes to Sakanacho to (covered mall and starting point for the September 14th (ACK!!) mikoshi (shrine) carrying), then to look around. Then the additional 10 minutes to Odoori (SO EASY TO GET AROUND HERE!!!) to satisfy a craving for crepes. Saw a ton of local, non-chain restaurants I think it would be great if we tried. Rather than stick to the “downtown” of Odoori and the “favorite places of SICE students” and the nomikai culture, let’s think OUTSIDE the box and VENTURE around. Alas, Sakanacho is a bit of a stretch for some since its NOT familiar and it’s a WHOLE ‘NOTHER 5 MINUTES further than Odoori. Oh what WILL we EVER do? *sigh*
Got back home about 5pm and watched some more ‘Pure Love’. Then, surprise, sushi arrived at 6pm, a gift from Maya, Tsukie’s oldest sister. “Her treat.” Did SUCH a good job of not repeating the pain of the Kyoto Sushi Incident of 9/30. SO proud of myself. I think I’m cured, Nikki. Let’s eat sushi! Watched some anime during dinner (‘Naruto’, for those who know/care). It’s about a magical world (what TV show isn’t?) and people can transform and they fight and it gets pretty violent sometimes, but it was interesting. I am just about the most non-geeky person on this program and Elizabeth is set on getting me to watch anime when we get back to Earlham. There’s nothing wrong with anime in my opinion, it’s just that it’s never been something I have chosen to spend time/money/energy on.
Ah Sunday (11/8). Began by waking up (NO WAY!!!) and found I was VERY tired. Stayed up late Saturday finishing the second of three articles for Literacy in Japanese class on Monday. I realized earlier in the semester that the logical thing, when one has three articles due on a Monday, is to read one on Friday, one on Saturday, and one on Sunday. Logical, RIGHT?!??! It surprised me too. Well school was busy on Friday (read some of the first one), so I read one Saturday morning (finished it, I mean) and then thought I should read the next one, just to stay on course. So went to bed around midnight, WHICH (I have discovered) is too late for me ESPECIALLY when I am tired BEFORE bed, but not tired when I ACTUALLY SHOULD sleep. Go FIGURE. So I was tired. But I woke up, did some Japanese homework, then went with Tsukie to sadoo (a tea ceremony).
Both her sisters studied tea ceremony about ten years ago and today, the oldest was helping to train a new pupil. (Late 20s, early 30s in age) The place was near Obaasan’s house (grandmother’s house), so we parked there and walked literally almost next door. We were directed to a tatami mat room away from the hustle and bustle of a main activity (looked like a bazaar) and next door to a large gathering of kimono-wearing women maybe doing tea ceremony as well, but it was quite lively. Both Tsukie’s sisters were dressed in kimono and we took our seats, kneeling to the point of, and for long enough to, cut off circulation to our legs. That was the only downside.
In the floor, a large teapot boiled hot water. A long wooden “ladle” was used to pour the water (later) and a small green “stand” was what the “ladle” rested on. A table to the right and rear (as we looked on) of the teapot had a large canister of cold water underneath it that resembled a decorated urn-white porcelain with blue and rust-colored designs decorating it. On top, at the moment, was a small cup (black and red, the top/cap flush with the rest, a little wider than the small cans of juice/coffee you find in supermarkets). Inside that, we saw later, was green tea (macha) powder.
There is a certain way to sit, how to fold one’s hands in one’s lap, when to bow to the person serving you, how to receive the tea (pick up with right hand, hold on palm of left hand), what to say when receiving the tea, how to pick up the sweet that is served with the tea from its plate and then place the chopsticks back on the side of the plate, how to pass the plate of sweets to the person next to you, how to eat the sweet, how to return the bowl when done drinking (wipe where you sipped from and dab that on the napkin that your sweet was on, turn it twice to the left (90 degrees), so that the picture on the bowl shows, hold it with the palm of your left hand and steadied by your right hand, etc). The person preparing the tea has the hardest time-how to pick up the bowls to serve the tea in and in what order, what angle to put the “ladle” at when it is on the “stand”, how to sit in relation to the tea and the people/guests, etc. We practiced entering the room too. All kneeling outside: the first person opens the sliding door, looks in to the right then to the left, puts their fan on the ground in front of them, scoots in, moves the fan further, scoots in further, turns to face the scroll and flower planter that are in their own recess in the room to the left (placing the fan in front of them), looks at the scroll, looks at the flower, bows, stands, moves towards the back corner of the room (diagonally away from where they entered), turns a sharp right to end up in front of the table with the cold water under it and cup of green tea powder above it, kneels, places fan in front, looks at the angles of the water container, looks at the angles of the green tea powder container, moves fan to in front of square cut in floor, turns body towards the square cut in the floor (as well as to the scroll and flowers and bows in unison with the person who has just entered (the second person in), then takes fan, stands, and moves back to the corner (that is diagonal from the entrance) and meets right shoulders with the second person. The first person then takes their seat (kneeling) against the sliding door thy entered through (near the square cut in the floor), places their fan to their right side, and once everyone has kneeled, they bow to the host. It was VERY interesting. VERY VERY VERY interesting. FASCINATING. BEAUTIFUL. INTRICATE.
Off to an E-Club (group of past host families) event out in the countryside/agricultural area (about 30 minutes away, at a house owned by one of the male members who has lived in that spot for 9 years) for imonoko (literally, “potato child” soup; a Morioka specialty), which E-Club members made for us, and relaxing time at a house with a backyard that looks straight out of a book or children’s bedtime story. (The event had started at 10am, but Tsukie and I arrived at about 12:40.) There was a small lake/pond in the backyard that a zipline with a T-bar seat flew over surrounded by trees and pieces of notched wood pieces as bridges across the water, a mossy area to run around on, and steep banks. Karaoke was inside the house and about ten minutes after we arrived, at a smaller house (one room) up the hill, Claire’s host mother (who had also done Kimono Time for us), another woman (I think of E-Club), and one of Samantha’s host sisters performed a tea ceremony. Tsukie and I sat and ate some soup (DELISH! Potatoes, carrots) while the rest of the SICE kids were called to the tea ceremony. I wanted to go check it out, but I had just come from one, so I wanted to also let the group be.
I walked up and past because, more than anything, I just wanted to stand and admire the beauty that was the towering mountains in the distance, the farm with black cows right across the dirt path, and the surrounding houses. It was SO quiet, you could hear the grasses waving in the wind. And the leaves fell with the breeze in such a beautiful way that I just stood and soaked in the tranquility. Shortly, a man (61 years old) who was walking down the road approached me (coffee cup and cigarette in hand) and we began talking. He opened with asking why there were so many cars gathered? So I told him about SICE and who we were and what we were doing. He wanted to practice his English so he began telling me of his days as an IBM computer engineer, how he used to work at a Morioka high school as a computer teacher and hated it, how he has a bone issue in his tailbone (I believe) and is always in pain, how he had a pen friend in America from the ages of 16-21, how his father died of a brain aneurysm (something in the brain), and how he is now retired and spends his days on the Internet and watching English movies without subtitles. Twice, we were approached by someone who wanted me to come to the tea ceremony. First, it was the woman who was from E-Club and helping Hirata-san out (Claire’s host mother) and then it was Samantha’s host father.
I loved just standing and talking and hearing his story. And I think that’s hard for people to grasp: why in the world would someone be talking to a total stranger? But I CAN’T COUNT the number of people I have been SO THANKFUL to converse with BY CHANCE, whose stories where NOT part of the scheduled activities, but whose words made the experience better, brighter, and more exciting. I cannot thank them enough.
So I eventually went back to the small room and tea ceremony that was practically over. It was joked that I knew everything since I had been that morning, but no. Not at all. Samantha’s legs were QUITE numb (I recalled the feeling) from kneeling for the duration (of twenty to thirty minutes probably). Others had changed to sitting cross-legged. Sat and talked with Elizabeth, Claire, Samantha’s host mother, Abhi, and Mitchell after finishing. Yasumi Sensei gave me some mail she had received-the infamous card from the Bonners on campus. (For those who do not know, I am part of the Bonner Program, which is a community service-oriented group of students, 15 per year, who apply for acceptance and receive scholarship money in exchange for performing about ten hours of service a week at a particular sites or sites. I have worked at a therapeutic riding center, a Boys and Girls Club (as a tutor and as a cooking class assistant), and the Mayor’s Office.) The card is infamous as, once a semester, cards for those Bonners off campus are passed around at the applicable monthly Bonner meeting. It brought me SUCH JOY, you all. YOU HAVE NO IDEA. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart-to those I know and those I don’t yet know, THANK YOU. I can’t wait to yell with you, Topher. I can’t wait to work with you, Kristin. I can’t wait to live it up Bonner style!!! BONNER WHAT?!??! BONNER LOVE!!!!!!
Headed out around 3pm and came home (stopped by a Book Off, which is a used bookstore, because Tsukie was looking for a book-I saw a case of the first season of ‘Bones’, CE, and almost bought it. AND saw ‘The Breakfast Club’ and almost bought THAT. Love to have those reminders. 
Tired when I got home, but an ice cream waffle, some episodes of ‘Pure Love’, and laundry perked me up. Dinner was good, delicious as ALWAYS, but afterwards my brain just shut off (maybe I should sleep…?) and I got so frustrated when I couldn’t speak in Japanese and form the opinions I wanted so badly to vocalize in response to questions from Tsukie and Otoosan. But I got through I because Tsukie is so patient. Really. That quality is underappreciated. LISTENING.
I realize I write little about my host school experience and even less about my Japanese class and Earlham classes. Japanese is mostly review, but I need it. The Earlham classes require summaries and thoughts on the articles I read and I’m getting 4/4 points on all of them. I also did REALLY well on my Arabic script paper and my Arabic presentation. So my GPA is getting help (not that is was oh-my-gosh low, but it could have been much better).
More next week! Off to Tokyo to visit Yoko next weekend and see Hanako too! Love to you all!