I woke up shaking and sweaty last night around 2:30 from a nightmare in which David had drowned and I was lost in a cave with a group of strangers who also kept dying one by one. Not a fun dream.
I arrived on campus this morning about ten minutes early for reading and writing, as usual. But when 9:00 came around, Kawahara-sensei still hadn’t come in. Instead, a guy from the CIE office walked in and said that class was cancelled today. But he took roll, and passed around a paper so we could sign up to come to class tomorrow. I was so mad!
I had come to class today; why should I have to come back again tomorrow?! It’s so lousy. The professor wasn’t there, so class should just be cancelled, right? Oh well. So now, instead of a two hour lunch break tomorrow, I have one hour for lunch because the class I planned to attend today will be happening at noon tomorrow. >.< I’m pretty frustrated with it. And this happened on the week where Tuesday classes were cancelled; I hate Tuesdays because my schedule on Tuesdays is the same as it will be tomorrow. The one week I thought I had escaped my strenuous class day, and it comes back to haunt me!
I used my new bright and early in the morning hour of nothing to complete the rest of my language lab homework for the semester before speaking. After speaking class I ate lunch with William and some of his Japanese friends, which was fun. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to see him, so it was nice to catch up. We talked about what it was like to move to Ohio from the South (he’s from North Carolina), which was funny; turns out we noticed a lot of the same things about Northerners when we first arrived at Witt.
For supper this evening I made some blackened pepper fish, but I overdid it on the pepper and it wound up a bit too spicy to properly enjoy. I also managed to burn my fingers pretty badly in the process of cooking it, which wasn’t good. Right now I’m wishing I had an aloe plant, because it still hurts. Oh well; the fish looked pretty, if nothing else.
The weather today was beautiful, so after supper I took a short walk in the park near the seminar house. I had forgotten how nice it is just to walk around without a destination; the park is basically just a big open loop, a lot like the U of L apartments' track at home. It was nice, and the moon was lovely.
This evening I’m trying to round up some people to watch a movie or something. I dunno, maybe I’ll just take my reading down to the kitchen and chill with the people there. Sometimes we get a card game going or something.
Hmm, this update sounds a lot more complainy than I intended it too. Really, I've had a very good day and I'm in quite a cheerful mood. I just happen to have had a nightmare, a rescheduled class, burned fingers, and too-spicy fish today. Still, I'm quite chipper and looking forward to the weekend.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A short post! Wow!
Not much in particular to report about the day; it was kind of a normal Wednesday. Oh, but the weather was really nice. It was cool this morning, about 50 degrees, but it warmed up to the high sixties and was sunny and gorgeous. That made the bike rides back and forth to school very pleasant.
My package from home arrived in the mail today, so now I have good old American deodorant, and I won’t be stinky and anti-ozone layer with the lousy Japanese spray stuff that doesn’t work. Also, I have exactly one month to go of having classes; after that it’s finals and coming home! Crazy that time goes so fast.
Speaking of time, today is Dad’s birthday. Happy birthday! I really wish I could be home to celebrate with my family. I missed out on some chocolate cake today, I hear. ;_; Anyway, Dad, hope your day was great. I was thinking about you a lot. Miss you and love you!
I did some grocery shopping today and tried going to Fresco instead of Top World. Their selection wasn’t as good, but some things were a little cheaper. I’ll probably stick with Top World, and of course QQ for the basics. With my new foodstuffs I made okonomiyaki for supper and put in a lot of veggies. I had bought a vegetable grater to make it easier to add things like carrots and radish, so that was convenient.
This weekend I’m planning to take a break from visiting temples and shrines. William and I are supposed to chill out on Friday, and on Saturday I’m going to Den Den Town, Osaka’s big electronics and anime district, with Tamara, Jamie, and some other people from the dorm. That should be fun, although I’m not really geeky in that kind of way. Still, it’ll be nice to do some shopping and explore Osaka. Maybe I’ll be able to find the Outback Steakhouse there. Yum….
My package from home arrived in the mail today, so now I have good old American deodorant, and I won’t be stinky and anti-ozone layer with the lousy Japanese spray stuff that doesn’t work. Also, I have exactly one month to go of having classes; after that it’s finals and coming home! Crazy that time goes so fast.
Speaking of time, today is Dad’s birthday. Happy birthday! I really wish I could be home to celebrate with my family. I missed out on some chocolate cake today, I hear. ;_; Anyway, Dad, hope your day was great. I was thinking about you a lot. Miss you and love you!
I did some grocery shopping today and tried going to Fresco instead of Top World. Their selection wasn’t as good, but some things were a little cheaper. I’ll probably stick with Top World, and of course QQ for the basics. With my new foodstuffs I made okonomiyaki for supper and put in a lot of veggies. I had bought a vegetable grater to make it easier to add things like carrots and radish, so that was convenient.
This weekend I’m planning to take a break from visiting temples and shrines. William and I are supposed to chill out on Friday, and on Saturday I’m going to Den Den Town, Osaka’s big electronics and anime district, with Tamara, Jamie, and some other people from the dorm. That should be fun, although I’m not really geeky in that kind of way. Still, it’ll be nice to do some shopping and explore Osaka. Maybe I’ll be able to find the Outback Steakhouse there. Yum….
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Hōryūji
Disclaimer: This post contains large sections of Kristen gushing about old things you probably really don't care about. This is the price you pay for reading the blog of a geeky kid who just came back from art history heaven. Feel free to skip over the boring art rants.
Today I went to Hōryūji, a temple in Ikaruga near Nara dating from the Asuka Period. It features some of the oldest wooden buildings in the world—about 1300 years old. Puts the historical “wow” factor of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace to shame, huh? (Not that there’s much to beat there; ask me for that story some other time.)
Today, of course, was a regular Tuesday for the rest of the world, although my classes were cancelled. This meant, of course, that the rush hour trains were crowded with commuters. That was interesting. I was just on the tail end of the morning rush, but it was fun watching all the businesspeople in suits running for their trains.
On the way to the temple, I had one of those experiences that only happens in Japan. I slurped down some udon for breakfast during rush hour in Ōsaka at a train station standing at a noodle counter between sararīman. (That was a lot of prepositions!) So quintessentially Japanese.
Anyway, when I finally got to Ikaruga, I decided to walk the 1.5km to the temple. Unfortunately, the signage wasn’t as good as I was expecting, and I quickly managed to get myself lost. I got suspicious when one of the few signs for tourists didn’t mention Hōryūji. Then, the shops became less frequent and the vegetable patches more frequent. I realized I was heading quickly for the middle of nowhere. Well, that’s an exaggeration; there were still plenty of houses around. But I wasn’t in touristville anymore. Luckily I stumbled across what I think was a nursing home, though I’m not sure. There were a bunch of people sitting outside with their feet in a hot spring pool, and I asked them for directions. Turns out I was going perpendicular to where I should have been. Anyway, after getting that all worked out, I turned around and got on the right track after talking to some different ladies who were very excited to try out some of their English on me.
After trekking the 1.5km in the proper direction, stopping at a konbini for some Grape Fanta, and getting some mediocre curry rice from a small takeout place, I arrived at Hōryūji. Something you should know about this place: it’s an art historian’s dream. I totally geeked out the whole time I was there. This place is absolutely brimming with Important Cultural Properties and National Treasures and World Cultural Heritage markers, and every time you turn a corner it seems you find something else you have seen in an art history textbook.
First I explored the far western section of the temple complex, which, by the way, is enormous. I was standing in front of the West Round Hall getting ready to take a picture when one of the temple attendants freaked out on me and shouted not to take photos, so I had to stop. There really were a lot of places at this temple where you couldn’t take photos. Luckily, most of the stuff is hella famous and there are images all over the Internet. By the way, there were a lot of cats in this part of the temple. I also saw two praying mantises.
After paying the ¥1000 entrance fee (expensive for a temple!) I went into the Western Precinct proper. It was amazing; so different from the other temples I’ve been to. Art texts usually remark on Hōryūji as a display of power and human control, and I have to agree. The plaza was huge and must be fantastic during big festivals. And the pagoda and kondō absolutely tower over you with the most intricate construction decorated in bright colors and dragons and abstract designs. It was really neat. From there I moved on along the designated path, seeing all the statues and buildings along the way. I won’t bore you with descriptions of everything, because there was a lot and I promise I could go on for days about it. Let’s just say I spent a long, long time looking at things that are very, very old and very, very famous.
Being a weekday afternoon, the temple wasn’t very crowded with regular tourists, although there were school groups everywhere. It was mostly middle-schoolers. They were bold! It was really surprising. I don’t know how many small groups of kids just came up to me waving and shouting “Hello!” One boy even whipped out a “Nice to meet you.” I would answer back, “Hello! How are you?” and they would run off giggling. Bizarre.
Part of the temple was a building that had been constructed about ten years ago to act as a museum. This was really cool, too. I do love art museums. Going to temples is fantastic because you get to see artworks in their original contexts, but it’s often hard to see because the buildings are dark or someone tall is in front of you. I liked having seen both the original placements and the nicely displayed objects. Again, many of these things were artworks we have studied in art history.
One thing that you might be interested in is called the Tamamushi Shrine—literally, “jewel bug” shrine. It’s called that because part of the decoration of it is made from the shells of these really shiny green beetles. Very cool! You rather have to wonder, though, how the artisans reconciled Buddhism’s no-killing precepts with tearing the wings off thousands of beetles. In any case, the shrine is maybe eight feet tall, much bigger than I expected. Very cool lacquer artwork on the side, too. It was neat.
And one more artwork before I wrap this baby up: Yumedono Kannon, a.k.a. Guze Kannon. This statue is located in the Yumedono, or Dream Hall, in the Eastern Precinct. The hall got its name because Prince Shōtoku Taishi, who had Hōryūji built so long ago, would come here to meditate and receive helpful dreams from Kannon (the bodhisattva of compassion; he acts a bit like the Blessed Mother, to tell you the truth) when he couldn’t understand part of a Buddhist teaching. This statue, the Yumedono Kannon, is only displayed two times a year, and it was on display now. That’s the main reason why I waited to long to visit this particular temple, actually. I’ve wanted to see this statue for quite a while. Ernest Fenollosa, the American scholar who was an early student of Japan, and Okakura Tenshin “re-discovered” this statue during the Meiji Period. It had been kept locked away in secret for centuries, until Fenollosa convinced (I’m a bit suspicious of that; I think he probably threatened them) the Hōryūji priests to let him see it. He and Okakura unwrapped cloths from the statue, and this beautiful, gold, life-sized bodhisattva was standing before them. It must have been magic. It’s such an elegant piece, although the Asuka/Tori Busshi/Northern Wei style it shows usually isn’t my cup of tea. Anyway, today the Kannon was displayed in the Yumedono. It was so dark you could barely tell it was there, although luckily one of the tour guides who happened to be nearby had a flashlight.
Okay, I’d better stop before I decide to gush about the Kudara Kannon, which, by the way, is also beautiful. Um, after spending about two or two and a half hours at the temple complex, I was ready for home. It was overcast and cool today, and I needed a nap. I decided to take the bus back to the train station so I wouldn’t get lost this time. A man at the bus stop struck up a conversation with me, and despite some awkward silences we were able to have a decent chat as we rode the bus together. Turns out he has a married daughter who lives in Florida. He asked about the election—go figure—and we agreed that we like Obama. I was surprised, though, that I was able to understand as much of his Japanese as I could. He must have been using the more standard polite forms that college-aged guys don’t use.
Anyway, I made it home fine, napped, and had an egg sandwich for supper. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow; I really feel like I have very little food.
Today I went to Hōryūji, a temple in Ikaruga near Nara dating from the Asuka Period. It features some of the oldest wooden buildings in the world—about 1300 years old. Puts the historical “wow” factor of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace to shame, huh? (Not that there’s much to beat there; ask me for that story some other time.)
Today, of course, was a regular Tuesday for the rest of the world, although my classes were cancelled. This meant, of course, that the rush hour trains were crowded with commuters. That was interesting. I was just on the tail end of the morning rush, but it was fun watching all the businesspeople in suits running for their trains.
On the way to the temple, I had one of those experiences that only happens in Japan. I slurped down some udon for breakfast during rush hour in Ōsaka at a train station standing at a noodle counter between sararīman. (That was a lot of prepositions!) So quintessentially Japanese.
Anyway, when I finally got to Ikaruga, I decided to walk the 1.5km to the temple. Unfortunately, the signage wasn’t as good as I was expecting, and I quickly managed to get myself lost. I got suspicious when one of the few signs for tourists didn’t mention Hōryūji. Then, the shops became less frequent and the vegetable patches more frequent. I realized I was heading quickly for the middle of nowhere. Well, that’s an exaggeration; there were still plenty of houses around. But I wasn’t in touristville anymore. Luckily I stumbled across what I think was a nursing home, though I’m not sure. There were a bunch of people sitting outside with their feet in a hot spring pool, and I asked them for directions. Turns out I was going perpendicular to where I should have been. Anyway, after getting that all worked out, I turned around and got on the right track after talking to some different ladies who were very excited to try out some of their English on me.
After trekking the 1.5km in the proper direction, stopping at a konbini for some Grape Fanta, and getting some mediocre curry rice from a small takeout place, I arrived at Hōryūji. Something you should know about this place: it’s an art historian’s dream. I totally geeked out the whole time I was there. This place is absolutely brimming with Important Cultural Properties and National Treasures and World Cultural Heritage markers, and every time you turn a corner it seems you find something else you have seen in an art history textbook.
First I explored the far western section of the temple complex, which, by the way, is enormous. I was standing in front of the West Round Hall getting ready to take a picture when one of the temple attendants freaked out on me and shouted not to take photos, so I had to stop. There really were a lot of places at this temple where you couldn’t take photos. Luckily, most of the stuff is hella famous and there are images all over the Internet. By the way, there were a lot of cats in this part of the temple. I also saw two praying mantises.
After paying the ¥1000 entrance fee (expensive for a temple!) I went into the Western Precinct proper. It was amazing; so different from the other temples I’ve been to. Art texts usually remark on Hōryūji as a display of power and human control, and I have to agree. The plaza was huge and must be fantastic during big festivals. And the pagoda and kondō absolutely tower over you with the most intricate construction decorated in bright colors and dragons and abstract designs. It was really neat. From there I moved on along the designated path, seeing all the statues and buildings along the way. I won’t bore you with descriptions of everything, because there was a lot and I promise I could go on for days about it. Let’s just say I spent a long, long time looking at things that are very, very old and very, very famous.
Being a weekday afternoon, the temple wasn’t very crowded with regular tourists, although there were school groups everywhere. It was mostly middle-schoolers. They were bold! It was really surprising. I don’t know how many small groups of kids just came up to me waving and shouting “Hello!” One boy even whipped out a “Nice to meet you.” I would answer back, “Hello! How are you?” and they would run off giggling. Bizarre.
Part of the temple was a building that had been constructed about ten years ago to act as a museum. This was really cool, too. I do love art museums. Going to temples is fantastic because you get to see artworks in their original contexts, but it’s often hard to see because the buildings are dark or someone tall is in front of you. I liked having seen both the original placements and the nicely displayed objects. Again, many of these things were artworks we have studied in art history.
One thing that you might be interested in is called the Tamamushi Shrine—literally, “jewel bug” shrine. It’s called that because part of the decoration of it is made from the shells of these really shiny green beetles. Very cool! You rather have to wonder, though, how the artisans reconciled Buddhism’s no-killing precepts with tearing the wings off thousands of beetles. In any case, the shrine is maybe eight feet tall, much bigger than I expected. Very cool lacquer artwork on the side, too. It was neat.
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And one more artwork before I wrap this baby up: Yumedono Kannon, a.k.a. Guze Kannon. This statue is located in the Yumedono, or Dream Hall, in the Eastern Precinct. The hall got its name because Prince Shōtoku Taishi, who had Hōryūji built so long ago, would come here to meditate and receive helpful dreams from Kannon (the bodhisattva of compassion; he acts a bit like the Blessed Mother, to tell you the truth) when he couldn’t understand part of a Buddhist teaching. This statue, the Yumedono Kannon, is only displayed two times a year, and it was on display now. That’s the main reason why I waited to long to visit this particular temple, actually. I’ve wanted to see this statue for quite a while. Ernest Fenollosa, the American scholar who was an early student of Japan, and Okakura Tenshin “re-discovered” this statue during the Meiji Period. It had been kept locked away in secret for centuries, until Fenollosa convinced (I’m a bit suspicious of that; I think he probably threatened them) the Hōryūji priests to let him see it. He and Okakura unwrapped cloths from the statue, and this beautiful, gold, life-sized bodhisattva was standing before them. It must have been magic. It’s such an elegant piece, although the Asuka/Tori Busshi/Northern Wei style it shows usually isn’t my cup of tea. Anyway, today the Kannon was displayed in the Yumedono. It was so dark you could barely tell it was there, although luckily one of the tour guides who happened to be nearby had a flashlight.
Okay, I’d better stop before I decide to gush about the Kudara Kannon, which, by the way, is also beautiful. Um, after spending about two or two and a half hours at the temple complex, I was ready for home. It was overcast and cool today, and I needed a nap. I decided to take the bus back to the train station so I wouldn’t get lost this time. A man at the bus stop struck up a conversation with me, and despite some awkward silences we were able to have a decent chat as we rode the bus together. Turns out he has a married daughter who lives in Florida. He asked about the election—go figure—and we agreed that we like Obama. I was surprised, though, that I was able to understand as much of his Japanese as I could. He must have been using the more standard polite forms that college-aged guys don’t use.
Anyway, I made it home fine, napped, and had an egg sandwich for supper. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow; I really feel like I have very little food.
Monday, November 10, 2008
"Where's my truck?"--Helen Hunt in Twister
Today was pretty productive, and I have tomorrow off because it’s University Foundation Day, so I was able to take it easy this evening. I was able to get the rest of my laundry in the wash before heading to class, even. That was a good start.
I aced both my kanji quiz and vocab quiz this morning, and after spending some time in the language lab finally wrapped my head around causative-passive verbs. For lunch I had some yummy chicken nuggets while I edited David’s paper, which was relaxing.
I don’t have classes on Monday afternoon, so I returned home, ran the sweeper, and put my clothes out to dry. I have also decided that I need to get a little bit of physical activity in my life, so I did some crunches and little floor exercises before taking a nap.
Made grilled cheese for supper, got my laundry folded, and showered. I had been invited to go out for karaoke at 8:00, but decided against it. It’s kind of cold outside (probably about 50 degrees), and I didn’t feel like making the twenty minute hike to Makino to spend ¥2000 and get home late. Instead, I fixed some potstickers as a snack and watched Twister in the lounge with Paui and Daniel. I remember the first time I saw that movie; we were at Aunt Louise’s house for some family gathering, and I remember sitting in what is now Andrew’s room with Nick and Aimee, playing MindTrap and watching the film. It was so scary and well-made at the time; now the fluffy 90s hair, huge cell phones, and terrible dialogue are just fun.
Tomorrow I’m going to Hōryūji, so I’ll be getting up early. Time for me to head to bed, then. I’ll have a very long update for tomorrow, I’m sure.
I aced both my kanji quiz and vocab quiz this morning, and after spending some time in the language lab finally wrapped my head around causative-passive verbs. For lunch I had some yummy chicken nuggets while I edited David’s paper, which was relaxing.
I don’t have classes on Monday afternoon, so I returned home, ran the sweeper, and put my clothes out to dry. I have also decided that I need to get a little bit of physical activity in my life, so I did some crunches and little floor exercises before taking a nap.
Made grilled cheese for supper, got my laundry folded, and showered. I had been invited to go out for karaoke at 8:00, but decided against it. It’s kind of cold outside (probably about 50 degrees), and I didn’t feel like making the twenty minute hike to Makino to spend ¥2000 and get home late. Instead, I fixed some potstickers as a snack and watched Twister in the lounge with Paui and Daniel. I remember the first time I saw that movie; we were at Aunt Louise’s house for some family gathering, and I remember sitting in what is now Andrew’s room with Nick and Aimee, playing MindTrap and watching the film. It was so scary and well-made at the time; now the fluffy 90s hair, huge cell phones, and terrible dialogue are just fun.
Tomorrow I’m going to Hōryūji, so I’ll be getting up early. Time for me to head to bed, then. I’ll have a very long update for tomorrow, I’m sure.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Fushimi-Inari Taisha
Today Daniel and I took a short daytrip to Kyōto to see Fushimi-Inari Taisha, a shrine known for its kitsune statues and many torii gates. It was cool and drizzly this morning when I woke up to make breakfast before we left, but the rain stopped and it wasn’t as cold as I expected. We walked to Makino-Eki and took the trains to Fushimi-Inari, which is a pretty cool little local train station with fox pictures everywhere.
We walked up the touristy street to get to the shrine, and Daniel wasn’t watching when he tried to cross the street and almost got flattened by a bicycle. But we made it to the shrine okay, and when we arrived we were amazed; it was so crowded and big! Sundays are always busy at shrines, but this was crazy. Then we realized that it was because Shichi-Go-San is coming up. There were a lot of little kids all dressed up for the holiday there with their families. Cute little girls in bright pink kimono, and these two adorable little five year old boys who were loving the attention from their families and kept swooshing their hakama around. I took a lot of pictures of other people’s kids; is that creepy? Oh well.
We saw lots of fox statues and took lots of pictures with them. One thing that surprised me, though, was this thing called the Horse Shrine. It was this little shed-like shrine structure with a big white horse statue inside, kind of in the fashion of something you’d see on a carousel, but bigger. On the altar area in front of it people had left offerings of carrots. ^_^ I thought that was pretty cool. I’m not sure why there were horses there. Kitsune makes sense, because they’re associated with Inari, but I’m not sure about horses.
Then we continued up the mountain from the main shrine, through the hiking trails that are made tunnel-like from all the torii that people have donated lining the paths. It was kind of creepy, actually, being in this old-growth forest on a dreary day surrounded by all these vermillion gates. I’ve got some pictures that make the Body Chute at Waverly Hills look pretty comfy. It was such a beautiful place though, and I wish we could have stayed longer. The whole torii trail takes about two hours, though, and we didn’t have the energy or time for it. But we got to go to the part of the shrine that displays the main object of worship, a sacred mirror. It’s really unusual for shrines to display something so holy, but there it was. I took a picture; I hope that’s okay. I also gave money to the kami and bought an amulet for Betsy, so maybe that makes up for it.
Anyway, we came home after walking back to the station and stopping at Mister Donut in Makino, although I didn’t buy anything. But now I know that they have delicious-looking chocolate donuts, so maybe some other time. I napped this afternoon, had curry rice for supper, and did some homework. And that is all.
If you have a Facebook account, you can see my pictures from the shrine today, as well as some other miscellaneous things, by going here.
We walked up the touristy street to get to the shrine, and Daniel wasn’t watching when he tried to cross the street and almost got flattened by a bicycle. But we made it to the shrine okay, and when we arrived we were amazed; it was so crowded and big! Sundays are always busy at shrines, but this was crazy. Then we realized that it was because Shichi-Go-San is coming up. There were a lot of little kids all dressed up for the holiday there with their families. Cute little girls in bright pink kimono, and these two adorable little five year old boys who were loving the attention from their families and kept swooshing their hakama around. I took a lot of pictures of other people’s kids; is that creepy? Oh well.
We saw lots of fox statues and took lots of pictures with them. One thing that surprised me, though, was this thing called the Horse Shrine. It was this little shed-like shrine structure with a big white horse statue inside, kind of in the fashion of something you’d see on a carousel, but bigger. On the altar area in front of it people had left offerings of carrots. ^_^ I thought that was pretty cool. I’m not sure why there were horses there. Kitsune makes sense, because they’re associated with Inari, but I’m not sure about horses.
Then we continued up the mountain from the main shrine, through the hiking trails that are made tunnel-like from all the torii that people have donated lining the paths. It was kind of creepy, actually, being in this old-growth forest on a dreary day surrounded by all these vermillion gates. I’ve got some pictures that make the Body Chute at Waverly Hills look pretty comfy. It was such a beautiful place though, and I wish we could have stayed longer. The whole torii trail takes about two hours, though, and we didn’t have the energy or time for it. But we got to go to the part of the shrine that displays the main object of worship, a sacred mirror. It’s really unusual for shrines to display something so holy, but there it was. I took a picture; I hope that’s okay. I also gave money to the kami and bought an amulet for Betsy, so maybe that makes up for it.
Anyway, we came home after walking back to the station and stopping at Mister Donut in Makino, although I didn’t buy anything. But now I know that they have delicious-looking chocolate donuts, so maybe some other time. I napped this afternoon, had curry rice for supper, and did some homework. And that is all.
If you have a Facebook account, you can see my pictures from the shrine today, as well as some other miscellaneous things, by going here.
Mushrooms and Sweet Potatoes
Today was so productive! I got up and did laundry, but since it was pretty cool and drizzly outside today it took a long time for my clothes to dry. My pajamas were smelling pretty unbearably funky, though, so I couldn’t delay it any longer.
This morning David and I did a Skype date and I had a bit of an emotional breakdown on him, but he was patient with me as usual, and now I’m feeling much better. Culture shock and long-distance blues seem to have arrived at the exact same time, and I got slammed with both of them over the past few days. He talked me through a lot of the mess, and now I’m feeling like I can handle it. So that was good.
One thing that made me laugh: he went on this really hilarious rant about Panera’s portabella mushroom sandwich, which had been his favorite but is now gone from the menu. “They said it was a seasonal product. Seasonal! You can’t &$@&^ tell me that mushrooms are seasonal. They grow underground. It’s always like 65 degrees and dark! How is that seasonal?! Just give me my *)!%# sandwich.” A man after my own heart, with ranting skillz like that.
I went to campus today despite the dreary weather so I could return some library books and print off some papers. I treated myself to some delicious McDonald’s for lunch, and did grocery shopping afterward. Top World, the full-blown supermarket that I use for stuff I can’t get at the QQ, was crazy today! There were all these sample-giving employees everywhere, and people standing at little special stations, which made it kind of like a market atmosphere. You could get some guy to put a really, really recently dead fish into a box for you, for instance. So some parts of the store were fishier smelling than usual, but it was cool to watch them fillet things. Anyway, after that I came home and napped before my Evening Plans.
Momoko had invited me to her home this evening for an okonomiyaki party. I met her at the front gate of school and we took the bus to her house. Her English teacher, who is from Ohio, was supposed to be at the party, but he couldn’t come. It was just me, her parents, her mom’s sister-in-law, and her young cousin. It was a really nice dinner party, and I had a blast. The food was so elaborate! For appetizers we had onigiri in the shape of stars, chicken katsu, these beautiful scallops with asparagus spears stuck right through the middle, and some sort of fried thing that was pretty tasty but unidentifiable. The main attraction, though, was the okonomiyaki. It was delicious! I had mine with cheese, squid, and yakisoba. Yum! Dessert was divine, too. I had my first tapioca, which was so-so. Kind of a weird consistency, if you ask me, like fish eggs in bad milk. But I also had some sort of sweet bean budding, and the most delicious strawberry mousse concoction. And we also had fruit—persimmons, strawberries, and what were either really big grapes or really small plums, I’m not sure.
The dinner conversation was interesting; there were a lot of blank stares and much use of the electronic dictionary, but it was fun. We talked about how Japanese and American aluminum foil and Saran wrap are a little different, and what Japanese movie stars I knew, and if I was happy about Barack Obama, and baby carrots. They were really impressed about the baby carrots. A lot of Japanese people don’t like carrots, like a lot of Americans don’t like fish. So they were really surprised when I told them that schoolkids often like to get carrot sticks in their lunchboxes.
After we finished eating, Momoko, Ayaka (the cousin; she was probably about seven), and I played Wii. I was pretty bad at the fishing, but I kicked butt at the shooting game. Momoko said that was because I’m American. I know she was kidding, but I was a little offended, actually. >.< Yay. Statue of Liberty, Abraham Lincoln, hamburgers, and shooting things. Anyway, her parents gave us candy as prizes, and now I have a boatload of little sweets to snack on. It was a lot of fun.
They sent me home with all my candy loot, the leftover appetizers, and three sweet potatoes. I’m not sure what to do with the sweet potatoes; seems like a weird parting gift, but whatever. They’re often sold at convenience stores where they’re grilled on coals, but I’m not sure how you eat them. They still have the skin on them and they’re kinda dirty, so I’m really perplexed. Any tips? In any case, it was a really, really enjoyable party, and I feel bad that all I brought to it was a potted plant. They were so kind to me. I’ll have to write them a really nice thank you note.
Tomorrow I’m going to Kyōto with Daniel to see Fushimi-Inari Taisha for some hiking, leaf-viewing, and kitsune udon.
This morning David and I did a Skype date and I had a bit of an emotional breakdown on him, but he was patient with me as usual, and now I’m feeling much better. Culture shock and long-distance blues seem to have arrived at the exact same time, and I got slammed with both of them over the past few days. He talked me through a lot of the mess, and now I’m feeling like I can handle it. So that was good.
One thing that made me laugh: he went on this really hilarious rant about Panera’s portabella mushroom sandwich, which had been his favorite but is now gone from the menu. “They said it was a seasonal product. Seasonal! You can’t &$@&^ tell me that mushrooms are seasonal. They grow underground. It’s always like 65 degrees and dark! How is that seasonal?! Just give me my *)!%# sandwich.” A man after my own heart, with ranting skillz like that.
I went to campus today despite the dreary weather so I could return some library books and print off some papers. I treated myself to some delicious McDonald’s for lunch, and did grocery shopping afterward. Top World, the full-blown supermarket that I use for stuff I can’t get at the QQ, was crazy today! There were all these sample-giving employees everywhere, and people standing at little special stations, which made it kind of like a market atmosphere. You could get some guy to put a really, really recently dead fish into a box for you, for instance. So some parts of the store were fishier smelling than usual, but it was cool to watch them fillet things. Anyway, after that I came home and napped before my Evening Plans.
Momoko had invited me to her home this evening for an okonomiyaki party. I met her at the front gate of school and we took the bus to her house. Her English teacher, who is from Ohio, was supposed to be at the party, but he couldn’t come. It was just me, her parents, her mom’s sister-in-law, and her young cousin. It was a really nice dinner party, and I had a blast. The food was so elaborate! For appetizers we had onigiri in the shape of stars, chicken katsu, these beautiful scallops with asparagus spears stuck right through the middle, and some sort of fried thing that was pretty tasty but unidentifiable. The main attraction, though, was the okonomiyaki. It was delicious! I had mine with cheese, squid, and yakisoba. Yum! Dessert was divine, too. I had my first tapioca, which was so-so. Kind of a weird consistency, if you ask me, like fish eggs in bad milk. But I also had some sort of sweet bean budding, and the most delicious strawberry mousse concoction. And we also had fruit—persimmons, strawberries, and what were either really big grapes or really small plums, I’m not sure.
The dinner conversation was interesting; there were a lot of blank stares and much use of the electronic dictionary, but it was fun. We talked about how Japanese and American aluminum foil and Saran wrap are a little different, and what Japanese movie stars I knew, and if I was happy about Barack Obama, and baby carrots. They were really impressed about the baby carrots. A lot of Japanese people don’t like carrots, like a lot of Americans don’t like fish. So they were really surprised when I told them that schoolkids often like to get carrot sticks in their lunchboxes.
After we finished eating, Momoko, Ayaka (the cousin; she was probably about seven), and I played Wii. I was pretty bad at the fishing, but I kicked butt at the shooting game. Momoko said that was because I’m American. I know she was kidding, but I was a little offended, actually. >.< Yay. Statue of Liberty, Abraham Lincoln, hamburgers, and shooting things. Anyway, her parents gave us candy as prizes, and now I have a boatload of little sweets to snack on. It was a lot of fun.
They sent me home with all my candy loot, the leftover appetizers, and three sweet potatoes. I’m not sure what to do with the sweet potatoes; seems like a weird parting gift, but whatever. They’re often sold at convenience stores where they’re grilled on coals, but I’m not sure how you eat them. They still have the skin on them and they’re kinda dirty, so I’m really perplexed. Any tips? In any case, it was a really, really enjoyable party, and I feel bad that all I brought to it was a potted plant. They were so kind to me. I’ll have to write them a really nice thank you note.
Tomorrow I’m going to Kyōto with Daniel to see Fushimi-Inari Taisha for some hiking, leaf-viewing, and kitsune udon.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Causative-Passive Troubles and Scrambled Pancakes
Woke up early today and had some pineapple for breakfast, but it wasn't nearly as sweet as the last pineapple I had, so that was a bit disappointed. But the rain stopped before I left for school, which was pleasantly convenient.
Japanese today was really frustrating. We're learning the causative-passive verb forms, and I don't understand it. Really, it's not hard, and with practice I'm sure it'll be fine. But right now I just can't seem to get it right, and it makes me mad. I don't like not being really good at things, especially things that I know I should understand. On top of it, the Brandon, the guy who sits next to me and was my practice partner today, really seems to have caught on to it quickly, so I'm jealous of him and feel really behind compared to him. I haven't been frustrated by schoolwork like that in a very long time. It's just something I need to get over, though; I'm not going to be good at everything, and it's not worth getting that upset over causative-passive verbs in Japanese. Still, I left class on the verge of tears. Yuck.
During lunch I edited a lot of David's paper, which was a lot of fun. I really, really like editing. It's something that I might want to do as part of a career, actually. I don't think I want to go throught the formal schooling that would probably be needed to be a real editor at a publishing company. But if I ever end up working in an office setting, I'd love to look over reports before they're submitted or something. I like nonfiction writing, and I like being nitpicky.
In art history today, after taking notes on the lecture for about forty-five minutes, we got to look at some reproductions of Kamakura Period scrolls. It was pretty cool to get to see them in scroll form rather than digital photos. One particularly interesting scroll is called the Farting Scroll. Seriously. I can't find any images of it online at the moment, but if I can I'll post a link so you can share it with all the twelve year old boys you know. It's a really funny scroll showing these guys having a farting contest. Very strange.
In Film and Literature we watched parts of Come See the Paradise, a really poorly done film in which Dennis Quaid is a fugitive on the run who marries a Japanese-American woman who is later sent to an internment camp. Really, really terrible romantic dialogue. But its depiction of the camps was interesting, so whatever.
Barely escaped the rain coming come today, and took a nap this afternoon.
For supper I decided to make hash browns and chocolate chip pancakes. The pancakes were a disaster. First, I had to get a European guy, who now probably thinks I'm the world's biggest idiot, to help me figure out that a gram of water equals a mL of water, so it was silly for me to be measuring water on a scale, even thought the instructions for the pancakes called for water and milk by weight rather than volume. ::facepalm:: I broke up a chocolate bar I had bought and used that instead of proper chocolate chips, because the full chocolate bar cost 100yen, but the teeny pack of chocolate chips was like 250yen. So after I got the mix right, it was time to cook. I had enough for two pancakes. Pancake #1 stuck horribly to the skillet and wound up basically black on one side and raw on the other. But I had put chocolate in it, so it was edible. For Pancake #2, I used the skillet that had cooked the hash browns, in hopes that the little leftover grease would prevent extreme stickage. It didn't. I got mad and decided to just make scrambled pancakes. So I hacked up the already damaged Pancake #2 and just smushed it around the frying pan until it was relatively cooked. Both pancakes were edible, but they looked like a marshmallow had gotten diarrhea. I don't think I'll be making pancakes again. I don't know what the problem was--that I used skim milk? That I'm not used to gas stoves? That Japanese pancakes are just a different consistency than American ones? Oh well, no harm, no foul. The pancake mix had come free with Coke I had bought, so I'm not really out any money.
I thought about going out drinking with Fedora and some of his friends tonight, but decided to stay in and chill instead. I've been looking into OSU's graduate programs in East Asian Studies. I believe I may be forming the beginnings of an answer to the dreaded "What are you going to do with that degree?"
My back has been feeling really funny lately. It's my upper back, kinda right between the lower part of my shoulder blades. And when I sit at my desk in my room like right now, I feel like I'm sitting crooked, like my back won't straighten out and I lean to the left. Maybe it's the chair, but it's starting to concern me. Scoliosis runs in the family, and I'm already at high risk for osteoporosis. I'm hoping, though, that I just pulled a muscle and it'll right itself.
Tomorrow I'm doing laundry and going to Momoko's house for an okonomiyaki party.
Japanese today was really frustrating. We're learning the causative-passive verb forms, and I don't understand it. Really, it's not hard, and with practice I'm sure it'll be fine. But right now I just can't seem to get it right, and it makes me mad. I don't like not being really good at things, especially things that I know I should understand. On top of it, the Brandon, the guy who sits next to me and was my practice partner today, really seems to have caught on to it quickly, so I'm jealous of him and feel really behind compared to him. I haven't been frustrated by schoolwork like that in a very long time. It's just something I need to get over, though; I'm not going to be good at everything, and it's not worth getting that upset over causative-passive verbs in Japanese. Still, I left class on the verge of tears. Yuck.
During lunch I edited a lot of David's paper, which was a lot of fun. I really, really like editing. It's something that I might want to do as part of a career, actually. I don't think I want to go throught the formal schooling that would probably be needed to be a real editor at a publishing company. But if I ever end up working in an office setting, I'd love to look over reports before they're submitted or something. I like nonfiction writing, and I like being nitpicky.
In art history today, after taking notes on the lecture for about forty-five minutes, we got to look at some reproductions of Kamakura Period scrolls. It was pretty cool to get to see them in scroll form rather than digital photos. One particularly interesting scroll is called the Farting Scroll. Seriously. I can't find any images of it online at the moment, but if I can I'll post a link so you can share it with all the twelve year old boys you know. It's a really funny scroll showing these guys having a farting contest. Very strange.
In Film and Literature we watched parts of Come See the Paradise, a really poorly done film in which Dennis Quaid is a fugitive on the run who marries a Japanese-American woman who is later sent to an internment camp. Really, really terrible romantic dialogue. But its depiction of the camps was interesting, so whatever.
Barely escaped the rain coming come today, and took a nap this afternoon.
For supper I decided to make hash browns and chocolate chip pancakes. The pancakes were a disaster. First, I had to get a European guy, who now probably thinks I'm the world's biggest idiot, to help me figure out that a gram of water equals a mL of water, so it was silly for me to be measuring water on a scale, even thought the instructions for the pancakes called for water and milk by weight rather than volume. ::facepalm:: I broke up a chocolate bar I had bought and used that instead of proper chocolate chips, because the full chocolate bar cost 100yen, but the teeny pack of chocolate chips was like 250yen. So after I got the mix right, it was time to cook. I had enough for two pancakes. Pancake #1 stuck horribly to the skillet and wound up basically black on one side and raw on the other. But I had put chocolate in it, so it was edible. For Pancake #2, I used the skillet that had cooked the hash browns, in hopes that the little leftover grease would prevent extreme stickage. It didn't. I got mad and decided to just make scrambled pancakes. So I hacked up the already damaged Pancake #2 and just smushed it around the frying pan until it was relatively cooked. Both pancakes were edible, but they looked like a marshmallow had gotten diarrhea. I don't think I'll be making pancakes again. I don't know what the problem was--that I used skim milk? That I'm not used to gas stoves? That Japanese pancakes are just a different consistency than American ones? Oh well, no harm, no foul. The pancake mix had come free with Coke I had bought, so I'm not really out any money.
I thought about going out drinking with Fedora and some of his friends tonight, but decided to stay in and chill instead. I've been looking into OSU's graduate programs in East Asian Studies. I believe I may be forming the beginnings of an answer to the dreaded "What are you going to do with that degree?"
My back has been feeling really funny lately. It's my upper back, kinda right between the lower part of my shoulder blades. And when I sit at my desk in my room like right now, I feel like I'm sitting crooked, like my back won't straighten out and I lean to the left. Maybe it's the chair, but it's starting to concern me. Scoliosis runs in the family, and I'm already at high risk for osteoporosis. I'm hoping, though, that I just pulled a muscle and it'll right itself.
Tomorrow I'm doing laundry and going to Momoko's house for an okonomiyaki party.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
AWESOME CAFE
Okay, so Betsy just told me about this cafe in Tokyo where she's going next week where you pay like 800yen to sit and read for 90 minutes and drink coffee, and they GIVE YOU A CAT THAT SITS ON YOUR LAP. I totally wanna go! I want a rent-a-cat here! And to quote Betsy, because she's hilarious, "Here's your mocha latte and would you like a tabby or an American shorthair today?"
That is all.
That is all.
Frost and Presidential Chopsticks
I think we may have had our first light frost last night, though I’m not sure. I noticed that some of the marigolds were a bit wilty on the way to school this morning, and some of these pink flowers that look a bit like double hibiscus had dropped. But today it warmed up really nicely to probably about 70, and I have my window open right now.
I forgot to mention that at our residents’ meeting yesterday we got a handout detailing the end-of-semester checkout procedures. That was pretty exciting.
The election buzz continued today, of course. I have only heard one person—an American student—express regret that McCain lost. There were parties in the Seminar Houses last night celebrating Obama’s victory, and I expect more tomorrow night. It’s amazing how much support he has from absolutely everyone. It’s such a change; just in the past two days, I’ve had so many non-Americans look at me with this strange sense of “wow” in their eyes. It sure beats the heck out of the “sorry your country hates my country” tension there used to be. It reminds me of when U of L’s basketball team got really good after that stretch of lousy years in the late 90s. It’s like there’s this renewed pride in your team. Of course, I’ve always stuck by the US/U of L, but it’s a lot more fun to be an American/Cardinal when you don’t have the UK fans sneering down at you all the time.
We spent about ten minutes in Asian Psych talking about Obama, Japan, which I might go visit with some friends in the next few weeks. Turns out the town was used long a go as a port to receive goods from Korea, and they’re also known for making chopsticks. Cool. I just want some photos with street signs.
In other news, it seems that the Morning Banana Diet fad might be over. My friend was looking through the grocery ads at supper tonight and she noticed that the bananas aren’t nearly as expensive anymore. This is good, since recently I’ve been trying to eat them more because I’ve been getting muscle cramps in my legs.
Right now I’m still working on my Film and Lit paper about how Tori in The Cheat is like Okakura Tenshin. I was able to scavenge a lot from my freshman year Okakura research paper I did for Huffman-sensei, which has made the writing a lot easier! Basically I just lifted Okakura’s biographical information from that essay and used it for this. That’s not plagiarism, is it? It’s my work, it’s just work that I did two years ago. It just seems a little too easy to be totally okay.
Well, back to the paper, I guess. No rest for the weary. Except that tomorrow is Friday and I have Tuesday off school, so I guess I can rest then if I’m weary. Okay, not I’m just rambling so I don’t have to do my paper.
I forgot to mention that at our residents’ meeting yesterday we got a handout detailing the end-of-semester checkout procedures. That was pretty exciting.
The election buzz continued today, of course. I have only heard one person—an American student—express regret that McCain lost. There were parties in the Seminar Houses last night celebrating Obama’s victory, and I expect more tomorrow night. It’s amazing how much support he has from absolutely everyone. It’s such a change; just in the past two days, I’ve had so many non-Americans look at me with this strange sense of “wow” in their eyes. It sure beats the heck out of the “sorry your country hates my country” tension there used to be. It reminds me of when U of L’s basketball team got really good after that stretch of lousy years in the late 90s. It’s like there’s this renewed pride in your team. Of course, I’ve always stuck by the US/U of L, but it’s a lot more fun to be an American/Cardinal when you don’t have the UK fans sneering down at you all the time.
We spent about ten minutes in Asian Psych talking about Obama, Japan, which I might go visit with some friends in the next few weeks. Turns out the town was used long a go as a port to receive goods from Korea, and they’re also known for making chopsticks. Cool. I just want some photos with street signs.
In other news, it seems that the Morning Banana Diet fad might be over. My friend was looking through the grocery ads at supper tonight and she noticed that the bananas aren’t nearly as expensive anymore. This is good, since recently I’ve been trying to eat them more because I’ve been getting muscle cramps in my legs.
Right now I’m still working on my Film and Lit paper about how Tori in The Cheat is like Okakura Tenshin. I was able to scavenge a lot from my freshman year Okakura research paper I did for Huffman-sensei, which has made the writing a lot easier! Basically I just lifted Okakura’s biographical information from that essay and used it for this. That’s not plagiarism, is it? It’s my work, it’s just work that I did two years ago. It just seems a little too easy to be totally okay.
Well, back to the paper, I guess. No rest for the weary. Except that tomorrow is Friday and I have Tuesday off school, so I guess I can rest then if I’m weary. Okay, not I’m just rambling so I don’t have to do my paper.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A two-cry day and a bad joke
Today was a really, really good day. In speaking class this morning we just watched half of the class give their presentations; I go tomorrow, and I’m not worried.
On Skype this morning, my family surprised me by having Grandma and Grandpa show up! It was so exciting. I hadn’t gotten to talk to them at all since I left, and it was great to see them. It made me cry, I was so happy. Also on Skype, I found out from David that my class registration went well, although for some reason there was a problem with my Japanese class. I’ll just email Imai-sensei and it’ll all be okay, I’m sure.
After those nice conversations, I went to campus, grabbed some McDonald’s to go, and went to the classroom where they were broadcasting the election results. By that time Obama had a clear lead, but I was still on edge. I went to art history at 1PM here, 11PM at home, and when I got out of class I found that he had officially won. He had just finished his speech, and his family was coming out from backstage. It was really cool to watch; again, I cried because I was so happy. It was really neat.
But I had to collect myself fairly quickly because I had my interview with Saho and her friend today. They need to interview an exchange student for their English class, and we sat down for about twenty minutes and chatted in a weird mix of Japanese and English. One of the questions was about what Kentucky is famous for. After the standard “horses and chicken” answer, I tried to explain the idea of hillbillies to her. It’s hard to do in Japanese! But I think I finally got it across. After a few minutes, she said, “So people think people from Kentucky are poor and do not wear shoes and they have no teeth. But this is false.” I think that sums it up pretty well. At the end of the interview, she gave me candy, which I ate with my Kentucky-grown teeth.
Come to think of it, both girls were really surprised at the idea of no teeth meaning you’re poor. But when I think about it, Americans have an obsession with perfectly straight, white teeth that the rest of the world just doesn’t get. Very few Japanese people have braces, so there’s not the social stigma of not having straight teeth. I really feel like at home teeth are a big cue as to someone’s socio-economic status. If you’re middle class and you didn’t have braces, it’s weird. I don’t know how many conversations I’ve had with fellow middle class white kids about going to the orthodontist. All this brings to mind an article I found on the BBC website about Americans, the British, and teeth.
Anyway, I then re-watched part of The Cheat for the Film and Lit paper that I have due on Friday and should have started long ago. Then I came home, puttered around for a bit, and went to our Seminar House resident’s meeting. As usual, we were told to keep our voices down outside and to do our dishes.
Then I went to dinner at Sachi with my friends Jasper (from Tasmania) and Daniel (from Colorado). Our main topic of conversation, of course, was the election. It’s all anyone can talk about today, and most of the non-Americans seem more intrigued and excited than the Americans. But the politics discussion, as it always does, turned to religion eventually. Turns out we were quite the mix, sounding like a setup for a bad joke: “A Catholic, a Quaker, and a Mormon walk into a Japanese restaurant.” It was really neat to hear about their backgrounds and political views, but those kinds of conversations are always a little stressful, even if they’re perfectly friendly like this one was. While we were there, another international student came into the restaurant. Jasper and Daniel knew him, but I didn’t, so it was nice to meet him when he joined our table. Now I know a guy named Michael from Slovakia.
Nothing much to speak of after supper; did some homework, showered, now I’m off to bed.
On Skype this morning, my family surprised me by having Grandma and Grandpa show up! It was so exciting. I hadn’t gotten to talk to them at all since I left, and it was great to see them. It made me cry, I was so happy. Also on Skype, I found out from David that my class registration went well, although for some reason there was a problem with my Japanese class. I’ll just email Imai-sensei and it’ll all be okay, I’m sure.
After those nice conversations, I went to campus, grabbed some McDonald’s to go, and went to the classroom where they were broadcasting the election results. By that time Obama had a clear lead, but I was still on edge. I went to art history at 1PM here, 11PM at home, and when I got out of class I found that he had officially won. He had just finished his speech, and his family was coming out from backstage. It was really cool to watch; again, I cried because I was so happy. It was really neat.
But I had to collect myself fairly quickly because I had my interview with Saho and her friend today. They need to interview an exchange student for their English class, and we sat down for about twenty minutes and chatted in a weird mix of Japanese and English. One of the questions was about what Kentucky is famous for. After the standard “horses and chicken” answer, I tried to explain the idea of hillbillies to her. It’s hard to do in Japanese! But I think I finally got it across. After a few minutes, she said, “So people think people from Kentucky are poor and do not wear shoes and they have no teeth. But this is false.” I think that sums it up pretty well. At the end of the interview, she gave me candy, which I ate with my Kentucky-grown teeth.
Come to think of it, both girls were really surprised at the idea of no teeth meaning you’re poor. But when I think about it, Americans have an obsession with perfectly straight, white teeth that the rest of the world just doesn’t get. Very few Japanese people have braces, so there’s not the social stigma of not having straight teeth. I really feel like at home teeth are a big cue as to someone’s socio-economic status. If you’re middle class and you didn’t have braces, it’s weird. I don’t know how many conversations I’ve had with fellow middle class white kids about going to the orthodontist. All this brings to mind an article I found on the BBC website about Americans, the British, and teeth.
Anyway, I then re-watched part of The Cheat for the Film and Lit paper that I have due on Friday and should have started long ago. Then I came home, puttered around for a bit, and went to our Seminar House resident’s meeting. As usual, we were told to keep our voices down outside and to do our dishes.
Then I went to dinner at Sachi with my friends Jasper (from Tasmania) and Daniel (from Colorado). Our main topic of conversation, of course, was the election. It’s all anyone can talk about today, and most of the non-Americans seem more intrigued and excited than the Americans. But the politics discussion, as it always does, turned to religion eventually. Turns out we were quite the mix, sounding like a setup for a bad joke: “A Catholic, a Quaker, and a Mormon walk into a Japanese restaurant.” It was really neat to hear about their backgrounds and political views, but those kinds of conversations are always a little stressful, even if they’re perfectly friendly like this one was. While we were there, another international student came into the restaurant. Jasper and Daniel knew him, but I didn’t, so it was nice to meet him when he joined our table. Now I know a guy named Michael from Slovakia.
Nothing much to speak of after supper; did some homework, showered, now I’m off to bed.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
'Shroom Candy, Fried Candy
Today was a really, really good day, which I needed. Long weekends are nice, but they make it hard to get back into the swing of things, and I really wasn’t feeling like doing much of anything when I went to bed last night.
When I woke up this morning, I had confirmation of my eligibility to register for classes from Kuri-sensei, and a message from Witt ResLife saying they have received my Polis application and I should be hearing from them shortly. So that was good.
I returned my five books at the library this morning, which means that I’m now free to get other books. I think I’ll start reading Tale of Genji when I finish my Film and Lit paper and get done editing some stuff for David.
In my mailbox I had my new November health insurance card, two Halloween cards, and a notice that I had a package. I was so excited to open the mail the cards and package, but I waited because I had a class.
Speaking class this morning went well. We learned about a kind of chocolate shortbread cookie called Kinoko no Yama. They are in the shape of mushrooms, which are called kinoko (literally, “tree children”) in Japanese. Very cute. I later learned that there are also candies by the same company shaped like tree stumps, and others like baby bamboo shoots. I love the sweets here. Well, sometimes; the more traditional Japanese kinds of sweets with bean pastes and such aren’t really my thing, but Western-style cookies are fabulous.
I went to lunch at the small cafeteria and opened the cards and the package. I got a really funny card with a ghost cow saying, “Moooooo. I mean, boooo!” from my family. Aunt Doris had sent the package, which was filled with Reese’s Cups (!) and included a very thoughtful card. These weren’t the little wimpy bite-sized Reese’s either, but the full-blown, chocolate-to-peanut-butter-ratio-is-perfect kind, and a whole bag of them! They’ve been in my possession for a whole day, and they aren’t gone yet, which goes to show how many there are. Anyway, thanks, Aunt Doris! Best of all, though, Grandma and Grandpa sent me a card. I haven’t been able to talk to them since I left, which makes me sad. Grandma wrote the sweetest letter ever and put it in the card. It’s now posted above my writing desk next to my mirror, and when I look at it I get choked up. But that’s okay; it’ll keep me from being too vain and looking in the mirror too much. ^_^ I will be very glad to come home (45 days left) to see my family.
Tuesday afternoons are long because I have three classes in a row. But in Reading and Writing we played a game where we broke into teams and had to arrange different elements of kanji into as many combinations as possible, which was a lot of fun although my team didn’t win.
Asian Psych went really well. We’ve gotten away from the more fundamental theoretical wishy-washy semi-religious stuff from the earlier parts of the course, which makes me happy because I found it all very confusing and vague. Today we finished learning about Morita Therapy and moved on to Naikan Therapy, both of which are really interesting concepts. Check them out. I’ll be doing my self-cultivation project for that class using some Morita journaling techniques. I’ll probably start that over the next week, so if my blog entries get temporarily shorter, please forgive me, but I’m doing a lot of other reflective writing for a class.
In Film and Literature we learned about the internment camps during World War II. Pretty horrific stuff. I mean, no one was tortured or starved or anything, but the thought that you could just be whisked away from your home and family and job…freaky. And I don’t doubt that we’d do it again, if pressed enough. As usual, it’s good to be a rich Caucasian Christian American woman.
Rather than going home after class, I stayed on campus to finish writing my presentation outline for Speaking class on Thursday. I have to give a five minute speech about Shōtoku Taishi. Yuck. At least we can use notes and a PowerPoint, and Sensei looked over our speeches beforehand. I had udon noodles and a cheeseburger for supper on campus while I started editing David’s writing.
When I finally returned to the Seminar House, I ran into my friend Daniel who invited me to watch Lord of the Rings with him and Joanne, so after my shower I joined them in the lounge with my Reese’s Cups to share and we watched the second half of the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring. I hadn’t seen any of the extended versions before, but I liked its flow very much. It fills in a lot of the gaps that the more edited films leave out, although I don’t think anyone could ever achieve Tolkien’s original level of detail. It was fun to watch a movie with friends, though. Some of my other friends were having a Fried Stuff Party in the kitchen (Buffalo wings, French fries, Oreos, anything they could get their hands on), and I was able to barter some Reese’s Cups for some blooming onion petals. They said they’d try to deep fry the Reese’s, but I never heard how that turned out.
Anyway, it was a very good day because I was able to keep myself busy. A lot of times, because I finish my homework so early here, I get bored and mopey in the evenings, but tonight I was nicely sociable. I will try to continue to do find evening activities. It beats the heck out of reviewing kanji, reading ahead for classes, and playing FreeCell in my room.
Happy Election Day, by the way. I hope you voted. Apparently they’re going to be broadcasting the election results in the CIE tomorrow morning, so I’m looking forward to being able to keep up with that a little bit.
When I woke up this morning, I had confirmation of my eligibility to register for classes from Kuri-sensei, and a message from Witt ResLife saying they have received my Polis application and I should be hearing from them shortly. So that was good.
I returned my five books at the library this morning, which means that I’m now free to get other books. I think I’ll start reading Tale of Genji when I finish my Film and Lit paper and get done editing some stuff for David.
In my mailbox I had my new November health insurance card, two Halloween cards, and a notice that I had a package. I was so excited to open the mail the cards and package, but I waited because I had a class.
Speaking class this morning went well. We learned about a kind of chocolate shortbread cookie called Kinoko no Yama. They are in the shape of mushrooms, which are called kinoko (literally, “tree children”) in Japanese. Very cute. I later learned that there are also candies by the same company shaped like tree stumps, and others like baby bamboo shoots. I love the sweets here. Well, sometimes; the more traditional Japanese kinds of sweets with bean pastes and such aren’t really my thing, but Western-style cookies are fabulous.
I went to lunch at the small cafeteria and opened the cards and the package. I got a really funny card with a ghost cow saying, “Moooooo. I mean, boooo!” from my family. Aunt Doris had sent the package, which was filled with Reese’s Cups (!) and included a very thoughtful card. These weren’t the little wimpy bite-sized Reese’s either, but the full-blown, chocolate-to-peanut-butter-ratio-is-perfect kind, and a whole bag of them! They’ve been in my possession for a whole day, and they aren’t gone yet, which goes to show how many there are. Anyway, thanks, Aunt Doris! Best of all, though, Grandma and Grandpa sent me a card. I haven’t been able to talk to them since I left, which makes me sad. Grandma wrote the sweetest letter ever and put it in the card. It’s now posted above my writing desk next to my mirror, and when I look at it I get choked up. But that’s okay; it’ll keep me from being too vain and looking in the mirror too much. ^_^ I will be very glad to come home (45 days left) to see my family.
Tuesday afternoons are long because I have three classes in a row. But in Reading and Writing we played a game where we broke into teams and had to arrange different elements of kanji into as many combinations as possible, which was a lot of fun although my team didn’t win.
Asian Psych went really well. We’ve gotten away from the more fundamental theoretical wishy-washy semi-religious stuff from the earlier parts of the course, which makes me happy because I found it all very confusing and vague. Today we finished learning about Morita Therapy and moved on to Naikan Therapy, both of which are really interesting concepts. Check them out. I’ll be doing my self-cultivation project for that class using some Morita journaling techniques. I’ll probably start that over the next week, so if my blog entries get temporarily shorter, please forgive me, but I’m doing a lot of other reflective writing for a class.
In Film and Literature we learned about the internment camps during World War II. Pretty horrific stuff. I mean, no one was tortured or starved or anything, but the thought that you could just be whisked away from your home and family and job…freaky. And I don’t doubt that we’d do it again, if pressed enough. As usual, it’s good to be a rich Caucasian Christian American woman.
Rather than going home after class, I stayed on campus to finish writing my presentation outline for Speaking class on Thursday. I have to give a five minute speech about Shōtoku Taishi. Yuck. At least we can use notes and a PowerPoint, and Sensei looked over our speeches beforehand. I had udon noodles and a cheeseburger for supper on campus while I started editing David’s writing.
When I finally returned to the Seminar House, I ran into my friend Daniel who invited me to watch Lord of the Rings with him and Joanne, so after my shower I joined them in the lounge with my Reese’s Cups to share and we watched the second half of the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring. I hadn’t seen any of the extended versions before, but I liked its flow very much. It fills in a lot of the gaps that the more edited films leave out, although I don’t think anyone could ever achieve Tolkien’s original level of detail. It was fun to watch a movie with friends, though. Some of my other friends were having a Fried Stuff Party in the kitchen (Buffalo wings, French fries, Oreos, anything they could get their hands on), and I was able to barter some Reese’s Cups for some blooming onion petals. They said they’d try to deep fry the Reese’s, but I never heard how that turned out.
Anyway, it was a very good day because I was able to keep myself busy. A lot of times, because I finish my homework so early here, I get bored and mopey in the evenings, but tonight I was nicely sociable. I will try to continue to do find evening activities. It beats the heck out of reviewing kanji, reading ahead for classes, and playing FreeCell in my room.
Happy Election Day, by the way. I hope you voted. Apparently they’re going to be broadcasting the election results in the CIE tomorrow morning, so I’m looking forward to being able to keep up with that a little bit.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Boring Day
Today, being National Culture Day, there were no classes. I slept in until 10 and had a really nice Skype date with David. I had expected the Internet to be down because they were doing upgrade work, but it turned out to be fine, which was a nice surprise. Made some grilled cheese for lunch, as well as my fish marinade for supper. This afternoon I wrote my art paper and finished reading The Red Tent. For supper I had my blackened pepper tuna with rice pilaf and hash browns. And now here I am, with not much to say.
I've been having really vivid dreams lately. Not necessarily nightmares, but sometimes they're scary. It's weird. I have also been getting muscle cramps and fatigue easily. I've been eating bananas to try to counteract that.
I still can't figure out why I can't put pictures on Photobucket anymore. I even created a new account for myself, but it still won't take. Hmmm. Also, no progress on the course registration, although David is going to help me get that straightened out.
My hands still smell a bit like fish from cooking, so I'm going to take a shower. Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting.
I've been having really vivid dreams lately. Not necessarily nightmares, but sometimes they're scary. It's weird. I have also been getting muscle cramps and fatigue easily. I've been eating bananas to try to counteract that.
I still can't figure out why I can't put pictures on Photobucket anymore. I even created a new account for myself, but it still won't take. Hmmm. Also, no progress on the course registration, although David is going to help me get that straightened out.
My hands still smell a bit like fish from cooking, so I'm going to take a shower. Hopefully tomorrow will be more interesting.
Croquet, Registration Woes, and Let's Talk about Soup
I have been here for two months now, so I have about one and a half to go.
Tomorrow is National Culture Day, a holiday, so there’s no school. I plan to use the day off to write my art paper.
I think they’re supposed to be doing Internet stuff tomorrow, so I’m not sure if I’ll have access to the Web. Please be patient if you’re trying to contact me.
Speaking of computers, I’m having trouble with the WittLink Portal, the website we use to register for my classes. First, I haven’t heard back from my advisor, Dr. Christiansen, so I don’t know if my classes for next semester are okay. On top of that, not being able to access the website means that I can’t find out my registration time and date, which should be sometime on either Monday or Tuesday, so I have to move swiftly to get this straightened out. Last, I can’t access the “Register for Classes” function, so even if I do get approved and find out my time, I can’t sign up for anything. I really don’t know what to do. I have given David my password and asked him to sign in as me to figure out my time. I might have to get him to register for me, too. It’s such a bother.
Pointless story: There’s a small park right across from the Komatsu plant that I pass every day going to school. Often, there are these old men who play croquet there. I think that’s cool. I have never seen people playing croquet in a park before. The end.
Today I made my First Soup Ever for supper. I used chicken consommé, udon noodles, small chicken pieces (my first time cutting up raw chicken, too!), cooking sake, mushrooms, cauliflower, chives, and carrots. It turned out pretty good, although I put in too much pepper. I’m very proud of myself, though. This was my first non-Campbell’s soup I’ve made.
Tomorrow is National Culture Day, a holiday, so there’s no school. I plan to use the day off to write my art paper.
I think they’re supposed to be doing Internet stuff tomorrow, so I’m not sure if I’ll have access to the Web. Please be patient if you’re trying to contact me.
Speaking of computers, I’m having trouble with the WittLink Portal, the website we use to register for my classes. First, I haven’t heard back from my advisor, Dr. Christiansen, so I don’t know if my classes for next semester are okay. On top of that, not being able to access the website means that I can’t find out my registration time and date, which should be sometime on either Monday or Tuesday, so I have to move swiftly to get this straightened out. Last, I can’t access the “Register for Classes” function, so even if I do get approved and find out my time, I can’t sign up for anything. I really don’t know what to do. I have given David my password and asked him to sign in as me to figure out my time. I might have to get him to register for me, too. It’s such a bother.
Pointless story: There’s a small park right across from the Komatsu plant that I pass every day going to school. Often, there are these old men who play croquet there. I think that’s cool. I have never seen people playing croquet in a park before. The end.
Today I made my First Soup Ever for supper. I used chicken consommé, udon noodles, small chicken pieces (my first time cutting up raw chicken, too!), cooking sake, mushrooms, cauliflower, chives, and carrots. It turned out pretty good, although I put in too much pepper. I’m very proud of myself, though. This was my first non-Campbell’s soup I’ve made.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Nara Synopsis
I left Seminar House 2 at 8AM and arrived at the train station in Nara at 10:30. Quite the trip! It was nice, though, because it wasn’t that expensive and I was able to read a lot of The Red Tent on the trains. When I got there, I stopped at a small noodle shop and had a bowl of delicious udon for breakfast. I walked up this long, really pretty street lined with restaurants and souvenir shops.
There were tourists everywhere, both Japanese and gaijin. The weather is beautiful at this time of year and the trees are about to hit their peak color probably within the next two weeks, so early November is one of the busiest tourism times in Japan. Nara is popular with tourists all the time, being easy to navigate and absolutely stuffed with cool historical sights. On top of those factors, November seems to be the time that many of the temples display the statues and artworks that they keep secret the rest of the year, and there are many special art exhibitions at museums. In short, these next few weeks are an aesthete-tourist’s dream, although that makes things very crowded. It is the main reason I decided not to procrastinate and got myself out of bed after five hours of sleep on a Saturday; Sundays are the biggest days for sightseeing, and I didn’t want to be in any bigger crowds than I had to.
But back to the story. So this street led to Nara Park, the main attraction of the town, I suppose. It’s this big, well, park (hence the name) inhabited by sacred deer who love biscuits. Within the park there are also art museums, restaurants, shrines, and temples: basically everything you need for a pretty awesome day of gawking, wearing fanny packs, and taking goofy pictures. On the edge of the park there was a really pretty pond that had all these turtles in it. I thought of the Ninja Turtles, being in Japan, but they didn’t look any different from American red-eared sliders, so I don’t think they had crimefighting superpowers to speak of. After wandering around the area trying to get oriented (the signs were surprisingly vague for such a high-tourism area), I finally found the Nara National Museum.
This museum is usually known for its impressive collection of Buddhist art from about the 500s to the 1300s, which is awesome. But the real reason I went was because of the special exhibit of treasures from the Shōsōin. The Shōsōin is basically an early museum or rental storage facility; it’s a storehouse owned by Tōdaiji, a temple in Nara dating from the 700s. The Imperial Household used the storehouse as a kind of Nara Period garage, putting various household items and exotic trinkets and souvenirs in there for storage. So years of stuff—some of it really elaborate, some really mundane, a lot of it from Western Asia via the Silk Road—have been accumulating there for like a thousand years, and the government has kept really close records of all the stuff this whole time. In 1946, the government started picking out several objects to display to the public for about two weeks each year, and that’s what was going on yesterday. Some of the objects were really cool because of their decorations; I especially liked the shakuhachi flute. (Dad, check it out; you might be interested what with your pennywhistle thing and all.) Other things were just strange. You’ve gotta wonder why they kept a mummified ermine. And this coconut is just bizarre. Then again, I still have stockpiles of all my science tests from fourth grade sitting in my bedroom at home, so I really have no room to talk.
I enjoyed the Shōsōin exhibit a lot, but it was very crowded and loud, and you had to fight to see anything up close. It was nice to see so many people interested in art, though. That was cool. I’m not used to art museums being packed. Still, I very much preferred the more permanent collection of Buddhist sculpture that was on display. Much of it was very similar to the stuff we’ve been studying in art history, so that was really cool. There were a couple of objects, actually, that I think we studied specifically, though I’m not sure because “Tempyō Period Miroku” isn’t very specific. There was also a pretty cool collection of ancient Chinese bronze items. That was neat, but there are only so many two thousand year old cauldrons that you can see before getting bored.
After the museum, I wandered around a bit on the museum grounds, where there were many tents set up selling souvenirs and snack foods because the museum is so popular at this time of year. I also got my first closeups with the shika, or deer. You can buy these little packs of biscuits for ¥150 and feed them. The only problem is that as soon as they sense that you have them you get stampeded. It was pretty intense, but at least the deer are smaller than the deer we have at home, and the park caretakers cut off their antlers every year so you don’t get gored. After basically throwing my whole pack of biscuits on the ground and running away from the animals, I watched other people have their fun. It was kinda funny to watch all the families with small children. About half of the small children loved the deer, while the other half were scared out of their minds; all the deer loved all the children. There was one little girl probably about two years old who kept walking right up to these deer that were like eight times her size and patting them on the side. Then there was this kid who ran screaming away from the deer that wanted his biscuit. Very funny.
Stopped for a ridiculously overpriced lunch (¥950!) of curry rice at a convenient little noodle shop in the park area. Despite being financially suckered by the touristy stuff it was a fun atmosphere, Nara Park. You know how Disney World is fun because everyone’s there to have a good time? It was like that. Except my Japanese isn’t that great, so I couldn’t understand when the frustrated parents said typical things like, “We’re on vacation! Stop complaining and have fun.”
Next I walked through the park area proper, where there were even more deer, more biscuits, and more deer attacks. And when I say attacks, I really mean “uncomfortably close encounters with hungry deer.” And did I mention the deer are sacred? That’s why they’re allowed to terrorize the tourists. You can’t beat them off with a stick or anything, either, because I suspect God wouldn’t like that so much. I make these things sound awful; they were cute, really, and just hungry. Heck, if I was surrounded by deer carrying Reese’s Cups, I’m pretty sure I’d mob them to get at the candy.
Anyway, the purpose of going further into Deer World was to get to Tōdaiji, the temple complex that manages the Shōsōin. Tōdaiji, in addition to being a working temple with associated charities including a support program for people with learning differences, is known as featuring the largest wooden building in the world. This building, called the Daibutsuden, houses the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha, whose body is 48.91 feet tall, according to my ticket stub. Everything at Tōdaiji is big. You go through Huge Wooden Gate #1, which features two huge statues of fierce Buddhist guardian figures. Then you pick your way through more deer (which, by the way, poop a lot after all those biscuits) and go to Huge Wooden Gate #2, which also has big statues. I got these Aussies to take my picture there, which was nice.
I paid my entrance fee after knocking over a bicycle (no worries--parked and unoccupied) while trying to take a picture of Huge Wooden Gate #2 and then righting it. I then met this American couple and took their picture for them, and they did the same for me. They were really nice grandma-types and they were really worried that my camera made my face look really dark, so I had to keep assuring them that I could fix it on the computer. We kept running into each other at the temple after that, which was fun. I liked them a lot.
Between Huge Wooden Gate #2 and the largest wooden building in the world is a Really Big Lantern (15.15 feet tall). I took pictures of that, then went to the big statue of Binzuru, a being who helps cure ailments. If you rub a part of the statue and then touch that part of your body, it’s said that he will help heal it. I couldn’t reach his abdomen for my ulcerative colitis, so I went for the foot instead and asked to finally get rid of this wart that won’t go away.
Inside the Daibutsuden is more Big Stuff. Really, this whole experience was like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The Daibutsu is, as described, huge, and he’s flanked by two huge bodhisattvas. There are huge guardians behind him. One of the columns that supports the roof has this hole in the bottom that’s pretty funny. It’s said to be the exact size of the Daibutsu’s nostril, and if you can fit through the hole it’s good luck. There were a bunch of school kids crawling through it when I was there. Pretty entertaining.
The statues were cool and all, but really, I liked just being in the space of the great hall. I’m very much a “space” person; I find that being in places with a certain feel about them can really impact my mood. The Daibutsuden was a good space for me. I seem to like dark, earthy, holy, open spaces, I think. I love Mina’s attic, for instance, and Grandma’s basement, art museums, small clearings in forests, and Our Mother of Sorrows church when the lights are off. Anyway, I really liked the space of the Daibutsuden. It was so tall and dark and smelled of incense, and although it was crowded it wasn’t overwhelming.
After the Daibutsuden it was getting late, but I decided to hike up the hillside to Nigatsudō, which is part of the Tōdaiji complex. It’s this beautiful collection of wooden buildings overrun with more of the deer and overlooking Nara. The view was lovely, but I didn’t know anything of the place’s history or purpose, so it was mainly me going, “Ooh, pretty.” However, remember our friend Fudō Myō-ō, the scary fire guy who sits under waterfalls? There was another waterfall for him there, and there was a crab chilling there. I only noticed him after he ran away when I put the metal water dipper under the waterfall for a drink and it made a loud noise, startling both him and me. I love discovering unexpected things!
Rather than walking back, I took the bus to the train station. I got back home at about 8:30, I think, so it was quite the long day. I probably smelled like deer and looked like I had just hiked up a mountain, which I had. It was a very good day, though, and I’m glad I went yesterday instead of today.
Photos to come soon, I hope.
There were tourists everywhere, both Japanese and gaijin. The weather is beautiful at this time of year and the trees are about to hit their peak color probably within the next two weeks, so early November is one of the busiest tourism times in Japan. Nara is popular with tourists all the time, being easy to navigate and absolutely stuffed with cool historical sights. On top of those factors, November seems to be the time that many of the temples display the statues and artworks that they keep secret the rest of the year, and there are many special art exhibitions at museums. In short, these next few weeks are an aesthete-tourist’s dream, although that makes things very crowded. It is the main reason I decided not to procrastinate and got myself out of bed after five hours of sleep on a Saturday; Sundays are the biggest days for sightseeing, and I didn’t want to be in any bigger crowds than I had to.
But back to the story. So this street led to Nara Park, the main attraction of the town, I suppose. It’s this big, well, park (hence the name) inhabited by sacred deer who love biscuits. Within the park there are also art museums, restaurants, shrines, and temples: basically everything you need for a pretty awesome day of gawking, wearing fanny packs, and taking goofy pictures. On the edge of the park there was a really pretty pond that had all these turtles in it. I thought of the Ninja Turtles, being in Japan, but they didn’t look any different from American red-eared sliders, so I don’t think they had crimefighting superpowers to speak of. After wandering around the area trying to get oriented (the signs were surprisingly vague for such a high-tourism area), I finally found the Nara National Museum.
This museum is usually known for its impressive collection of Buddhist art from about the 500s to the 1300s, which is awesome. But the real reason I went was because of the special exhibit of treasures from the Shōsōin. The Shōsōin is basically an early museum or rental storage facility; it’s a storehouse owned by Tōdaiji, a temple in Nara dating from the 700s. The Imperial Household used the storehouse as a kind of Nara Period garage, putting various household items and exotic trinkets and souvenirs in there for storage. So years of stuff—some of it really elaborate, some really mundane, a lot of it from Western Asia via the Silk Road—have been accumulating there for like a thousand years, and the government has kept really close records of all the stuff this whole time. In 1946, the government started picking out several objects to display to the public for about two weeks each year, and that’s what was going on yesterday. Some of the objects were really cool because of their decorations; I especially liked the shakuhachi flute. (Dad, check it out; you might be interested what with your pennywhistle thing and all.) Other things were just strange. You’ve gotta wonder why they kept a mummified ermine. And this coconut is just bizarre. Then again, I still have stockpiles of all my science tests from fourth grade sitting in my bedroom at home, so I really have no room to talk.
I enjoyed the Shōsōin exhibit a lot, but it was very crowded and loud, and you had to fight to see anything up close. It was nice to see so many people interested in art, though. That was cool. I’m not used to art museums being packed. Still, I very much preferred the more permanent collection of Buddhist sculpture that was on display. Much of it was very similar to the stuff we’ve been studying in art history, so that was really cool. There were a couple of objects, actually, that I think we studied specifically, though I’m not sure because “Tempyō Period Miroku” isn’t very specific. There was also a pretty cool collection of ancient Chinese bronze items. That was neat, but there are only so many two thousand year old cauldrons that you can see before getting bored.
After the museum, I wandered around a bit on the museum grounds, where there were many tents set up selling souvenirs and snack foods because the museum is so popular at this time of year. I also got my first closeups with the shika, or deer. You can buy these little packs of biscuits for ¥150 and feed them. The only problem is that as soon as they sense that you have them you get stampeded. It was pretty intense, but at least the deer are smaller than the deer we have at home, and the park caretakers cut off their antlers every year so you don’t get gored. After basically throwing my whole pack of biscuits on the ground and running away from the animals, I watched other people have their fun. It was kinda funny to watch all the families with small children. About half of the small children loved the deer, while the other half were scared out of their minds; all the deer loved all the children. There was one little girl probably about two years old who kept walking right up to these deer that were like eight times her size and patting them on the side. Then there was this kid who ran screaming away from the deer that wanted his biscuit. Very funny.
Stopped for a ridiculously overpriced lunch (¥950!) of curry rice at a convenient little noodle shop in the park area. Despite being financially suckered by the touristy stuff it was a fun atmosphere, Nara Park. You know how Disney World is fun because everyone’s there to have a good time? It was like that. Except my Japanese isn’t that great, so I couldn’t understand when the frustrated parents said typical things like, “We’re on vacation! Stop complaining and have fun.”
Next I walked through the park area proper, where there were even more deer, more biscuits, and more deer attacks. And when I say attacks, I really mean “uncomfortably close encounters with hungry deer.” And did I mention the deer are sacred? That’s why they’re allowed to terrorize the tourists. You can’t beat them off with a stick or anything, either, because I suspect God wouldn’t like that so much. I make these things sound awful; they were cute, really, and just hungry. Heck, if I was surrounded by deer carrying Reese’s Cups, I’m pretty sure I’d mob them to get at the candy.
Anyway, the purpose of going further into Deer World was to get to Tōdaiji, the temple complex that manages the Shōsōin. Tōdaiji, in addition to being a working temple with associated charities including a support program for people with learning differences, is known as featuring the largest wooden building in the world. This building, called the Daibutsuden, houses the Daibutsu, or Great Buddha, whose body is 48.91 feet tall, according to my ticket stub. Everything at Tōdaiji is big. You go through Huge Wooden Gate #1, which features two huge statues of fierce Buddhist guardian figures. Then you pick your way through more deer (which, by the way, poop a lot after all those biscuits) and go to Huge Wooden Gate #2, which also has big statues. I got these Aussies to take my picture there, which was nice.
I paid my entrance fee after knocking over a bicycle (no worries--parked and unoccupied) while trying to take a picture of Huge Wooden Gate #2 and then righting it. I then met this American couple and took their picture for them, and they did the same for me. They were really nice grandma-types and they were really worried that my camera made my face look really dark, so I had to keep assuring them that I could fix it on the computer. We kept running into each other at the temple after that, which was fun. I liked them a lot.
Between Huge Wooden Gate #2 and the largest wooden building in the world is a Really Big Lantern (15.15 feet tall). I took pictures of that, then went to the big statue of Binzuru, a being who helps cure ailments. If you rub a part of the statue and then touch that part of your body, it’s said that he will help heal it. I couldn’t reach his abdomen for my ulcerative colitis, so I went for the foot instead and asked to finally get rid of this wart that won’t go away.
Inside the Daibutsuden is more Big Stuff. Really, this whole experience was like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The Daibutsu is, as described, huge, and he’s flanked by two huge bodhisattvas. There are huge guardians behind him. One of the columns that supports the roof has this hole in the bottom that’s pretty funny. It’s said to be the exact size of the Daibutsu’s nostril, and if you can fit through the hole it’s good luck. There were a bunch of school kids crawling through it when I was there. Pretty entertaining.
The statues were cool and all, but really, I liked just being in the space of the great hall. I’m very much a “space” person; I find that being in places with a certain feel about them can really impact my mood. The Daibutsuden was a good space for me. I seem to like dark, earthy, holy, open spaces, I think. I love Mina’s attic, for instance, and Grandma’s basement, art museums, small clearings in forests, and Our Mother of Sorrows church when the lights are off. Anyway, I really liked the space of the Daibutsuden. It was so tall and dark and smelled of incense, and although it was crowded it wasn’t overwhelming.
After the Daibutsuden it was getting late, but I decided to hike up the hillside to Nigatsudō, which is part of the Tōdaiji complex. It’s this beautiful collection of wooden buildings overrun with more of the deer and overlooking Nara. The view was lovely, but I didn’t know anything of the place’s history or purpose, so it was mainly me going, “Ooh, pretty.” However, remember our friend Fudō Myō-ō, the scary fire guy who sits under waterfalls? There was another waterfall for him there, and there was a crab chilling there. I only noticed him after he ran away when I put the metal water dipper under the waterfall for a drink and it made a loud noise, startling both him and me. I love discovering unexpected things!
Rather than walking back, I took the bus to the train station. I got back home at about 8:30, I think, so it was quite the long day. I probably smelled like deer and looked like I had just hiked up a mountain, which I had. It was a very good day, though, and I’m glad I went yesterday instead of today.
Photos to come soon, I hope.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
zzzzzzzzz........
You know how I was planning to go to Nara today? Well, I ended up staying up until 2AM playing FreeCell, so although I kept my alarm set for 7AM, I planned on rolling over to turn it off and going back to bed.
Well, 7AM came, and I somehow decided that it would be a Good Idea to go on a long daytrip involving large crowds, pushy deer, and walking up mountainsides after only five hours of sleep.
Really, the trip was wonderful, and I have a lot to say about it. I'm glad that I decided to go on a Saturday, especially, because it was crowded enough as it was, but Sundays are Japan's tourist day. The weather was perfect, too, and the leaves were beautiful. Nonetheless, my Good Idea was, in many ways, a Very Bad Idea. Now I am exhausted and grumpy and my knees are killing me. So I'm going to bed very soon (assuming I don't play another unexpected three hours of FreeCell), and I'll write about my trip tomorrow.
Oh, but one more thing before I go. You know how I said clothes are really expensive here? Well, they are. But I was able to get a toboggan (a "wool cap" for all you non-Kentuckians), a scarf, and gloves for 100yen each! Yay!
Well, 7AM came, and I somehow decided that it would be a Good Idea to go on a long daytrip involving large crowds, pushy deer, and walking up mountainsides after only five hours of sleep.
Really, the trip was wonderful, and I have a lot to say about it. I'm glad that I decided to go on a Saturday, especially, because it was crowded enough as it was, but Sundays are Japan's tourist day. The weather was perfect, too, and the leaves were beautiful. Nonetheless, my Good Idea was, in many ways, a Very Bad Idea. Now I am exhausted and grumpy and my knees are killing me. So I'm going to bed very soon (assuming I don't play another unexpected three hours of FreeCell), and I'll write about my trip tomorrow.
Oh, but one more thing before I go. You know how I said clothes are really expensive here? Well, they are. But I was able to get a toboggan (a "wool cap" for all you non-Kentuckians), a scarf, and gloves for 100yen each! Yay!
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