Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Before I start on my recap of this past weekend, I want to once again reiterate my love for the Japanese, and in particular, my townsfolk.

This morning, I had barely slipped on my huge bathrobe when there was a knock at the door. I thought it may have been my neighbour passing by to drop off something school related (there are only teachers in my building). Anyhoo, it was a little obachan (grandmother) who I see walking her dog and who I play indiaka with. (Indiaka is a game similar to volleyball except the ball looks like a very small, flat volleyball with a huge shuttlecock attached to it). I played indiaka last night. Obachan had a bag in her hand and she started firing off in Japanese. I initially thought I forgot something at he gym then I caught the words nagai (long) and muffla (scarf) and realized that she was giving me a new scarf because she thought the scarf that I have was too long. Picture this: me in a huge purple bathrobe with my sleep face on standing in my doorway completely shocked. I must have said arigato gozaimasu a million times, then when I closed the door, tears immediately came to my eyes. Isn't that something??? I swear, I've never been exposed to kindness like that. And this lady is cool. She's probably around 60 and she's a great indiaka player. When I play against her, I'm like, oh crap. When I'm on her team, I'm like, oh crap. I wore my new scarf this morning. I'm still a little awestruck. I heart these people.

Well, I had another amazingly amusing/exhausting weekend. It started on Friday night when Aussie Dave came over with all the makings of chicken thai curry. The agreement was that I was to cook (I still don't know how I got suckered into that) and dinner came out really well. We watched a couple of downloaded episodes of the American Office (I watched the pilot episode last year and didn't like at all, but it has greatly improved), and my favorites Law and Order and L&O SVU. We went to bed fairly early because we had to get up at 6:00 a.m. to go to a Shogen Temple and Shogen Junior College in Minokamo City. Shogen Jr. College is a training place for Zazen monks. They go there for a period, and when they are ready, they can leave.

We were very successful in waking up and leaving the apartment on time and picking up Shiloh nearby (it was her bday - more on that later). We met up with the other trip participants and boarded our very deluxe bus and we were off. The sum up the day: it was a cultural experience. We meditate for 15 minutes three times, for a total of 45 minutes (!!) and I allowed myself to get beaten with a stick by a buddhist monk! I'm not really clear on what the meaning behind this was, but did it hurt. The monk said that he was basically channelling Buddha and maybe the beating was to beat all desire out of me and build character. It was four whaps to either side of my back while I was bent over in a sitting position. I think most of our gaijin group got whacked, but I was one of the first ones.

After our beating, we practiced the art of batik dying. What this is is writing a message or a character on a piece of cloth with melted wax. Then the cloth is dyed and out comes the character in white. I chose the kanji for dream and it came out pretty nice. While the cloth was getting died, we were allowed unrestricted access to the grounds, living quarters and sacred areas. We were told that this never happens, but for some reason, it was our lucky day. We learned a lot about self denial, discipline and spiritual strength. I'm not going to get into detail because that would seriously be too long, but it was definitely enlightening. And to top it all off, we were graced by the presence of the MOST STUNNING MAN OF ALL TIME (cue echo). Seriously, he was beautiful and every man, woman, and child would be lying if they didn't agree. You decide.

By the way, this temple/school is 700 years old and everything was impeccable. Un-freakin-believable.

After we left Shogen-ji, we went to have a delcious, Japanese-y, delectable FREE lunch nearby and we left stuffed. After that, we piled into out bus and headed to a sake brewery to discover the wonders of sake brewing. Now I know where all that good stuff comes from. We even got to sample a couple types. Then we walked over to a 200 year old hotel. The grounds were just breathtaking. Here is Shiloh and I supermodelling.

The day was absolutely wonderful and I wish I could record every single detail, but it just seems a bit too daunting right now. But I had a blast chatting and laughing with Shiloh, Dave, Christina and others. But Shiloh especially. I'm lucky to have such a cool girl as a friend. Thank goodness she lives relatively close by.

So, as I mentioned before, it was Shi's bday and the fab day continued. After we finished with our cultural experience, we hooked up with Ed and went back to Shiloh's place to get ready for the evening. Her neighbor Ryan came over and then we all headed to this fantastic buffet style restaurant for a feast. But before we dug in, we waited for the whole group to assemble. Honest to goodness, hand to God, these were some of the nicest, funniest, coolest people I've had the pleasure of eating and laughing with in a long time. Over half the guests were Canucks, and the kicker of the night is I met my predecessor - like from 7 years ago!!!! He's still in Japan! And he's Black! Like me!! When I made sure of his name and he confirmed where I lived, it clicked that this is the ALT who worked in Neo years ago! A lot has changed since he was an ALT - he used to live in a rundown house with no running water, or maybe no hot water. Whatever it was, it was bad!!! I'll say it again - I'm so lucky.

After our fantastic feast, we headed to Jungle for karaoke. It's amazing how much fun people can have singing their hearts out and being completely sober. FOR 4 HOURS! Man, did my throat hurt! But it was great. The only downside to the whole evening was getting precious little sleep because Shiloh is an awful sleep talker. She seriously yells in her sleep. LOUD. I had to push her a few times, but my sleep was wrecked. Holy shit. Everyone's got a dark side; this is hers.

On Sunday, Shiloh was ever to kind to take me shopping and her, Ed and I bought groceries then hooked up with Jeffrey to eat breakfast and then go to the new Harry Potter movie. It was a really good flick, but it was pretty dark. And I must admit, I did tear up. After dinner, we went to a couple more stores to pick up a few things, and I was so ecstatic, like falling down on my knees and praising God ecstatic when I found Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal, and in my favorite flavour - Maple and Brown Sugar. I really need oatmeal on those cold winter mornings, and now I've found it at a place called Liquor Mountain. Can ya guess what they sell? But they also have a good selection of foreign foods and snacks. Yay!!!

Anyway, needless to say, the good times continue and I'm having so much fun. I'll soon update you on what really makes me appreciative of my time here. I think I've probably written too much. A million apologies.

1 comment:

Shiloh said...

arigatogozimashita!!!
Love you too girl. And i love reading your blog. I definatly feel lucky to have such a great friend here in japan.. who, as you said, lives in a reasonable distance. lol. Kind of a necesasry prerequisite around here. You helped make the weekend fan tas tic. Thanks again darling.
Shiloh