Ongoing discovery

I spent the first three days this week traveling to Kyoto with Minami. While she was in class at her University I visited local temples. On Monday, I waited through Minami’s first class. That is when I wrote the last entry. I was able to go to her next class, since it was a large room. Even though the room was large, most of the students sit in the back. There are flat panel screens hanging from the ceiling and the professor spoke using a microphone. Even though the class was in Japanese, the professor played a 20 minute video that was in English. It was about bilingual education in the United States. It was a collaboration of video with Peter Jennyings from 1988. It talked about the growing pressure on immigrants in the United States to learn English. Highlighting legislation from the 1970s, it showed benefits of having bilingual programs rather than total immergence. Even though the video was two decades old, the facts are still relevant today.
From the classes that I have attended, it seems that the Japanese college experience is much different than that of an American. Students are not directly involved in instruction. They take notes and look down the majority of the time. The Sensei does not actively check for student understanding and rarely stops for anything, but a breath. The University stops all classes around lunch time for an hour so that everyone may eat.
The cafeteria is a mad house, with a never-ending criss-cross of people. The food (gohann) is still Japanese and the setting is Japanese as well. Chopsticks instead of forks, big plastic soup spoons instead of western style spoons for soup, and cold tea is available for free in large containers in the middle of the cafeteria.. Seats are difficult to find, so students seem to set themselves down where ever there is an available seat. This includes outside and back in the classrooms. I met one of Minami’s friends, Kina and we carried our lunch tray and all back to the classroom we had just departed from.
Kina Spoke English well. It is always a breath of fresh air to use it. Early this week, I began to understand why the existence of ethnic enclaves is so prevalent in the U.S. Immigrants coming to the U.S. find familiarity in a surrounding of unfamiliar. Of course this is all self explanatory and common sense; however, one never knows until they have experience.
Minami had to give an English lesson to a women who lives in another area of Kyoto. We got on a bus and after some walking, arrived at a house. It looked like a modern home, but it had traditional Japanese style decorations. The women has a young child, I would say around two years old, who was constantly running around. The lesson lasted an hour and a half, in which I entertained my self by playing with the young boy and his toys. He was curious and into everything. He couldn’t understand me and I could not understand him, but we sat together making car and siren sounds. I guess Minami and the women were surprised, because he is usually shy and scared of strangers. I said it was because of my good spirit. The women looked young but she was actually 36. I would have guessed 24 or 25.
Afterwards we headed to the department stores around Kyoto train station to get a pair of pajamas for me. Like I mentioned before, showers are taken at night, and people hang around in their pajamas for a good amount of time before going to bed. So I bought some pajamas so that I could fit in with the rest of the family.
Tuesday, I went to Ryoanji temple, This was my first adventure by myself here. Ryoanji has a garden comprised of only rocks. There are 15 larger rocks placed on a bed of white pebbles. The garden is a sign of tranquility and harmony and is suppose to inspire inward thought and meditation. I had the opportunity to sit there and let the scenery sink in. There were a lot of visitors and I had to purchase a ticket. I enjoy going out and mingling with people. By this time I was able to ask how much something is (ikura desuka). Being able to speak my new language, even if it is very little, is encouraging. After taking some pictures and video, I headed back to Ritsumeiken University to sit in class with Minami. It was another large room, but this time was filled. There had to be any where from 200-300 students. The Sensei was very impressive. He spoke without breathing for an hour and a half. He even told jokes and after the punch line, he laughed and kept going. It was not in English.
Minami had a quiz in her next class and I headed to the school’s convenient store. There are drinks that are recognizable and then there are some that have entirely Japanese writing on them. Drinks are not just sold in bottles, but in cartons as well. The cartons are actually quite large and are cheaper than bottled beverages. I am becoming a big fan of the cartons.
That night Dale came over for dinner. We were going to head to the B and G gym and play(futsol) in door soccer that night. Dinner consisted of chicken hearts, cartilage, and fermented fish sauce on ika(squid). Dale is a big fan of this type of food. This was my first time with all of these things. Not something I would make a part of my regular staple. I am not a soccer player, and I don’t intend on picking up the sport anytime soon. We played with local people from Takashima. Minami drove us. It felt good to run around and I knew where the city gym was now.
Wednesday, I headed to Ninnaji Temple. This was a 15 minute walk from Minami’s school, but I had 3 hours to kill. Ninnaji was built over a thousand years ago, finished in the year 888 AD. It was burned in the Onin war during the 1400s and rebuilt 150 years later. The Emperor who oversaw its first building retired from the throne and spent the next 30 years of his life dedicated to the study of the Buddhist religion. The temple is the Center of Omuro School and the main Buddhist temple of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. It is one of the largest assembly of buildings and is stretched over many acres. I joined Minami for her American politics class. It is taught by a man from Minnesota. The topic being covered currently in the class is the making and passing of a bill. The professor is awkward and obviously is bringing the American Education flavor to the University. Most students seem intimidated. I met two more of Minami’s friends for lunch, Saki and Mitsu. Both spoke English. After graduation, Saki is going to work for a company that is associated with Disney in Japan, while Mitsu is going to grad school for International politics.
We headed back to Kyoto station, after school. Minami had to go to a car body shop where she teaches the employees English. She was only going to be 2 hrs so I decided to wait for her and try my luck walking around Kyoto. I walked slowly from store to store. I walked completely around Kyoto station, which is probably about the size of a mall in the U.S. Then I sat in an area where I knew that I wouldn’t get in the way. Kyoto is a very big city. It is full of busy people and has a taste of New York mixed with a bit of D.C.. If anyone knows me, then they know me and music go hand and hand. I sat and listened to music for the next few hours. Singing and then sitting quietly when someone would pass by. Minami called and said that if I got on the next Kosei train to Imazu, then we would be able to meet up on the stop after Kyoto station. I knew where to go and I even knew what platform to wait on. We agreed on meeting in the last car of the train. Standing on the platform at the end, I turned around and saw a train sitting there. I frantically got on, knowing it was going to leave in a few minutes. This was odd because I was at the back of the platform and expecting a train to pass by. Apparently this train comes in one way and then leaves the same. I didn’t know that at this time. When I talked to Minami I said that I might be on the front of the train because I didn’t see it come in. “Wait a second and I’ll tell you which way the train is going. Then I’ll know if I am on the front or in the back.” All of a sudden, the battery in the phone died and it turned off. I wasn’t worried, but confident I was on the right train.
Stop after stop, I didn’t see Minami. I thought that I better look around for a map to make sure I was going the right way. No map had stops that I recognized. A hot flash and thick sweat overcame me. I began walking towards the front of the train to figure out if I could find something. What was I looking for? I have no idea; a map, a foreigner, anything in English. As I stepped from car to car, the plain truth that I was going to have to find a place to sleep that night began to sink in. My only way of communicating was the phone and it was now dead. I didn’t even have Minami’s phone number. I pictured Minami worried and talking to her parents. I came to terms with the situation and accepted my obvious fate. Right as I came to this realization, I discovered a pair of familiar eyes searching through the train. It was Minami.

Thursday was a day off for Minami, and we spent the first part of the day lying around the house. We then went to Katata, a smaller city not too far from Takashima. We went to a shopping mall there, which is much different than our malls. Japan also has outside malls. Which look like a covered street surround by stores on either side. We looked around at kitchen supplies, furniture and other nick nacks. We got excited about our life together and picked out things we wanted for our house. I got excited when I saw a store that sold tatami. The bamboo type of carpet. Right before we left to come home, we grabbed a carton of Ice coffee and an éclair from the store. It was around 200 yen = 2 dollars. The travel home was also eventful. About 10 minutes from home, the two lane highway came to a halt. We hypothesized that there must have been an accident kuruma no jiko. Not knowing how long we would be there, we kept the music playing. After an hour, we turned the car off. After two hours, I decided to get out and find out what was up. It was pitch black and the mile of cars in front of us were probably filled with people wondering what this whitey, in sandals was doing running on the side of the highway. I was fearful that the cars would start going and Minami would have to slow down to let me back in. I ran what seemed like 3-5 minutes. I passed cars, trucks, and semis. Still I could not see the end of the line. I ran back and met Minami in the same spot I left her. In all we were stuck there for three hours. We never saw the severity of the accident that held us deadlocked for such a long time. The sad part was, Etsuo and Cheiko were waiting for us to eat with them and by the time we got home it was 11:00. We came in with dad watching TV on the floor and mom a sleep on the other side of the room. They had waited this whole time to eat with us. It was quite a gesture and it meant a lot to me. Her dad had prepared a massive plate of sashimi. This is the top part that is put on sushi. It is consisted of raw seafood. It was very good. I am not completely sure what everything was, but I think one was salmon, one a type of eel, and then tako(octopus). If anyone reading this has never had octopus, I suggest going to your nearest sushi bar and eating some. It’s one of my favorites. I learned tsumeti, which means cold. So we had both Ocha atsui and Ocha Tsumeti. Minami wanted me to make sure I wrote about the Melon we had for desert. It tasted like Honey dew melon, but was more expensive Etsuo said. Delicious.
We headed in to Kyoto Early on Friday. We had an appointment at a bridal shop called LST. We were checking out the options included in the wedding packaged offered by the company. Minami and I are planning on a traditional Japanese wedding that will take place a Shinto shrine. The attire will all be genuine and traditional. Our appointment was at 11:30 and we started off slow. After ironing and getting ready, time was not on our side to make the last train to make it to our appointment. Minami in 4 inch heels and I in cowboy boots, ran from her house to the train station. It’s about 2-3 blocks. We made it in time; however, we were hot and sweaty because of the dash. The hour ride into Kyoto was enough to cool us down. After a bus ride, we walked into a building and took the elevator to the 5th floor. We walked into a room with a DVD playing, which showed someone’s wedding. Minami and I were the only ones in the room. A sign that said the Shimoda family in Kanji was on the front desk. We rang the bell and a women greeted us. Ikuko showed us to a table and served us cold tea. After listening to Minami and Ikuko talk, pictures were showed to us of the different restaurant options. We knew that the traditional style sitting on the floor was what we were looking for. We picked out a restaurant and looked at album options. The woman kept leaving the room to type up items that we were picking out. We took a look around the room. Bridal outfits were in each corner. They are not gowns, but more of a robe and kimono combination. There are kimono options; however, in keeping with tradition, Minami will be wearing an all white outfit with a white headdress that looks similar to the top of a mushroom. In all, we were at LST for two hours.
Afterwards, we stopped at a fast food restaurant called Mos Burger. People who come in to order and take out do so on the first floor. Those who come and dine in order and eat on the second floor. The third floor is for people wishing to smoke. Smoking is a big deal in Japan. Cigarettes are sold in vending machines on the side of the rode. They are cheaper than American prices, but have U.S. brands. We ate and went to the bank to exchange my dollars for some yen. The exchange rate was $100 for 920 yen. After this we walked to Kyomizu Dera. Dera means temple. The walk was incredible. It was up a hill at about 45 degree incline or more most of the way. Poor Minami in her heels. The back of my ankles were already blistered up. When we arrived I got to properly ask for two tickets. Chiketo wo ni mai kudasai. It the longest phrase I have learned thus far, besides what is that Kore wa nani desuka, do you like that kore wa suki desuka, or do you want this Kore wa hoshii desuka. The temple is nestled in the side of a mountain with a very scenic view. The plan was to visit this temple and then to go to a Shinto Shrine close by. We had another appointment at another bridal center. This one was much more modern. We were served cold mugicha (barley tea). This time Minami and I knew what we wanted and were there to compare package price. I didn’t get to say anything during this appointment. There are few times that I do get to speak. Even when Minami is around, she is busy talking to her parents in a language that I cannot yet understand. I just have to sit there and look cute, make sure I don’t get caught picking my nose, or dropping anything.
Minami and I went to meat up with Dale, Ryan, and Kyla for yakiniku. That is Korean barbeque. The place we went to was $35 all you can eat and drink for 2 hours. The grill is in in the center of the table. Raw meet comes out as ones orders it and the customers grill it themselves. The meat is dipped in a variety of sauces. We had cow tongue and heart at some point. Since it was $35 and a timed meal I made sure to get my fill of both meat and drink. Apparently I had too much of both. When the five of us left the building there was a young guy on the side of the street playing a guitar and singing songs in English. We sang a song with him, “Let it be” and people from off the streets got a kick out of it. I gave him ten yen. Minami stopped me from giving him 500 yen. Thank you Minami. We then went to get more beverages and go to Japanese Karaoke. The karaoke place had long hallways with individual rooms. In the rooms were a couch and a table. In front was a TV which played the songs and showed the words. Of course we picked the English songs. Every English song had a video of a Japanese man riding around on a motorcycle. At some point the stopped to get gas. Nothing much more American than that.