Last week

So this week I had a bunch more really cool culture classes that made me feel really awesome at being Japanese, not going to lie. First was a lecture about Japanese linguistic structure (which might not sound so cool to anyone, but was actually pretty interesting) on Monday the 20th. Most of it was over my head and the question and answer session made me realize how many HIF kids are going to become the pretentious intellectual Ivy League stereotype. But the professor did talk about some cool things, like how the kanji system is possibly one of the worst writing systems Japan could have adopted. It was pretty cool. There were also some interesting history tidbits that were cool to learn about.
Next up was the tea ceremony class (Wednesday the 22nd), which was the most difficult thing ever. Soooo many rules, gah. Well, it wasn’t so bad (and again, with the episode of America’s Next Top Model behind me, I knew a good chunk of the stuff at the beginning. Yeah, I’ve accepted that you all will mock me. I’m ok with that), but there were a lot of things to pay attention to. Starting with opening the door and bowing. Before we entered the room, we got little fans (in true tea ceremony fashion) that we were to keep with us. Turns out those fans also have strict rules about where they can be placed and how they need to be held, none of which I knew. Every five seconds, one of the assistant ladies would come up to me and tell me I had my fan in the wrong place. There was just no way I could keep up with it; the fan seems to move before you do anything. For example, when you first enter, the fan needs to be placed between you and the host of the tea ceremony. If you don’t do so, you’re placing yourself at the same level as the host, which is a biiiiig 失礼(shitsurei – rudeness). However, before receiving the tea and the snack, you have to move the fan to your left side. It needs to be sufficiently back to be out of view, but it must not rest on one of the lines of the tatami mats. Before you eat, it should be moved behind you, again neither resting on one of the lines of the tatami mat nor touching your feet. Both big mistakes. Anyway, other than the fan, your own movements also have to be extremely controlled. When you enter the room, you have to open the door in a special way – you open the door approximately halfway with the hand closer to the intersection of the door and the wall. You then open it the rest of the way with the other hand. Before entering, bow. Then, stand up, walk straight till you are in front of the scroll. Bow to the scroll once, but without showing the fan. Look at the flower set up by the scroll for a second or two (not too long to delay the ceremony, not too short to dismiss the work put into setting up the flower), then bow again. Then, move to your seat. When the sweets come out, you always have to pick up the chopsticks from the top only – no fingers can be beneath the chopsticks. Place your other hand on the bowl, take one sweet, move it to your paper, and make sure to clean the chopsticks on one of the upper corners of your paper. If using your right hand, use the right corner. If left-handed, use the left corner. And that’s before you have to deal with getting and drinking the tea. And of course, this is when you have the easy job of being the guest. The host’s job is even harder. Whaaaa. It was insanely difficult, but really fun. We all sucked at approximately the same level, which made it ok.
Other than the culture class, the week was pretty uneventful. Wednesday was my birthday (unfortunately), which made me officially 19. Don’t want to think about actually being in my last year of teenagerdom. But Thanh did remember it was my birthday and brought me a whole bunch of food which I’m pretty sure cost a lot of money. She had cheesecake, mochi, two kinds of Japanese sweets, and rice puffs. It was really nice of her, but I really hope it wasn’t that expensive. But I think it was, because I saw the cheesecake in the eki, where it was being sold for like… 1700 yen or something. Ack, Thanh! Why?? But it was really nice, and she’s a good friend. Other than that, my host mom had a conference, so we couldn’t really do anything. She did make me a cake the next day, though, which was super nice of her. Plus, the cake was amazing – cream and strawberry. Deliciousness.