April 13-15: New Temae, settling in
April 13th:
I went to the haigata practice in the morning that was primarily for the 1A's, but the 1B's had the option of going to for additional practice. I know that I need haigata practice, so I went along for a refresher. Since we arrived in September and had warigeiko in the beginning, we only had half of September and October to practice haigata...and coming back to it now in April is quite a challenge! I sucked :) Murata-sensei kept making jokes asking if I was a new student and saying I was hopeless...I think he was getting me back for our unruly behavior during kagetsu on Monday :( Anyways, his humor ended up pushing me over the edge and I ended up stressing myself out over it and having a moment. Honestly, over haigata. I need to know how to not let myself get emotional over these things. If anyone knows how to turn off that button let me know. That would be great.
After haigata I ran back and changed into kimono, and Mecca and I went to lunch. I have officially made it a habit to sit at the other table away from the rest of the Midorikai students, because it is quieter. I am an anti-social person. My toban was Nishi, so I didn't have to rush through lunch like usual, but I still find myself waiting for my kohai every day. It's not terrible, but every day in the last week we have been working to prepare the chashitsu up until the moment when sensei arrives and I find this very frustrating. For jitsugi we practiced bonkogo (Sylvain) and tsuzukiusucha. We ran out of time before I could do temae, so I was a guest today. Sometimes that is ok too. I think the stress from the last two weeks has been catching up to me, and the haigata incident didn't help.
In the evening after dinner I took Jin and Mai Trang with me to learn how to clean the toilets. That job is pretty quick in general, but it was really fast with two people helping me! I still hate cleaning the urinal. After this year, I hope to never have to clean another urinal again in my life. I think that is a good life goal. Afterwards I still ran out to finish some errands in the neighborhood and ended up going to my kimono sensei's to talk shop for a bit. When I returned home and looked around my room somehow it was already 10 PM. I don't know where the time goes.
April 14th:
Early morning. Gary-sensei lecture in the morning, which was the first for all of us since he had been on break since before we arrived. He went over the different temae in the konarai, and I kept thinking that I wished we had that lecture when we first arrived here. Ah well. I know them now! Following this was a lecture by Fujita Gyotei-sensei on different kinds of tea, history, mechanisms of production, etc. We had this lecture back in the fall but he presented some different information this time. During the lecture as I was struggling to write all of my notes in Japanese I kept thinking about what kind of task I am going to have organizing all of my notes when I return to the States. I am hoping to type them all up and catagorize them, but we will see what kind of time I have to do that. I will definitely prioritize the Chado History lectures though, Hamana-sensei's lectures are awesome as well, but when I think about the pages and pages of notes I have from his classes I cringe a little bit.
Toban: hana. We had a really small selection of hana today, and for some reason we seem to be getting a lot of furo-type flowers. I was explaining to Jin and Mai Trang about the different hanaire types and ita used for each and let them help pick out hanaire and practice a bit. We had a good time :) For temae today we did hana chabako for the first time (how fitting!). I asked my classmates before class what order they wanted to do temae in:
Talon: 3!
Mereca: 2
Anna: 4
Sylvain: 5
Cone: Assholes!!!
So yeah, I went first. Also, I should stop swearing so much in the chashitsu...or in general. Whatever. I really do like chabako temae a lot, but I hadn't really had time to go over the pdf so I was a little screwed. Murata-sensei was very patient today, which was nice. I tried my best, and I will leave it at that.
We all had to rush off after class to get ready, because we had been invited to the opening ceremony for the Russian Cultural Festival. I am still not sure why we got to go...but hey, free dinner. There were a lot of long speeches in the beginning and it was a standing event. Probably due to some combination of sleep-deprivation, dehydration, lack of food, stress, low blood pressure, and the glass of red wine on an empty stomach, I had one of my dizzy spells and almost fell over. I had to get out of the room and sit down. Mecca very kindly came with me and sat with me while I recovered myself (somehow when I am writing this I feel like I am some Victorian drama queen). Actually, Murata-sensei was surprisingly kind and concerned when he came to check on me. He never ceases to amuse me in that way. After that incident we enjoyed a lot of good food and a few drinks and Hamana-sensei getting down on his knees and making impressions of Kei-kun staring at Mecca. Hee hee hee :) Gooood times. Mecca made me go to bed when we went home, but I watched Glee first. GLEE IS THE MOST AMAZING SHOW EVER.
April 15th:
Slept in. Amazing. I made myself sakuracha and matcha before leaving my room and enjoyed my ajisai and therefore started the morning in a very good mood. Toban: cha. I brought my two kohai and we sifted tea before class, which was a lecture by Mittwer-sensei on Urasenke structure. I really want someone to write a book about "the business of tea" or better yet, "the politics of tea." I think this would be fascinating.
Jitsugi nagaita soukazari shozumi, usucha, koicha. Goto-san (Gakuen cho this week) has been super nice and helpful with getting all of our things ready for class. He is awesome. Ihara-san still seems to not look at me, but this could be a coincidence. Time will tell! Anyways, I did koicha today. I think I did nagaita once before? I don't really remember well though. Anyways, my points to remember: Always hands down when taking the hishaku and hibashi. Koicha and usucha differences: usucha has kibishaku, kama no futa, koicha does not. When you bring the kensui in at the end of the temae, you bring after the mizutsugi for koicha, close door, and then re-open for haiken. For usucha, bring in at the start of haiken and move to kyakutsuki.
I was tired at dinner and didn't talk much, there are so many things about the mizuya to teach to the kohai and it is hard to remember everything at once. Basically I remember I need to tell them things when I see something being done incorrectly. That makes sense right? I LIKE THINGS TO BE NEAT! DAMNIT!
At dinner Kazuo walked in as I was leaving. I was walking out and he turned around and said "Ah! Cone-san, konbanwa!" and I turned and tried to smack him with my furoshiki. I am sure that the new ichinensei that were sitting at the table nearby were very confused, but if that boy keeps talking to me I will hurt him! Once we got back to the dorm I practiced obi with Mai Trang a little more, and have been doing chores (laundry, cleaning, etc) since then. It is 8 PM and I still have at least three more things to do before bed. However, I am currently drinking some excellent Oolong tea from Taiwan that was a very kind gift from a new friend and this makes me a happier Cone.
I went to the haigata practice in the morning that was primarily for the 1A's, but the 1B's had the option of going to for additional practice. I know that I need haigata practice, so I went along for a refresher. Since we arrived in September and had warigeiko in the beginning, we only had half of September and October to practice haigata...and coming back to it now in April is quite a challenge! I sucked :) Murata-sensei kept making jokes asking if I was a new student and saying I was hopeless...I think he was getting me back for our unruly behavior during kagetsu on Monday :( Anyways, his humor ended up pushing me over the edge and I ended up stressing myself out over it and having a moment. Honestly, over haigata. I need to know how to not let myself get emotional over these things. If anyone knows how to turn off that button let me know. That would be great.
After haigata I ran back and changed into kimono, and Mecca and I went to lunch. I have officially made it a habit to sit at the other table away from the rest of the Midorikai students, because it is quieter. I am an anti-social person. My toban was Nishi, so I didn't have to rush through lunch like usual, but I still find myself waiting for my kohai every day. It's not terrible, but every day in the last week we have been working to prepare the chashitsu up until the moment when sensei arrives and I find this very frustrating. For jitsugi we practiced bonkogo (Sylvain) and tsuzukiusucha. We ran out of time before I could do temae, so I was a guest today. Sometimes that is ok too. I think the stress from the last two weeks has been catching up to me, and the haigata incident didn't help.
In the evening after dinner I took Jin and Mai Trang with me to learn how to clean the toilets. That job is pretty quick in general, but it was really fast with two people helping me! I still hate cleaning the urinal. After this year, I hope to never have to clean another urinal again in my life. I think that is a good life goal. Afterwards I still ran out to finish some errands in the neighborhood and ended up going to my kimono sensei's to talk shop for a bit. When I returned home and looked around my room somehow it was already 10 PM. I don't know where the time goes.
April 14th:
Early morning. Gary-sensei lecture in the morning, which was the first for all of us since he had been on break since before we arrived. He went over the different temae in the konarai, and I kept thinking that I wished we had that lecture when we first arrived here. Ah well. I know them now! Following this was a lecture by Fujita Gyotei-sensei on different kinds of tea, history, mechanisms of production, etc. We had this lecture back in the fall but he presented some different information this time. During the lecture as I was struggling to write all of my notes in Japanese I kept thinking about what kind of task I am going to have organizing all of my notes when I return to the States. I am hoping to type them all up and catagorize them, but we will see what kind of time I have to do that. I will definitely prioritize the Chado History lectures though, Hamana-sensei's lectures are awesome as well, but when I think about the pages and pages of notes I have from his classes I cringe a little bit.
Toban: hana. We had a really small selection of hana today, and for some reason we seem to be getting a lot of furo-type flowers. I was explaining to Jin and Mai Trang about the different hanaire types and ita used for each and let them help pick out hanaire and practice a bit. We had a good time :) For temae today we did hana chabako for the first time (how fitting!). I asked my classmates before class what order they wanted to do temae in:
Talon: 3!
Mereca: 2
Anna: 4
Sylvain: 5
Cone: Assholes!!!
So yeah, I went first. Also, I should stop swearing so much in the chashitsu...or in general. Whatever. I really do like chabako temae a lot, but I hadn't really had time to go over the pdf so I was a little screwed. Murata-sensei was very patient today, which was nice. I tried my best, and I will leave it at that.
We all had to rush off after class to get ready, because we had been invited to the opening ceremony for the Russian Cultural Festival. I am still not sure why we got to go...but hey, free dinner. There were a lot of long speeches in the beginning and it was a standing event. Probably due to some combination of sleep-deprivation, dehydration, lack of food, stress, low blood pressure, and the glass of red wine on an empty stomach, I had one of my dizzy spells and almost fell over. I had to get out of the room and sit down. Mecca very kindly came with me and sat with me while I recovered myself (somehow when I am writing this I feel like I am some Victorian drama queen). Actually, Murata-sensei was surprisingly kind and concerned when he came to check on me. He never ceases to amuse me in that way. After that incident we enjoyed a lot of good food and a few drinks and Hamana-sensei getting down on his knees and making impressions of Kei-kun staring at Mecca. Hee hee hee :) Gooood times. Mecca made me go to bed when we went home, but I watched Glee first. GLEE IS THE MOST AMAZING SHOW EVER.
April 15th:
Slept in. Amazing. I made myself sakuracha and matcha before leaving my room and enjoyed my ajisai and therefore started the morning in a very good mood. Toban: cha. I brought my two kohai and we sifted tea before class, which was a lecture by Mittwer-sensei on Urasenke structure. I really want someone to write a book about "the business of tea" or better yet, "the politics of tea." I think this would be fascinating.
Jitsugi nagaita soukazari shozumi, usucha, koicha. Goto-san (Gakuen cho this week) has been super nice and helpful with getting all of our things ready for class. He is awesome. Ihara-san still seems to not look at me, but this could be a coincidence. Time will tell! Anyways, I did koicha today. I think I did nagaita once before? I don't really remember well though. Anyways, my points to remember: Always hands down when taking the hishaku and hibashi. Koicha and usucha differences: usucha has kibishaku, kama no futa, koicha does not. When you bring the kensui in at the end of the temae, you bring after the mizutsugi for koicha, close door, and then re-open for haiken. For usucha, bring in at the start of haiken and move to kyakutsuki.
I was tired at dinner and didn't talk much, there are so many things about the mizuya to teach to the kohai and it is hard to remember everything at once. Basically I remember I need to tell them things when I see something being done incorrectly. That makes sense right? I LIKE THINGS TO BE NEAT! DAMNIT!
At dinner Kazuo walked in as I was leaving. I was walking out and he turned around and said "Ah! Cone-san, konbanwa!" and I turned and tried to smack him with my furoshiki. I am sure that the new ichinensei that were sitting at the table nearby were very confused, but if that boy keeps talking to me I will hurt him! Once we got back to the dorm I practiced obi with Mai Trang a little more, and have been doing chores (laundry, cleaning, etc) since then. It is 8 PM and I still have at least three more things to do before bed. However, I am currently drinking some excellent Oolong tea from Taiwan that was a very kind gift from a new friend and this makes me a happier Cone.