Hotaru
So yesterday, I was eating lunch and talking to Liss and Anna and Liss decided to go off to Nijo castle since she hadn't seen it yet. I've been there a few times, so I passed. I wanted to go somewhere too though, and something made me go to Shimogamo Jinja. I'd never been there before, so I arrived and there were vendors on the way up to the temple, selling sake and dango, and mochi and whatnot. I got talked into a bottle of sake. ^_^ I arrived at the temple and looked around and it seemed a lot busier than usual. I started asking and evidently it's a kind of festival or holy day. They have massive cages of hotaru, fireflies, all over the place and they're doing some kind of super special blessed tea ceremony. I got to see a demonstration on the wearing of the 10-layer kimono. There was dancing by some of the miko, the temple maidens, and music by koto players and flutists. It was amazing.
While I was there, I saw a couple foreigners, men and women both, dressed in kimono. One of the guys came over to me and tried the whole, "I know I've seen you somewhere" line, but we ended up talking for a bit. He told me about how he's studying tea here in Japan, and they're required to wear the kimono and that almost the whole school was at the festival at the invitation of the school's director. It was interesting because he knows more about the tea ceremony than I think I'd ever care to learn.
Anyway, I went for a run when I came home from the festival. I've been told I have to get in shape you know. It was a rough time though. It was a good bit later than I usually run, and I just couldn't hit my pace, so the whole thing was just a lot more of a pain than usual.
Came back, showered, decided I wasn't going to eat late at night, because that's bad. Crashed. Woke up at five to talk to Lukas back home ^_^ and crashed again.
I'm so excited for Lukas. It sounds like alot of good things are going to be coming together for him pretty soon. It will mean leaving the high-paying job with Siemen's but it will let him do what he really wants to do, become an officer. All of that coming together is going to depend on a few different things, but I'm hoping everything turns out well for him, he deserves it.
For myself, I've got to work on my kenkyu paper, study for my test on Tuesday, meet with my group to plan our presentation which is on Thursday, and revise my paper for my comparative historiography class because the teacher says it's too long. It's half a page longer than it was supposed to be because I used a different font. Oh jeez. Pretty soon it's going to be time to see what I can find in the fridge to make a lunch. And see if I have enough for dinner or if I need to go shopping. Gah.
While I was there, I saw a couple foreigners, men and women both, dressed in kimono. One of the guys came over to me and tried the whole, "I know I've seen you somewhere" line, but we ended up talking for a bit. He told me about how he's studying tea here in Japan, and they're required to wear the kimono and that almost the whole school was at the festival at the invitation of the school's director. It was interesting because he knows more about the tea ceremony than I think I'd ever care to learn.
Anyway, I went for a run when I came home from the festival. I've been told I have to get in shape you know. It was a rough time though. It was a good bit later than I usually run, and I just couldn't hit my pace, so the whole thing was just a lot more of a pain than usual.
Came back, showered, decided I wasn't going to eat late at night, because that's bad. Crashed. Woke up at five to talk to Lukas back home ^_^ and crashed again.
I'm so excited for Lukas. It sounds like alot of good things are going to be coming together for him pretty soon. It will mean leaving the high-paying job with Siemen's but it will let him do what he really wants to do, become an officer. All of that coming together is going to depend on a few different things, but I'm hoping everything turns out well for him, he deserves it.
For myself, I've got to work on my kenkyu paper, study for my test on Tuesday, meet with my group to plan our presentation which is on Thursday, and revise my paper for my comparative historiography class because the teacher says it's too long. It's half a page longer than it was supposed to be because I used a different font. Oh jeez. Pretty soon it's going to be time to see what I can find in the fridge to make a lunch. And see if I have enough for dinner or if I need to go shopping. Gah.