Tea Ceremony
A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in a tea ceremony. Something I've always wanted to do. It was an awesome and painful experience lol We had to sit in seiza for more than an our. If you don't know what seiza is it's a style of sitting where you basically sit on your legs. They sit like this because back then people often wore kimonos and similar attire and sitting in that position was the best way to sit.
Tea ceremonies are pretty complex. There are different steps that you have to take and there are a lot of minute details such as how you hold your cup, what you do before drinking, saying thank you and telling the person next to you that you are going to drink, etc. When we sitting there listening to the instructor, who was speaking only in Japanese btw, a lot of the information escaped my head since I can't retain information in Japanese very well. We were given instructions on paper, but they were in Japanese, too. So, I had to follow the people before me (thank goodness I wasn't first). A few mistakes here and there, but overall we were able to do it correctly and, aside from the pain from sitting down in seiza, it was a great experience! The tea was really delicious, too! The funny thing about this whole activity is people's reactions to sitting down in seiza. You can see the pain in people's faces lol when we were allowed to take a break from sitting down that way (the instructor knew that we would be in pain) a lot of people just sighed with relief. It was pretty funny lol I did the same thing.
The Tea ceremony activity was great. I'm really glad it was part of the program. I somewhat still remember the procedure, but I'll probably still make a mistake. Hope to have this opportunity again!
A Day with the Host Family
This past Saturday I spent most of the day with my host family. First we went to my host sister's basketball practice game. They didn't win, but it looks like they had a lot of fun! It was fun watching them. Reminds me of my sisters because they also play basketball. After the game we went to a restaurant close by where I had ramen and Chinese fried rice. It was delicious! We talked a lot while we were there, too. My two little host sisters wouldn't talk to me at first probably because they were shy, but they were able to talk to me with confidence later on.
After lunch we went to the public library in another town not too far from Tsuru. The library is a bit different from the ones in America. For one they have carts. I've never seen a cart in any library I've been, too. I thought that was pretty amusing. Well, I guess that was the only difference I saw lol it was nice being in a library, though. I was amused mainly by the children books mainly because I can understand them lol
After the library we headed back to their apartment where we proceeded to eat a bunch of snacks. I'm not kidding lol we just sat at the table and ate a bunch of cookies, chocolate, and senbei. Oh, before heading back from the library we did stop by a shop and bought these Japanese pudding snacks. Super delicious! My host mom bought 2 for me and I still have 1 in my fridge which I will eat later :D There are mochi versions of this snack, but I personally like the pudding ones better ^.^ After eating the snacks we watched tv for a bit and I talked with my host dad a lot. He seems to be really interested in America. When we were at the library he would show me books about America and ask me if they were accurate. Most of them were.
Before I left my host mom gave me some curry that she had made and persimmons ^.^ So much like a mom. I love her. I love my host family! I also told them I was going to Fuji Q Highland the next day so my host dad printed out a coupon for me and my host mom gave me a jacket that would keep me warm since they said it gets really cold their. There are so sweet <3 After that they drove me home.
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