Today was the zen field trip, so I was really excited! We had cereal for breakfast again, woohoo! We had it yesterday too. Last night, I'd told Yuko that I would be home late tonight, since the field trip is supposed to end at 6pm, meaning I'd only get home around 7:30. We're supposedly having supper during the field trip, but I didn't tell Yuko this because I figured it would be pretty small and I'd still want more food once I got home, haha.
So we'd gotten two papers with our schedule for the trip. One we'd gotten last week, so I'd put it in my room somewhere, and the other we got this week, so it was with my folder in my backpack. So that was the one I looked at. But the one we got last week that I lost was the one with the memo about appropriate clothing. I remember when we got that paper, everyone was freaking out because it said we can't wear jeans, shorts, or skirts and that was basically everyone's wardrobe. But I was all excited because I had a plethora of other pants including yoga pants, leggings, sweat pants, and PJs.
But since I lost the paper, I completely forgot about the memo this morning, and did I wear my plethora of appropriate pants? Nope, you guessed it! I wore my usual super short skirt (at least this one was a skort). Yuko had told me that I should wear shorts under my skirts if I wear skin colored tights, because if you don't it can be dangerous on the trains. So since I was wearing a skort, I was like okay, cool, I can wear skin colored tights.
Arghhhhh, I'm such an idiot!
In class today, we had Mutsukawa sensei. He made us go around and say what present we've received in our life that made us the happiest, since we're learning the words for "to receive", "to give", and "I was given." So yeah. I had no idea what present has made me the happiest, but I ended up saying my sparkly pink Toms. I said "pinku de, kira kira na kutsu" (pink, sparkly shoes) haha. Mutsukawa sensei asked if I wear them often and I was like, "actually I brought them to Japan!" I haven't worn them here yet. So he told me to wear them, and I said I would for the day we have our class party, haha.
We were done at 10:50 because it was Wednesday, so I headed to Dagane. Wednesday is the best day to go to Dagane because we get out of class before the designated "lunch period" at 12:30, so the cafeteria isn't crowded at all. It's so weird how Nanzan is like a high school. Both we and the Japanese students have class every day starting at 9:20 (you can't pick your class times like in American colleges) and lunch is every day at 12:30. You can't buy things from the cafeterias after lunch ends at 1:30 or really early in the morning. So strange. I wonder if all universities in Japan are like this too?
Anyway, I got the balanced meal (the one that always fills me up), because I hadn't brought snacks today and I wasn't sure how long it would be before the supper part of the trip.
And I was pleasantly surprised to discover one of the sides today was misokatsu! Yummmm. :)
But yeah, I wasn't as full as I usually am after lunch...
I sat with Rafa, Esteban, Ben, Rana, and Emma. I found out that Emma and I were the only ones going on the zen field trip. Really, guys?? I mean it's a free experience of traditional Japanese culture and there's free food? Like, honestly, what could you do instead that would be more worth? I couldn't think of anything.
After lunch, Emma and I went to the computer room so I could write my blog and she could send some emails and sign up for the international dinner this Sunday that I'm going to. It's another one of the dinners that I went to for New Years with Minju and Deanna. But Minju and Deanna can't make it this time, so I got Emma to go with me!
I suggested we go to J building, but Emma wanted to go to R. I figured the computer rooms in R would be in use, and I was right. They were. Argh, so taihen with the Japanese people taking over again. So we had to walk back over to J. We stayed until 12:30, when I decided we'd better leave because we had to meet everyone at Kakuozan station at 1:15.
I figured leaving from Nagoya Daigaku Eki would be better, since it's closer to Kakuozan, so I showed Emma how to get there. From there, we rode the Meijo line one stopped and then switched to the Higashiyama line. I was excited because this was all on my line now, so I didn't have to pay anything. :)
On the Higashiyama line, we ran into Devon and this guy with really long hair, named Evan, who I don't really know very well. We rode with them to Kakuozan. In Kakuozan, we bumped into this guy who's super tall, who's name I forget. Gosh, I suck at names.
The five of us passed through the ticket gate, only to find that we had exited on the wrong side of the station. But the station guy told us we could go outside and walk around, so we decided to do that. The tall guy left, but Devon, Evan, and I waited for Emma while she changed out of her jeans into the only non-constricting pants she owns - her snowflake pajama pants... lol.
When she was done, we headed to exit 2. There was a small group of people there, but after a bit, the CJS lady who always helps me (damn, I swear I learned her name when we went to the art museum that time, but I'm too lazy to go back and look at that post) and some other students got there. Also, this black dude who I'd never seen before, but the lady knew him.
Once she took attendance, she left and another CJS lady, who's name I don't know, led us all to the zen place. I counted the total students who had come and it was only 14! I was so shocked! I'm pretty sure there had been 30 spots. Man. Most people thought it sounded too hard and boring to come.
It wasn't too bad of a walk to the place.
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| The gate into the zen place |
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| Outside the place |
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| Heading inside |
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| Bell thing like the one Emma and I rang that time! |
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| This is the buiding we were in for the day |
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| Cool traditional-looking building |
When we went into the building pictured above, we were welcomed in by all these bald ladies. I figured they were Buddhist monks, so I was calling them that until I was corrected later by my friends, telling me they were nuns. Whoa. They were so different from Catholic nuns! I kept waiting to see men around, but there weren't any!
I found out at the end of the day, that this place was a nunnery! Ohhhh. So that's why it was only women!
Anyway, when we got inside, we had to take off our shoes and put slippers on. Then the nuns led us up to this big tatami room where we put our backpacks. One of nun ladies talked to us a bit up here and the black dude who had come with us translated for those of us who are in low levels of Japanese.
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| Cute painting! |
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| The bathroom was so nice with little windows looking outside! |
We went downstairs to do the zen. It was in this room with a huge Buddha statue. We were told we couldn't bring our cameras or phones, so I have no pictures. :(
In the entryway, we could only walk in on the left side. Only the leader of the zen or other holy people were allowed to walk through the center. We also had to hold our left hand in a fist with our right hand wrapped around it and both hands placed over our chest. It was super dark inside and there were raised platforms with tatami mats and little round cushions on them. We each got a section of tatami mat and a round cushion. We walked to our section, and while doing so, we had to walk around the back of the Buddha statue, because we weren't allowed to cross in front of it.
We stood in front of the platform with our tatami mats and the Buddha lady (who was the leader of the zen) told us what to do and our dude translated. Our cushions had names on them, and we had to turn the name away from us. Then we had to slide the cushion towards us and sit on it. The problem was, we couldn't let our legs or feet or butts touch the platform, so once we took our slippers off, we had to sit on the cushion and use our hands to scoot ourselves backwards, while keeping our feet and legs in the air. It was hard!
Then they taught us how to sit. They told us to sit the inside-out way, called the lotus, but only a few people could do that. So the rest of us just sat in criss-cross-apple-sauce, but they tried to make us put our shins down touching the tatami mat. It was too hard for me to do. Then one of the nuns brought over blankets for me and this other girl who had worn shorts, so we could cover up our legs. I showed the lady I had shorts on underneath my skirt, but apparently it's bad to show skin or something. Yeah, it was super awkward...
There was an American lady there who was a nun! I was shocked!! What had made her decide to shave her head and devote her life to Buddha when it's already hard enough living in a country where you're an outsider and never completely fit in? Man, I have no idea.
The Buddha lady took forever teaching us how to do zen. And it took twice as long because we had a translator. I wish the American nun could have just taught us in English, but she just sat there, not saying anything. Maybe she wasn't holy enough to sit in the Buddha lady chair?
Then, the Buddha lady hit the American nun with a cane! That's apparently super common and what a lot of people thought would happen at the zen experience today. But I hadn't known about that! It looked like it hurt too.
Next, it was our turn. So we all turned around to face the wall and sat with our legs crossed and our hands forming a circle. And we meditated. They said all the stuff about not letting your mind wander and counting in your head and if you lost track, starting over again at one. But no matter how hard I try to do those things, it never works. My mind is too busy a place. I started out doing well, not thinking of anything at all. But then my mind started wandering... I tried the counting thing and made it to 8 before something happened and I remembered like 5 minutes later that I had been counting, haha. Whoops!
So yeah, it was really hard. And our legs hurt soooo badly when we were done.
After zen, we had another bathroom break and then it was time to listen to another nun lecture. She was pretty famous because she'd been at the nunnery since she was 18 I think they said. Well, for a really long time anyway. And she'd also written a book.
But her lecture was about a letter she had written to a man in prison. It had three parts, where she talked about three different things. Thank goodness we had the man translating for us or I would have been bored out of my mind.
I did accidentally fall asleep a few times though, which was bad because I was in the first row! Also, it was in a tatami room where we had to sit on the floor on cushions and I hate sitting for long periods of time with no back rest.
But she was pretty funny at times! She talked about how in Buddhism, you should be super humble and stuff, but it's hard because when we see a picture with us in it, if we look bad, we tend to say the whole picture looks bad, and if we look good, but other people don't we say the whole picture looks good. Haha, she was so right!
When she was done talking, she asked for questions and one girl asked whether she does that with pictures too. And she said "of course" haha.
One really cool thing about her talk is she talked about Japanese ghosts. One common one is a lady with long straight black hair, who holds her hands out in front of her, and has no feet. Her hair is swept back in because she is held back by the past. She holds her hands out in front of her, because she's trying to grab at the future. And she has no feet because she's always thinking of places she wants to go, and is thus never truly in the future.
After the lecture, it was tea ceremony time! Yay!! They asked which of us had experience with tea ceremony and told us to sit by someone who had no prior experience to teach them what to do.
I really wish I had brought my camera with me for the tea ceremony, because the okashi was so cute!
We went into a room near where we had done the zen. It was a tatami room with sliding doors and it had a little area with a scroll and flower arrangement, just like at school!
Then we got tea and this cute okashi that was like a little pancake wrapped around some mushy yellow stuff. It was so delicious and tasted really sweet! The nun who had given the lecture came with us and led the tea ceremony. She told us that the okashi was filled with sweet potato!! Mmmm.
Then we all got matcha to drink. The first year nuns all practiced tea ceremony by bringing our tea and sweets to us. They were all so nervous, I felt bad. But the nun in charge, leading the ceremony was so nice to them when they messed up!
When we got our tea, we had to say some of the things that we learned in class, so I was all set. I helped Emma out, though, because she kept forgetting what to say!
Then they asked if we wanted more tea!! I was like, ummm, yes! And they said they had more okashi too! So this time, they came out with little green and white flower shaped cookies. I chose a green one and like I figured, it was matcha flavored! Then we got seconds of matcha. It was totally awesome, because we never get seconds in sadou class!
After the tea ceremony, it was finally supper time! We all walked into this big room that was set up with two long tables with cushions to sit on. We got to sit wherever we wanted, but we had to sit student, nun, student, nun. The American nun came over and sat between Emma and me. Score! I had wanted a chance to find out why she'd become a nun.
It was already 5:30 by the time dinner started, so I seriously doubted we'd get out by 6. Ah well.
When we sat down, there was a wrapped up set of: three bowls (that all fit inside each other), chopsticks, and a stick with a cloth on the end. There was also a plate of salad.
In the entryway, we could only walk in on the left side. Only the leader of the zen or other holy people were allowed to walk through the center. We also had to hold our left hand in a fist with our right hand wrapped around it and both hands placed over our chest. It was super dark inside and there were raised platforms with tatami mats and little round cushions on them. We each got a section of tatami mat and a round cushion. We walked to our section, and while doing so, we had to walk around the back of the Buddha statue, because we weren't allowed to cross in front of it.
We stood in front of the platform with our tatami mats and the Buddha lady (who was the leader of the zen) told us what to do and our dude translated. Our cushions had names on them, and we had to turn the name away from us. Then we had to slide the cushion towards us and sit on it. The problem was, we couldn't let our legs or feet or butts touch the platform, so once we took our slippers off, we had to sit on the cushion and use our hands to scoot ourselves backwards, while keeping our feet and legs in the air. It was hard!
Then they taught us how to sit. They told us to sit the inside-out way, called the lotus, but only a few people could do that. So the rest of us just sat in criss-cross-apple-sauce, but they tried to make us put our shins down touching the tatami mat. It was too hard for me to do. Then one of the nuns brought over blankets for me and this other girl who had worn shorts, so we could cover up our legs. I showed the lady I had shorts on underneath my skirt, but apparently it's bad to show skin or something. Yeah, it was super awkward...
There was an American lady there who was a nun! I was shocked!! What had made her decide to shave her head and devote her life to Buddha when it's already hard enough living in a country where you're an outsider and never completely fit in? Man, I have no idea.
The Buddha lady took forever teaching us how to do zen. And it took twice as long because we had a translator. I wish the American nun could have just taught us in English, but she just sat there, not saying anything. Maybe she wasn't holy enough to sit in the Buddha lady chair?
Then, the Buddha lady hit the American nun with a cane! That's apparently super common and what a lot of people thought would happen at the zen experience today. But I hadn't known about that! It looked like it hurt too.
Next, it was our turn. So we all turned around to face the wall and sat with our legs crossed and our hands forming a circle. And we meditated. They said all the stuff about not letting your mind wander and counting in your head and if you lost track, starting over again at one. But no matter how hard I try to do those things, it never works. My mind is too busy a place. I started out doing well, not thinking of anything at all. But then my mind started wandering... I tried the counting thing and made it to 8 before something happened and I remembered like 5 minutes later that I had been counting, haha. Whoops!
So yeah, it was really hard. And our legs hurt soooo badly when we were done.
After zen, we had another bathroom break and then it was time to listen to another nun lecture. She was pretty famous because she'd been at the nunnery since she was 18 I think they said. Well, for a really long time anyway. And she'd also written a book.
But her lecture was about a letter she had written to a man in prison. It had three parts, where she talked about three different things. Thank goodness we had the man translating for us or I would have been bored out of my mind.
I did accidentally fall asleep a few times though, which was bad because I was in the first row! Also, it was in a tatami room where we had to sit on the floor on cushions and I hate sitting for long periods of time with no back rest.
But she was pretty funny at times! She talked about how in Buddhism, you should be super humble and stuff, but it's hard because when we see a picture with us in it, if we look bad, we tend to say the whole picture looks bad, and if we look good, but other people don't we say the whole picture looks good. Haha, she was so right!
When she was done talking, she asked for questions and one girl asked whether she does that with pictures too. And she said "of course" haha.
One really cool thing about her talk is she talked about Japanese ghosts. One common one is a lady with long straight black hair, who holds her hands out in front of her, and has no feet. Her hair is swept back in because she is held back by the past. She holds her hands out in front of her, because she's trying to grab at the future. And she has no feet because she's always thinking of places she wants to go, and is thus never truly in the future.
After the lecture, it was tea ceremony time! Yay!! They asked which of us had experience with tea ceremony and told us to sit by someone who had no prior experience to teach them what to do.
I really wish I had brought my camera with me for the tea ceremony, because the okashi was so cute!
We went into a room near where we had done the zen. It was a tatami room with sliding doors and it had a little area with a scroll and flower arrangement, just like at school!
Then we got tea and this cute okashi that was like a little pancake wrapped around some mushy yellow stuff. It was so delicious and tasted really sweet! The nun who had given the lecture came with us and led the tea ceremony. She told us that the okashi was filled with sweet potato!! Mmmm.
Then we all got matcha to drink. The first year nuns all practiced tea ceremony by bringing our tea and sweets to us. They were all so nervous, I felt bad. But the nun in charge, leading the ceremony was so nice to them when they messed up!
When we got our tea, we had to say some of the things that we learned in class, so I was all set. I helped Emma out, though, because she kept forgetting what to say!
Then they asked if we wanted more tea!! I was like, ummm, yes! And they said they had more okashi too! So this time, they came out with little green and white flower shaped cookies. I chose a green one and like I figured, it was matcha flavored! Then we got seconds of matcha. It was totally awesome, because we never get seconds in sadou class!
After the tea ceremony, it was finally supper time! We all walked into this big room that was set up with two long tables with cushions to sit on. We got to sit wherever we wanted, but we had to sit student, nun, student, nun. The American nun came over and sat between Emma and me. Score! I had wanted a chance to find out why she'd become a nun.
It was already 5:30 by the time dinner started, so I seriously doubted we'd get out by 6. Ah well.
When we sat down, there was a wrapped up set of: three bowls (that all fit inside each other), chopsticks, and a stick with a cloth on the end. There was also a plate of salad.
The nuns on either side of us showed us how to take everything apart. We put the cloths on the floor next to us. Then there was a big wooden (bamboo I think, actually) container filled with rice that we were served rice from. Then salad was passed around so we could take that. And we passed our middle bowl down to be filled with soup. We also got two tsukemonos for our rice (the yellow vegetable things I always eat at home).
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| After I took this picture, the nun told me to put the bowls back in order from largest to smallest |
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| Pretty windows so I could see outside while I ate |
There were so many rules during the dinner. It kind of irritated me. Like we weren't allowed to talk while we ate. So it was eerily silent. Also, our bowls had to stay in a certain order the whole time. Then, when the head nun at our table, finished eating, the rest of us had to stop eating, no matter if we were done or not. During this time, we could get seconds of whatever we wanted. I wanted more rice, but I still had half a bowl full, so I just got seconds of the salad in the little bowl, seconds of soup, and another tsukemono, because we were told to leave one to clean our bowl when we were done. I was really thirsty, but there were no drinks! I wished I had brought my water bottle down.
The CJS lady was sitting across from me and she started eating the rest of her salad, so I figured it was okay too and I did too. But she must have stopped, because one of the nuns saw just me eating my salad and yelled at me that it wasn't time to resume eating yet. Whoops.
When we were finally all finished, they taught us how to clean up. Hot water was passed around and we poured that in our big bowl and then poured a bit into each of our other bowls. Then we used our chopsticks to run the tsukemono around our bowls and the plate that had had our salad. Then we poured all the dirty water and the tsukemono back into the large bowl. I didn't want to, but we had to eat the tsukemono. And we had to drink the dirty water too.
Then the water came around again so we could clean again. This time we could pour the water out. Then we used the smaller cloth and the stick with the cloth on the bottom to dry the bowls. Finally, we wiped our place with a washcloth and then tied our bowls and chopsticks back up in the wrappings and one of the nuns collected them all.
While the American nun was showing me how to wrap everything back up again, she was chuckling because I was so bad at making the slipknot and told me it had taken her a while to learn as well. I grabbed that opportunity to ask her what had made her join a Bhuddist nunnery, but she avoided the question by saying it was too long a story to tell me then. Laaaamee! So I was like, "well do you like being here?" And she said she did. Argh, I'm still so curious though!
After dinner, we thanked everyone and it was time to go.
The CJS lady was sitting across from me and she started eating the rest of her salad, so I figured it was okay too and I did too. But she must have stopped, because one of the nuns saw just me eating my salad and yelled at me that it wasn't time to resume eating yet. Whoops.
When we were finally all finished, they taught us how to clean up. Hot water was passed around and we poured that in our big bowl and then poured a bit into each of our other bowls. Then we used our chopsticks to run the tsukemono around our bowls and the plate that had had our salad. Then we poured all the dirty water and the tsukemono back into the large bowl. I didn't want to, but we had to eat the tsukemono. And we had to drink the dirty water too.
Then the water came around again so we could clean again. This time we could pour the water out. Then we used the smaller cloth and the stick with the cloth on the bottom to dry the bowls. Finally, we wiped our place with a washcloth and then tied our bowls and chopsticks back up in the wrappings and one of the nuns collected them all.
While the American nun was showing me how to wrap everything back up again, she was chuckling because I was so bad at making the slipknot and told me it had taken her a while to learn as well. I grabbed that opportunity to ask her what had made her join a Bhuddist nunnery, but she avoided the question by saying it was too long a story to tell me then. Laaaamee! So I was like, "well do you like being here?" And she said she did. Argh, I'm still so curious though!
After dinner, we thanked everyone and it was time to go.
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| Cool ceiling hanging in the room we had dinner in |
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| And cool altar area. That's the nun who gave the lecture and led the tea ceremony |
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| Me with the nun! Everyone took pix with her, so I decided to too |
Then we all got our bags from upstairs. Emma wanted to use the bathroom, so I decided I'd go too. This caused us to be the last ones to leave. I expected the CJS lady to walk back to the station with everyone, but she wouldn't. We were all left to find our way back on our own. Crap. Emma and I had no clue how to get back.
We grabbed our shoes and headed out. I remembered how to get down to the road, so we went that way. When we got to the street, we didn't know which way to turn. I thought maybe right, so we turned right. We saw a lady with her little son, so we asked her the way to the station. She told us it was in the other direction. Whoops! And she said to walk until we got to a big street and then turn right. She said some of this in English too! We thanked her and then she tried to get her son to say "Goodbye" (in English) to us, haha. They were so cute!
We grabbed our shoes and headed out. I remembered how to get down to the road, so we went that way. When we got to the street, we didn't know which way to turn. I thought maybe right, so we turned right. We saw a lady with her little son, so we asked her the way to the station. She told us it was in the other direction. Whoops! And she said to walk until we got to a big street and then turn right. She said some of this in English too! We thanked her and then she tried to get her son to say "Goodbye" (in English) to us, haha. They were so cute!
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| We could see the temple in Yagoto from here! I've been wanting to go there! |
We were able to find the station easily after that! So we parted ways and I headed home. I only got home at 8:30!
But Yuko had left me dinner, so I was able to have a second dinner just like I'd planned! It was awesome. :))) I was still hungry after my second dinner too, so I ate a bunch of chocolate. Gosh, I need help. I've been eating SOOOO much these days! It's so bad!
My second dinner was a vegetable filled hamburger Yuko had made, with salad, rice and soup. Perfect!
Yuko noticed the humungo runs in my tights and asked me if they'd happened today. I told her no and she was so shocked that I'd worn them like that! She was like "That's so dangerous!!"
I'm not exactly sure why it's dangerous, but she basically flipped out, so I'll make sure not to wear them around her anymore haha. Except all my tights have runs in them, so that's gonna be kind of hard.
And whenever I buy new tights, I manage to rip them that day, so yeah... I guess my life is too active for me to be able to wear tights haha.
Miya was still working on her dinner, so I didn't have to eat alone. And everyone asked me about zen, so I told them how hard it was!
Why did the Buddha lady hit the nun with the cane? I can understand now why attendance was so low! You're lucky they didn't hit you when you were eating out of turn!
ReplyDeleteI don't know why! I think it was to demonstrate that when they mess up they get hit. But thankfully they didn't hit any of us! I was really scared they would, haha.
DeleteAnd yeah, I am lucky. Because they seemed pretty angry... O_o