Well, this week was not as fantastic as I had hoped when I last posted here. Not saying it was terrible overall, but certain factors made sure that I didn't get off easy this time.
By which I mean, I've had a migraine every day this week, in the morning, during Japanese class T^T
Monday's Kyudo practice was fairly interesting. Although I came in with confidence that I could practice by myself, I failed to properly shoot my bow for the first half hour of the lesson - every time I tried, the arrow would flip out and smack me in the side of the face. One time when sensei was helping me, not only did I get hit by the arrow, but the string whacked sensei as well. Turns out, I wasn't releasing the string properly, which threw the arrow off. After a bunch of tries, I finally got it right. And then continued to do so over and over.
I actually got to the point where I could feel the smoothness of the draw when I pulled the arrow back. It just felt right. Not only was I hitting the target (still the big straw one), I was hitting closer and closer to the center. By the end of the lesson, I was feeling GOOD.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, we have a new member! Another of the artists from the art enclave. This time a pianist. She's pretty cool, and seems really eager to learn. I like her sense of humor, and at the same time, that she's well attuned to Japanese aesthetic elements.
At the end of lesson, I tried to talk to sensei about seijinshiki, the coming of age ceremony here in Japan. Now, to be fair, I was completely mistaken; I had thought that Kyudo practitioners performed at these ceremonies. The reality is that practitioners who are turning 20 go through this special ritual. Either way, I tried asking sensei about it, and we wound up with a HUGE miscommunication. I was asking about who is able to participate, and sensei just had no idea what I was saying. I haven't felt that inept with Japanese since my first day here. In the end though, we sort of worked it out. But it took all three KCJS students to do so; I'll have to study harder, haha.
So jump to Thursday. I'm sure stuff happened on Tuesday and Wednesday, but all I remember is the crazy amount of work I did. So, this morning, at the end of the first block of Japanese, the migraine monster reared its ugly head. I quickly took my painkillers, but they didn't help quickly enough. As soon as class ended, I ran over to the convenience store to grab a cup of coffee. Since today's second period was "Personal Goal Meetings", and I had time before mine, I thought I'd cool off in the library. But, to my disappointment, was a group of my friends...watching the presidential debate on a laptop. Sound, no want. So I fled to an unoccupied room on the second floor, drew the curtains, and finished my coffee in silence. I tried to rest, but my head kept pounding away. At one point Nishimata-sensei (!) came in, thinking I was taking a nap. I told him about my migraine problem, and he told me to take it easy and rest as long as I needed to. He is totally the coolest Japanese teacher I have ever met!
So, I rest. Slowly, slowly, the pain fades away, leaving me exhausted. I know my meeting is coming up, but I'm too drained to get up. The door opens again, this time revealing Fukai-sensei. She pretty much just came to check on me, and told me that I could just meet with her next week. She left, telling me to rest up (she actually told me to go home, but I had another class today). Finally, by 11:30 or so, I was feeling better, so I headed to the library to print my notes for the presentation.
The library is wonderful, filled with hundreds of books on Japan that I would LOVE to read. It is also inhabited by two of the worst computers I have ever used, and the WORST printer in existence. I printed those notes 8 times, and even after changing the format to A4, it kept cutting off 90% of what I had written. Finally, I just copied everything to Word and printed from that. Infernal contraption.
I got those notes printed just in time, too. At 12, I had to meet with Nishimata-sensei. On my way to his office, I ran into Fukai-sensei again. She asked how I was doing, and flat out forbid me from doing any homework while in Okayama. I need to get lots of good, country air and rest a lot. Sounds good to me, especially if it includes some interesting foods (bear meat?) or some local sake. Now, if you recall, I REALLY don't care for the countryside. It's pretty much ruined my plans 3 times over (5, if you count events I was invited to today - sorry, AKP friends!) Well, we're going tomorrow. And since my group is going to the new families who helped SAVE this event from being cancelled (>_<)
we have to give a thank you speech. So we worked with Nishimata-sensei to craft this WONDERFUL speech which the six of us will be delivering. On the upside, I got to learn more about this amazing sensei. The rumors about his Gundam-obsession were true - he showed us some of his models, and this cool pen that looks like the axes used by Zaku in the show. He claims he uses it to correct tests and chop bad students. He's totally Zaku obsessed, by the way.
Jumping to today's Kyudo lesson, I spent most of the time practicing on my own. This time, I didn't get whacked by the arrow, although the arrow fell out twice. Sensei criticized me for not drawing the bow back properly; when I do it the right way, it feels way better, but I don't think I have enough strength to do it like that :(
So I got a special treat today - Kawaguchi-sensei went out onto the range to shoot. I watched her every movement like a hawk. Every motion had purpose, and strength. Her first shot was glorious - dead center of the target. My respect for her has increased yet again. The new student told me that it's an honor that such an experienced practitioner was giving lessons to a bunch of newbie foreigners; she's probably right, too. I'll have to get her something nice from the countryside.
Actually I did get a present today. There's this temple in Kyoto where they do archery at 60 meters - apparently, its a real sight to see. And now I have a ticket to go see it!
On the way home, I got some Ajari-mochi from Isetan, a fairly well-known department store. Omiyage, acquired.
So tomorrow, it's off to hickland with me. Shame about all those fun times I'll be missing out on. Many new developments to come, especially given some of my new interests.
No comments:
Post a Comment