Silver Lining, Part 2: Gear Up

I woke up today in a daze. Big midterm coming up and all that. Unfortunately, I didn't exactly start the day with a big, exam day breakfast. When I got out of the shower, there on the table waiting for me were two manju, one anko, one pork. And some fruit. It's like my situation three weeks ago: if the parents don't feel like eating breakfast, ain't no one gonna eat breakfast.

I was honestly half asleep for the first Japanese class. First of all, Yotsukura-sensei, the teacher who was giving the exam later that day, was sitting in, so I couldn’t really talk much about how many metric tons of useless information i was expected to remember for later that day. Then, when Fukai sensei called on me during the lesson, I honestly had no idea which question we were on. Worse, when we were going over the reading, I lost my place mid-sentence three times. I’m not a huge fan of vertical writing, no. It wasn't good, I'll tell you that much. Plus, because I had spent so much time prepping for the midterm, I hadn’t done any pre-work for Japanese class.

First period ended with yet another migraine coming on, which I stifled with painkiller as usual. They haven't stopped, but they're getting weaker. I'm winning! Next, to quiet my rumbling stomach, I went to the convenience store and grabbed one of those premade Japanwiches (the sandwiches here are kind of unique, in a Japan sort of way, hence the name). The Engrish on the wrapper made me crack up. "we made these from our heart. Sandwichs that can be eaten anyplace, anytime." First of all, they, whoever they are, made “sandwichs” from their collective, single heart. And they made Sandwichs, not sandwiches. Ah, Japan, how I love thee and thine strange arbitrary use of foreign languages.

Having purchased my sandwichs, I went to study with my E class friends (Tala-chan, Gabe, Joe), all of whom were also taking the exam later. Tala nearly flipped the table when we got to the question about habitus. I had to bail out after 20 minutes to make it back to my classroom in time for the second half of Japanese. This time, we had Nishimata teaching us our conversation lesson. As always, having the funniest teacher instructing the role playing class is a pleasure. We were talking about requesting refunds at a restaurant and related topics. Nishimata played the waiter, to whom we asked for a new plate of curry after a bug flew into it, learning to be passive aggressive as only the Japanese can be. It was funny how Sandy, one of my classmates, would call out “sumimasen” in her loudest voice, and Nishimata would come running as if a real waiter. Oh, and when he taught us how one refuses to pay the bill (extreme circumstances only), using keigo and a voice sharp as a knife, I shivered. That man is unbelievably cool.

Due to the sandwiches, I wasn't that hungry at lunchtime, but I knew I had to eat. So I had chicken and the smallest bowl of rice (earning me “you’re a guy, right?” looks from the cafeteria ladies) and ate with my friends. Having finished lunch well ahead of the exam, I went back to the classroom and studied with Tala-chan and Roslyn. The exam was definitely not as bad as it could have been. I finished early, and headed out to Kyudo. Today was the day to buy our uniforms.

Of course, it was only after getting to the dojo that I realized I didn't take out any money from the bank. And despite searching the area around the dojo for a 7-11 (ATMs at the bank and other convenience stores don’t work for me) my fate had been sealed. And so I walked from the dojo all the way back up to Imadegawa, more than half of the way back to school, to withdraw money from the 7-11 there.

Incidentally, I’ve spent way too much money here. It was mostly in the last two weeks, but I’ve spent close to if not more than $2000, and I’ve been here almost two months. I gotta slow down, or there won’t be anything left! I’m going to go into frugal mode…starting on Monday.

So, having gotten the money, I take the bus AGAIN back to the dojo, where poor Leila had been waiting for me for more than an hour. I didn’t even get to take my shoes off before sensei herded us into her little compact car and whisked us off to Otsu. We talked along the way about festivals in Kyoto, and a bit about Japanese history (the road we were driving on used to link Tokyo and Kyoto).

We arrived at this little Kyudo shop that one could barely notice from the outside. But the inside was amazing – it was jam packed with bows, arrows, and anything else Kyudo-related. The store attendants were supremely nice – it was a mother and son (the father, who wasn’t there today, makes bows) and instead of the regular keigo “okyakusan”, they referred to us as “oniisan” and “oneesan”. It was awesome. I wound up serving as the translator as everyone was getting fitted for their yugake (Kyudo glove). Fun fact – the yugake is made from small deer. Not baby deer, just small-sized deer. Anyway, I got fitted for mine, and then got sized up for the uniform. Lastly, I picked out my arrow – I really wanted one made from bamboo, so sensei found me one that was long enough for me. While Ulrike (our German pianist friend) was getting fitted for her glove, she put one down without wrapping it properly. When sensei reached to wrap it, I turned to Ulrike and joked “ちゃんとしなさい！” (do it properly!). Sensei turned, looked at me, and said, “Are there girls at school you tell that to?” It took a moment to process, but then it hit me. I nearly fell over laughing. My sensei, as feisty obaachan as she is, totally just made a dirty joke.

But of course, nothing ever goes smoothly. And as we were ready to check out, Leila realized she had lost her wallet. We looked everywhere, including the car (where I learned how to set off Japanese car alarms), but finally she remembered she left it back at the dojo. Sensei called, and it turned out someone had found it. Yay!

Having made our purchase, we returned to the dojo. Sensei had one of the men show me how to put on my new garb (I have no idea how to do it, by the way). It felt REALLY comfy. Hakama are the best pants ever. It was pretty late at this point, like 8:30 or so. In fact, the dojo was about to close up shop, but sensei had us take our first shot in our uniforms, with our own arrows. I may not have hit dead center, but I was damn close. And boy, did it feel good. Getting undressed was just as hard though; thankfully, one of the guys showed me how to properly fold up the gear and pack it away.

Since it was late, sensei offered to drive me to the train stop. I gladly accepted. But once again, trouble struck. Well, actually sensei was the trouble, and she struck a traffic cone. Which would have been fine, except it got stuck under the car. We tried to pull it out (sensei saying to be careful not to scratch the car all the while), but it somehow got wedged in the car. We finally were able to extract it, although not without my slicing up my finger again. Still, fun times. I commented to sensei on the way to the station that these kinds of experiences are the ones I came to Japan to have – the once-in-a-lifetime person to person kind of interactions that just happen.

Speaking of which, there was an interesting occurrence on the way home. At Tambabashi, some girl dropped what looked like a pendant or earring or something. Now, while most Japanese people just looked the other way, I was in a good mood, and I wasn’t about to ignore this. I grabbed the jewelry off the floor, and ran to catch up to the girl. I tried to get her attention (すみません、すみません) but she didn’t notice it was aimed at her. I tapped her on the shoulder, and, startled, she turned to me. And then, with a look of shock on her face, she totally flinched. I mean, I would too, if some foreign dude just comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder. Still, I like to think I’m not THAT scary. As quickly as I could, I apologized and told her that she dropped the jewelry, which I gave back to her. Her scared expression quickly changed into one of gratitude with a bit of guilt, and she thanked me. Good deed for the day, done. Actually, funny thing is, I missed the express train by mere seconds, and so I guess she took the local train instead. I waited for the next express. Either way, despite riding different trains, I saw her again at Okubo, my local station. I guess she’s somewhere in the neighborhood, not that that means much considering Okubo is a pretty massive hub. Still, small world!

Oh, and I had my first real, good conversation with my host parents today. It wasn’t about anything major, but it was an actual conversation, with a topic and everything. And I didn’t have to hear the same thing over and over again either! As rough as last weekend was, I think things are taking a turn for the better.