This past weekend was just what the doctor ordered. Just as my stress reached it's peak, I was able to escape from Kyoto. As for why I'm stressed...it's complicated.
Well, I guess one part of it is money. It flows like water here. This month, we got less allowance because of the textbooks we bought. And just when I decided to start saving money, I had to pay 3000 yen to recharge my phone. Oh, but it actually is more complicated than that. I went to Yodobashi Camera, and bought a charge card, but I left it at home when I departed for Osaka. So I actually had to buy another one! 6000 yen gone in two days. At least I won't need a new phone card until March.
Oh! And we had a fantastic field trip in the afternoon. We went to a wagashi (traditional Japanese sweets) making workshop. It was held in this amazing old-fashioned house kind of squeezed into a backstreet by the Imperial Palace. The garden leading up to the shop was gorgeous, like something out of a photograph. Once seated inside, we got a lecture on the history of wagashi, which was fascinating. I understood 70-80% of the Japanese, and I took a video so I can catch what I missed. This is one of the aspects of Japanese culture I am absolutely in love with. I wound up labelled as the guy who studies Japanese culture, leading to my embarrassment every time he mentioned a famous haiku or waka that I'd never heard of. But I knew Okakura Kakuzo, which isn't nothing. After his 40 minute presentation, he gave us a demonstration on how to make sweets. It looks simple. IT ISN'T. First, you mix the coloring into the mochi, which takes some high-level artistic skills. Then you have to mold the mochi around the bean paste. We used shiro-an, the really high level bean paste. Then you have to work it into the shape you want - it can be anything from flowers to fruits to scenery to animals. I made a maple leaf first, which was actually praised by the teacher. But it also took me a ton of time, so I had to rush and make the other two, which turned out to be a really horrible looking leaf and a rabbit. They brought out tea for us to eat with one of our handmade treats. Man, was that leaf tasty! Ah, destruction of evidence. Nobody will ever see my lack of artistic skill!
Speaking of which, I want to highlight my friend and classmate Gabe. In the words of the sensei, "In every group, there's someone like this." He's the kid who mixes all the colors of Play-Dough and winds up with the nasty brown-black. His strange blue-purple-black mochi just didn't seem edible, which is the point of wagashi. However, let me say this: his recovery was perfect. He popped the shiro-an into the middle, and made it into a chawan (rice bowl). Everyone kind of laughed at it, but I was legitimately impressed. It really did give the feel of a bowl of rice. Nice work, Gabe!
Which brings me to what happened next: our exchange student from last year, Saki, was in Kyoto visiting. I went with Gabe and Nick to meet her for dinner. It was awesome getting to catch up with her again. I mean, I never really used much Japanese with her in America, but she noticed that my Japanese has grown a lot since I've gotten here. And it was really nice to see her in Japan. The tables were turned; now I was the foreigner. We went out to nomi/tabehoudai (all you can eat/drink). But since I'm going healthy, I actually only had one drink! But it was super cheap at 2000 yen for two hours, so I have no complaints. The four of us had an awesome time chatting, eating, and drinking. The other three decided to go tour some famous temples, but it was high time for me to make my great escape from Kyoto. We walked over to Shijo, and I hopped on the Hankyu bound for Osaka.
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