Last night was my farewell party from my BOE. While it started off a little slower than normal nomikais, the ending made up for it. Since it was on a Monday night, a lot of people didn’t drink heavily and get crazy like normal. Instead, they went home at the normal time. However, the group that Ian and I were chatting with stayed behind and talked for another hour. It was a lot of fun. My supervisor and I talked about how we’re basically the same person….just different cultures. She’s shy and doesn’t feel comfortable speaking English. I’m shy and don’t feel comfortable speaking Japanese. Neither of us have super outgoing personalities. Despite all of this, I could not have had a better supervisor! What’s even better is that she gave me a yukata (it’s kind of like a kimono). It’s beautiful! It was a pink cherry blossom print on it. She asked me if I knew how to tie it. I said no and that I’d watch a You Tube video to figure it out. I asked her if she knew how to tie it, and she said something to the manner of, “Oh no. I always go to the store and have them do it.”
We also were talking with Mr. Murai, the Buddhist priest in charge of the temple in town, about the differences in religion and why the Japanese do some things some ways. Something that blew my mind was the mindset. He said that the Japanese feel that someone is always watching them, whether it literally be someone else or an invisible god. That’s why they always do the right thing. He said that school children, from a young age, are taught that if you find 10 yen (worth about a penny) on the ground, you should take it to the police office in case someone tries to reclaim it. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS!!! I always enjoy finding change on the ground in the States (I’ve never found money on the ground here) because it was like a little present for me! It has never, EVER occurred to me to pick up that nickel and take it to the police. I’m pretty sure that if I did take it, I would be laughed out of the police office.
Ian asked Mr. Murai if it would be OK to go and take pictures one morning of him doing his morning Buddhist ritual of ringing the iron bell and saying prayers. Mr. Murai said, “Why not tomorrow morning? You can ring the bell.” Ian, who rarely sees the sun before 10 AM, nodded his head anxiously and agreed.
I set my alarm for 5:30 AM and went to bed around 11:30 last night. The next thing I know my silly alarm is buzzing at 5:30. Neither Ian nor I are happy morning people. Both of us fought tooth and nail waking up. We were literally sitting up in bed staring at nothing for probably ten minutes before we started getting ready. Then we made the five minute drive to the temple and staggered out of the car. Mr. Murai was already dressed in the traditional robes and ready to ring the bell. While we were both yawning, he said that he wakes up at 4 AM every day. Ugh! Since the temple is on the hillside, we could look down and see Yunomae below. It was a great view! We waited until the exact moment of 6 AM. Mr. Murai dinged the bell first and then allowed us both to take turns doing it. We were Yunomae’s alarm clock this morning! It was a great cultural experience!! After that, Mr. Murai had to go say the Buddhist prayers, so Mrs. Murai took us up the hill to the……I’m not sure what it’s called, but it was an area where she lit candles and incense. We asked what it was for, and she said to clear your mind for prayer. We returned to the temple and watched Mr. Murai finishing his Buddhist prayers, which included a lot of chanting. I’ve never really had any experience with non-Christian religions, so it absolutely fascinates me.
As we were leaving, Mrs. Murai walked us to our car. She gave me a birthday/goodbye present of a picture book and Kumamon towels and told me that I would be missed. The whole family is just the sweetest, and it’s moments like those that I’ll treasure long after we have left! <3 <3 <3
Although it was only 6:30, sleepy little Yunomae was waking up. Old men were going for their morning strolls, kids were already on their bikes planning today’s big adventure, women hanging out the laundry, men going to work, and even JHS kids riding their bikes to school. AT 6:30 IN THE MORNING. At one intersection, I saw one of my eikaiwa kiddos. I waved and smiled at her, and she genuinely looked surprised to see me. Remember this….it comes into play later…..
This was a side of Yunomae that neither Ian nor I have ever seen. We both hate waking up that early, so we never knew that kids still wake up at 6 AM on their days off or that Yunomae starts its day bright and early. (It kind of reminded me of the opening song of Beauty and the Beast when Belle is walking through town and everything is opening up for the day. Little town it’s a quiet village. Everyday like the one before. Little town full of little people waking up to say Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!…..) I felt renewed and thought that I should wake up early more often! With an extra two hours of free time before I had to get ready for work, Ian and I decided to have a picnic breakfast beside the river. As we walked down to it, I saw more kids and their parents doing rajio taiso, the morning exercises that the Japanese enjoy. They smiled and waved as they reached over to touch their toes. We enjoyed our breakfast down by the river. However, as the sun rose up, it became too hot to sit in direct sunlight, so we returned home. I still had about an hour and a half, so I started making marinara sauce for some lunchtime spaghetti. Then I packed up some more stuff and cleaned out our car. I don’t want to brag, but I got all of this stuff done before 8:30 AM. I really do need to wake up early more often……..
Okay, flashing back to the eikaiwa kiddo who saw me. Her mother works at one of my nursery schools, so today as I was leaving, she said, “Melissa-sensei, Izumi said that she saw you this morning. Where were you going?” (Welcome to Yunomae where the fact that the foreigner was up earlier than normal is big news!) I told her that I went to the temple that morning. She told me that Izumi really liked me and always enjoyed eikaiwa. AWWWWWWWWWWW!! I told her that I also loved Izumi, would miss her, and showed her the pictures of us making pizza last Thursday night.
I think that’s all for now. As it’s beginning to hit mid-afternoon, I’m feeling slightly drowsy. However, it’s nothing that a little caffeine or sugar won’t fix! Hurray!
No comments:
Post a Comment