My First Experience in Kimono

     As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Seisen-Ryo sets up a traditional tea ceremony in the lobby for guests about once a month. I have participated a few times, but mostly as just a guest enjoying the traditional green tea, never one serving. Well this time I was told I needed to get the FULL experience and be on the other side of the tea--in full kimono. The ladies from the office that put this on brought so many kimonos for me to choose from. I of course chose the pink because obviously it was the girliest. I also learned that the darker kimonos are meant for the older ladies and it would be inappropriate for me to wear anything but a bright color because I am so young and single, which was represented by the sleeve length of the kimono. The longer sleeve shows that you are married, while the shorter sleeve means you're single and ready to mingle.

Shameless selfie!

They said I was really good at the "kimono shuffle".

     Dressing in kimono is no easy feat. It is not some sundress you throw on and run out the door. This is about a ten step process. Now I am by no means the average size of a Japanese woman, I am closer in relation to Godzilla than these women that were dressing me. The first step is to put on the little white slip part to act as the undergarments of the kimono. Next comes the really fun part! The look you are working towards in a kimono is pretty much a rectangle. A kimono is absolutely not meant to give you feminine curves, so you start building this box around your waist. There were probably five different layers wrapped around my waist. Lest we not forget the rope that goes around your thighs to keep the kimono folded over and from dragging on the floor. Between my height and very much western hour glass shape--these poor women had their work cut out for them dressing me. The were impressed I fit in the tiny shoes though. I'm guessing they probably thought my feet were going to be massive, too.

Finished product--only just a smidge short in every possible way.

     I only spent two hours in kimono serving tea and while, yes you feel pretty glamorous in it, finally getting to take it off and unwrap all the layers can only be explained as feeling like taking off those high heels at the end of the night and finally getting to put your feet up, everything having felt squished and now it's all free!  

The decoration for fall with coordinating poem.

That little grey pocket square there in my kimono is like a little napkin to serve with. If you want to learn more about the process, or get a refresher, here's the link to an older post where I first learned about how to make traditional green tea.

All of my tea master teachers on the right (notice their darker kimonos?) and then Sandi, a board member of the American Committee for KEEP, next to me and Jennifer with the American Committee for KEEP office next to her.

Tea Master Charlotte.

     Komatsu-san, in the reddish kimono in the group photo, was generous enough to give me my own kimono! She says it used to one of her daughters. I'm now official! It's a beautiful orange ombre that I can't wait to wear for the next tea ceremony when I get back--hopefully my ribs will be back in place by then. I highly recommend trying out true, traditional kimono if you ever are in Japan and get the chance!


                Until next time,
                                    Charlotte

Who Would Have Thought Barbecues Would Be So Big Here?

     
     As the busy season at KEEP approaches, each department likes to have a little party and celebrate with some fun before the real work starts. In true Japanese fashion, they have taken the American barbecue tradition and made it their own! Since I work within so many different departments, I was fed well during this season. When you think barbecue, you think hamburgers and hot dogs and potato salad, right? Not in Japan! This is time to break out the flat top and grill up some yakisoba noodles and kobe beef! The one thing that remains that does translate of course are the libations that are involved when work people get together off the clock.

     The first barbecue I got invited to was for Seisen-Ryo, the hotel here. Now the guys manning the grill weren't just some guy from accounting that thinks he is a grill master because he has a grill set at home he got for Father's Day. No, these were the people from the professional kitchen at Seisen-Ryo that were cooking up our food. Nary a burnt hamburger in sight, we feasted on some of the best 'barbecue' food I have ever eaten! The party went well into the night and after a few drink we all got to talking casually about things and of course people wanted to practice English with me. This was the first time I really felt at home here in Japan.

One of the front desk staff starting up the yakisoba.

The staff from the kitchen cooking up the most tender, melt in your mouth meat I have ever had. 

Not your every day hot dog--heavy duty, stick to your bones sausage over here.

Local Kiyosato sake--the bottle is now a flower vase in my room.

     In the international relations department, since there are so many American interns, we wanted to show our Japanese coworkers and the other interns from France what an American barbecue looked like. The provided us with sushi and we showed them things we either missed from home or we thought were musts at a cookout. The day also coincided with probably my favorite Japanese holiday tanabata--or the star festival. The story goes that tanabata

"celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively).The Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar". 

Pretty romantic concept if you ask me. One of the customs for this holiday is to write wishes on strips of paper and to hang them from bamboo trees. You can see these trees all around the city, even the local grocery store and J-Mart. This year it rained on the holiday, so not only did we have our cookout inside, but legend has it the star crossed deities couldn't meet this year. Tough break--there's always next year, right?

Obi-chan manning the grill. We told them we MUST have corn on the cob--of course we didn't have it dripping in butter. We couldn't go full American.

Of course there must also be sushi, right? My first time trying uni, or sea urchin. Japan finally presented me with a food I am not a fan of.

Jonathan, one of the interns from France, with our wine and potato salad and guacamole in the back. The idea that a food item is used to bring another food item to your mouth just blew everyone's mind. "I take this chip, pick up some of this green stuff, and then eat all of it?!"

Talk about fusion food.

Gon-san, Zack, Jaimah and me preparing our tanabata wishes.

Putting my wish on the tree!

I know my wish will come true--it already is!

The best wish by far came from Kazu-san.

     I am a firm believer that food transcends all language barriers. You don't need words when "mmmm" works just fine.

Until next time, 

         Charlotte

Tea Ceremony and Story Time at Seisen-Ryo

    
     So I know one of my main purposes here is to provide international exchange and share what I know and teach about my culture, but sometimes I am the one that gets to learn and those are some of my favorite days! Not only do I get to break the monotony of the work day, but I get to try something new.

     During the busy season at KEEP, Seisen-Ryo will cater to their guests by setting up a casual tea ceremony in the lobby. I say casual in the sense that guests can check-in and stop by for a quick cup of green tea before heading to their room. By no means is the setup itself casual. A few of the ladies that work in the different departments of KEEP are traditional tea masters and they so graciously showed me how to prepare a proper cup of green tea.  A lot more than you would think goes into this ritual which is best explained in pictures.

Sign inviting guests to come in an have a cup of tea.

It's all about the bamboo brush to get the tea nice and frothy.

First, I got to play the guest. You're first a served a sweet to coat your palate and prepare it for the bitterness of the tea to come.

Enjoying my cookie.

Receiving my cup of tea. Much different than a tea cup. The whole display of the tea ceremony coordinates with the season. The flowers there are to represent summer.

Now it is my turn to learn! The big ladle there is to scoop out the hot water into the tea bowl to wash it out, which you then pour into the decorative vase there. Then you use your special cloth to wipe out the bowl in a specific way, making the shape of one of the Japanese hiragana characters (like making the shape of an A). Next, you put two of the tiny spoonfuls there of the green tea into the bowl and then ladle more hot water in, then you mix it up with the bamboo brush there to make it all frothy. And voila! Proper green tea.

Frothing up the tea!

My first guests!

     Seisen-Ryo doesn't like to forget about the kids during the busy season! One of the women I work with, Hoshii-san, used to be a teacher before she came to Seisen Ryo. She has a whole stash of children's books under her desk and she puts on story time a few times a month during the summer. I got to be the special guest reader for this last time. The kids come after dinner, right before bed and we set up a story corner. This time Hoshii-san read from one of her HUGE Japanese books first.

Story time with special guest Charlotte File from America!

Large group this night.

     The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a very popular book here in Japan amongst children just like back in the States which was a nice surprise seeing as it was one of my favorite books growing up too! The kids were really excited when Hoshii-san got it out and then did the old bait and switch and got out the English version for me to read. Japanese kids are extremely interested in American culture so I was pleasantly surprised how well they listened. 

Special guest reader.

All the Eric Carle books are popular!

     At the end of story time, I get to interact with the kids. The parents like their kids to practice their English they have no doubt been paying out the eyes for. We give the kids some stickers, play some rock, paper, scissors with me (which is the go to way to settle anything in the kid world here) and just hang out. Then it's off to bed for the little ones and I go home and realize teaching will never and should never be in my future.

Rock, paper, scissors--or janken as it's called here.

Showing me his dormouse museum pin--you can see his extensive collection of pins on his shirt.

Family that comes to Seisen-Ryo every summer for vacation and know Hoshii-san well.

Until next time,
        Charlotte

Easter Services

     Easter is my favorite holiday in the church. I've always loved the Easter Vigil and the build up and anticipation. I was worried that this year I wouldn't really get to experience that because I was so far from my home church. Of course I should have known that whenever you walk into an Anglican church, it's going to be fairly easy to follow along, even if it is in another language. For the Easter Vigil, there were very few people there, maybe they were saving up to come on Sunday? There was no English program for me to follow, but luckily having my Book of Common Prayer there with me, I was able to use my deductive reasoning, educated mind, and handy Bible book translations I've been working on to follow along. Whether I got every single thing right wasn't really my concern, I just enjoyed being in the company of the five or so other people.


My supplies for the Easter Vigil--trying to keep up was easier said than done.

Before the Easter Vigil services.

Easter Vigil.

     REJOICE AMERICANS! We are not the only country with "Chreasters" out there! (People that only go to church on Christmas and Easter) There was a record turn out on Easter Sunday. All of the tatami and pews were full. I found that to be oddly comforting, a characteristic of church at home. After the services we had a really lovely brunch. I sat at a table with an uncle and nephew on holiday from England, the presiding bishop's parents and Mr. Kazunori, who invited me out to dinner with him and his wife and his daughter when she was back in town for Golden Week. They had lived in San Fransisco for many years until moving back to Japan recently. It was a really great time and made me feel like I was at home. I did get to Skype with my family that morning so that was a bonus, too!

Easter Sunday packed house.

The altar with the gifts.

All the children receiving communion.

One of the parishoners' sons made Easter eggs for everyone.

Father Shimada giving the prayer before the meal.

Great company during Easter lunch.

My really sweet Easter gift from my coworker Hata-san!

 Until next time,

                   Charlotte

Winter is Coming? It 's here.

     I apologize for the bad Game of Thrones joke, but I can't help but think I'm north of the wall and am going to see a white walker when I look out the window. As some of you have told me via Facebook, the news of the record breaking snow in Japan has made it to the U.S. which is a big deal. Here, it's not unusual for the Japanese to be extremely aware of U.S. news and policies (I've had discussions started by my coworkers asking about how many states gay marriage and marijuana are now legal in). I couldn't even begin to speak about what are the big issues in Japan, besides the snow, and I'm living here! To put you all at ease, I am doing perfectly fine. I haven't lost heat or power despite Mother Nature giving it her best attempt, as you tell from this article from Reuters and this article from The Japan Times. If you remember from a few posts ago Kiyosato is in the Yamanashi Prefecture, capital Kofu, which are both the focus of the articles. The amount of snow, 114 centimeters, closed KEEP. Most all of the offices closed on Friday when the storm hit and today was the first day a few of the offices reopened. So what has that meant for me? Well after finishing up my time at Shizen Gakko last Tuesday, I had three days off before I was supposed to go back on Saturday. Obviously, programs were cancelled due to weather, so there was no one to cook for, so I've been hanging out in my dorm for the past nine, NINE! days. I've gotten really into watching West Wing online. I did make it out to the 7-11 to get more food and it looked like the apocalypse had hit. All the bread and cereal AND cookies were gone along with most everything else on the shelves.The creepiness was taken to another level when the only other person in the store at 9:30pm with me was the store clerk who had a face mask on. While I know it's a polite thing to wear when you're sick, it just made me feel like I was in the middle of a zombie outbreak. Yesterday I couldn't really handle the cabin fever that was setting in anymore, so I bundled up, grabbed my camera and headed out around KEEP and walked down into Kiyosato itself to check out the storm damage. It's mostly pictures because talking about how many times I've painted my nails or done pilates in my room can get a little boring.

The path from the front door towards the bigger path that leads to the main road.

I totally understand how these things can kill you!

The path that's usually a road to drive to our dorm.

Looking from the road, over what is usually a parking lot to the restaurant of the Siesen Ryo Annex.

Climbed on top of a 7 foot snow pile to look out over the usual parking lot.

Because we're in the mountains, the wind whips around and creates these HUGE snow dunes.

Street sign that's about the height of a US speed limit sign.

Not quite sure of the type of bird--I'm not well versed in Japanese fowl yet, I apologize.

I should have know I was gonna see some wild life.

I believe the bakery has been open the whole time because I've 
heard my roommate get up every morning for 
her 4am shift-it's those West Wing binges.

More killer icicles that haven't been ripped off the roof by a nervous American.

The sign for church.

I now know the hill to church is do-able.

I may be able to get TO church, but whether or not I'll be able to get IN is another story.

Crossing over the railroad tracks walking into town.

While the town is pretty dead in the winter with most of the shops closed, the snow makes it even eerier. 

I'm really excited for summer to come so I can go to the Milk Pot...
who wouldn't want to go 
somewhere that's shaped like a tea pot?

A TEAPOT!

My favorite building besides the Milk Pot--the Green Prah. Have yet to figure out what it is.

We have one police car in Kiyosato. It will make it much easier to creep when I hear sirens.

Hill leading up to the train station. 

Truck taking away plowed snow...to where? I never found out.

Decorative train engine, but it gives you a scale of the snow amount.

What's normally, I would assume, a picturesque, lush, verdant area in front of
the train station. I wouldn't know it's
been covered with snow since I got here.  

Looking down the road through town that leads to KEEP.

Headed back up the hill...clock tower next to the Milk Pot.

The mountains over KEEP...it never gets old.

On the way back they had brought out the snow plow train.

Looking out over the mountains to the south.

I found someone's polar bear that escaped to his natural habitat.

The field where County Fair is usually held.

Three days ago every single one of those cars was covered in snow to their roof.
I don't know who did it, but they
 deserve my first born.

The path back to Lancaster.

I went out again today anticipating exploring up the mountain, but after I started and the road became not as cleared, the warning from my manager in an email saying "Don't go anywhere in the snow without staff" started repeating in my head. I decided to just hang around the rotary by the old Seisen Ryo building and watch the sun start to set. It's my favorite part of the day with the sun going down over the mountains. I climbed a huge snow pile and just sat and watched. 

The old Seisen Ryo lodge with the Paul Rusch statue. 

The Paul Rusch statue in the middle of the rotary.

View from atop my perch.

This couple tried to make their poor dog walk in the snow. It didn't work so well.

View of the Jersey Hut where they sell the famous soft cream.

Just wanted to send a post out to show I'm alive and well even in the heaviest hit area of Japan. 

Until next time,

Charlotte