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Published: April 24th 2006
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Pretty Kyoto
A park near the center. Written on Sunday
Since so much is happening in the first few days I'm here, the first posts will be mostly events and logistics - not too much on thoughts and insights.
So, day two / three we met our host families. My host mother works for Shiseido, a cosmetics company. When I asked her what she did there, she gesticulated indicatively and spouted a tone of words I didn't understand. My host father works at a pickle plant. Rockin'.
Waiting at the center to be picked up was one of the most nerve-wracking events of which I've ever been a part. It's hard to describe what makes it so scary, but all of the ways to mess up, irritate or annoy, fail to understand culturally, etc. begin to run through your head. All the negative "What if?" questions consume your thoughts, and there is no backup. We have no cell phones yet, and we get no internet on weekends, so when we were picked up early on Saturday, this was the last time we would be able to use English to communicate until two days later. I've never felt so utterly alone.
However, my host family
Me in Japan
Let my stunning visage pierce your soul. Unfortunately, the purpose of this image is to capture me and the gate, and I'm blocking it. *Sigh*. turns out to be very nice. We have two cute dogs - one small white curly haired thingy and one beagle. One of the biggest culture shocks so far, oddly, has been those dogs - they only respond to Japanese commands. I don't know why, but it feels strange to have to speak to them in Japanese. Incidentally, the language barrier is so profound - I'm quickly getting good at pantomiming just because I feel so constricted by my inability to communicate. I'm going to try to get an electronic dictionary as soon as possible, just so I have some backup when I need to communicate an idea but have no method of doing so.
After being picked up, we drove for quite a while to an area on the outskirts of the city. Situated in the hills, the house is very nice and fairly large. I've been given two rooms, an area a little larger than the main room in my Toyon dorm but divided down the center. It feels much larger, however, because there is no furniture. I'm really feeling how much I've overpacked, with all of my suitcases and no furniture in which to unpack them.
Huge entrance gate
Huge traditional entrance gate in Kyoto. Nonetheless, it is a ton of space for me to fill, and quite beautiful. I have a tatami mat floor and traditional rice paper sliding doors. They even got me a heater (it gets cold here still), but I don't think I'll use it. Electricity is far too costly.
After dropping off my stuff, we went grocery shopping which was lots of fun. My host mother wandered around grabbing all sorts of foods I don't know, bought me a futon cushion, "Happy Night Harmony" sheets, and went to a sweets shop. Turns out it really isn't hard to eat anything: food is food, and if you don't think too much about it you can definitely smile while eating anything. Before I left, the vixens of Toyon 139 fed me seaweed - do you three remember my reaction? Essentially, it might be said that I did not enjoy it. At the sweets store, for reasons I will never fathom, was a candy that was essentially sweetened salted seaweed jerky. It was stringy, fishy, excessively sweet and salty. And people love it.
Grin and chew.
We stopped by a Buddhist shrine on the way back, where there was a
Shrine
A small shrine sandwhiched between a 7/11 and an extremely digital traffic sign. Since they were there first, they just sit there while modernization happens around them. cute couple getting married. Check out the pictures. I took part of some ritual without warning, but it was brief and no one appeared to mad at my presence, so I guess I didn't mess up too badly. Learning to mimic will be a big focus of this trip.
Anyway, after heading back, we watched TV for quite some time, just killing time. My host father works until like 8 in the evening on Saturdays. Hardcore. I spent a while unpacking, and almost committed a serious cultural faux pas. My host mother gave me some hangars, but I wasn't quite sure where to put them (remember my room is uber-minimalist). So I indicated the closet and asked if they should be put in there. Turns out, though, that a god lives in that closet. Whoops. (The lips above the sliding doors have grooves to put hangars in, if you were curious). It's kind of cool having a god sleep in the closet next to you, even though it means I'll have wrinkly clothes. 😊
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kelvinv
Kelvin Vuong
God is Here...
...and living in your closet. how odd. hope he doesn't mind your playing the guitar. maybe it's just one step towards being a rock god in japan. glad to see you're enjoying japan. and stop pantomining...you're not playing charades.