A rant while having some tea

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It was time for us to move on again. It is very tiring to constantly being on the move, never staying in the same hotel for more than 4 nights at most. On the other hand it does break up the time wonderfully - it makes it pass very quickly. We are never any where long enough to get bored. The plan, as of last night, was that HB and I would stay at the hotel in the morning, giving her some much needed downtime. But as I said yesterday, plans change and I am always the last to know. So why should today be any different. We all left the hotel at 10am, ready for another action packed day.

Today we were off to the Golden Palace. Not much to say about it, except it was really gold. Somebody built it in the 13 century for some reason - probably to show how wealthy he was. As we walked about in the cold and wet, it struck me just how gold this place was. If this was in England, half the gold would be missing, but here it is all present and very shiny. This is also the place where Mrs G seemed to suddenly go off of me. For a long time after this event I am about to describe she barely spoke to me, and when she did it was always to criticise. Where possible I was kept out of the way and told that I needn’t worry about joining them for meals! Not that I particually cared as it meant that I got extra time to myself, which is always welcomed with open arms. I found out later (from the Housekeeper) that Mrs G actually asked their previous nanny before the one before me if she could do the second half of the trip. Gasp! I also learnt that this nanny turned them down for reasons I will have to keep to myself. Gasp again! When I found this out, I laughed. At the same time that Mrs G started treating me differently I was wishing to go home and not have to do the 2nd half of the trip. I always say that you can tell what a family think of their nanny or whoever works for them, by the way they introduce you to their friends. My last job was always ‘Oh this is Anita, she is our Mary Poppins!’ in this one ‘Oh, this is the nanny’ - I don’t even have a name anymore. Can you feel the difference? If you can feel that difference, and not just see it then you can understand how I feel.

So what was the terrible crime that I had committed that was worthy of such treatment? I told HB to listen. What?! No, I must have hit her or shouted at her! Nope I told HB to listen. For most of the visit she had been with her mum singing the same 2 lines of a song over and over again. Then we came to another hut or something, that had something interesting about it. Motoi was telling us about it - it had something to do with tea ceremonies. HB was doing her usual walking in circles around someone. So I told her that we needed to put our listening ears on because Motoi was telling us something. She looked at me as if I had told her to jump into a shark tank. Then she turned to Mrs G and said do I? Mrs G turned to me with a look on her face as if I had told her HB to jump into a shark tank. She demanded that I tell her what I had asked HB to do. I told her that I had asked her to put her listening ears on. I then got a full lecture on how I have to explain things to her, and that I can’t expect HB to understand what is being said. OMG what the bloody hell does she think that I have been doing these past 5 weeks. It has never bothered her before - why now? Of course I would explain what was said, but I was always brought up to look at and listen to someone when they are talking. Then if I didn’t understand what was said I would ask. That is a basic principle you learn at school. Also you have a better chance of understanding and learning if you are looking at the person and standing still. Of course I would explain what was said. But I cannot listen and explain at the same time. I need to listen first before I can put it into words that a 5 year old could understand. To me it is manners - if I am taking the trouble to explain what is about us, she needs to take the trouble to listen and pay attention. I totally refuse to treat HB like a royal baby. UGH. It really annoyed me, it still really annoys me. Do tell me if you think I was being unreasonable. So that was it.

From there we went on to a house of some women who make Kimonos for the Nobe Theatre (Japanese Opera). It was more a visit for us to experience the tea ceremony. The tea ceremony is a tradition as old as the country. I found it an honour to take part in it. First we had to purify our hands by washing them in a hot spring outside (even that was a ritual in itself). Then we had to crawl through a tiny hatch to get into the special tea ceremony room. I am sure there was a reason for this other than to make you look like a bit of a prat. Once in the tea ceremony started. Each person is given their tea one after the other. I was last, it took about 10 minutes before I had my tea. When you received your tea you had to bow to the person that gave you your tea, then you picked up the bowl which had been passed to you so that the front of the cup was facing you (personally I couldn’t tell the difference between the back and the front). Then you picked it up and bowed to the bowl, this represented thanking the person who made the tea. You then had to turn the bowl around and drink from the back of the bowl. The tea was a luminous green colour and scolding hot. You have to drink all the tea in one go, with slurping noises. The louder the slurps the better. It shows that you are grateful and are enjoying the tea. I obviously had a fit of the giggles, which makes it very difficult to drink. I partly chocked that tea down. After finishing the tea you had to put the bowl down and turn it round to face you again (which you had to do in 3 turns using only your right hand to turn while your left held onto the bowl). Leaning on your elbows you had to bend down and admire the design on the bowl while going mmmm. Then bow again to everyone. I kid you not - you had to do it that way. It was a bit of a pfaffy way to make and drink tea. While you are drinking the tea the lady who is making it is doing her own little rituals that have to be done for each bowl from the beginning - this involves lots of folding and unfolding of a cloth and putting and taking something out of a box. I am glad I took part, but it is not something I plan to start doing when I have friends over for a cuppa. After the ceremony it was back out the ridiculously small hatch and walk round to another part of the house to admire the Kimono. In the 25yrs that they have been making them they have only made 15 between 3 of them! No wonder they are astronomically expensive.

Before heading off we had a short stroll through a bamboo forest. That was different. It wasn’t like a normal walk in a woods, it felt like an enchanted woods. The bamboo was just so green that it was almost unreal. I didn’t think bamboo grew that tall but these bushes, or whatever you call them, are just as tall as trees. Did you know that in one day a new shoot can grow 5 ft/152cm in one day! That is the equivalent of growing the size of me in a day (yes for you that have never seen me - I am very small, and those that do know me, don’t look shocked you know how tall I am). I found that fact amazing - maybe a little bit unbelievable. I thought that brambles grew quickly at 3 inches a day. I remember when I learnt that in a biology lesson at school. We were watching the god that David Attenborough is in the Life of Plants, and it showed a speeded-up view of a bramble growing. It was rather creepy actually, like something from the Day of the Triffids. I left that lesson thinking that brambles were going to take over the world. HA. How funny.

From there it was back to the van, which was still at the house of these ladies. They were still standing there waiting for us to leave, and then only went in when we were out of sight. We had a quick lunch back in Kyoto in a speakeasy cafe, mmm good old American food, before heading out to Yabanaka. The drive took about 4 hours, I slept for about an hour, but HB slept the whole way. YAY. That was shut a big deal as she never takes naps, and it is very tricky getting her to sleep in the car or plane. We didn’t arrive at our Roykan until gone 8. Far from going to bed, we were subjected to yet another long meal. With just as many courses as the last one. Luckily I had the beef option that was made up from cows that have massages and listen to classical music. Most of the meat came in different states of rawness. Eck. However, if was a far better option than the fish that everyone else had. Which included fish that lives at 400 meters in the dark - rather like the one from Finding Nemo that tries to eat Dori and Marlin and lights up. Lucky them.

So that is another day over, so all that is left to be said is ...

To be continued ...

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Photos

The Goldern Palace
See very gold.

Hot Tea
Trying hard not to giggle to much

Bamboo forests
Oooo enchanted.

Comments

[Heather]

I really enjoyed your photos and detailed Japan post! I haven't been there yet but am hoping to make it the next time I visit Korea. I hear it's so wonderful! My blog is looking for travel reviews, photos, etc, to share. If you have the time, check it out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com, or email me at [e-mail]. Continued fun on your travels! Heather :)

[Susan]

I sometimes forget that you are far, far ahead of us on your journey - that you're not feeding it to us in real time. I'm so sorry things became tense. I cannot imagine not being introduced by my name. I hope that things get better at some time, and will cross my fingers. You will ALWAYS be *our* Mary Poppins!