Japanese Tea Ceremony

Yesterday I had the awesome opportunity to attend a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony.  Most of you are probably laughing because if you know me, you know I absolutely detest tea.  Sun tea, iced tea, hot tea, sweet tea, chai tea...it doesn't matter. I seriously dislike tea.  But - I am a sucker for cultural experiences and I have been wanting to do this tour since I arrived on island (almost a year ago...!!!).  So I jumped at the first chance I got with my friend Jennifer.

The tea ceremony was held at this woman's home in her tatami room. She has visited 27 different countries to teach others about tea ceremonies and travels to Taiwan almost every month to perform them as well.  Tea ceremonies are typically performed by the Japanese at the change of every season, always for the New Year, and also when there is an important event to celebrate. They usually have a guest of honor with the other guests there as just observers, helping to celebrate.  They have strong roots in Buddhism, but this woman is a Christian and so incorporates Christianity into her ceremonies.  You'll notice her collar...she is actually a pastor, along with her husband, who doubles as a well-known doctor here.

First, we walked through the "zen" garden...lots of bamboo and beautiful plants. Then we washed our hands and mouth in the water to cleanse and purify ourselves.  Japanese tea ceremonies are all about purity, harmony, peace, etc.  Purity is the most important aspect, meaning both in mind and body. As our "sensei" (teacher) said, your heart must be pure as well.

Next, we took off our shoes (Japanese never wear shoes inside, and especially not when eating/drinking - this goes for a majority of the restaurants here on the island as well) and then crawled through this "doorway" (a.k.a. very small hole...no way is it full sized!) into the tatami room.  After greetings, she chose the "guest of honor" and explained the scroll, which changes each time. Ours had the Kanji (Japanese writing) symbols for purity, harmony, etc.

Then our sensei prepared the tea, which involved grinding up tea leaves and adding them to the water, stirring, whisking, some other stuff... as previously mentioned, I don't know much about tea... then they began serving us.  Her daughter was our server and wore the traditional Japanese Kimono with an Obi around the middle.

First we were served a small treat and then the first round of tea. 

Everything is very ritualistic. If I am remembering correctly, this is how it went:  She hands you the mug, bows to you (Japanese bow all the time for everything to show respect). You return the bow, take the tea with your right hand and rest it on your left hand, turn to your neighbor and say (in Japanese) "before you", rotate the cup clockwise twice to turn the 'face' of the cup away from you, inhale the tea 3 1/2 times, rotate the cup the opposite way, wipe it off four times with this cleansing cloth thing, and hand it to your neighbor. 

Then they served us more sweets, and a second type of tea.  Now I will tell you that this is NOT any normal type of tea that we drink in the States.  We drink "British" tea and this is Japanese tea.  Didn't know there was a difference, did you?  Me either. The first tea was dark green and the consistency of a very, very thick soup.  I have no idea how to explain the taste...to me it was like spinach, maybe?  I will admit I faked the last 2 1/2 sips... I just about gagged on the first sip.  The second tea was better and lighter, but still much thicker than regular tea.  We each got our own cup of tea that time, and each was very beautiful and had a special meaning that our sensei shared with us.  My cup had "water" symbols painted on the outside, "wind" on the outside, and Kanji lettering that meant "please come again."  Other cups were gifts to her by important people (one an American General) and others were from Korea or other countries.

The whole thing was such a great experience.  I am always amazed at the way the Japanese let us into their lives and culture given the history of why we are on this island in the first place. They are such kind people!

Japanese Language Class

This week I took a Japanese Language Class and I am now fluent!  Just kidding. Far from it! In fact, I think I need to re-take this class because it is HARD!  It was every day for 1.5 hours around lunchtime.  It was very interesting because we got to learn a little about the culture too, since they are so intricately tied together.  A lot of the things my mama san does make more sense to me now.... like why, when I gave her a Christmas present (tipping is considered insulting in Japan. And you all know how I feel about tipping anyway!LOL), she brought me a bag of chips and a box of cakes the next week.  Apparently giving cake means "thank you" to them, like instead of writing a Thank You card they give you cake.  Good information to know. Weird, but good.

She also brought me two bags of chips the other day for no apparent reason, although the instructor explained that when you do a favor for someone it is appropriate for them to give you a small gift of food that they might think you like.  Since I took her to the base pass office I guess she brought me chips for this favor. She must think we eat a lot of chips!!

The people in my "class" were really starting to annoy me though.  One person asked how to say "Shut Up" in Japanese so she could say it to her husband without him knowing.  Umm.... okay, lady. No one thinks you are funny.  The instructor was Japanese so of course she didn't "get" it.  The Japanese are very, very polite people so they would never say "Shut Up" and there is no translation for this phrase.  Which she would have known had she paid attention at all on Day ONE of being on this island!  Another guy asked how you would say "Excuse YOU" if someone bumped into them and they didn't apologize... again, this is cultural, they are used to living on top of each other in very little space and so do not pay attention to slight bumps in a store or what not.

The Japanese are also superstitious about the number Four, or Shi, because in their writing it means Death.  So in hospitals, they do not have Room #4, you do not give someone 4 flowers, instead you would give them 3 or 5, etc.  So one guy thinks he's being cute and asks, "Well how would you translate it if you were going to a funeral with four dead people?"  Of course the instructor is totally confused and tries to explain it again... this guy just thinks it is funny. I just do not understand some people!

Anyway, the class was overall very good, but I will need to carry around my little book with me for awhile when we are out and about to practice. I should probably repeat the class again before going on to the Level II class.  The Japanese must think we are all so ignorant - they grow up learning English in grammar school and beyond so most of them have some knowledge of our language and yet we are so ignorant of theirs.  And we are guests on this island yet show such a lack of respect for their customs, traditions, etc. Living here makes you very much aware of your own culture and while I am so proud to be an American and all that we stand for, sometimes I am embarassed by our rudeness!

Just my random thoughts for the day... more to follow later.  Oh, and I just got HAPPY NEWS from hubby, can't share specifics but at least there are more firm details in place now. Yippee!

Things that Make Ya Go "Hmm..."

I have been creating a mental list of all the things in Okinawa that you would never see or hear of in the States.  For example, only in Okinawa would you see:

1. The Cheeseburger-on-the-Dashboard:  Okinawans love to decorate the dashboards of their cars.  It's weird.  Most commonly you will see very large stuffed Cheeseburgers, which I think is hilarious.  Second-most-popular award goes to Long-Furry-White-or-Pink-Fluffy-Material-Covered Dashboard. 

2. "I'm Old" stickers:  If you are over 75 it is a law that you MUST put one of these stickers on the back of your car to "warn" people.  Of what? That you are old, I guess.  They also have them for new drivers, but those are optional. Hmm...

3. Parking in the Middle of the (Very Busy) Street: Perfectly legal and absolutely acceptable.  See picture below:

And, only in Okinawa would you NOT see:

1. A Detailed Road Map.  They just do not exist.  And the maps that do exist are completely vague.  More like X marks the "in this general vicinity" spot.  Given all the back roads, alleyways, etc., this is a problem for me.  Given that I spent my life in Virginia tied to my Garmin and Yahoo! directions, this is a very large problem.

2. Street Names.  Like in the U.S., every street has a sign and it's labeled "Duff Avenue" or whatever, again they just do not exist.  It baffles my  mind.  So directions consist of "Turn lef at the SanA (grocery store) or 3rd stoplight on your right."  Most of which are incorrect, which results in me spending half my Okinawan life being lost.

3. Car Seats.  I've mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating.  They just don't believe in them.  You'll be parked at the stoplight and there will be a 12-month old and a 3 year-old hanging out the front passenger side window grinning from ear to ear!  The few who do use them will put them in the front passenger seat, rear-facing, while other adults ride in the back. Interesting theory there.

I'll try to find more pics of these interesting things for you to really see.  Until then, I'll be out on the streets finding my way around :)

Domo Arrigatou!

This means "thank you" in Japanese.  Actually, there's a third word, Goziamu, or something, that goes with it, but I have no idea how to spell it, so I left that off.  Anyway, this will be the post of what I am THANKFUL for here as we wrap up our first week on Okinawa.  And what a week it has been!

First, I am ridiculously thankful for our friend Jen and our sponsor, Josh and his wife Kayla.  They bought stuff for us prior to arrival. They picked us up at the airport. They hauled us around in their cars.  They helped me get the cats to the kennel\ and the vet. They have made us breakfast, taken us to buy food, and gone out to dinner with us.  They've babysat our kid and wiped my tears when the housing fiasco came down (read on).

Here are some pictures of us last night with my friend Jen at a local Sushi restuarant. We even sat at the tables with the traditional Japenese-style seating with mats on the floor.  Yummy!

Second, I am thankful that today we received our Japanese driver's licenses!  We both passed the test and are now considered Professional Drivers by Japanese standards.  Ha!  If any of you know me, you know that is FAR from the truth :)  Tommy thinks I should take the 8-hour remedial driving course on Saturday....  We hope to purchase our cars this weekend sometime.

Third, I am thankful that while it was a very, very stressful proccess, I think we have finally found a place to live.  It has been a long 24 hours.  We received a call yesterday while we were at our Orientation that they had a housing offer for us (we are required to live on base right now - a subject for a later post).  After some technical difficulties getting through to them, we learned that they had offered us two places, but both were in Towers Units (something we did not want - been there, done that in college) and - the
KICKER - did not allow pets.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Neither offer was pet friendly.  So my cats, who I paid about $2,000 to get here and sweated, swore, and cried over getting them on the plane, and who have been sitting across the island in a 3x3' kennel for the past week, were not going to be able to live with us.

I immediately started bawling. It was horrible. I was so upet. And I was in the middle of this Newcomer's Orientation crying my eyes out.

Of course all this happened at the close of business, so we had to wait until this morning to do anything about it.  It was a long night. Tommy went to the housing office in person to talk to Kokomo, or whatever her name was, while I was taking my driving test.  She offered us some Tier II (read: soon-to-be-torn-down) multiplex units that were pet friendly and gave him the keys so we could go look at them.

Again, I started bawling.  I do not want to live in housing that is going to be torn down in a year!!!!

I was so upset.

We decided that Josh (sponsor) and I would go look at them while Tommy took his driving test.  I felt so bad for Josh.  Here I am sitting in his car crying with my 2-year old kid and he has to drive me around to all these places that I really do not want to go to.

Fortunately, before we ever went into the first place, we ran into a neighbor there who gave me the 411 on the cul-de-sac.  He put things in perspective for me by giving me the high and low points. Ultimately, I decided to give it a chance, and I am actually happy to report that the first place had been spruced up (I won't go so far as renovated) quite a bit.  The butt-ugly hospital-tile floors in the other two places had been replaced with hardwood floor (or laminate) that was very nice, and all the appliances had been replaced with new or near-new ones.  The yard was nice and there is a great playground very close to the place.  The only real problem is that it only has one very, very small full bath.  With the soon-to-be second addition to our family, this will be very tight given the toddler toys, the infant bath, etc. that will be crammed in there.  But, it will do.  I felt much better after that, especially since the other two units were - well, let's just say... not updated like this one :)

So, I think we've found housing.  Tommy is doing some unit check-in things right now while I stay here with Wyatt, who is napping.  Then we'll move on with that process and hopefully get to move in on Monday or thereabouts.

Wish us luck!!