Chinese dumplings

Toki and Yu invited a few of us to their dumpling making session on Saturday, Aug. 8. I got there at 6pm when they were still make dumplings, so I helped out. Everyone said it was good, but I actually think my (my family or the Taiwanese family recipe) dumplings taste (way) better than theirs. Perhaps it is because I am used to a certain taste, but theirs did not have that type of flavor. We can do nothing about the dumpling wraps if we buy the cheapest one, but we can definitely control the flavoring in the stuffing. Nevertheless, I ate a lot.

The dumpling party was fun as we (women) all ended up making fun of Liang because of his obsession with anime, manga, and American superhero movies, and trying to help Liang (the only male present) with getting a girlfriend. I had lots of fun.

My Tennis Partner

Soo from Korea, first my badminton then my tennis partner, is leaving tomorrow morning (Aug. 11), one day before other people in the two month program leave. We played our last game today. It was very fun, and we stopped playing because I killed a mosquito after killing him unintentionally, and had to go wash off the blood on my leg. I got some mosquito bites today, and they are very itchy.

Soo gave me a present, a memo/notebook from her work, The Academy of Korean Studies, in which there is a nice bookmark and Soo's kind words to me. I was so touched! I had nothing to give her except my thanks and photos. We say that since we both want to go to Korea and Taiwan that perhaps we can meet up at some point in the future and take the trip together. I hope to make it come true! Soo has been my classmate in the comprehensive/integrated Japanese and kanji classes. She has always been very quiet but always has interesting ideas. I really like her and hope to keep in touch.

Yummy cake

Jody from Canada invited a few of us over last night (Sunday, Aug. 9) for cake. We brought soft drinks and had the yummy canned fruit sponge cake. I had two pieces. Jody then gave away various of her belongings because she said she could not take it with her. I got various things, but liked the nice pants for the hot weather and vitamins the best.

Indian Party

Saigoto organized an Indian Party last Friday, Aug. 7. He asked and got many people's help with cooking (I think they might have cooked most of the foods with Saigoto's instructions). I left after one hour because he told me I have no brain (literally in Japanese, which actually doesn't make sense in Japanese), after I wanted to wash vegetables while he was rinsing cooked rice (this is a story I will have to tell in person).

I enjoyed the foods very much at the party, but left after one hour because of another incident. Julio Cesar told me that not ever take his pictures again. This happened after I meant to take pictures of two other ladies, but included him as he stood in the background. I felt very emotional after that (this is also because this was not my first photo incident. After the Russian Party more than one week ago, two girls asked me to take off pictures from My Picasaweb because they thought those pictures looked inappropriate, in which they were dancing with Julio Cesar). Anyhow, I called Mariana, my next door neighbor from Mexico, to talk to her about it. Then I got really emotional as she expressed empathy, and I cried in front of her. I felt bad but had no good control over it.

When I left the party, not many people were dancing. But I heard that people later danced fairly wildly. I missed out on some good photos.

Yukata

Last Friday, Aug. 7, we had the cultural experience of wearing yukata, which literally means bath clothes (bathrobe). It is the informal traditional Japanese clothing. I got there early and picked up a cream color yukata with red flowers on it, since I know I look good in red. The effect was fine. I think I look better in the red yukata I bought. You can see them in the pictures and judge for yourself.

We get to wear the formal clothing, kimono, in November. We are told that it is because it is more of a winter clothing since there are multiple layers. The kimono is also much more expensive. The yukata teacher showed us a used kimono used for brides at wedding ceremonies. That one kimono costs 2,000,000 yen ($20,000 US if you assume the exchange rate is 100 yen to $1 US) and it is not the most expensive kimono.

Bon Dance Practice

We had a 1.5-hour rehearsal (from 7:30pm to 9pm) for the traditional Japanese folk dance called the bon-otori (Bon dance). Yazawa-sensei tells us that the Bon Dance differs depending on what Japanese town you are in. We have the actual event next Friday, Aug. 14. It is a such a big holiday that all university libraries will be closed from at least Aug. 14 to Aug. 16. Some are even closed from Aug. 8 to Aug. 16. I know this because I had to revise my one-week intensive research plan to public libraries instead of university libraries.

Most people at the rehearsal tonight were young men, as in late teens to early twenties. Most women were elderly women. Many children came also. It was my first time being in this type of environment, especially around mostly young men in Japan- their hairstyles are interesting. They were the ones who sang and played the instruments as we danced.

The young men formed the circle outside while elderly women formed the circle inside. Dancers would chant/sing from times to times with the main singer and the music. I look forward to the real thing next Friday when everyone puts on yukata (men too?).

Ikebana

My Ikebana at the Receptionist desk.

Most of us in the program had our Ikebana lesson today (Aug. 5). Ikebana literally means "the way of flowers." It is flower arrangement. I thought my Ikebana looks funny until toward the end, I think I got used to how it looks. The instructor did not make much adjustments to my Ikebana, she said it was pretty. For most other people, she made more adjustments. I wonder if my pot was actually good or if she did not want to help me as much. I requested her help but she kept on going to other people without their request. Thus she did not come around until the very end, after a staff asked her for me.

We had to do a lottery drawing to decide where to put our vases. I ended up in the receptionist desk. Yes, it means everyone, including non-program participants such as guests can all see my Ikebana...

Russian Party 8-2-09

The Russian speakers and I.
I was in the Russian traditional clothes.

I had the best/wildest party thus far in my life on Sunday. The Russian speakers (Russians and former Soviet Union countries) organized a party where we had Russian speakers' snacks and alcohol with games and dances. I had the strong alcohol (not sure from Ukraine or Russia) and the yet-to-become wheat-based alcohol.

You can get an idea of how much fun and how wild the party was by looking at my picasa page (although as of yesterday I deleted some pictures that might be considered too "scandalous" by the persons in the picture at their request).

I won a beautiful plate by winning the first musical chair competition (did not know beforehand). I did not participate in the second competition. I also got to wear the traditional Russian clothes as you see in the picture.

I was busy taking pictures most of the time, especially toward the wild dancing part.

Japanization

I swore that the program is trying to turn us into Japanese. The Institute is turning us into Japanese planners.

For our incoming one-week intensive research period when we have no class, we have to create our research plan by ourselves, but we must obtain permission from our advisor in the Institute. So far so good. The time-consuming characteristic of this process is we have to write down our travel and accommodation plan. In particular, the travel plan is most time-consuming. We have to write down every station and the train company that we use (every transfer), along with the train fare for each transfer. The return trip must be written out one by one. This explains why it took me over 3 hours to make two separate plans (things happened). I am currently on my fourth/fifth research plan because of the train/bus and/or the library closing days (national Bon dance holiday). I hope I can finalize my plan by Monday so I can buy my Shinkansen (from Osaka to Tokyo) and bus (Tokyo to Osaka) tickets.

I heard a second-hand info that "Japanese love to make plans." I have always been in the habit of making plans to the last detail but with flexibility, and without much formality (as in typing out on an excel spreadsheet). The program provides the excel template, but we have to fill in each cell with care. We must submit the form next week in order to get travel and lodging money. After we return from the research period, we must submit the actual travel route (train company and station names with fare amount) and what we actually did in each library/archive.