Kayoko's Kids and Tea Ceremony

Kayoko’s Kids

Last Saturday I woke up early to go play with kids. Kayoko had invited Jenny and me to her preschool for mochi pounding (making a doughy type food out of rice). It was so much fun! The kids were adorable, although exhausting, and overall it was a good day. It did get a little messy….but that’s just part of the joy of children, I guess. At the end, the principal of the preschool insisted we stay for lunch, and we had some great Japanese food with the teachers and parents who had come to the school that day. I realized as well, a bit to my dismay, that I have suddenly become very fond of children. I kept thinking how nice it would be to have a kid, and had to stop myself suddenly each time this hated thought popped into my head. I have too much to do still and I’m only 24. I don’t want children till I’m over 30 for sure. I guess my biological clock is trying to push the issue though, but I will not let it win! Damn you ovaries, you are not going to fertilize anything anytime soon – just accept it!

That night, another friend of ours named Yoko had agreed to show Jenny, Carlos (another JET from Vancouver) and I how to make some basic Japanese dishes, and the idea was to have a nice little dinner party afterwards (somebody tell me, what is my life turning into – dinner parties? Me??). However, Yoko’s significant other came as well, so it ended up being Yoko, Jenny and Carlos in the kitchen, and me and the boyfriend drinking wine and shooting the shit in the living room. I am such a man sometimes. The food was great though, and all together we had a nice quiet dinner party. I passed out happily at midnight – ah the days of staying up till dawn dancing at some random Toronto nightclub seem so long, long ago now.

Tea Ceremony

Woke up early. Again. When did I start waking up early on weekends? I love sleeping in, so I don’t know how I keep agreeing to these things that force me to squander my precious weekend sleeping time.

Today I had agreed to go to a tea ceremony with Fumi and Jenny. Fumi is the lady who’s amazing enough to teach me Japanese for free. We went to two ceremonies in one day, which is a bit unusual. In one, we got to sit in proper chairs and be served. For the other though, it was traditional style so we had to sit in seiza (sitting on your knees, with your legs tucked under you) the whole time. I have a fair bit of experience with seiza, since I practice martial arts, but the tea ceremony is still the most grueling example of what sitting on your legs for a long time can do to you. For the first few minutes, it feels ok, but this is a short-lived feeling. Next is mild discomfort. Then the pain starts in. After that, if you have good mental fortitude, you survive to the next stage – tingling. Following tingling is complete and utter numbness. You feel as if you have no legs. You raise yourself a little bit or shift around a tad, and can now feel greatly disturbed as you marvel at the fact that it seems as if your legs don’t exist from the knee down.

If you manage to get past all that and continue on further still, at the end of the ceremony you get to make a fool of yourself by trying to stand up and finding that your legs will not in fact support you, causing you to fall over or remain helplessly slumped on the floor, unable to move until someone helps you. The first time I did this I fell right over and had to have my legs massaged back to life. This time though, I learned a little trick from one of the Sensei’s I work with – before getting up, turn your toes down, and lean back on them hard a few times. I don’t know how, but this works! I tried it this time and was actually able to get up with only minimal pain and discomfort. It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t end up with me lying prostrate on my back in front of the dignified tea master either. Jenny did really well considering it was her first time, and only required minimal assistance in getting up.

I am definitely getting a lot more used to sitting on the floor in general though. My feet used to fall asleep so easily, but it takes much longer now, even when I’m in seiza. Sometimes I even prefer sitting on the floor to sitting in chairs now. It’s strange, but it sorta makes you feel more in touch with your surroundings when you sit on the floor. Maybe I’ll keep it up when I get back home…..

I also really love the tea they give us at tea ceremonies. It’s a special kind of green tea that is really high in vitamin C and other things, and so is super good for you. There are all these rules to follow for drinking the tea (like turning you cup a certain amount of times, drinking from it 3 times, making a sound at the end, etc) but that’s what makes it so much fun. It really does teach you patience, and leaves you with a sense of peace. Although, perhaps that’s just from all the endorphins released into your blood stream as a result of the pain. Hmm…