Let's Talk About My Awesome Weekend
Feb. 27th, 2006 11:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanBecause it was truly awesome. First, the sun was shining on Saturday, and it was warm enough to open the windows in my apartment. This is the first time this has happened in about five months.
Unfortunately, I spent all of Saturday indoors.
Why? Because I was hanging with old folks in the morning at the city welfare center. I'd been invited by two ladies I met while teaching a chili cooking workshop back in December. They're very sweet and I like them lots, but the icing on the cake was the presence of a woman I will call Obaatarian-san, who chaired the chili workshop.
This woman is the embodiment of old-fashioned Japanese femininity. She is always dressed to the nines, with her hair styled in an immaculate cross between a french braid and the Meiji-ear women's hairstyle. Her manner is the most peko-peko of everyone I've ever met. She is unbelievably attentive, concilliatory, self-effacing, and brimming with praise for everyone and everything else yet never seems tiresome or fake. She speaks oooolllldddd-style Japanese, replete with 'gozaimasu's and 'yoroshuu deshouka's and 'itashimasita's. The embodiment of old school Japanese femininity.
And she uses it lull opponents into thinking she is stupid. I am not exaggerating when I say that the sonjougo hides the iron fangs within. (Case in point: I backed into a desk during the chili lecture and knocked over a recycling bag full of tin cans. "Oh my goodness!" said Obaatarian-san, hand fluttering over her heart. "I thought your ass just exploded! Why, this chili certainly smells delicious." Me: :::bwaahuh?:::)
So anyway, I was thrilled to Obaatarian-san there. The two ladies introduced me, then disappeared while I sat a a long table with sixty-odd octogenarians. Then they reemerged, dressed in kimono and traditional festival hapi to perform one of the prefecture's traditional mugiya folk dances, main lady on the mike for some warbly enka-esque singing. It was awesome.
Then it was my turn. I busted out ye olde wooden flute and pennywhistle, and played some short sets (Cuachain Aindi/My Mind Will Never Be Aisy, The Christmas Eve Reel, Elizabeth Kelly's Delight/Elizabeth Kelly's Jig) for the folks, doing my best to summarise Irish Traditional Music: The Music, The Tunes, Phenomenon, all in less than half an hour.
Then they brought in buckets of rice, which I pounded into mochi and then helped roll in kinoko and black sesame to make ohagi. We next ate the ohagi with ozouni - a special New Year's meal at the tail end of February, and a nice treat since I'm usually Stateside for New Year's. The ozouni broth was made with fish caught that morning in the local port, and was delicious.
Then the old folks disappeared for an hour for a bath, and I chatted with the volunteers. The old folks returned, and a man did this awesome traditional bushi odori where he mimed catching, dropping, catching, and losing a fish. We played Owaraifuku - a traditional New Year's game like pin the tail on the donkey, I taught the guys peas porridge hot (you laugh, but Japanese people of any age are genetically incapable of learning this game), and finished up with a dice game where teams representing the two local districts went around the tables visiting famous city locations, which were represented by these gorgeous hand painted fans.
Then two o'clock rolled around, I was presented with a wall scroll and some cloth flowers (so they'll never wilt, head lady told me), and sent off with a round of applause. A most excellent time was had by all.
(I should add that, in true Japanese fashion, I never directly interacted with any of the old folks there. But still, a good time was had by all.)
That will be all (for now).
Unfortunately, I spent all of Saturday indoors.
Why? Because I was hanging with old folks in the morning at the city welfare center. I'd been invited by two ladies I met while teaching a chili cooking workshop back in December. They're very sweet and I like them lots, but the icing on the cake was the presence of a woman I will call Obaatarian-san, who chaired the chili workshop.
This woman is the embodiment of old-fashioned Japanese femininity. She is always dressed to the nines, with her hair styled in an immaculate cross between a french braid and the Meiji-ear women's hairstyle. Her manner is the most peko-peko of everyone I've ever met. She is unbelievably attentive, concilliatory, self-effacing, and brimming with praise for everyone and everything else yet never seems tiresome or fake. She speaks oooolllldddd-style Japanese, replete with 'gozaimasu's and 'yoroshuu deshouka's and 'itashimasita's. The embodiment of old school Japanese femininity.
And she uses it lull opponents into thinking she is stupid. I am not exaggerating when I say that the sonjougo hides the iron fangs within. (Case in point: I backed into a desk during the chili lecture and knocked over a recycling bag full of tin cans. "Oh my goodness!" said Obaatarian-san, hand fluttering over her heart. "I thought your ass just exploded! Why, this chili certainly smells delicious." Me: :::bwaahuh?:::)
So anyway, I was thrilled to Obaatarian-san there. The two ladies introduced me, then disappeared while I sat a a long table with sixty-odd octogenarians. Then they reemerged, dressed in kimono and traditional festival hapi to perform one of the prefecture's traditional mugiya folk dances, main lady on the mike for some warbly enka-esque singing. It was awesome.
Then it was my turn. I busted out ye olde wooden flute and pennywhistle, and played some short sets (Cuachain Aindi/My Mind Will Never Be Aisy, The Christmas Eve Reel, Elizabeth Kelly's Delight/Elizabeth Kelly's Jig) for the folks, doing my best to summarise Irish Traditional Music: The Music, The Tunes, Phenomenon, all in less than half an hour.
Then they brought in buckets of rice, which I pounded into mochi and then helped roll in kinoko and black sesame to make ohagi. We next ate the ohagi with ozouni - a special New Year's meal at the tail end of February, and a nice treat since I'm usually Stateside for New Year's. The ozouni broth was made with fish caught that morning in the local port, and was delicious.
Then the old folks disappeared for an hour for a bath, and I chatted with the volunteers. The old folks returned, and a man did this awesome traditional bushi odori where he mimed catching, dropping, catching, and losing a fish. We played Owaraifuku - a traditional New Year's game like pin the tail on the donkey, I taught the guys peas porridge hot (you laugh, but Japanese people of any age are genetically incapable of learning this game), and finished up with a dice game where teams representing the two local districts went around the tables visiting famous city locations, which were represented by these gorgeous hand painted fans.
Then two o'clock rolled around, I was presented with a wall scroll and some cloth flowers (so they'll never wilt, head lady told me), and sent off with a round of applause. A most excellent time was had by all.
(I should add that, in true Japanese fashion, I never directly interacted with any of the old folks there. But still, a good time was had by all.)
That will be all (for now).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2006-02-27 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-01 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-02-28 03:19 am (UTC)That sounds like awesome fun! And I didn't understand a word of it (well, the traditional-culture parts anyway). ^_^
It's lovely that you get to do things like this to balance out the irritating job and the back-of-nowhere living situation.
no subject
on 2006-03-01 07:40 am (UTC)Really? Are my family the only people who have a hand-clapping game to go along with the rhyme? Three people have asked me about this so far.
Here's hoping I get more lovely things to do to balance out the work drek.
no subject
on 2006-02-28 04:31 am (UTC)anyway, sounds fun! ♥
no subject
on 2006-03-01 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-01 01:53 pm (UTC)