Running Into People at Shrines

So since I had been up so late the night before with the virus issue I didn't really want to get up on Wednesday morning but I had to because I had a lesson early. So I hopped out of bed and rushed over to my lesson. I made it a little early and that was good. Lesson went well. I really like Sasamoto-sensei, he's very relaxed and patient which is nice. I learned some new songs which was fun too. After lesson I headed off to Akasaka which is very convenient to get to from Oji because the Namboku subway line runs from Oji to Tameike-sanno, the stop where I get off to go exchange my traveler's checks.

In the lobby of the building where I cash my traveler's checks there was a flute player this week, much like last week there was the woman singing opera. It was very beautiful to listen to. After I cashed my traveler's checks I decided to wander around the area. I especially wanted to see if I could find the shrine that I had passed the first time I had gone back to Akasaka this trip. I found it with no problem and took the escalators up to the top (otherwise I would have had to walk up a lot of stairs, and I do mean A LOT OF STAIRS!).

As I was riding up the escalators I found out that the name of the place was the Hie Jinja, basically Hie Shrine. After I got off the escalator I started to walk over to the place where you are supposed to wash your hands and mouth (I forgot the the proper name of it). It is custom before going into a shrine or temple to do this ritual. As I was walking over there I heard a distinctly Japanese voice from behind me call "Patty-san". To say the least I was a bit unnerved at having someone call my name somewhere that I was pretty sure I didn't know anyone.

I turned around and vaguely recognized the man who had called my name. I was pretty sure that he had been at my Ono class the first week I was there. I walked over and we talked a little bit. Sure enough I was right about where I had seen him and he proceeded to tell me that he worked at that shrine. I was amazed that of all the places to run into someone I had met this shrine was where it happened. He also told me that they were currently having a matsuri, or festival at the shrine and that he wouldn't be back for lessons at Ono until it was over.

I walked around the shrine a little bit taking pictures and what not. They had roosters there which amused me, I think they must have been a symbol of the kami enshrined there. After taking some more pictures and figuring out that there was supposedly a big matsuri on June 15th I walked back over to talk to my friend to talk a little more and ask him about it. Sure enough he confirmed that at 11am on June 15th there was going to be an oomatsuri (big festival). The festival lasts many days but the oomatsuri is really the biggest part of it I believe. We exchanged meshi and I told him that I would most definitely be back on the 15th.

After that it was getting kinda late in the afternoon and I wanted to get back to work on my computer some more. I hopped the subway and then the train back to the center. After grabbing some quick food I turned on the TV while I started working on my computer. I ended up having to go to the lounge on the second floor so that I could get an internet connection because I needed the internet to see what I needed to do to get rid of the virus and also update my virus software.

After what seemed like an eternity (it took me like almost 6 hours of downloading, scanning, and rebooting) I finally got the software installed and proceeded to run one more full system scan. Since it was going to take a while for that to finish and it was getting quite late I went back to my room to get ready for bed and watch some more TV before I went to sleep. (Yes I know I'm watching a lot of TV but it's good practice for my listening skills.)

As I was getting ready to go to bed I came across a show on TV whose opening scenes looked like they were from Columbia. At first I thought I was halucinating but sure enough the show was teaching English to students and was made at Columbia. I ran upstairs to tell Casey, she was up on the 2nd floor in the lounge on her computer, and we laughed at it a little as we watched a few minutes on the TV in the lounge. After that I went back downstairs and went to sleep.

And now I am off to get some lunch before I update again. I plan to get caught up today but one cannot type on an empty stomach. =) I shall return. Jya ne!