Dancing and A Harp Concert

Ok, so I’ve fallen behind again in posting. This time however has been the worst by far. Here it is Thursday and I haven’t updated what I’ve done since Saturday. Sorry guys. I’ve figured out a way so that this doesn’t happen again. I’ll write up my blog in Word first and then post from there. That way I don’t have to worry about devoted lots of time to sitting in front of my blog at one time catching up on days. But anyway, let’s begin shall we.

So here is Saturday’s update. Since I had gotten in a little late from having dinner with our new friends at Kunitachi College and Casey the night before, not to mention hopping on the computer for a little, I was tired Saturday morning. I got up a little late after enjoying sleeping in a bit. I didn’t have a lesson on Saturday but instead a samai class. Samai is the dance that is performed with a lot of gagaku music. Also, after that I was planning on going to the concert featuring the Irish harp player I had met the night before.

After checking some directions and train times out online I came back to my room to get ready for the day. As I had been doing with all my classes so far I arrived early, mostly because I didn’t want to be late to my first lesson at each new place. Also, I seem to have gained the role as official goaisatsu person which requires me to arrive early with a box of chocolate. Let me explain briefly what I’m talking about.

So back when we had the orientation meeting Terumi-san had left a large bag of boxes of chocolate from Columbia in my care. It is a custom in Japan, similar to other places, to bring a gift the first time you go somewhere. In our case especially since we are being taught by not only famous musicians but members of the Imperial Court group we have to bring chocolates the first time we go somewhere or the first time we are being taught by a new sensei.

The term goaisatsu basically means that I introduce myself humbly and kinda grovel a little saying please regard me kindly and all that jazz. So since I had received this bag of chocolate whenever we go somewhere as a group I have ended up bringing the chocolate and arriving early to perform the goaisatsu. Either that or if the group of shos need chocolate I have needed to make sure they got it before they leave for their lesson. So far I have given it to Casey to take, mainly because Todd isn’t staying with us and Michael is too aloof, damn Germans.

So anyways, I arrived early and Terumi-san showed up slightly after me. We goaisatsu-ed and then as we were going to go to the classroom to wait for the others seeing as how this was a group class of all four of us plus others, the three sho players arrived with our sensei. Class was nice. It was interesting and some of the moves reminded me of either ballet or bharata natyam (the Indian dance I did in college). Class was scheduled to end at 5pm but I think they went a bit over. I don’t really know since I had to leave right at 5pm in order to make it to the concert on time.

As soon as I got on the train, however, I noticed I had left my camera in the classroom, I had been taking pictures of the others in the class dancing. I ended up getting an express train and actually got to the station near the concert hall about 45 minutes early. I got in touch with Terumi-san and she told me she had given the camera to Michael. I wasn’t happy about that, but whatever. Since I was hungry I used one of my McDonald’s coupons and had a cheap set meal before I went over to the concert. I was worried that I might have trouble finding the place, but the directions that the guy gave me ended up being just about right and I found the hall with no problem.

Before the concert I even got to go and talk to the harpist a little more. I gave her my business card. (Terumi-san got cards made for all of us, we got them at the orientation meeting. It’s customary to give a meshi (business card) when introducing yourself formally or otherwise and I’ve actually found them to be useful.) She even gave me a copy of her latest CD before the concert, I was really happy. The concert itself was wonderful. It started at 6:30pm and ended at about 9pm with only a 20 minute intermission. I’ve always found Irish music moving but with Japanese singing with it I was truly touched. It was really so cool.

After the concert I got to talk to her some more and hopefully I’ll get to see her again later this summer or early fall when she’ll be in Princeton, NJ for another concert. I said bye to her and hopped on the train to come back, knowing it would take over an hour to get back. I was indeed tired when I got back and so I just wanted to get my camera and go to bed, but Michael was asleep and apparently he sleeps like the dead because I knocked on three separate occasions and he didn’t answer.

I knocked on Casey’s door too and then I went upstairs to see if I could find her. Sure enough there she was on the computer, why she couldn’t answer her phone though I don’t know. Anyway, I found out from her that we didn’t have the Shoga class Sunday and so I didn’t have to worry about being up early and I had a free day, Yay! I ended up online for a little and made plans to have dinner with Yuka on Monday night at 7:30pm.

And so, on to Sunday!

First Group Lesson With Sho... and Harp Music?

So Friday morning I ended up getting up a little later than I had originally planned. I hurried to get showered and ready for my first group lesson with the shos and then hurried upstairs to talk to some people really quickly. The location for this particular lesson was about an hour and a half away and it was my first time going there so I didn't want to be late. I left for Kunitachi, where I was having my lesson, right from the computer room and got there relatively quickly.

Once I got to the campus, however, I discovered my instructions had no specific room listed for where I should go and the campus was pretty large. I tried to call Michael because I knew he said he was planning on going early because the sho teacher had offered to give them an extra lesson. He didn't answer his phone. Next I was going to try Todd because I knew he would have a phone on him, but then I remember he hadn't had it yet the last time I saw him and so I didn't have his number. Since he was going to stay here a while and he wanted a plan that gave him a lot of texting he didn't get a phone right away. Needless to say I was getting annoyed and frustrated. At this point I tried calling Casey, because I thought she might at least know where the room might be even if she wasn't there. She didn't answer either.

I was really getting pissed at this point. It was almost 1pm and I had been trying for about 10 minutes to get a hold of people. I called Terumi-san and explained that I couldn't find anyone and that no one was answering their phones. She said that she would try to get in touch with Nakamura-sensei, the sho teacher, and that she would call me back. I wandered around for a bit and Casey finally called me back. I asked her if she knew where the lesson was and she gave me a vague description that was only slightly helpful.

I wandered around some more and Terumi-san called me back. She said that she had called the administration office and asked them if there was a class and where it was. They told her where it was and she tried to help me find it over the phone. I finally found the building and thanked her. However, as soon as I hung up I had trouble finding the room. I wandered around until I finally found a room off to the side. I peeked in and discovered Todd and Michael sitting on the floor with their instruments. I was very annoyed at this point because I had been wandering around for about almost 45 minutes so the first words out of my mouth were "does no one answer a phone anymore?"

Apparently Michael had left his phone here at the center and of course I didn't have Todd's number. Michael said he had no idea I was even coming and Todd agreed. I was a little annoyed about this two because they obviously don't read the schedule. All the days with pink writing are combined group days. After I showed them that Todd was much more kind about the whole situation. Michael, however, was still being an ass. I don't know if it's because he's German or if it's just because he's older but he really has a whole holier than though attitude. He wanted to just keep going with their practice so I really didn't do anything for the first 30 minutes after I found them. That was fine with me, however, because I was hot, sweaty, and angry so I didn't feel like playing right away.

After a little a girl showed up who was a sho player. She played with us a bit and tried to help me with one of the pieces that I was having trouble with. After a little while longer another girl showed up who was going to play the koto and she helped me with counting, which is very difficult with four sho playing against one ryuteki. Finally, toward the end two other girls showed up. One played the shoko and the other one alternated between a couple of instruments. At about 4:30pm Todd took off because he was meeting some friends for a party or something. Then at 5pm our first Sempai that showed up said she had to go to because she needed to go home. At that point well all cleaned up to disband because the last two girls that arrived wanted to go to a harp concert/lecture that was being given (though at the time I thought it was only a concert).

I asked if I could come too because it sounded like fun. Casey ended up going with me but Michael didn't come, though I can't say I was sad about that. We got to the hall where the performance was and ended up sitting in the front row. I was surprised because I wasn't expecting an Irish harp or Irish music. It was a nice treat and even though Casey couldn't understand the Japanese speaking parts I think she liked it. The harpist was from Mayo in Ireland and the two people playing with her are actually Japanese but play Irish music. The man played the flute, multiple ones actually, and the other woman played the concertina and a smaller harp.

After the lecture/concert I got to speak to the harpist, she was very nice. I also got to speak to the flute player and he said that they still had tickets for a concert the next day. I was very excited and arranged to have a ticket waiting for me at the 6:30pm concert the next day. I also got directions on how to get to the concert hall from the dance class I was going to be at on Saturday. After arranging all that Casey and I left with our new friends to go get some dinner nearby. We ended up having dinner at MOS Burger, Japanese style fast food. It was very good and I must try it again at least once more before I leave.

After MOS Burger we said goodbye to, I believe her name was Rie-san, and then Casey, Asami-san (?), and I went to get on the train because she actually lives near where Casey and I are staying. On the way home we actually ended up having a nice conversation. Casey would speak in English, because she doesn't know any Japanese, Asami-san (?) would listen to practice her English, and I somewhere in the middle would try to translate, especially if she didn't understand what Casey. We left her on the train at Kita-Urawa where we got off and went back to the center. I got online for a little while to talk to some people but since I was tired I didn't stay on too long and went to bed. And thus ended my Friday.

Apologies Again!

Sorry everyone for not writing in a long time again. As usual I've been busy running around all over the place. It's Sunday evening over here and I can't believe I haven't posted anything since Thursday. But seeing as I have some free time now I shall fix that. So here I go.

Thursday morning was misty and gray. I got up kinda early and went upstairs to talk to people online and update my blog =). It was a free day for me so I decided I was just going to laze about and recover, especially since my foot was still hurting me. Damn evil shoes. But anyway. I chatted with my dad a bit but since I had gotten up early and was a yawning I figured I needed food. I came downstairs to find I had missed breakfast here in the cafeteria by about 30 minutes. So instead I got dressed and went to 7-11 to get something.

After a short bike ride to get my food and come back I ate quickly and went back upstairs to talk to people some more and finish catching up on my blog posting. After spending quite a few hours online I finished my blogs and since it was early afternoon here that meant that it was early morning there so everyone online had gone to bed. I decided that I would go back down to my room and watch some TV and stretch out on my bed. I had only been in my room for maybe an hour when I got a knock on my door. It was about 4pm.

When I opened the door I found Casey standing there looking a bit upset. I knew something bad had happened. She proceded to tell me that she had lost her sho the night before. I was sad for her but at the same time I kinda felt like "well what do you want me to do about it?" She said she remembered having it in Akihabara and thought that maybe she put it down in a store. She said she had gone to the police and back to a couple of stores looking for it but no luck. She asked if I could record a message for her on her little portable recorder so she could play it for the store people since she couldn't speak or understand Japanese.

I figured writing out a note like the police had would be a better idea. With the help of the people at the front desk I was able to write a little note saying that Casey didn't speak Japanese and had lost a small black bag the day before. It also asked if something like that had been found if they could please return it to her. The nice man at the front desk who was helping me also included a small drawing of the bag with its approximate dimensions. I gave Casey the note explaining what it said and how a note would be better since it would be easier for the store people to read it than try to listen to a recording.

She thanked me and I wished her good luck with finding the sho and reminded her again that if she didn't find it that she should contact Terumi-san right away and not wait anymore since it was almost a day already. I went back to watching some more TV and ended up falling asleep for a little bit. I woke up just a little before midnight and went back upstairs because I had promised to talk to some people online. The room was ridiculously busy so I ended up using one of the laptops up there. I talked online for a little over an hour and then came back down to go to bed because even though it wasn't that early I did have my first group lesson with the shos at 1pm on Friday.

And there's my Thursday, now on to Friday. =)