Kimono, Kimono...HEIMONA!

There is a scene in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (you know you want to lay on the jokes, I know) where Toula Portakalos is reminiscing on her childhood:

Elementary School: the horror of Greek school (trust me and every Greek kid in Astoria, it's pretty bad) and "O Nikos ehei ena katsiki."

Junior High School: Her father daring her friends to give him "Any word and I can tell you that it comes from Greek."

Well, one of her friends took the dare and said, "What about 'kimono'?"

He pauses. "Ah I know! "HEIMONA" What do you wear in the winter? A rrrrrrrrrrrobe."

Winter being "heimona" and the robe a kimono.

Today, I went to a Kimono Taiken at Kyoto Station sponsored by the Kyoto International Prefectural Center. I had been originally denied to attend it because you had to apply for it. But I had a call back and due to a cancellation I was able to attend.

My kimono was a deep teal blue with a gold obi, both in a cherry blossom pattern. The zori were a bit uncomfortable and after putting on the kimono - I got to tie the obi by myself! - and began to walk around, I realized that I needed to slow the pace down.

All of us assembled on the grand staircase of Kyoto Station - quite a scene, 30 gaijin in kimono posing for pictures. A lot of people just stopped in their tracks and stared. Alot of the people wanted to take pcitures with me - those that were also wearing the kimono as well. Overall, it was a very nice experience - my obi wasn't heavy at all (obviously it wasn't the one for maiko!) although it did get a bit hot around the middle with the sashes, the folded kimono and the obi wrapping around you an all.

While we were playing the card games (remember the karuta from a previous post) a man was walking around and taking pictures of us. Turns out he was from the Kyoto Shinbun and proceeded to interview several of us, myself included. The Japanese version of the article is below, and this is the picture in the paper (I am on the far left):

色鮮やかな着物に笑み
下京　留学生ら着付け体験

外国人を対象にした着物の着付け体験教室が１１日、京都市下京区の府国際センターで開かれ、府内在住の留学生や外国人ら約３０人が日本の和装文化に親しんだ。
　同センターの企画に、京都和装産業振興財団が協力して開催した。新装きもの学院（下京区）の谷正美院長ら講師５人が、洋服と異なり、身長を問わず合わせられる着物の魅力や、若者の和装離や浴衣ブームなど和装をとりまく現状を説明。米国や中国、フランス、ウクライナなど各国出身の若者が、講師に手取り足取り指導を受け、着付けに取り組んだ。
　参加者は、すその長さの調整やえり合わせなどに戸惑いながらも、色鮮やかな着物に身を包むと、笑みがこぼれた。着物姿で京都駅ビルの大階段で記念撮影したり、かるた大会を楽しみ、日本文化を満喫した。
　ニュージーランド出身の英語教師ダン・ハリスさん(25)は「初めてだったが面白かった。とても着やすいし、快適」と喜んでいた。

Now, I want to wear a kimono for hanami - cherry blosson season. Chen says they are a bit expensive, but there are used kimono shops everywhere, its Kyoto after all!