Rain, Rain, Go Away...

...come again on a day when I am not supposed to be going out!

First, it was the night I went to Sam&Dave (a club) a few weeks ago when Chen came back. I took a taxi because I wanted to treat myself. And tonight, it's Salsa dancing at the usual place, El Coyote for my Russian friend Uly's birthday. I want to wear my Tory's but it's bloody nuts out there. Pfft.

How the heck is a girl supposed to look nice when it's raining cats and dogs! I am NOT going to risk my nice shoes in this mess; there is a big spot on my riding boots now that doesn't seem to go away when my wet shoes fell on it and I didn't notice till it was too late.

It has been raining ALL DAY LONG. Since exactly 9:18am according to my keitai. And not just a drizzle - a proper pissdown!

How do I know the exact time?

I had my koto lesson this morning (today, I learned a Japanese lullaby - now I need to get the words to it to file away into my brain for future reference). I woke up to the sound of rain and thought, "Dammit, have to spend 500yen on the one-day bus pass" (I need to take two buses to get all the way down to the Kujo/Tofukiji area, a little south of Kyoto station).

Then, as I got outside my apartment, I noticed that there wasn't any rain. So, I hopped on my bike, knowing somewhat that I am risking it. It was a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation: if I take the bus, it won't rain. If I ride my bike, then it will rain.

It started to rain, just as I arrived at my teacher's house. Ok, I thought, it's just going to be for awhile and there will be a lull long enough for me to get to Ogawa on Sanjo for some coffee and to dry off.

Man, the Shinto god of rain must hate me, if there is one. Since I am not sure, I invoke Zeus as the person upstairs that hates me at the moment.

It has not stopped all day. Good thing I know how to ride my bike whilst holding my umbrella; I went slowly and meandered through the traffic without a hitch, save crashing on my ankle which I did to myself but it doesn't hurt now.

My legs were soaked (the umbrella only works on keeping your upper half dry, since you are still pedaling). The stuff inside my Herve Bag (waterproof it is NOT) is soaked. I felt like a cold, drowned rat.

Plink, Plink...In Video?

Hey is this working?

Update: it DOES work! Enjoy the video...now you can all see how big the koto is (in fact its bigger than some of the girls who play it! I am just as tall as the 13-string koto, though I think the 17-string bass koto is a bit bigger than me). The song we are playing is San Dan no Shirabe. The first video is the first three minutes of it with all of us; the second video is the last minute and a half, with a close-up of me.

PLINK! Plink, Plink Plink...PLINK!

Last Tuesday was the Summer Concert with the Classical Japanese music club. Both Colleen and my koto teacher were there to see me; it wasn't the big "enso-kai" that will be in November. I am not even sure if I will be able to perform in that because I am not going to the training camp this August (and you have to go to training camp so that you can get better and learn more), but as I told my koto teacher, I am NOT changing my plane ticket. I can't - me being a TA this fall starts in September because the study abroad program goes on the American calendar, and I got my ticket even before I knew about the training camp.

I want to go home. And I was thinking about stopping the Classical Japanese Music Club - it's fun, but I am going to have other things to do this coming semester: TA, class with my advisor (which I told him that even though it was difficult, it helped me get me going with my research) applying to grad school, etc. Plus, these will be my last few months here (Midge: actually, I go home next March - the trip this summer is just vacation) so I want to enjoy them and make the most out of Kyoto.

However, this concert was fun, if not that many people came. We all wore yukata, or the cotton summer kimono. I got my yukata in yellow, with a blue and green obi; everyone liked it, and I was able to put the whole thing on by myself with a little help on the obi to make it nice and snug. Because the performance started right after my undergrad class (the one where I don't have to take the final) I actually went to class in my yukata; I think I got a lot of stares from the Japanese students, and some outside the set-up room for the performance where our koto were stored were actually surprised at the sight of me.

I ran around Kyoto the night before trying to find geta (wooden sandals) that fit my feet and turns out when my group performed we were barefoot, so I was a bit mad at that - 1700yen down the drain! But I figured I can use them for garden shoes or something back home, since it's a summer shoe and that means it goes home with me this August (I am making a list of things I plan to bring back). I messed up a bit in my performance - mainly losing my place - but I think I did pretty well. Colleen took video of me, but I do not know how to embed video from YouTube into my posts. When someone tells me to do that, I will upload it here. In the meantime, some photos of the Hogakubu (I still have to get the shots of me from Colleen, she took video with my camera, and photos with hers):



And of the shin-nyusei, or the new students. As you can see, I really stick out. I have a feeling that the popular yukata/obi color combos are blue yukata or pink obi or just alot of pink. I was the only one in yellow.

Have Bike, Will Slog

Something possesed me last night:

"Here is an idea, Maria - ride your bike to Kitano-sensei's (my koto teacher) house! It's ok if its south of Kyoto Station and is going to be 46 degrees out!"

Maybe it was the fact that I am going over budget recently, and I needed to save the bus money. Maybe it was also that after several days of incessant rain (and it rained last night too!) I was itching to enjoy the (cold) sunshine.

So, I hoofed it. On bike.

Oh but wait, the story gets better.

Higashi-oji Dori has narrow sidewalks at one point or another - so narrow in fact that there is only room for one person. It can be a bit risky at times; for the first time in my life I actually rode my bike on the street for several lengths of time. Of course I went slow. I always get to Kitano-sensei's house rather early, and I didn't want to sweat alot with the going-up-the-mini-hills brou-haha. Didn't the city works committees way back in the day when they paved the roads hear of LEVELLING it? Oh well.

At least there are only two big hills (Shijo and Gojo), as opposed to too many little hills on Kawabata/along the Kamogawa. I still had to take my sweater off. When I wear my navy blue plaid peacoat (many of you have seen this peacoat) I wear this gray, zippered cardigan from J.Crew. It's friggin' cold out, man!

It's important to mention this sweater right now. Most of you probably know that I am a very big devotee to that store (and that is still an understatement). All that aside, there is a nice memory associated with the sweater:

When I was 15, I got some birthday money from my Nouna (godmother) and my dad took me to the J.Crew store on Prince Street in SoHo - WAY before it decided that $158 cashmere sweaters were the norm as opposed to $48 merino wool sweaters (basic wool sweaters are now $68 - I wait till stuff goes on sale, as I always have). We were looking around trying to figure out what I could get with my birthday money, when my dad picked up a gray, zippered cardigan with pockets and a drawstring:

"Ah, I had a sweater like this when I was your age, but with buttons. This is a good sweater."

My dad used to work in the garment district as a furrier, making mink coats for designers like Oscar de la Renta, Calvin Klein, Valentino, etc. He once made one specifically for Vera Wang (the person). So when I go shopping, I go either usually with my dad, or ask him what he thinks either before I get it (online) or after, when I buy it.

I knew then that that was a good sweater. So, I got it.

Seven years (and many wears and trips to the dry cleaners) later, and I still have the sweater. There is not one hole in it. So I usually wear it in the winter when I wear short sleeved stuff, or as an extra layer. I was getting hot as I rode to Kitano-sensei's house so I took it off and shoved it in my bike basket. Never thought to put it in my bag.

Plink, plink, PLONK (my right hand is really not used to all the grunt work) and an hour later, I am making the reverse trip back up Higashi-oji. I had an errand to run - I needed to get my re-entry permit, since I am going abroad for Christmas. The subject of re-entry permits and my beef with them are the subject of a later post.

On the way, I remember that there was a shop I wanted to go to but it wasn't open yet. I keep forgetting that shops here open at 11, not 10 am. I go to a cafe and sit there for the next 45 minutes, drinking a weak and expensive (500 yen!) Cafe Au Lait. Coffee and Japan - another post. 11:15 am rolls around and the shop is still not open. Bah! I then head onto my errand for the morning: Kyoto Immigration Office.

I go to Immigration and fill out the application. In order to get the revenue stamp that says you paid the money for the permit in order to get the permit, you need to go outside the building, walk around the corner to another building and go to the Revenue Stamp Office. Japanese bureaucracy and my beef with that will be another post as well. Stay tuned.

I go to the office and get my stamp; I was in a bit of a rush. I had a craving for nabe-yaki udon from the cafeteria and I wanted to see if Chen was around for the usual time of lunch at 12pm. It was now 11:45am. I am biking back up to my house to get my books and laptop before I head to Rune (the cafeteria) when I realized something. I actually exclaimed aloud:

"WHERE IS MY SWEATER?"

I practically brake so hard that my bike squealed in protest. Good thing I parked it under the shelter last night - as I mentioned before, it rained AGAIN. I turn around, and go to the Immigration Office.

Not there.

I go back to the cafe where I had my coffee.

Not there.

The shop that I was waiting for earlier was actually open by now so I decided I might as well check it out. The minute I parked my bike, it hit me:

I left my sweater at the REVENUE STAMP OFFICE, not the Immigration Office. I was so tired at this point, I had no choice but to continue my morning slog. I leave the shop, head back to the Revenue Stamp Office. It was closed. I had forgotten that Japanese offices actually have a set lunch hour, usually from 12 to 1. I actually bang on the door, praying that someone was there. Luckily, someone heard my banging and when I said I regrettably forgot a greay sweater (as that was the direct translation) she handed it to me.

O thank god. My sweater has been restored.

Unfortunately, no nabe-yaki udon. It was already 12:45 by the time I got back to my apartment so I went for the next best thing:

Piza-man and Bifu-karee-man from the Clocktower coop shop.

Plink, Plank, PLONK

Do you have ANY idea of how hard it is to tune a koto?

It took me over an HOUR and a HALF to tune that damn thing. I was trying to utilize the internet as a means to help me tune the piece of string crap that is the "o-koto" and it wasn't helping much. I kept on getting more confused, as there are DIFFERENT means ot tune the koto.

Bah!!!!

I wanted to practice the songs I learned today in my koto lesson. Thing is, my teacher tunes the koto somewhat differently in terms of placing the bridges, even though the tune is the same. So for now, I will just tune it the way I know how to tune it and just pay close attention to my teacher's tuning. When my ear gets good enough, then I will move the bridges. For now, those suckers stay put. I take no risks whatsoever. I have alot to practice this week - for just one hour, we covered quite a bit.

Luckily, I found a website for little kids that plays the note on each string one at a time. With my new nifty Korg electronic tuner, I played the note on the website and figured out what the note was, then adjusted the bridge for each string accordingly. This was progress after 1 hour and 10 minutes of glaring at that thing.

Plink!

The Koto on the Bus Goes Plink, Plink, Plink...

Today, I had my first koto lesson.

The koto is a 13-stringed traditional Japanese instrument that is played on the floor. It's like a zither, but 6 feet long. A.k.a. a little bit taller than me. I have my koto lessons at my teacher's house for one hour every Monday, from 9-10. At least, that is the schedule that we established today. She knows that I am a student and I have classes every day that begin at 1pm so I told her I need to get back up to Kyoto Uni (she lives near Tofukuji, a little south of Kyoto Station but not too much) so I can prepare for my classes. Takes about 45 minutes total to get from my house to hers, with walking time factored into the bus ride.

The koto, to say the least is a bit tricky. I played the flute for about 5 years back in junior high and high school so I sort of remember how to read a scale - not that I need to, koto is played by the string number but they did translate it to a scale, but right now I don't need to worry about that for the moment.

But...I am left handed. The koto is played with the right hand. My coordination and manual dexterity in my right hand not only needs to be worked on, but man will it get a workout.

Tuning is going to be a bit tricky. Right now I am relying on my ear but I hope to get a small tuner to help out a bit.

So my teacher and I go through the scale; she has a koto and sets one up for me.

Plink, plink, plink.

Kneeling on the floor is really hard, especially when your left knee has been acting up since you get to Japan. My teacher sees me fidgeting and chuckles - she, of course is used to kneeling on the floor.

Plink and slur up the scale, plink and slur down the scale.

Lesson is over; my teacher tells me to pack up the bridges (they raise the strings off the board and serve as the means for tuning) and tells me that I am taking them home.

Huh? Why would I need to take bridges home?

I have my own koto picks ($25 for three! Yikes - but I got a box for it so they are well protected) but bridges?

Right now, there is a koto in my room. A 6 foot koto, with bridges, a music stand to hold my book and the stand that raises one end of the koto from the ground. In my house. For the next year and a half.


I brought it home on the bus. I carried it to school, to class and home. It's not everyday you see an almost 6-foot tall gaijin girl carrying a 6-foot long koto. From the teachers at Kyoto Uni I got words and looks of encouragement; from the people one the street, I got looks that clearly said, "WTF?"

Along with my one hour lesson, I intend to practice one hour a day, every day. Even if it means to just plink away for the moment. But, if my basic plinking gets good, then I will try a song called "Sakura, Sakura." It's in my music book - still simple plinking, but instead of going just up and down the scale, I plink all over the place.

OoOoO - a challenge.

Plink!

Dum, dum dum...DUM!!!

I got my ticket today.

OH MY GOD. I AM REALLY LEAVING.

When, you ask?

October 3 - JFK to Narita, departing at 1:30 pm EST. Arrive in Narita October 4 at 4:20, have a connecting flight to Itami Airport near Osaka at 6:15, arrive 7:30pm Japan time. Someone from JASSO (Japan Student Services Organization) will meet me at Itami.

In a way, I am in shock. Because I knew that this was coming all summer, and to have it in your face - or rather, on your computer screen in the form of a e-ticket on PDF - is a bit daunting. I was expecting for JAL To contact me sometime like next week, but the first (full) week of September! Damn! They are prompt. I don't even have my visa yet, which will be rectified tomorrow. Must. Go. To. Japanese. Consulate. TOMORROW. AT. 9:30. AM.

I have to get two suitcases. My other one broke falling down an escalator at the Heathrow tube station in London and I don't want to go through the nightmare of carrying a 35 kilo duffel bag with no wheels again. I almost broke my wrist. And I don't like this thing of a 20 kilo limit...I am a GIRL. And a girl has shoes. With coordinating sweaters.

Not that I have like 20 pairs of shoes (HA!) but I do have a few pairs that I need/want/must bring with me.

Then again, I think I do have 20 pairs of shoes. Not like I wear all of them.

My mom is all depressed now. She KNOWS that I am leaving. Like, for REAL now. She berated my sister and I (again) on how she does not like this "traveling business" (Leah, like me, will study abroad in her junior year in Italy, then wants to do a Fulbright in Greece). I told her its not our fault that we chose fields that require travel. Hell, I am going to Japan on (practically) a free ride. Does she have to worry about paying a $2283 plane ticket that is one-way to Japan? I think not. But again, she is a mommy and when I was going to London it was her in the end that was telling me to go and my dad getting all depressed. Before, it was my dad ready to pack my bags - he was the one asking me at 13 why I wasn't going to Manhattan by myself yet (I still wasn't allowed to go to the main shopping drag that was walking distance from our old house at 13).

Going along the theme of foreboding-ness that is permeating this evening, along with anxiousness and excitement - did I mention that I SKIPPED down the hallway in the law school this evening when I finally got my ticket? That was me in my "OoOoO!" phase - which lasted a minute. Now I am thinking of all the crap I have to do before I leave - Mel and I went to Philadelphia this Labor Day weekend and we came back in two whole pieces (each of us counting as a piece). Ernesto was pouring buckets of rain on the city of brotherly love, so Philly was a bit deserted. I wanted to go to Antique Row (bought a lovely cameo bracelet that is probably from the 40s) so we took the SEPTA line that goes north and south.

Now then, I have taken the NYC subway by myself at 3 in the morning and gone through the South Bronx on the 6 train. Of course, there are dangerous spots that a girl wouldn't go to - the N train at 3 in the morning from 34th street is quite safe. When a father in an admissions tour asked me if the trains were safe, I was honest - I told him it depends on which line and which time of day and said my 3am anecdote and he blew up on me saying that the trains are never safe. Ignorant little person. Anyways, I was never nervous taking the subway on my own at 3am (granted that was only one time). However, I DO NOT LIKE the SEPTA. Never had a never been more terrified in my life - and Mel was a bit shaken up too. I turned my ring on the inside - and I NEVER have to do that in NYC. The SEPTA platform was deserted, had a disgusting smell and you really couldn't tell who was a homeless person. Mel said that it should be really called "SEPTIC." The smell was worse than 34th street (remember the 9 Circles of Hell?) on a 100-degree, 100% humidity day. My mother used to take me to 34th street every Wednesday when I was younger - dad and grandma used to work in the Garment District, so we would have lunch at Macy's - so I know that station pretty well. SEPTA was much worse.

I did get my deferral letter from UPenn when we first arrived. It was a very "happy" deferral letter, saying congratulations and "we wish you well" and whatnot. According to the secretary, I should be contacted soon by the department about the Ph.D. program - but in EALC, not history. When I said that I will most likely apply for the Ph.D. the secretary replied "No problem, I will just transfer your file there and reactivate your application so that you don't have to pay the fee again." Score! I just saved myself $90. Phew. UPenn is nice - Mel and I each got tshirts, although his is from Wharton (the "dream" business school) and mine is regular UPenn. I can see myself going to school there, University City is nice. But Harvard isn't that bad either. I think those are my top two now.

I was a bit disappointed by the Philly Museum of Art - it looked like there was going to be this HUGE museum like the Met, but it was very small compared to it. However - and I thank Cat for this - there was an actual Japanese teahouse in one of the Asian galleries, which I really enjoyed. Here is a kicker though - in a video on the side of the gallery, they presented a Japanese tea ceremony, and had koto music playing in the background. I actually recognized the tune - I have it on my iPod. My mouth just dropped, what a coincidence! And it was my favorite one too - I only have 4 but hey, I do have a favorite. Koto music puts me to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, I have to go sleep. Or try to. Every since I got that ticket, I can't help but feel a bit more excited.