9/21/2001

7pm Kimura House
There is so much I want to write about today- but first I have to try to remember yesterday! After class G went to change money (again) and we went out for lunch. We were hungry for sushi and found a place with nice-looking plastic sushi. We went in and were greeted by a hostess in kimono. Immediately we knew we were in trouble. Hostesses usually mean expensive. The sushi wasn't on the menu and it didn't look like the type of place where we could take the waiter outside. So G ordered what was a whole lot of raw fish (no with rice, just the fish) and I ordered something that looked very much like fried something. I assumed beef, pork, or chicken- worst case scenario fish. But I took one bite and it wasn't any of those. I choked down 3 of the 5 and made G eat the other 2. After lunch our goal was to find "Ray's" and experience Kyoto pottery.

We only got a little lost, but we did eventually find it. We had a very nice teacher whose name I don't have with me. She showed me how to make sake cups and G how to make a vase. G went to town and made a nice vase. I ended up with a huge scrap pile of clay under a wet towel. My sake cups were always too big, the clay too thin, and the mouth too big. I tried to say it was wabi/sabi but she just shook her head and said that only tea cups can be wabi/sabi. She compared the rim of my cups to a beautiful mountain range, and started laughing. G made 1 vase and put some feet on my sake cups. I made 2 sake cups and a bowl, maybe it's a tea bowl. By the end I was pretty frustrated.

Then came the bill. As the man who I assume was Ray came out, a woman brought out some cups with Calpis and little chocolates. For both of us instructions and shipping home pottery to my house it was Y9700. It seems a lot to me, but Dr. Prescott said it's pretty cheap.

We came back and indulged in hand lotion, then ate dinner. After dinner we found out there was a 7pm meeting. We went to that and I took a shower. Soon after, Meghan had a french fry emergency so we went to McDonalds. We got there just as they were closing but got food anyway.

When we got back to the Hostel there were tables set up with snacks and the dining room floor was cleared. Apparently, Norio wanted us to have a party with his staff members. At about 9:30pm he made an announcement, "It is now time for dancing. Please come down and dance now." The lights turned off and the music started. I didn't really know any of it, but we all danced anyway. The Australians came down and we all had a great time. It was just the experience we all needed to get over the bad stuff that's been going on.

Someone even took out the Emergency Only flashlights and we played with those for a while. I felt right at home making patterns on the ceiling with flashlights.