Japan | Zen Meditation and Projects
I overslept today. I slept in for about 20 minutes ( I know it's not a lot but my mornings have routine ). I must have hit okay on the alarm rather than snooze when it first rang at 7:20. Anyways, my morning routine was pretty much the same but at faster tempo. Make breakfast, get ready, chat with my folks. And as always I had toast and egg for breakfast ( my roommate complained about having to eat the same thing almost everyday, and I was about to tell them off, because I do ALL the cooking, washing and used to buy all the groceries). I usually change how I make my eggs or what spreads I put on my toast to spice it up a bit, so it is not all that bad.
Class came and went like it usually does. We learned some new vocabulary words (that I have already forgotten) and we start the new grammar tomorrow. We also have a quiz on Thursday and the project is due on Wednesday. I'm a bit angry about a project, they expect us to write a college style report in Japanese when our Japanese level is below fluent.
Like always I forgot to take a picture of my lunch, but I had chicken, rice and red sweet bell peppers. Also, during lunch I interviewed Jun for the project I have for Komura's class. I had fun because I kept asking him questions in different pitch voices. I made him laugh quite a bit. Something I did take a picture of was my snacks! I had pudding (flan) tart and a matcha swirl bread. They were both super yummy (especially the tart).
After lunch we all set fourth and walked all the way to Taizo-in Temple. In this place I learnt that Zen meditation is very painful and I would not recommend it to any one. We had to sit in a really weird position were both our feet had to be on top of each leg, it was painful. We had maintain that position with perfect posture for twenty-minutes...longest twenty-minutes ever. Also, if we lost concentration (because we couldn't close our eyes) we would smacked by the stick. Two people got smacked but I don't know who it was, and I couldn't turn to see cause it would like I lost my "concentration". Once the dreadful meditation lesson was over, the priest gave us a tour around his temple. The gardens were beautiful.
Taizo-in is well know for it's story about catfish and the whole idea of catching catfish with a bottle or gourd...I didn't quite get it either.
Once the excursion was over I returned to the accommodations with Franz so we could finish our group project. It took us about one or two hours to finish, but it was mostly because we would get off topic really easily. Oh! and Franz bought shrimp flavoured potato chips! It tasted okay, not bad but not good either.
When we finished our project Franz and I went to a Mexican restaurant up Sanjo-dori. I know...I know...why did I eat Mexican food in Japan? I don't know, I wanted to see if it was any good (it wasn't). Especially since Japan has such great french desserts and Italian meals.
After the disappointing Mexican meal we crossed the street and enter a cute little French bakery where I ate the most delicous dessert ever. I don't even know what I ate, but it was fruity with raspberries moose and jelly, thin layer of sponge cake circuling the border, semi-thick/hard chocolate moose (maybe) and thing layers on white chocolate....and it had macaroon as decoration! I am so returning to that bakery. It felt like a fancy party in my mouth.
When we returned to the accommadations once again, I wrote the corrections on my report and then cooked the bento for tomorrow's lunch. I made Curry....the hispanic version...meaning I used the curry sauce as a seasoning for the minced meat that I made...
Tomorrow I get to go to a tea ceremony class! I am pretty excited!
After lunch we all set fourth and walked all the way to Taizo-in Temple. In this place I learnt that Zen meditation is very painful and I would not recommend it to any one. We had to sit in a really weird position were both our feet had to be on top of each leg, it was painful. We had maintain that position with perfect posture for twenty-minutes...longest twenty-minutes ever. Also, if we lost concentration (because we couldn't close our eyes) we would smacked by the stick. Two people got smacked but I don't know who it was, and I couldn't turn to see cause it would like I lost my "concentration". Once the dreadful meditation lesson was over, the priest gave us a tour around his temple. The gardens were beautiful.
Taizo-in is well know for it's story about catfish and the whole idea of catching catfish with a bottle or gourd...I didn't quite get it either.
Once the excursion was over I returned to the accommodations with Franz so we could finish our group project. It took us about one or two hours to finish, but it was mostly because we would get off topic really easily. Oh! and Franz bought shrimp flavoured potato chips! It tasted okay, not bad but not good either.
When we finished our project Franz and I went to a Mexican restaurant up Sanjo-dori. I know...I know...why did I eat Mexican food in Japan? I don't know, I wanted to see if it was any good (it wasn't). Especially since Japan has such great french desserts and Italian meals.
After the disappointing Mexican meal we crossed the street and enter a cute little French bakery where I ate the most delicous dessert ever. I don't even know what I ate, but it was fruity with raspberries moose and jelly, thin layer of sponge cake circuling the border, semi-thick/hard chocolate moose (maybe) and thing layers on white chocolate....and it had macaroon as decoration! I am so returning to that bakery. It felt like a fancy party in my mouth.
When we returned to the accommadations once again, I wrote the corrections on my report and then cooked the bento for tomorrow's lunch. I made Curry....the hispanic version...meaning I used the curry sauce as a seasoning for the minced meat that I made...
Tomorrow I get to go to a tea ceremony class! I am pretty excited!
Simply a girl who loves tea, blogs about her ever exciting life and wants to make her dreams come true.
0 comments: