In addition to reviewing what we learned last week (there's a lot of bowing and speaking humbly to people, the words aren't so hard to remember but the 'when's and 'who's are a bit tricky) we learned the proper way to open and close the door, in case you're the first or last guest to arrive. Served this week were the same tea as before and sweets called Kiku komoro (菊衣), the first part of their name being a type of flower, the second part meaning coating or clothing. The best way I can describe them is that they're a bit like slices of swiss roll, if all the jam were concentrated into one lump, and they weren't wrapped into a full roll. Except with red bean paste instead of jam and something entirely different instead of sponge. Nevertheless, they tasted good, went well with the tea and represented free food in the name of study!
Classical Japanese is still proving interesting - due to the more intense way I was taught it at SOAS I can still keep up with minimal preparation, and the lessons feel pleasantly laid-back. I'm still reserving judgement on which teaching method I prefer, but I think if anyone asked me I wouldn't mind trying to teach it myself someday. A quite unexpected touch to how C.J. is taught at Nanzan (though it makes perfect sense) is the use of music - today we listened to a song sang on miner's steam trains from the late nineteenth/early twentieth century.
Ever mindful of the future, I was considering the one course at SOAS that I failed last year - Modern Japanese Literature. For those of you who are not yet aware, the result of this course was judged entirely by two essays, both of which I turned in shamefully late. I got permission to retake the course this year, not attending lectures but e-mailing the essays to the Faculty Office, who will handle the printing and submission for marking side of things. There was one book I already knew I wanted to write about ("Paprika" by Yasutaka Tsutsui), and which I had bought on eBay during my first week in Japan. However, I was starting to worry that it may have been lost in the post, and resolved to read some other stories as possible candidates for my second essay. I borrowed two anthologies of "Modern" literature from the library, only to arrive home and find my copy of Paprika to have arrived, along with several heart-warming communications from home.
"In this moment, no one is pulling me down into the ground." -Fyfe Dangerfield
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| Japanese Snacks Vol. 4 - Bacon Cheese: A welcome change when one feels one is getting too much fish and rice. |
