After loosing internet connection due to technical problems
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What a few days it has been! Saturday night we had a welcome party that Sakuyo threw for us. There was tons of food ranging from spaghetti to sushi. Lucky for some it was a very large bowl of spaghetti. I think that a lot of people through out our group haven’t traveled much at all and find that American food is just what they are used to. Another part that plays into it is that they may not know what goes into preparation, or even the ingredients such as taro root, or select seafood, both are popular choices in traditional Japanese cuisine. Cabbage, egg and pork are other popular ingredients.
I have traveled to China and have always loved international cuisine, especially stemming from both China and Japan especially, also Indian and Korean dishes. Since I have traveled so much, and maybe not necessarily to the East but also through Central America and the Caribbean, I am more apt to try different foods. I have also noticed there are people who don’t really eat anything at all, only because it isn’t pizza, for that is all they choose to eat while at school or at home. This brings up another discussion on different lifestyle choices, which makes us all unique in some small way.
Back to the party, there were traditional instrument performances and some brass choirs and a traditional dance demonstration. It was all very educational to see but presented in a fun way because we got to eat and keep getting to know our musical counterparts. There are two bassoonists and two oboists. Megumi, Yaya and then Sae and Tomomi. Megumi speaks the best English but we got translation books and it is funny to see what sentences we all can come up with to say to each other. There was juice and beer for all to enjoy. I must mention the Japanese really know how to make a good beer. Every one I have had… which hasn’t been many at all, which is fantastic, has been incredibly light, crisp and smooth with a clean finish. Every satisfying! The party got done about 9:30 and we all trekked back the hour to the hotel only to play Apples to Apple and sleep.
Sunday we had another day of rehearsal and then afterwards the Sakuyo students were taking us out as sections. The Bassoons and the Oboes stuck together and decided to go for another round of Okonomiyaki. It was prepared a little differently this time but still FANTASTIC! The place we went was in the historic district of Kurashiki called the Bikan district. If I remember correctly it means beautiful. The restaurant was apparently famous for its okonomiyaki because the owner showed us all the signatures he has gotten from famous patrons. It was a small place, three tables that sat 4 people and then around the grill there was room for maybe another four people. We were able to watch the big Sumo match while we ate which was very exciting, the owner and Yaya were screaming “GO GO!”
This time the Okonomiyaki was a tortilla with a layer of (amazing) cabbage, ramen noodles, egg, water, flour, with another tortilla on top. Then they put the sauce on and you can put the mayonnaise on it if you choose. I have found that it gives it a sweeter flavor if you don’t add too much. If you do, it is a little over whelming to eat the whole thing.
After eating we took a Taxi and Tomoni’s little squishy Honda car to the bowling ally to bowl. This was a small adventure in itself for the cars do drive on the other side of the road on the other side of the car. Well the taxi, which Kenton and I opted to take, decided to go down a one-lane road with two-way traffic. This was quite terrifying. The first floor of the bowling ally was an arcade and Sae and Megumi showed Kenton and I how to play the Tyco drum game. Close to the same concept of DDR, or Guitar Hero but instead of stepping on a board, or playing a guitar you hit a drum with a stick when the little face goes by. This was a super amount of fun. Once Alexa, Sara and Tomomi arrived we played three games of bowling (my total for 3 games was 200, you can average it out because it makes me embarrassed). We all had a lot of fun and we decided to go out after the dress rehearsal on Monday.
(p.s.) gas here is about 162 Yen a liter
Monday was a busy day. There was approximately twelve of us that went into Okayama to doing a little freelance touring but we didn’t have a lot of time because we had to be back in Shin-Kurashiki at 1:00 for our dress rehearsal. Some people went to the gardens and there is a castle there too and we were able to get a tour through Okayama Symphony Hall. Apparently getting a time slot to tour the hall is very difficult and you need to book at least a month in advance. Some strings were pulled on Dr. Ripley’s behalf and we were able to walk on stage and take pictures and then head up the 77 stairs to the top balcony. The architecture was beautiful and the sound quality was very very good. If you said something you could hear it from the top balcony three seconds later.
We had our dress rehearsal, a piano recital to attend, and then the double reeds were going to go out to dinner again but Sae was sick and we chose not to. It snowed an unreasonable amount this evening too, which is rare for Kurashiki since it is southern Japan. But there were a few snowmen being built already because the snow was extremely thick. The trek back to the train station and then onward to the hotel was very unpleasant only because we were too cheap to call a cab. Of course Allison and I were not prepared when it came to food wear. I was wearing slipper flats and she was wearing clogs we had to put our feet in the bathtub upon arrival to our room.
Tuesday, Kenton, Missy, and I decided to spend the afternoon in Okayama again because we had until 3:00 to be back at the school for one last rehearsal and then the concert at 6:45. It was a good afternoon and we decided to finally go to the gardens since it had just snowed. Although our feet were miserable again it was well worth the pain and agony. There are heaters under the seats in the auditorium and I put my socks and shoes on them during rehearsal to dry them off for after the concert. It worked strappingly well! I had dry socks and dry boots for the trek back to the train station.
The concert was fantastic. We did an amazing job and Sakuyo did even better but that is to be expected because it is the best music conservatory in Japan. But even though they are better than we are, and they probably all know it, they don’t act like they are on a plane above us. They are all down to earth and we all get along really well and already promising to e-mail and keep in touch. They are coming back to Carthage in two years so I will be around when they come visit us. It is nice, if we keep in touch, which I am sure Megumi and I will because we got along really really well, if I ever came back to Japan then I could visit, or something like that!
After the concert there was a group picture and then the brass and the double reeds decided to go out to dinner. Again a tiny place we invaded with our loud boisterous laughs and drinking games. I had fried rice and scrambled egg in a cream sauce and it was fantastic. I had Japanese sorbet, which was much like lemon sorbet and a white wine, which was very fruity and went down really smooth- very pleasant.
The brass players even internationally are quite the drinkers and were kompi’ing all night! We finally left the restaurant about 1:00 and had to be up and down in the lobby at 6:30. It made for an uncomfortable morning but spending one last night with our new found friends was worth it, and plus we had to get rid of that extra Yen on something enjoyable instead of sodas out of the vending machines.
This morning we had to be in the lobby at 6:30 and then departure was at 7:00. When we walked outside there was a gaggle of Sakuyo students came to see us off and made a very nice sign to say good-bye. Yaya was there and she is very emotional and started to cry when Kenton and I hugged her before we got on the bus. Kenton already wants to study at Sakuyo and I told him if he did I would visit. I plan to be back in Japan several times if not a lot more in the future as well as traveling back to China.
