Today our cultural activity was meditation at Daijoji temple. I had gone there earlier this trip with Sirocco, but this time we got to go a little more indepth into the temple. We were led around for the most part by an Australian monk whos been at the temple for about a year. We listened to a lecture by the leader, which was in Japanese. He seemed very frustrated that we didnt understand everything he was saying, and I felt bad for not understanding everything. Then we went into a room and did 15 minutes of meditation- the normal session is about 40 minutes, and the monks do it a lot longer. In this meditation you just sit cross legged, back straight, and stare at the ground for a long time- no controlled breathing or anything. I was kinda getting into it I think- for the most part I was feeling like when I am in that middle zone between waking and sleeping. Occasionally the monk would hit people with a stick (dont worry they would ask him to do it) and the noise always made me jump. It would be really hard to be a monk/nun- they sleep on tatami mats w/o blankets i think in all kinds of weather, including winter (and winters are COLD in kanazawa I think).
After the meditation, Sirocco invited the class over to her host familys house for dinner and general merriment. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and destressing and getting to use English! I watched TV and played Spoons with Levi and Trang, and got to have Curry and other delicious Japanese snacks (aka Pocky, chocolate on a stick essentially). Most fun of all was trying on a yukata, which is a less complicated and lighter form of a kimono that people used to wear in the summer. It is still pretty complex to wear- you have to tie it closed with about 3 different cloth bands, then you tie an obi (big piece of cloth) around your waist to hide the bands (and it also works a bit like a corset). The overall effect was quite lovely though- I shall post pictures on snapfish or facebook when I have the chance (probably not til I return to the states, since my laptop is out of commission). I also found out that yukatas are pretty cheap- about $30 for the yukata and $30 for the obi. I definitely hope to buy one while I'm here.
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