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garranToday it woke me up by raining, hard and loud; since it's our day off, it would have been a perfect time for it, except that Hayashi-sensei was to take us to a forest full of monkeys, were the weather better. We are all very disappointed not to have seen the monkeys.
I lounged around the hotel all day, though, which I probably really needed; hopefully, anyway, this will lead to my feeling refreshed and ready for adventure tomorrow, rather than breaking the flow of industrious energy that has carried me this far. Knock on (one of the many) wood(en buildings in this city). I read two books, anyway (the first two of Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy; foolishly, I neglected to acquire and pack the third), which makes me feel better about my decision to bring eight.
Yesterday we took some classes as guests at a local university, including a class on the history and philosophy of haiku, which I enjoyed as much as most of you no doubt expect (I got in an interesting argument with the professor). After that and the others we met up with some Japanese students and did an exercise where we tried to communicate with them. My very little Japanese availed me very little, and because I was nervous and rusty I kept making elementary mistakes like forgetting the past tense. This is, if you're looking for one, a good way to feel like an idiot.
My partner was very friendly, though. Actually, everyone is very friendly, both among my traveling companions (who are seriously almost absurdly nice) and the Japanese. It is possible that the Japanese are just being polite.
We are leaving Kyoto tomorrow, so I have no idea when I'll be on the internet again.
I lounged around the hotel all day, though, which I probably really needed; hopefully, anyway, this will lead to my feeling refreshed and ready for adventure tomorrow, rather than breaking the flow of industrious energy that has carried me this far. Knock on (one of the many) wood(en buildings in this city). I read two books, anyway (the first two of Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy; foolishly, I neglected to acquire and pack the third), which makes me feel better about my decision to bring eight.
Yesterday we took some classes as guests at a local university, including a class on the history and philosophy of haiku, which I enjoyed as much as most of you no doubt expect (I got in an interesting argument with the professor). After that and the others we met up with some Japanese students and did an exercise where we tried to communicate with them. My very little Japanese availed me very little, and because I was nervous and rusty I kept making elementary mistakes like forgetting the past tense. This is, if you're looking for one, a good way to feel like an idiot.
My partner was very friendly, though. Actually, everyone is very friendly, both among my traveling companions (who are seriously almost absurdly nice) and the Japanese. It is possible that the Japanese are just being polite.
We are leaving Kyoto tomorrow, so I have no idea when I'll be on the internet again.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-14 01:17 am (UTC)(she said as though she'd just met him.)
What did you argue with the professor about?
I got to talk to a middle-aged Japanese woman in my high school class once, and she got mildly indignant and complained to my teacher about how I couldn't tell time. It was funny.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-17 08:56 am (UTC)The professor was an American, so we argued in English (which is how I was able to). He was advancing as plausible a zen master's theory that great artists are great because they're not really the ones writing, composing, etc.; they've learned to step aside and let it flow straight from the shared human unconscious. So I was saying that actually artists have individual voices - tendencies of language and melody that they can't help coming back to. This is totally true of his examples, which were Shakespeare and Mozart. He was all like, "Yeah, maybe some artists," but afterward a bunch of people told me they agreed with me.
-Andy H.