CALLIGRAPHY AND SUSHI

Last Friday, I took a "little" walk (45min) to the cultural hall museum at Chuo Park to view Yoko's calligraphy expo. The condensed version of the background is as follows : I signed up for a Japanese calligraphy class here on base. Yoko my instructor has befriended me, calls me her American daughter and has honored me with many different invitations.




Yoko and myself at the entrance to her exhibition.

The slimmer of the 3 wall hangings in the middle is an example of the medieval style of Kanji. To the far right is the "modern" style of kanji calligraphy



The large kanji symbol at the top of the paper represents the heart

Now for the whole story:)

Knowing one way to stay on the saner side of the continuum was to get involved, I have been scouring the base papers and MWR fliers. I noticed that Japanese calligraphy classes were held at the community center. During our errands one morning Dylan and I stopped in to sign up for the classes. I was the only one who had done so and was thus told if someone else didn't sign up in the next two days class would be cancelled. In all honestly, I began to wonder if I had a dyslexic moment when giving my phone number. Having heard nothing to the contrary I headed to class last Friday evening. I was the sole student in the class which praise the Lord had not been cancelled.

Essentially I am being privately tutored in Japanese calligraphy by a woman who immediately took a liking to me. We chatted in English through out the class as I diligently worked on my kanji numbers and the symbols for Mt Fuji over and over. When I say chatted you have to understand this is not the same kind of chatting you would do in the states. There are times when you try to change what you are saying 2 or 3 times before giving up and changing the subject. Truly though Yoko has a wonderful grasp of the English language. She studied English in middle school as most Japanese children do and now works occasionally as an interpreter here in Yokosuka. It was at my first class that she said oh we are such good friends:) and invited Dylan and I out to lunch.

The following Monday dawns with a sure promise of an interesting lunch date.

First a short aside on my preferences. Fish, a lean source of protein, wonderful for providing omega-3 and something I don't choose to eat. I have never enjoyed fish and when I say, 'never enjoyed', it is being kind. As a child I abhorred fish and the smell of it being cooked. Did you catch that part COOKED. I have since mellowed and can politely handle cooked fish if need be. Again did we see the COOKED part. OK I wouldn't categorize myself by saying I am a redneck or country folk, though I do have extended family that is and I love then dearly, but raw fish is BAIT in my world. Actually if you could ask my grandfather, the Florida Keys Fisherman, he would say just add a little oatmeal to the raw fish and you have the best chum around. Being that in my mind raw fish is bait it doesn't take much to guess I don't eat sushi! I hear all of you sushi eaters out there - yes I realize there is sushi which doesn't involve raw fish. I don't like that either! Now that it is firmly established that I do not like sushi lets get back to lunch:)

Yoko drove Dylan and I to the nearby mall where we headed up to the 2nd of 6 floors. As we approached the entrance to the restaurant I see a banner advertising sushi and tempura. I am thinking uh-oh as well as telling my self I told you so yet still holding onto the hope that I can order the tempura. Passing over the threshold Yoko turns to me and says is this OK? It is my favorite here at the mall. Gee what do you say that? I said yes this is fine, but I am not too fond of raw fish. Yoko nods and right then I should have realized. There had been a miscommunication or maybe no communication. The waitress hurries over as soon as we sit down. There is a flurry of Japanese and then she is gone. Yoko looks at me smiling and says I order for us. Alright ready or not it was coming.

As we were waiting for our meal she made me some green tea. Sitting on the table where in America you would have the S&P there is a ceramic pot, glass jar of soy sauce and a few other items which are still a mystery to me. Yoko uses two small ceramic cups, literally the size of a one cup measuring cup and spoons a green powder from the larger pot into them. To this she pours steaming hot water from a tea pot the waitress had brought us. I enjoyed sipping the green tea. It is a bitter tea void of any sweetener but honestly I have come to already appreciate and enjoy it. It does help to know the numerous health benefits when you first try drinking the tea. By watching Yoko I believe you are to cup both hands around this small mug and then bring it to your mouth.

Our etiquette teachers and Miss Manners would be totally confused here in Japan as I am when it comes to dining out. In our orientation class, we watched an intriguing dubbed over 80's Japanese chopstick manners video. OK so intriguing may be stretching it;) Now chopstick manners are great especially for those who know how to actually use chopsticks. I am not apart of this group of people. Therefore, I do my best not to be offensive by following the manners as well as I can given my lack of abilities. I have a hard time with 2 "rules" for lack of a better word. Please cover your children's ears if you hope to continue to have then eat politely at the table. One, you are not supposed to bite your piece of whatever from your chopsticks. You shove and I mean shove in some cases everything into your mouth that you have picked up with your chopsticks. Two, when eating shoba or any other kind of noodles out of a liquid you are to slurp. Oh yes my dear friends slurp as in splash little bits of liquid on your face. I have a big mouth so I am more successful with the first then the second. I am not a big fan of my food on my face or splashes of it on my glasses!

Now that you know your manners lets eat or try to. Our meal came and was presented well. There was a two tiered black tray outlined in gold laid before and it took my breath away. No not from beauty but the beautiful array of 5 large pieces of raw fish sushi on the top tier. I began the rapid fire constant stream of prayers at that very instant. I did not want to offend Yoko in any way. She was so kind to share her culture by inviting us to lunch. I did have some relief when I saw the second tier which had a pile of shoba (noodles) and some tempura. Yoko showed me that my shoba went into the nearby bowl of liquid that I could also use to dip my tempura. She then poured me a small tray of soy sauce to dip my sushi in. Then the fun began! In my very uncoordinated way I used my chopsticks to pick up the first piece of dreaded sushi. I was struggling to get the whole thing in my mouth - partially because it was large and partially because every ounce of my being was rejecting the fact I was bringing raw fish to my mouth. Shoving it in - I promise it is the manners around here mom:) I continued to pray and distract myself with Dylan. Literally I started to gag but had to stop no matter what!!! This is when my mind darted back to middle school. In one of my classes a special forces (not sure which branch - it was a while ago) military member came to speak. I was aghast to hear that they had to eat whatever was served them as to not offend the locals. One example he gave was maggots in rice. OK, I hear you sushi lovers. No I am not saying sushi is as bad as maggots so hear me out. He then went on to tell us that the military issued them pills/drops which deadened the soft palate and uvula at the back of the mouth keeping them from gagging. As I was trying my best not to gag with the slippery raw fish sliding around my mouth as I tried to chew, I wished with all my might for one of these pills. I had 4 more pieces to go! Thankfully one piece was shrimp so that one was OK. Two other pieces were tolerable. Of course if you can count that left one more. Once again whatever kind of fish this one was gave me the same trouble as the first. I can honestly say the shoba and tempura was delicious and I told Yoko that in Japanese. Tempura is items covered in some kind of batter and deep fried. So this would explain why I liked it:) There was eggplant, some small green leaf - maple?(kidding or so I think), a shrimp and pumpkin. The pumpkin tempura was delectable! I some how made it through lunch even though a piece of sushi fell apart in my soy sauce (wish it could have stayed there), I dropped one chop stick on the floor and I know I looked like a chopstick doofus. I pray she didn't notice my hard time with sushi then again maybe it is OK if she did. At lunch she invited me to her calligraphy expo and drove me by on the way home so I could see the way.

That Friday I left Dylan was his in-home care provider and headed out. After a 40-45minute walk, I came to the cultural hall museum where the expo was held. The calligraphy was both elegant and beautiful. Yoko introduced me to her friends at a reception where we had green tea and sweet bean cakes. These cakes looked like two mini pancakes with a purplish paste in between them. Only one woman spoke very minimal English so generally we smiled at each other with Yoko saying a few things back and forth for us. The one lady and I am sorry to say I have totally forgotten her name who spoke a little English is Yoko's "rich" friend. Yoko said oh she so rich, travel world and live at top of her apartment - uh mm what do you call penthouse? This lady made Yoko promise to bring me by her home. Yoko has also said she would love to have me over. I am very excited about visiting Japanese Nationals in their homes - what a splendid experience. If you think of it when you are praying please pray that since the Lord has opened these doors for me that I will be His ambassador. Pray that I will be able to bring joy and light to these ladies lives. I will keep you posted on our visits.

Sayanora for now