Midwinter Spring

"Midwinter Spring is it's own season"

-T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"     

     Spring hasn't quite sprung in the Kanto area yet, but plum blossoms are beginning to paint color back into the landscape here in Narita.  They contrast with the last vestiges of autumn that still cling to life on some of the pine trees.  The weather is taking a turn for the warmer, too.  The days are no longer hanging near the freezing mark.  And the sun's path across the sky is growing a little longer each day.
     It seems that these changes echo my own life in some ways.  This weekend was my last full weekend in Japan.  It seems the past two months have flown by!  And while I look forward to a full-time teaching job in the near future, I feel myself wishing I could put off that future for a little while longer and spend more time here, in Japan.
     In the last few weeks, I've had the chance to meet so many people- and I long for more time with them.  Through the school I've been going to after the school day is over, I've met some really great people.  Last weekend, I had dinner with a woman and her husband, which was a great time.  Mayumi-san and Hideo-san are very opposite in their character and interests.  I have enjoyed shopping with Mayumi-san and loved talking about Japanese history with Hideo-san.  He reminded me of why I like studying other cultures.  During our drive home from dinner, we talked about the history of Japan after the Edo period, when Japan opened itself to the world.  He wanted to explain to me why Japanese people work so much- a tradition he believes stems from earlier religious beliefs and practices.  He wanted to delve into the subject, and even though I learned more about Japanese culture from the conversation, he felt he did a poor job in his explanation because of his limits in English.  "I could explain it so easily in Japanese," he said, "but I can't in English.  That's why I'm studying more, so I can tell people."  While he felt unable to fully explain it to me, I still feel I understand a little bit more about the way Japanese people think, thanks to him.
     And Mayumi-san introduced me to her friend, Eiko-san.  Eiko-san is a kind, sometimes quiet woman whose cooking is delicious!  I met her and her two children for dinner- she took me to the supermarket and explained to me some of the different fishes and other ingredients used for Sushi.  She made sushi-rice and we all rolled our own sushi with whatever we wanted.  She led me to ask students all week, "What's your favorite kind of Sushi?"  I can now tell you that I don't like maguro, or plain tuna sashimi.  I should explain- sashimi is the word for raw fish.  Sushi often includes sashimi, but it doesn't have to.  So, I don't like maguro, but I really like sake (salmon sashimi) sushi and ikura (salmon egg) sushi.  Eiko-san and her two children and I went out together for sushi this weekend, and I realized that sushi is a general term for many dishes that all have vinegared rice and almost always have sashimi or nori (seaweed) or both.  However, they don't always look the same, and they definitely don't taste the same-especially if the sushi doesn't have seaweed!  This weekend, I learned that I also like uni, a sea urchin.  I don't know when I developed a taste for such wild cuisine!  Traveling in Asia has definitely widened my food horizons!  I also realized I prefer my sushi to be of the hand-pressed type with seaweed on the outside.  Such were my adventures in eating, thanks to Eiko-san.  But Eiko is also more than a cook.  She's been able to tell me about Japanese traditions and even let me try on a summer version of a kimono!  I feel so blessed to have met her and her family, and I long to have more time to spend with them.
     I also enjoyed a lesson in the Koto this week, a traditional Japanese instrument that sits on the floor with 13 strings over a wooden, hollowed body.  The strings are placed over the box like the strings on a guitar.  It was a challenge to play.  Not only did I have to play with a specific hand motion, but I had to read the music, and it wasn't on a staff and there were no notes- only kanji (Chinese characters) numbers corresponding to the strings on the guitar.  Talk about difficult!  I had to remember the 13 kanji just to know which note I was supposed to be playing!  I enjoyed it, though!
     I also said "sayounara" to two more schools, with three to follow this week.  Each school I've been to has been filled with different students, but none is less difficult to leave than another.  And though the Spring brings promises of a future job, one that I look forward to, I also feel sadness that this season is ending.  I am truly between seasons now- in that "midwinter spring" that Eliot speaks of.  And while the beautiful views of snow-covered pines have thawed, but in it's wake is a beauty I find intriguing, too.
     So I'll join in the chorus of the children playing at recess and laugh with the students at lunch and with my friends at dinner and enjoy the fullness of the season.

 Part of Narita-san temple with plum blossoms in full bloom.

I love the pink color of the blossoms!

This is the Koto.  I needed lots of help with technique and the notes themselves :)