Kimono Day

Hello

(note: I wrote this yesterday but because our internets been a bit dodgy lately, I couldnt post it- so the 'yesterdays' and 'todays' may be inaccurate but oh well)

I have blogworthy news! I'm excited. Yesterday, Nagano-san, the amazing woman who I went to Matsuyama with, dressed me and Angela in kimonos. ^^
The ability to dress others in kimonos is a dying trade. Usually when Japanese women wear kimonos (eg at graduation ceremonies, weddings etc), they get a professional to do it for them which costs a lot of money. So Nagano-san's gift to us was really special.

To do me and Angela's hair and put us in a kimono took a grand total of FOUR hours. I so admire Nagano-san, and also Ando-san who came to help out, for their concentration and patience. Poor Angela hadnt eaten breakfast that day, and once you're in kimono unless you feel like wrecking a $600 piece of clothing, it's better not to eat.

After finally getting us both looking lovely, it was suggested that me and Angela go somewhere with heaps of people, since we bothered to get dressed up, we should show ourselves off (was what they were thinking). The choice was between the local shrine, where noone ever goes, and Risturin Park (lots of people). Me and Angela, both being fairly shy, thought the idea of being blonde foreigners in KIMONOS in Risturin Park was a bit hard to take, but the adults were eager to show us off, which in the end I was grateful for.

On the way to the park, I kept praying over and over again in my head to ensure it would be ok. Getting out of the car, Angela was equally as terrified- while she said she was scared that all the Japanese people would think we were wanna-be Japanese people, I kept repeating "I want to die" out loud. Hahaha.

The whole time we were there, we were mobbed by cameras. It was actually ok though. We sat in the original house of the lord of the area on tatami mats, sipping green tea and overlooking a Zen garden and Japanese-style lake in kimonos. We both felt very Japanese. At one stage, as none of us had eaten for hours, Nagano and Ando-san bought us ICECREAM (kimono+ icecream = bad idea), before handing us facewashers to eat it with. It was incredibly stressful. But yummy. The whole time we had this amazingly helpful tour guide who was able to point out to us the best photo spots and give detailed explanations of the history of every place we went in the park. We took lots of photos with him in which was nice.

Before going, I had told Angela that I thought going to Ritsurin Park would be either one of those tests in life that actually ends up being really helpful, or... just testing. I am glad to say that it was the former one.

I think Nagano-san particularly enjoyed it, after all that time and effort involved in dressing us up, every time a stranger said (they're gorgeous!) , she glowed with pride. It made me very happy.

Today I went to a bookshop and bought 2 Japanese-language textbooks, designed as preparation for the main internationally-recognised Japanese language proficiency test. The level that I'm aiming for is being tested in July, but I thought that it would be too stressful for me (I would have to go insane insane insane with Japanese study), but I might do it in December. At any rate, getting to that level is a goal of mine. I also bought a Japanese children's book, called "Chocolate Wars".

I found it very frustrating trying to decide on a book- the ones for grade 3&4 kids were mostly hardcover and so too heavy, the grade 5&6 ones were all about fairies or teen love, neither of which I'm overly interested in! A lot of the chapter books were also too difficult, so I was happy. At the moment I'm still *slowly* getting through "No one's Perfect", the book I studied in Japanese Extension in high school, but because I've read the English 3 times already, its a bit hard to motivate myself to read.


Sonia!