Beer and Tea

A few other notable events have happened in the last week or so, in addition to the Babysitter Barrier being broken on Friday. Monday night I, basically, got my Intermediate English class drunk. Well, sort of. It wasn’t really my goal, but I know that they were feeling pretty good when they left my class.

I teach three adult English classes. The original class, taught by all other teachers from Juneau, is the advanced eikaiwa (“English conversation class”). This is the group of mostly ladies who come from out of town to chat in English for 90 minutes every week. Mr. Usui is also part of this group. I also teach a group on Thursday mornings (my planning day). It is this group of (usually) ladies with whom I cook every few weeks. It’s intended to be a beginner English. However, I don’t think they really wanted to learn Travel English or grammar, so I’m always trying to teach a lesson to suit the particular audience. That’s how we ended up cooking all the time – they like it. My third class is my own fault, you could say. Originally, the beginner English class was supposed to be on a weeknight. However, that meant that several interested wives/mothers couldn’t come because they had to be home making dinner. So, I had suggested Thursday morning. No sooner had the class been moved to the morning than the teachers at the elementary school said, “Oh! We want to come, too!” But now it was a morning class and they had to work. So, crazy me suggested an additional one-hour class to be held just prior to my advanced class. I’ve talked about this in other posts, but thought I’d explain it again anyway. This 6:00 p.m. class is the one I refer to as my “teacher’s class” or my “intermediate class”. The attendees have settled into a regular group of four or five, with the occasional fifth person being the only woman. I learned early on that I couldn’t use the same lesson in all three classes. Not just because of the level of English, but because the men are interested in different things.

So, the Thursday class cooks and has learned children’s songs. The intermediate eikaiwa has learned about pick-up lines (especially ones NOT to use), poker, and most recently: beer. I don’t know how or why I came up with the idea to teach beer-related English, but the guys all got excited so I just went for it. Not being a beer drinker myself, I had to enlist Aaron’s help. Then, I spent a week reading information online about beer and trying to find different examples of beer types. Most Japanese beer is what is known as Rice Lager and it was hard to find other kinds. When I do Beer Class Part II I’ll have to order some from online so we can have an example of bock and porter. Anyway, I did some research and made up a vocabulary list. The first ten minutes of class was spent reviewing new English words that relate to beer (yeast, barley, malt, smooth, foam, etc.) Then we broke out the six different kinds of beer we brought. I had arranged it with the hotel (we meet in a community room that is in the hotel) that we could have a bunch of glasses for our tasting. Soon, the room was filled with the yeasty smell of beer and at least thirty glasses spread out over the table. I wanted the guys to compare the colors and tastes (so we could practice our new vocabulary), but they drank it too fast. I had to keep refilling some of their glasses and telling them to slow down. They laughed. One thoughtful fella, knowing I don’t care for beer, had brought a bottle of champagne that was opened near the end.
As class wound down, I realized I was going to have to make them leave so my next class could come in. I managed to begin collecting glasses and ushered them out. Next thing I knew, they were all walking out of the room, each with a bottle of leftover beer of some kind and a glass. The bottle of champagne also left and they promptly made themselves comfortable on the couches located in the hallway directly outside the room.

I think they had bonded with Aaron somewhat. As the class had begun gearing up earlier, I had gone in search of the glasses. As I left, I heard Hikichi-sensei ask Aaron to arm wrestle with him. By the time I returned with the glasses, Aaron had arm-wrestled three of the teachers on both the right and left arms. He won every time, by the way. So, now, as they sat outside my room, they invited him to continue with the “English lesson”. How could he say no? Ridge and Holt hung out with me for an hour in my next class, and Aaron sat on a couch with the teachers as they finished the beer and champagne and talked about Y.M.C.A. (the song – Aaron was trying to explain it’s real meaning). It was really quite funny. You have to think, though, they will surely keep coming to my classes now!

On Tuesday, I was able to attend a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Apparently, once a year all the elementary and middle school students are taken to the tea house located in Nishiokoppe. Here, they are shown and taught about this important traditional ceremony. I joined in with the kids from Kamiokoppe (all six of them! It’s become a very small school).

First we were shown how to scoop water from a small basin located outside the main door. The water is used to clean your hands and mouth, a necessary ritual for whenever a person enters a sacred space. So, the water was gently scooped with a long handled dipper, poured gently on both hands, and a sip is taken. The remaining water was poured out by pointing the dipper straight up so the water could run down the handle. We then entered the house, removed our shoes and knelt to face a woman dressed in kimono. We placed our hands on the floor in front of us, one at a time, then bowed low, nearly placing our foreheads on the floor in front of us. This is one of the most formal bows a person can make.

Each person was then given a small, folded fan and waited their turn to enter the main room. At the edge of the door, we knelt in seiza position, placed the fan in front of us with the handle end facing right, bowed very low to the floor again, then scooted into the room on our knees. The entire floor is made of tatami, so it’s easy to scoot. Once in the room, another low bow is made and a greeting is said to the main tea-serving person. We then lined up and waited to be served. The entire time we are supposed to sit in seiza (on our knees, sitting on our feet). My feet very quickly became numb. I later found out it’s the same for most Japanese people.

Here’s a good link about seiza: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiza

One woman entered the room, dressed in kimono, and very ceremoniously prepared one cup of tea. Each movement was very precise and choreographed. I’m sure the exact same movements have been made for centuries. Meanwhile, a man entered with a tray bearing a kind of Japanese bread. This was placed very carefully on the floor in front of each person. In return, each person bowed low and responded with a version of “thank you” and “itadakimasu” (what every says before they eat). We sat with numb feet and carefully ate our bread, placing the rice paper it was on behind us when we were finished. Finally, the tea was served very ceremoniously, with bowing and appropriate Japanese phrases. The tea isn’t actually served in a cup as you might imagine a cup to be. Instead, it’s more like a medium sized pottery bowl. The bowls are designed depending on the season of the year. A summer cup will have summer colors and maybe a summer design. Each cup also has some sort of a mark to indicate the front. When the server hands the cup to each person, they turn it three times clockwise so the front of the cup is facing the receiver. Before drinking, the drinker must turn the cup three times until the image is facing outward. When finished drinking, the cup is then carefully placed on the floor in front of the drinker. A side note here: tatami floors consist of panels. Each panel is bordered by fabric. This results in a room with lines placed geometrically around the room. We were all sitting on panels of tatami lengthwise. This meant that directly in front of us was a ribbon of fabric indicating the edge of the tatami panel. The tea cup must be placed on the outside edge of the tatami panel you are sitting on. They were very specific about this. (a better explanation of tatami: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami. We have three rooms in our house with tatami floors)

After the ceremony was finished, each person rose (and I tried not to wince with pain), shuffled forward to the shrine area of the room, knelt, bowed low, rose again, walked diagonally to the corner of the room, turned 180 degrees to the right, shuffled to the tea pot and fire, knelt, bowed low, rose, turned 180 degrees to the right, shuffled back to the corner, turned 90 degrees to the left, and walked to the doorway of the room. Upon reaching the doorway, we knelt, placed our fan in front of us again, bowed low, and scooted out of the room. The whole thing is like some amazing choreographed dance. I’m certain my description of it is bound to be confusing and you may have to re-read it a couple of time. It’s hard to explain without pictures, and I forgot to bring the camera. Other teachers took pictures, though. If I can get copies, I’ll scan them and post them.

Here’s a good link about tea ceremonies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony