Geishas Galore and Graduation Woes

Sorry its been awhile. Ive been meaning to write ever since last weekend, but have had absolutely no motivation to do anything but sit and stare at the wall, contemplate the inner workings of the universe and fantacise about being anywhere other than at work. However, since Ive been nagged a few times by certain people I wont mention *coughaaroncough* Ive finally convinced myself its about time.

So last weekend was half interesting and half disaster! Aaron was supposed to come over but ended up losing his wallet which was a ginormous drama in and of itself (for the full story on this please see his blog http://furio1981.blogspot.com which is the link on the right under "Aaron's Blog"). So, since our plans for the weekend were screwed we decided to go to Kyoto, see a temple or two, bar hop til the wee hours of the morning and then crash at a love hotel. For those of you not yet informed, a love hotel is a pay-by-the-hour place if you know what I mean *wink wink nudge nudge* and usually each room has a different crazy theme. Since we hadnt gone to one yet, and also hadnt really celebrated our 4 year anniversary, that was the plan...

Well, the first half of the day went alright. We decided to see Kyomizudera which is the temple of the holy water and also where Japan decided to join WWII against America. As we hiked up the million and a half stairs to the temple (all temples are on a humongous hill with a gazillion stairs) we rounded a corner and all of a sudden were practically face to face with a group of about 7 geisha! Never having seen one before, let alone in a huge group, I was pretty thrilled with this and whipped out my camera phone. (This happened to be the one day I didnt bring my real camera with me...) Adam was even amazed by this sight, saying it was really rare to see one at all, and especially in a group. We think now that they were on some sort of photo shoot. And they actually werent geiko (the full geisha) they were maiko, who are the apprentices. You can tell the difference by their age (younger) and their hair. Maiko usually have more hair pieces and they also have a bun with a red....something in it. Anyway, that pretty much made my day right there!









Then after that we went to Gion to see if maybe we would spot any more geisha since it was around dusk when they head out to their appointments in the tea houses. NOTE: GEISHA ARE NOT PROSTITUTES!!! THEY DO NOT SLEEP WITH THEIR CLIENTS. THIS IS A MAINLY AMERICAN STEREOTYPE AND NOT TRUE. Well we saw lots of people gathering around this small little alley snapping pictures left and right and figured we had found it! We had!







Despite what it looks like, they are SUPER fast! Especially considering the tightness of the kimono around their legs and the height of their platforms. Sorry about the low quality pictures. Im kicking myself for not having brought my real camera.

Anyway, after that we went and had a not so good dinner and some good big beers. We went to a few bars, met a girl who used to be a political cartoonist for a newspaper in Ulan Bataar (capital of Mongolia where Adams brother lives) and then decided to get some sleep. Well, this is when the trouble started. ALL the love hotels were full!! So we thought we might as well try the business and regular hotels since we were getting desperate for somewhere to sleep. Every single hotel turned us away saying they were full! Even after we just saw them selling a room to someone as we walked in. They said everything was full and shooed us away. We werent even drunk. Just very very very tired and desperate! We had the money to pay for a night in a ritzy hotel but none of them would take us. And it was all becuase we were foreigners. Even though we were speaking Japanese... our nationality, or shall I say the color of our skin, kept us from having somewhere to sleep that night. So, at 2:30am with no where to go, we curled up in a corner of the train station with all the homeless people and tried to sleep. Let me just say that after a little while we envied the bums. At least they were prepared with sleeping bags, blankets and cardboard. It was freeeeezing!!! The first train in the morning was at 5:18am. It was the longest 3 hours of my life...! An unforgetable experience.

So yeah... turned into a crappy weekend, but this week has been ok. Ive been able to get off work early a couple days due to graduation ceremonies. I attended the one at my school yesterday and let me just say that Im glad I graduated in America. It had to be the MOST boring and sterile and dry ceremony Ive ever been to. Long speaches, followed by long periods of unexplained and complete silence... I swear we had to stand up bow, and sit down at least 15 times! They sang what I assume was the national anthem, and then the school anthem. Instead of going up to the stage to get a diploma they all just stood up one by one as their names were called... and then that was it! I would have had trouble staying awake had it not been so cold I could see my breath! It was freezing! My opinion... that was NOT a ceremony at all! Where were the smiles and then cheering and the laughter and gaiety that follow a huge acheivement... I guess its just another one of those cultural differences. Interesting to say the least. Later, they asked me what I thought about it so I said, "It was very different than ours. Interesting" and that was it.

I know Ive been really negative lately but I think its just donning on me how much I personally clash with the culture here. We're told to be culturally sensitive, which I am on a day to day basis. Ive even adapted a lot of their funny mannerisms like pointing to my nose when referring to myself or bowing and nodding constantly during a conversation. Im very polite and humble in public, and yet I know itll never be enough to be accepted. I might as well be doing it all in a bright colored clown outfit! They will always assume Im a stupid foreigner, who doesnt know anything about their culture, cant speak their language and, therefore, its automatically inferior. I get gawked at walking to school every day by people walking their dogs. EVERY FRIGGIN DAY!!! They see me all the time and still they stare open-mouthed as I walk by. Some have even crashed on their bicycles because theyre so surprised to see me. Im constantly scaring people if they dont expect to see me. Even though theyre really friendly and helpful at times and my coworkers are really cool, Im just getting tired of being stared at and being SOOOO different. The thing is, I dont feel as different as they perceive me to be. The times I realize it are when I myself see a foreigner and my attention is drawn immediately to them. We stick out like sore thumbs here... I'm getting tired of it and I just think I need a break...