I Made Pot

For this post, I will try my alternate way of storytelling, which will consequently make this post very long...

Awakening: I came to premature to the sounding of my alarm. This early rising is common among my days since there is typically a fair amount of activity each morning. As I went about my morning routine, the cleaning lady made her scheduled visit to clean the bathroom and livingroom floor. Having completed my hygenic practices, I receded back into my room in order to complete my metamorphosis into my daily guise. Being that I had a speaking test fast approaching, I made my way to the school in order to study without the distractions produced by having a computer readily available to me.

My trek to the school was facilitated by the use of my MP3 player. I had started to use the headphones that came packaged with my electronic dictionary because they were smaller than the set that I had brought with me from America. While walking with my larger pair, I spotted a noticable number of people staring at me. It was apparent that large headphones were not common to walk with in Japan. My theory seemed correct since I receieved far less stares with my smaller headphones. Although the sound quality is triumphed by my other pair, they seemed to be more socially accepted as walking gear.

Upon arrival at the school, I seated myself in the CIE lounge in order to take a final review of my speaking material. The review guide consisted of thirty questions, each with an answer. We were to have a seven minute interview with the teaching assistant in the presence of the teacher. Since we would have to both ask and answer the questions at random, there were essentially sixty sentences that we had to be familiar with for the test. Up to date, I had practiced several times and was comfortable with my ability to perform the questions and answers. All that was left was to climb the stairs to the teacher's office and await my examination time.

I was to go first out of my class. Because of my pioneer position, I discovered that I was able to begin early once the teacher became prepared. After I took my seat, I surveyed the area. Next to me was Mizoguchi sensei who was making the final preparations to begin the exam. In front of me was an audio recorder and a laptop with a powerpoint show set up on it. When we began, she had me read instructions in English out loud. The instructions asked that I attempt to expand the conversation beyond the instructed phrases as much as possible. The next slide produced two cartoon heads that Mizoguchi sensei defined as herself and me. The slide then displayed a speech bubble for each character. I was to ask or answer the question in accordance to the speech bubble's instructions. Being that it was a test, naturally, I was nervous. Except for the occassional tripping over of words, I did just fine. Before I realized it, Tokashiki sensei called out that the time had expired. We said our farewells and I exited the room. The next student was waiting outside by that time and was also surprised to be told that he could begin early.

Having completed the exam, I made a trip to the computer lab to spend some time working on my forboding culture study guide. I elected to use technology to catch up with my lack of reading as an alternative to reading hundreds of pages in two days. I was able to fill out most of the sheet by using sites like wikipedia. After working for an hour, I retired from my work to seek some food out. By this time it was already 12:00, so the cafeteria had become quite lively. On my way to the building, I ran into my friend Sarah who I hadn't seen in quite some time. After battling my way through the lines of people to get my food, I took my seat and waited for Sarah to escape the crowd as well. We talked about our upcoming tests as we ate. Once we finished, we parted ways and I headed to the CIE office to ask for directions to the Osaka International House.

Today, I was going to a class in ceramics that was offered to students who did not have any Tuesday classes. The event was completely free for Kansai Gaidai students except for transportation costs to the Osaka International House. I did not know how to get to the destination, so I went to ask for directions. One of the student assistants printed out a map and detailed which stations I had to take in order to get there. We determined that it would take about an hour to reach the House, so it became apparent that I had to set out immediately. After a short bathroom break, I was on my way.

I maintained my stubborness to walk to Hirakata station since I abhor having to scrounge up 220 yen in order to take the bus. Once arriving at the station, I located my first waypoint and purchased the ticket. The train that was already waiting at the station was a local train, which meant that it would stop at every station on the way there. Since time was of the essence, I decided that it was better to wait for the next train. Once the express train arrived, I asked someone if it would indeed stop at my desired location. Having received an affirmative answer, I boarded the train and waited for my arrival. At this point, my journey became more complex. There were no signs that specifically pointed me to the subway system, so I had to ask where to go. After gaining my bearings, I found the subway and purchased my ticket. Unfortunately, I was again faced with no signs that specifically said where I was going. As I was trying to find someone to ask, I ran into a fellow Kansai Gaidai student, Louise, who was apparently also going to the ceramics class.

She was able to locate a sign that verified the subway's route and we boarded the train. Once we reached the designated stop, we relied on the instructions that I was given in order to find the House. As we were walking, it began to rain, which was unfortunate since neither of us had an umbrella. We finally arrived at the House pretty much at the last minute in order to not be late. Fortunately, the bus didn't leave for a few more minutes, so we would have been fine if we had been a little late.

The bus ride lasted about thirty minutes to get to the Maishima Pottery Village. When we started traveling, two Japanese people got on the intercom and made a speech. I wasn't able to understand anything they said, so I just kept to myself. Once we arrived, we were rushed through the entrance area into a workshop area. It became apparent that everyone was asked to store their bags and coats in the cubby holes and coat racks since that was what everyone was doing. I grabbed my camera in case I had any pertinent pictures to take.

I took my seat at the table that Louise sat at that was comprised of her, my classmate Jarlene, and another girl who were Kansai Gaidai students. Next, a Japanese person from the Pottery Village began talking. At our table, the only word that we were able to recognize was the word "explosion," which seemed to worry the girls. I figured that the word was used as imagery and there was no threat of anything really exploding. After the speaker finished, everyone circled around one of three tables in order to observe the pottery process as done by an instructor.

The instructor started by cutting off about 1/5 of the clay that he had and pounding it into a flat circle on the turnstile. He described something about a pencil for the circle's size, but I wasn't able to understand the specifics. He then spun the turnstile and took a needle-like device to engrave a circle into his clay circle. From there, he used a knife-like tool to cut the exterior area of the engraving off. Next, he began making a clay line about the circumference of a finger. He placed the line all around the top of the remaining clay circle and connected the line to the circle by rubbing his thumb in the inside and outside of the clay. Once the spaces were not visible anymore, he added another line by using the same method. He did this a total of five times. To complete the process, he used the needle tool to engrave a circle around the top of the clay and continued to spin around the clay until the tool cut off the top part. Next, he took a wet piece of cloth and ran it across the shaven top in order to smooth is out. He then took the knife and cut some of the base in a circle before using a wire to detach the pot from the turnstile. He then instructed us to stamp our ID number into the bottom of the pot with a number stamp and sign a custom character of our choosing as well. He then allowed us to return to our tables and begin the same process ourselves.

We all began making our pots as best as we could remember. As I was making my circle on the turnstile, the instructor came by to tell me to make it a little bigger. Once I finished with the circle, I cut the extra area off. I then began making my clay lines and placing them on the circle. It became apparent that my creation was going to be a bit larger than I expected. When I put my last line on, the instructor came by to help me not make it look lopsided. I then finished the process. The finished product was not that bad. I was then told to make a second one with my remaining clay. I didn't know if I could since my first pot (better to say bowl) was a bit large and there wasn't that much clay left. I set off for my second venture keeping in mind to keep it small. This time, I did much better, but toward the end, I noticed that it wasn't quite even. I decided to make it into an abstract since there wasn't much else to do with it. After finishing my two ceramic works, the instructor helped me through the paperwork process to define what color I wanted my works to be painted. Then he told me to place my art upon the shelf. I apparently finished very quickly since everyone else at my table was still struggling with their first construction. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the class and Louise and the other girl being hard at work. I was happy to be able to wash my hands, but the water was extremely cold.

Once the alloted time had expired, we all were hearded back onto the bus in order to return to the House. When we arrived, we were invited to stay for the next event at the House if we wanted and were given a flyer for the event. From what we could read, it was apparently a basketball event, which none of my table group seemed interested to attend, so we headed back to Hirakata.

On the train back, Louise began asking about Seminar House III since she had heard so many bad things about the caretaker there. Okaa san (more formally called Yamamoto San), is a strong-willed stickler for the rules, which causes many college students a lot of grief while they try to do whatever they please. I am among the minority that finds Okaa san to be a nice and wonderful person, so I was able to give Louise the story from another perspective.

When we arrived back at the station, we took the bus back home and went to our separate dorms. I soon wanted to go for dinner, so I made my way to my favorite restaurant that Nabil introduced me to a few weeks ago. I like this restaurant because the food is reasonably priced and always good. I selected a new meal for my experience today. I ordered the Japanese style beef 'mini' steak set that came with rice, miso soup, and salad. Being that the steak cost only ~$7.00 along with everything else, it wasn't expected to be as good as what one would call 'real steak,' but it was still quite good.

While I was eating, a little girl entered the restaurant and hid in a corner. I wondered if she lived there or knew the people who worked there since she seemed to be alone. Soon, an older man entered the restaurant and the little girl jumped out of her hiding place. The two of them then sat down at the table and the older man began to order a lot of food. It was apparent that they would soon have more company and they eventually did. It seemed like they were celebrating what seemed to be something for the older man. I finished my meal before too much longer and so I went on my way back home.