High tea

This weekend has been a bit of a mixed bag. On Friday I asked my school if I could move up a class, as my current class is a bit too slow. They said I would have to take a test on Monday to check my level of Japanese, and passing this test involved basically doubling my knowledge of Japanese grammar in one weekend. Hence, Saturday was a highly stressful day of cramming (in the last six weeks we have done chapters 9 to 18 of the textbook, and on Saturday I studied chapters 19 to 34!). But today (Sunday) I had a change of heart and realised that even if I did pass the test, it was a silly idea to move to a class that was that far ahead. So I'm not going to take the test after all.

Sunday turned out to be as far from stressful as it could possibly be. I went to a lovely old-fashioned garden called Happo-en and strolled around for ages. In the middle of the gardens there is this teahouse, where I did a tea ceremony and ate some intensely sugary sweets:

In the 16th century some guy called Sen no Rikyu (a.k.a. the "Tea Master") developed 'the way of tea', and I can see where he's coming from. I think the way of tea has to be one of my favourite ways. He took his tea very seriously, and wrote seven lessons concerning the tea ceremony:

1. Give your whole heart
2. Find out its nature
3. Cherish a sense of the season
4. Treasure the life
5. Have great breadth of mind
6. Be flexible
7. Have respect for your fellow tea-drinkers.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure how all that links up with drinking tea, but next time you settle down with a cuppa, why not try and remember those lessons? Maybe you'll end up a better person.

After the tea, I had a nice (but cold) stroll around the gardens...

...and around the pond full of really huge fish...

...and then took a peek at the very impressive bonsai collection. Some of these babies are 500 years old.Did you know that Americans pronounce 'bonsai' as 'banzai'? I struggled to comprehend what a banzai tree would be, if such a thing existed.

Oh, all of this was a school trip, so now you can see what a bunch of Japanese language students look like, in case you've ever wondered.

I left the garden in a buoyant and placid state, but on my way home, I was quickly shaken out of it by... the SCARIEST SANTA EVER.
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If life gets to you,
I recommend a pleasant stroll,
And a nice cuppa.