Jodie in Tokyo

More ways to be at one with nature

Rather than catch you up on the month since my last post, let’s skip straight to this morning when I took an Ikebana class, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. Now, call me cynical, but I’ve never held the art of flower arranging in high esteem, Japanese or otherwise. Flowers are quite nice on their own, without much arrangement, in my opinion, and my Gran’s method of picking the most perfect flower from the garden and putting it in a small vase in the middle of a table groaning with food always seemed sufficient.

However, I can feel the clock ticking on my time in Tokyo and so I went to my first Ikebana class. I neglected to mention it to Michael, not sure why really. This morning we were talking about how I needed him to come home early tonight so I can go to a concert, and then he’s working from home tomorrow morning so I can go to my language class (no school for the kids tomorrow – see below). Dropping into the conversation the fact that today is Ikebana day somehow just wouldn’t work. Of course it’s going to be hard to hide the evidence, it stands about three foot high:

What do you think? Not bad for a first (and probably only) attempt? I actually really enjoyed it and have a new-found respect for those hard-working Ikebana practitioners out there. More than putting flowers in a vase, Ikebana is a highly disciplined, symbolic art form with a 500-year history. Usually you’d practice it in silence, to be at one with nature, although that didn’t happen at my class. You’d have to be quite good at it to get through a session without asking questions. There are rules about height, angles, colour, space – and as a beginner you work from drawings like this:

Got it?

So, apart from Ikebana, I’m getting back into the term time routine, consisting mostly of the kids having days off for something or other. This week it’s Ruby and Eamon’s turn – they have tomorrow off so that parents can meet with teachers to discuss their greatest hopes and anxieties for the year ahead. My greatest hope is that they actually go to school for five days straight at some point, and my greatest anxiety is that they won’t. Tomorrow’s meeting only goes for 15 minutes but the school highly recommends we conduct it face-to-face. In reality this would take up the entire day, getting there and back. We’re doing it by phone. Then Curtis has three days off, just three weeks after starting school. This is how I’ve ended up doing Ikebana instead of getting a job.

I’ve also started back at language classes, writing blog posts and have put my name in the hat for the Tokyo Marathon again. I have a strong sense of deja vu; it’s a year since we arrived. Only this time around, I don’t feel like I’ve landed on another planet. This time, I’m helping a fresh intake of Tokyo newcomers get settled – and drawing an inordinate amount of satisfaction from that, I must admit.

I should make mention of August, since I neglected to post a single blog while we were in Europe. The short version is that we had a great time being tourists and catching up with old friends in London. Thanks to everyone for making the effort to see us with such a small window of opportunity, it was short but sweet. After England, we did little more than eat, drink and go to the beach in France. Here are some photos to better tell the story:

For some summer in Tokyo pictures, see my Japanese blog at www.gochagocha.wordpress.com.

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