This morning I returned to my dear Kaneko-san after a three week hiatus. One week in Hokkaido, the next with Ryoko Moriyama, I wrote my explanation and apology for the absences in my sakubun. Part essay, part letter, this weekly ritual provides perhaps the most solid basis for reliable understanding between us. It took a little to warm-up to one another again; I spent a fair amount of time and confusion trying to understand what "shiaduai" meant before realizing he was saying "shall I." He listened to me say there was a lot of "slowly" (yukkuri) in Hokkaido and nodded his head in confusion before I caught myself and changed it to "snow" (yuki). We'll remember one another's pace and abilities again as we go, I'm sure. It feels kind of good to be out of sync in a way, a reassurance of how well we had fallen in step before.
At the end of the lesson, after asking if I could have used a particle in my essay to say that I played "with" Ryoko Moriyama in the same way that I write my name "with" a ballpoint pen ( the response was an adorable apologetic laugh- the answer, no), I decided it was a good time to present my gift to him from Hokkaido, a box of chocolates. He was very surprised and appreciative and I realized that with this gesture I had opened up the Japanese need to respond to any gift received. He was so tickled. "Chotto matte," he said as he walked away, and I waited as he had asked. He returned with two pieces of paper. One was an English version of how to avoid contracting the norovirus. The other was information about a traveling exhibit of dolls from Kyoto. What are chocolates compared with disease prevention and cultural enrichment? I think I've been outdone and am revving up for my rebuttal.
Several hours later I had another miraculous dinner project with my empowering dinner partners. Falafel and pita from scratch, complemented with imo mochi (little fried potato cakes) that Melkorka and I learned to make in Hokkaido. Amazing- it can be done!
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Melkorka once again works magic with the dough:
perfectly pocketed pita |
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| Falafel! |
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| sizzling imo mochi |
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| several hours later- ready for dinner! |
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