When I first started looking for a CIP project I had a few ideas: sado classes, dance club, working at a caf\u00e9, ceramic classes.\u00a0 I decided upon sado at first, as I have an interest in tea ceremony. That ended up not working out , so I turned my attention to pottery.\u00a0 My initial interest in Sado was in fact due to my interest in ceramics so it seemed fitting as a CIP. I would learn a skill as well as make new friends and become better at Japanese. I had a bit of a struggle finding something that was going to work, but I am really glad that I ended up taking a pottery class at a local workshop near my home in Uji.<\/p>\n
In my class I am decidedly the odd ball out, not only am I a foreigner I am also by far the youngest person there and arguably the least experienced. Before this class I had only tried my hand at pottery in a middle school art class. It\u2019s hard to admit, but I\u2019m afraid I have not improved much since then.\u00a0 The first class skipped an introduction and went right into work on an imperial palace style tea cup, which is a wide mouthed slightly disfigured model.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t super straight or clean cut so I assume that it wouldn\u2019t be too difficult. That was a mistake.\u00a0 It turns out that there is a lot of skill and effort that goes into making a cup look perfectly imperfect.\u00a0 Skill that I do not possess yet, but many of my classmates hardly need any help in creating beautiful cups and bowls.\u00a0 I on the other hand am becoming adept at asking my sensei what in the world I did wrong to get a tea cup with cracks going down the side and a whole near the top.<\/p>\n
One of the things that makes my pottery classes difficult, but also extremely useful in learning Japanese is that my teacher does not speak much English. Nor do any of my classmates.\u00a0 As one of the lower level Japanese speakers in this program this does cause a problem. Luckily my teacher explains what he is doing in both words and examples, so I can match the common phrases I am picking up with his actions and vice-versa. At first there were many misunderstandings, for example I couldn’t figure out why he was telling me my cup wasn\u2019t hot enough (\u6691\u3044)\u00a0 when he was trying to tell me that it wasn\u2019t thick enough (\u539a\u3044). When I got home after class I expressed my frustration to my host mom who laughed and explained the difference between the two \u3042\u3064\u3044 to me.<\/p>\n
Through this class I am also able to study the politeness levels of Japanese \u00a0interactions between the students and the teacher. Most of my classmates are retired \u304a\u5a46\u3061\u3083\u3093 and \u304a\u7956\u7236\u3055\u3093\u3001 but my teacher is in his forties. There is also a father-daughter pair in the group. This makes the interactions really interesting. The sensei, while still in charge and referred to as sensei by everyone, is also treated in a congenial nephew fashion and he refers to the father in the father-daughter pair as \u304a\u7236\u3055\u3093.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t really much idle chatter in my class, most people are focused on their pieces, and being so much younger and rather limited in understanding I think that some of my older classmates hesitate to talk to me.\u00a0 Most of the chat that does happen is about the weather, or why I cam to japan. I was once asked if I thought that all Japanese people would be wearing kimonos. Which threw me for a loop.<\/p>\n
The path to my class is through the Uji-Bashi district and the walk itself is a really interesting look into Japan.\u00a0 Surrounded by various temples and beautiful scenery it is a popular tourist attraction, as well as hiking and ritual shrine visits.\u00a0 Every so often I get to see young kids on their way to shrine to celebrate shichigosan,\u00a0 which again had to be explained by my host mom when I came home with questions.\u00a0 Overall I really think that my CIP project helped me get more involved in the city that I live in and improve my Japanese and confidence when it comes to talking to Japanese speakers. Now I\u2019m more worried with how I accidently carved a hole in the bottom of my tea bowl than whether I am going to mess up saying something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first started looking for a CIP project I had a few ideas: sado classes, dance club, working at a caf\u00e9, … \u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080