This I learnt today.
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At work, I attended a Catholic mass. This was my first Catholic mass ever, let alone in Japan. All of the girls of the school attended (my main reason for going) along with several parents and community members. The funny thing is that since I don't know exactly what they're saying, none of it registers to me. I don't sense any intensity, reverence, purpose. They're just mumbling canned memorized prayers and standing up and down. Where's the passion? But we got to sing songs and there was a song book of sheet music which is was OVERJOYED about. I hadn't even planned on sight-reading. BEST MASS EVER. I feel SO much more relaxed after I've sight-read chorales. SO GREAT. And it wasn't too easy because of the additional challenge of reading the hiragana at the same time. :)
Like this but not so easy and in 4 parts. :)
Then towards the end, a choir came out from the back and started to sing Ave Verum Corpus, seriously one of my very favorite choral pieces of all time...I ALMOST DIED. I was mouthing or softly singing the words the whole time and probably annoying the kimono-clad moms sitting around me.
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After work I went for a random walk.(did I mention it was the first truly SUNNY DAY since I've been here?! Probably in the low 80s but the humidity made it feel like the 100s. SO. FREAKING. HOT.) I never thought I'd find everything I did!
A rolling, almost waterfall-esque turn in the river
A ladybug friend!
The former Siebold Residence. Siebold is the man who introduced Western Medicine to Japan. The street I live off of is called Siebold-Dori (Siebold street.)
Mountain Panorama #1
A beautiful shrine nestled into the hillside--with star trees!
At the top of a hill-spanning cemetery, the best and most beautiful panorama of one of Nagasaki's valleys I've ever seen! Definitely not in any guidebook.
Waiting for the sun to set. (It didn't, exactly. I guess I forgot that you have to be close to sea-level to get the pretty-sky-colors-silhouette effect.)
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TODAY'S CULTURE TIDBITS
*Our fridge goes like this: Fridge, freezer, freezer. The fridge is about half the vertical space and the two freezers are about 1/4 each. Why there are two freezers I don't know. We don't use one. The freezers pull out like drawers, and the fridge has double hinges so you can open it from the left or right side. It has four short "levels," all of which are too short to stand up bottles/pitches upright. We either have to lay them down or put them in the side of the door if they're flat enough.
*At school and at church, we take off our shoes and put on slippers that they provide for us. Everyone does this everywhere. (Not in stores.)
*About half the time I see elementary schoolers in groups on the street, one or a few of them will pull out a "Harro!" I'm not sure of their intent, but I smile and say hello back. Sometimes they say "Nice to meet you!" Or something like that too. I think they just want to use English on a white person. It only happens when they're in big groups though. I also think they think all white people don't know Japanese. Everyone thinks that. The lady at the bus station was trying to be like "w-w-which (フイチ)..." and I was like ummm I could understand if you say DOCHIRA. I asked you the question in Japanese first soooo yeah.
*Garbage in Japan is like this: Burnable, non-burnable, and cans & bottles. Burnable trash is basically paper and food remains like fruit/vegetables/breads. I guess they don't recycle paper but burn it so at least it's not taking up space in a landfill. Non-burnable trash is everything plastic. We also put metal in there like foil and can lids. I assume they recycle everything in there. Cans and bottles are cans and bottles. (You have to take the wrappers off.) They recycle those.
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