Dazaifu: walking on fire

Yesterday morning we (WJC students) went to Kamado shrine (竈神社) at Dazaifu to walk on fire. “Walk on fire?” you ask. Yeah, well, that’s all I remembered from class, as I was dozing off during the explanation.
Luckily, I díd pay attention when we arrived, so behold, here follows a blog with tadadadam.. some information!

We attended a ritual called gomadaki (護摩焚き), which has influences from Buddhism and Shintoism. The Kamado shrine was built to put a stop to bad luck and once a year they build a big fire and everyone can write their wish down on a small piece of wood (300円). As soon as it is thrown in the fire, the wish can go up to the sky to the god up there (or were it gods?) so it can be granted. So, well, purification ritual.
Makes sense, no?

“Heeeere, heeeeree” followed by a long explanation

The ‘pieces of wood’, ready for the ritual

See the green thing in the middle? Yeah, that’s the centerpiece

Omiyage @volleyball

This is gonna be a short post, but in Japan it’s usual to bring back a souvenir when you go on a trip, right?

Well, I already knew it was usual for family, friends and sometimes at work as well, but in my volleyball club, Fragrance, it happened more than once that someone gave omiyage!

Team Activity (チーム活動) Numberrrr one

Lately there are more and more rules in the dorm, the new staff chànges things.
1. Suddenly there is an ‘International Day’ every month to improve the relationship between foreigners and Japanese.
2. From now on we have ‘English Time’ every week (don’t ask me about details, haven’t gone yet).
3.We’re supposed to talk English with our roommates between 6PM and 7PM daily.
4. We can’t have sleepovers and should be home by 11PM.
Furthermore we have a host family with whom we are supposed to meet up once a month and we have our monthly date with our JD-mate (buddy).
Oh and somewhere in between we have to squeeze our homework, our ISP (Independent Study Project) and who knows, a personal life?

– Yeah, I’m kind of nagging now, sorry 😀 –

Tennis in ‘Summer’

People who know me a bit, soon realize I am VERY bad at getting up in the morning. My wonderful roommates already knew it after a day of two, three.

And yet, somehow, I managed to get up for tennis last week! I left the dorm at 7h20 (No, there’s nothing wrong with your eyes, it really is a seven) in the morning and went to Hakozaki by bike. Yes, my wonderful ‘new’ bike!
By the time I got there, it was 8 o’clock in the morning and already around 20 degrees! This is Summer! I think we would talk about a heat wave if it were Belgium. Hum.

Actually there is not that much to tell, except that I really enjoyed myself. I met up with my buddy Miyu, friends of her (same as before!) and then the buddy of one of those friends and although most of us were complete beginners, we just tried and well.. I’m glad I didn’t hit anyone and I was able to hit the ball, more or less.

By the time we rounded up (11), it was 25 degrees, I had a sunburn and I could almost serve inside the court. Sometimes.

Miyu was amused by my outfit, or well, my lack of sleeves in May, whereas I was amused by their long sleeves. Were they really not melting?!
Still not sure if this is a cultural difference or just a difference in the temperatures we’re used to.
Tell me, how will I possibly survive Summer?

New buddy

Before I wrote about my new roommates and the start of the new semester. But that’s not all Spring has brought upon me. I also got a new buddy! Or well, here they call a supporter a JD-mate (joshidai-mate 女子大メイト(？))

She is amazing! I was kind of nervous to meet her at first, but Miyu turned out to be great. Just like my previous buddy she has studied in Leuven, Belgium, for a year and she even took the effort to learn Dutch!

Host Family: Ice skating and pizzzzaaaa

Yesterday I met with my host family for the third time! As we went out for dinner the previous times, I wanted to do something active and asked to go skating. I was a bit nervous, expecting to fall down every two meter (well, more or less), but it turned out to be great.

Omotenashi

Lately I have been ‘quite’ busy with papers, helping organising the New Year’s Party (I didn’t do thàt much but still..), presentations and well.. scary things like exams. So I haven’t really had time to get out and actually do… like… stuff.

So instead of ‘adventures’, I would like to share my draft on ‘Omotenashi’ here. This way you can know what’s on my mind nowadays.

Spring Break – Preparation

As the Spring Break (春休みharuyasumi) is coming closer, I am making plans with my friends! 6 February is our last class and are the last deadlines for reports (as in Murakami report and ISP (Individual Study Project)). After that there’s a presentation of our ISP on the 13^th and a closing ceremony the 20^th. Then we are FREE!

Some girls are leaving since they only stay for a semester.. that thought makes me really sad. After all, what is the chance that we will meet again? And even then, it will not be the same as dropping randomly by here and chatting and enjoying some free time here… I was not able to get to know everyone, since it’s impossible and well… Ah, it can’t be helped.. And at the same time, I am REALLY looking forward to Spring Break!
It has been a great but busy semester and there are so many things to do!

Not only Okinawa, but also another visit to Osaka annnnnd Taiwan are going to have to bear with me! Beware, Sheena is coming 😉

In Taiwan we’re going to walk around a LOT so I cannot take my usual luggage.. Therefore, I invested in a decent backpack and.. Just look at it being pretty! I am not really adventurous and I do not have a lot of travel experience (except with my parents, but that’s not the same as planning it yourself), so I hope I will use this a lot in the future.

The red one! ❤

Even more, a friend of mine has studied in Taiwan a few years ago and she sent me her guidebook. As soon as I have time off I will read it through!

Okay, this was just a random update while procrastinating my homework and papers… But I wanted to share my excitement! Haruyasumi, here I come!

Japanese survival camp

It feels like yesterday that I wrote that October was at its end! And here we are, the last day of November and every day a bit closer to Christmas (or well, Sinterklaas next week :3 ). A new year is just around the corner…

Last week was amazing and I don’t really know where to start! Not only dinner with Belgian girls and a sumo tournament (if somebody is interested I can tell more about that later, but look on Freya’s blog for an awesome report and especially the pictures!! 😉 ), but also awesome volleyball practice… well, then the weekend was there and it was time for Japanese survival weekend!

I wanted to be ‘subtle’ and take a picture of everyone, but didn’t succeed, since these two girls posed for me, haha :’)

Umi shrine & consortium

Wednesday we visited Umi Hachimangū (宇美八幡宮), a shrine half an hour away by train. We were guided by our Hakata teacher and he told us more about the kinds of shrines and then about the legend that goes along with that one. The place was not huge, but there were more buildings than I expected and there were legends about the origin!

Story goes that the shrine is the place where Empress  Jingū (神功皇后) gave birth to Emperor Ōjin (応神天皇), which makes him the god of easy childbirth. There were some huge trees at the shrine, supposedly over more than 1000 years old, and they would be the places that gave roof during childbirth and a place to hang the clothes afther the baby’s first bath. At the well there was an inscription saying “Even silver, gold and jewelry can’t beat the baby”, so she spoke of her love of the child and how precious Ōjin was to her.

Let’s call this one the ‘clothing tree’