I got hit on by a monk!

Sorry for the delay, it's the second week of summer classes and I'm feeling super lazy, hence the lack of entries.

So I left off at the end of week 1. So let's head onto week 2 then!

What's better to start off a week with some meditation? We went to a temple called Jyogan Ji. It was a bit far from 日大, so we all had the pleasure of taking the taxi there! Before that though, of course we still had classes!! Let's see what KP-san brought to school that morning!

Grape ice cream (he said it was yucky) and Apple cider KitKat (it was delicious...and I realized that was something I should have brought back to NY... -_-'')

Fruity Jelly. It's sort of like that Aloe drink you can buy in oriental supermarkets. Not sure how it tasted.

I got a snack too! This is a cream puff from Karen-san's host parents. It was light and fluffy. Absolutely delicious.

I had an Oyster set lunch today. The picture won't come out the proper way and I don't know how to fix it....but this was probably my most favorite lunch in 日大. After lunch we head straight to Jyogan Ji!

Yes guys, the Japanese drives on the right! Our very own taxi!

Mukid-san in the other taxi!

Inside the temple

L to R: Sam-san, KP-san, Rob-san, half of Ryan-san, and Becky-san.

Little statues in front of the temple.

Monk-san was demonstrating how to put on his robe and was answering various questions we had.

What we did at the temple was the monk taught us the way of Buddhism, so we had a short lecture by him. After that, he taught us the proper way to 座禅 (zazen), which means sitting meditation. It's not as easy as you think, there's a whole set of rules you must understand before 座禅.

First thing we must do is clear our head of anything thoughts, which is hard because once you start telling yourself not to think about anything, you starts thinking about all sorts of things. Second, we must prepare for the cushion we'll be meditating on. It's a small round pillow but it's not big enought for your whole butt. We had to fluff it up so then we'll be as comfortable as possible.

You have to sit up straight and your tailbone is supported by the cushion. Your head and your back is suppose to make one straight line. The monk actually walked around with his yardstick to make sure our posture was correct. We have to sit in the lotus position, which is impossible for me. Your hand must be one on top of the othe, palm up, and the tip of your thumbs must gently meet each other. Your eyes must not close. You must be looking down and about 1 foot in front of you. So you gaze down the whole time that you're meditating.

Now we're ready.

So the whole time I was trying not to fall asleep and nurse my numbing feet. THe numbness was probably one of the most horrible thing I've felt in a long time. That wasn't even the beginning of it. About half way through the meditation, the monk stopped us to tell us something. I can barely hear it since I was at the front of the room and he was talking at the back, but Nagase sensei translated what he said and I heard words like "discipline", "stick", and "shoulder". So I sort of knew something bad is going down.

What we had to do was we had to move our head to the left shoulder, and what the monk did was using a "discipline stick", gave us a "tap" on the shoulder. And let me tell you that "tap" hurted. He explained later that it was a tap, and he demonstrated what a real hit would be like, and it was way scarier. Usually, practicing monks might get hit because they fell asleep meditation, and the tap was just to wake them up and let them remember what happens if they fall asleep.

After our detox, we went to a 旅館 (ryokan), which is kind of like a bed and breakfast in the states. Some people prefer to stay in a ryokan during their trip to Japan because you can definitely get a more traditional feel to it. It's a bit more pricey, but I think if you can even just stay there for one night, it's worth it.

The hostess of the ryokan was nice enough to invite us back. She has been doing it since the beginning of the program. It was a real treat. We got to enjoy a nice onsen experiment and afterwards we get to sing KARAOKE~!!!!

Before that, we had a chance to soak in the onsen. It was pretty uncomfortable because in Japan, you do it in the nude! It was a bit scary because we just got to know each other and we're about to be completely naked in front of each other!! There were two obaachans there and they were kinda touchy. It was funny because they were so shocked to see us becuase some of us were pretty well endowed. So I guess in Japan, girls are slim and small. So for them it was as if they went in a foreign country.

After that, we went back to the room for some KARAOKE TIME~!!!

Will-san in his jinbei and I in my ryokan yukata after the onsen.

Singing Disney songs.

Singing some Johnny's songs, while Chris-san is backup dancing.

The new BSB, coming to a town near you!

After onsen!

It was so fun at the ryokan, but unfortunately we had to leave after 2 hours of karaoke fun. We took some pictures outside the ryokan.

This was the ryokan we were at.

It was quite nice.

Will-san and the hostess of the ryokan.

advertising for the ryokan.

Engrish sign we saw on ou way back to school.

By the time we got back to the university, it was already 7. So a few of us decided to go to MOS burger fora quick dinner before heading back home. MOS burger stands for Mountain, Ocean, Sunshine burger. It is kind of like McDonald's but not. It is supposedly "healthier" than your regular fast food chain becuase its freshly cooked and it's not very oily.

This was a 海老バーガー. (shrimp burger) It came with delicious melon soda! The burger and fries came out steaming hot and it was absolutely delicious.

Week 2 started without a hitch. There are more fun times to come. Stay tune!

Maggie out~