I have decided that I really love my life. God is so amazing. If you don’t know, now you know. Seriously, the blessings just keep coming and I’m running out of buckets to catch them. Guess it’s time to invest in a bathtub.
So . . . We just wrapped up our first day of filming in Kyoto.
This city is absolutely NOTHING like Tokyo. No skyscrapers. No electronic billboards. No Lolitas, Goths, Punks, or Sebasitans. This city is very traditional. The main roads are lined with beautiful little shops and houses with the traditional tile roofs, rice-paper windows and sliding wooden doors. Ladies in silk kimonos and wooden shoes walk the streets. The surrounding hills are lush with bamboo groves and dotted with Zen Buddhist temples. The architecture here blends so well with the natural surroundings. I never thought that looking at architecture could genuinely be a calming experience but I’ve since learned otherwise. Ohmmmmm anybody?
First stop of the day was breakfast with the monks at a Zen monastery to learn more about Zen Buddhism and its strong influences on modern day Japanese culture. This was quite the experience. You hear me? We all sat on the tatami-covered floor, kneeling in what was possibly the most uncomfortable position that I can imagine. On the menu was a small bowl of rice porridge and a very small pickled plum. I had the feeling that the breakfast menu hadn’t rotated much since the days that Buda himself walked the earth. I’m not saying that didn’t taste good, because a brotha was hungry so I def tore that meal up . . . but lets just say that it was a far cry from the Sausage-and-Egg McGriddle super-value meal with OJ that I was hoping for. As we ate the head monk put a few grains of rice onto a wooden spatula and passed it down the table as all of the other monks did the same. After asking about this odd practice, we learned that during every meal the monks each offer up a little bit of their food to be placed outside to feed the birds, insects, and “spirits” of the forest. After the meal was over, everyone stayed seated as they washed their bowls with green tea and a slice of pickled radish. As hard as I scrubbed with that radish and tea, I still highly doubt that it did the same job that a sponge and some Lemon-Zest-Palmolive would.
When it came time to get up from the table I came to the frightening realization that I had lost all sensation in both of my legs. A panicked glance from my co host made it very apparent that he was in the same boat. The “Stanky Legg” that followed was quite the scene. For those of you in Singapre who may not be so familiar with the latest in urban dance moves, this one’s for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mf2KL0sV98&feature=related. Judging from the hearty laughter that ensued, I think we unintentionally provided these otherwise stoic monks with their dose of comic relief for the year 2009, albeit at our expense. (Okay, not going to lie, I just wanted to use the words “stoic” and “albeit” in the same sentence. Watch out y’all next time around I might throw in an “insofar as” or two.)
Next on the agenda – a lesson in Zen mediation from the head monk. He led us into yet another tattami-floored room with rice paper windows. The main difference was that in place of a table, this room had two rows of massive blue pillows. We sat down and he showed us the proper posture for meditation. Apparently the objective is to clear the mind and calm the heart, but I found it nearly impossible to have a clear mind while all I could think about was the fact that my legs looked and felt like they had just come off of the Auntie Anne’s assembly line. Pretzels anyone? Aparenly the monks come and meditate everyday. As they meditate, the head monk paces up and down with a bamboo rod whacking people in the back if they fall asleep. I received my fair share of these today. It doesn’t hurt at all – its actually quite massaging.
Next on the agenda was another “taxi-ride” filming. SERIOUSLY FUN MAN! While it is meant to look like there are only three of us in the car – 2 hosts and one driver . . . the reality is that there were five of us (the camera man and translator were also in the back seat). What made it fun was the fact that there was no room in the car for the producer. So with nobody there to tell us to hold back and tone down, we let it all go. It’s kind of like in elementary school when your teacher is sick for the day and you have a substitute teacher. Everyone has a bit of fun . . . you switch names with your best friend during role-call. You make up rules and tell the substitute “but our teacher always lets us . . .” Or you pretend you have a foreign accent and make up a story about how your family just moved to town (Am I the ONLY one who had a convincing Nigerian accent at age seven?) . . . Anwyay, what was I talking about again? Oh yah, filming without the producer is kind of like that . . . let’s just say we had some fun . . .
In other news, I FINALLY figured out where in the bible the verse “Jesus wept” comes from. It’s in John chapter 11 when Mary and Martha go to tell Jesus that Lazarus is dead. There’s some really good stuff in that chapter so if you haven’t read John 11, or if it’s been a while – I would highly recommend you check it out yo! For me it was a reminder that when tough times come, it’s only so God can show himself powerful over the situation in the end (John 11:4).
Until next time . . . Stay Blessed everybody!
So . . . We just wrapped up our first day of filming in Kyoto.
This city is absolutely NOTHING like Tokyo. No skyscrapers. No electronic billboards. No Lolitas, Goths, Punks, or Sebasitans. This city is very traditional. The main roads are lined with beautiful little shops and houses with the traditional tile roofs, rice-paper windows and sliding wooden doors. Ladies in silk kimonos and wooden shoes walk the streets. The surrounding hills are lush with bamboo groves and dotted with Zen Buddhist temples. The architecture here blends so well with the natural surroundings. I never thought that looking at architecture could genuinely be a calming experience but I’ve since learned otherwise. Ohmmmmm anybody?First stop of the day was breakfast with the monks at a Zen monastery to learn more about Zen Buddhism and its strong influences on modern day Japanese culture. This was quite the experience. You hear me? We all sat on the tatami-covered floor, kneeling in what was possibly the most uncomfortable position that I can imagine. On the menu was a small bowl of rice porridge and a very small pickled plum. I had the feeling that the breakfast menu hadn’t rotated much since the days that Buda himself walked the earth. I’m not saying that didn’t taste good, because a brotha was hungry so I def tore that meal up . . . but lets just say that it was a far cry from the Sausage-and-Egg McGriddle super-value meal with OJ that I was hoping for. As we ate the head monk put a few grains of rice onto a wooden spatula and passed it down the table as all of the other monks did the same. After asking about this odd practice, we learned that during every meal the monks each offer up a little bit of their food to be placed outside to feed the birds, insects, and “spirits” of the forest. After the meal was over, everyone stayed seated as they washed their bowls with green tea and a slice of pickled radish. As hard as I scrubbed with that radish and tea, I still highly doubt that it did the same job that a sponge and some Lemon-Zest-Palmolive would.
When it came time to get up from the table I came to the frightening realization that I had lost all sensation in both of my legs. A panicked glance from my co host made it very apparent that he was in the same boat. The “Stanky Legg” that followed was quite the scene. For those of you in Singapre who may not be so familiar with the latest in urban dance moves, this one’s for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mf2KL0sV98&feature=related. Judging from the hearty laughter that ensued, I think we unintentionally provided these otherwise stoic monks with their dose of comic relief for the year 2009, albeit at our expense. (Okay, not going to lie, I just wanted to use the words “stoic” and “albeit” in the same sentence. Watch out y’all next time around I might throw in an “insofar as” or two.)
Next on the agenda – a lesson in Zen mediation from the head monk. He led us into yet another tattami-floored room with rice paper windows. The main difference was that in place of a table, this room had two rows of massive blue pillows. We sat down and he showed us the proper posture for meditation. Apparently the objective is to clear the mind and calm the heart, but I found it nearly impossible to have a clear mind while all I could think about was the fact that my legs looked and felt like they had just come off of the Auntie Anne’s assembly line. Pretzels anyone? Aparenly the monks come and meditate everyday. As they meditate, the head monk paces up and down with a bamboo rod whacking people in the back if they fall asleep. I received my fair share of these today. It doesn’t hurt at all – its actually quite massaging.
Next on the agenda was another “taxi-ride” filming. SERIOUSLY FUN MAN! While it is meant to look like there are only three of us in the car – 2 hosts and one driver . . . the reality is that there were five of us (the camera man and translator were also in the back seat). What made it fun was the fact that there was no room in the car for the producer. So with nobody there to tell us to hold back and tone down, we let it all go. It’s kind of like in elementary school when your teacher is sick for the day and you have a substitute teacher. Everyone has a bit of fun . . . you switch names with your best friend during role-call. You make up rules and tell the substitute “but our teacher always lets us . . .” Or you pretend you have a foreign accent and make up a story about how your family just moved to town (Am I the ONLY one who had a convincing Nigerian accent at age seven?) . . . Anwyay, what was I talking about again? Oh yah, filming without the producer is kind of like that . . . let’s just say we had some fun . . .
In other news, I FINALLY figured out where in the bible the verse “Jesus wept” comes from. It’s in John chapter 11 when Mary and Martha go to tell Jesus that Lazarus is dead. There’s some really good stuff in that chapter so if you haven’t read John 11, or if it’s been a while – I would highly recommend you check it out yo! For me it was a reminder that when tough times come, it’s only so God can show himself powerful over the situation in the end (John 11:4).
Until next time . . . Stay Blessed everybody!
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