Three posts left for my orientation class, so I am going to write them all right now on Sunday afternoon, sitting in the Higashi Koganei park, eating chocolate and drinking milk tea.
Well, in this post I will write about my time at Mass this morning. First of all, I made it there on time which was really great considering last time I didn’t find it until I randomly ran into a Catholic nun who informed me that mass had just ended. So I was already head and tails ahead of where I was last week! The church itself is simple- pretty small, no decoration, but it was full! I was there maybe five minutes early and I had to sit in the back, which was fine as I still feel pretty self conscious being a foreigner in a very homogeneous country. I was able to sing some of the songs and follow along with what was going on. Nothing really too spectacular to note, but it was a pleasant experience. On thing I did like was the fact that all of the Scripture readings are written out on a pamphlet everyone is able to receive before Mass. This is really great for me as, first of all, the readings are read very slowly, so I can practice listening, and secondly, I am able to listen and follow along in my pamphlet, so I can practice reading and identifying kanji (Chinese characters).
While Catholic mass is “universal”, meaning it is presided over the same way everywhere, there were some differences to mass in America. No kneeling, for one, but more standing. As I saw when in Korea, more women continue to veil their heads, and some of the religious nuns dress in habit, though not the really antiquated black and white habit. There are probably more subtle differences I wasn’t really able to pick up on yet, but in time maybe I will.
After mass I was approached by a nice woman who apparently works at the hospital next door. She was very friendly and encouraged me to come again. I wasn’t really surprised that I was approached by a stranger as that was also my experience in Korea. Being a foreigner, especially living in my part of Tokyo (Higashi-Koganei), means that one will probably attract people who are sincerely eager to get to know you better. I’ve had a couple of other encounters already. Last Monday I was at Waseda walking to the book store when two women came up to me and started chatting with me. I was confused and didn’t really know what they wanted as they were just asking me general questions about why I was there and what I was studying. They even asked for my contact information, which surprised me as I had only known them for five minutes! But I think one woman works with a dance club on campus- maybe she’s recruiting tall girls?
Then on Thursday, my friend and I were in the subway station when a woman came up to me and started talking. Apparently she had seen me at Waseda before and wanted to introduce herself. That was it! A funny encounter, but very friendly!
El fin of part one.
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