Tea Ceremony

Wow. I've been so busy with school work that I haven't gotten a chance to write in this for a while. I'll start from where I last stopped though. My program was randomly split into two groups where for a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The first group had their tea ceremony the week before and I had mine on Friday. I didn't feel well that day so I didn't go to class but I forgot to set an alarm so I somehow woke myself up just in time to run to the tea ceremony. It was pouring down rain and I didn't bring an umbrella with me when I was running there so I showed up soaking wet. That is why I look like a wet rat in all the pictures :(
The ceremony took place in a tea room that is randomly placed in the middle of our classroom building. There is an open space near the door and then a platform filled with tatami mats and paper doors around the vicinity. I walked in and sat down with everyone else who was sitting around the edges of the room. They all had fans so I grabbed one when I walked in.
Once everyone was there, the sensei came out and showed us all where to sit. Tea ceremonies are probably one of the most traditional things in Japanese culture- in my opinion. There are rules/ ways of doing things for everything. The way you enter the room, what you say, how you sit etc. We were all placed in our respective places and showed how to sit as well. Japanese people sit with their legs underneath them and their bottom resting on their heels or in between their heels. We learned this way before but soon realized that it is a lot harder than it looks. The teacher showed us and then told us that is was alright to sit normally when we were resting. She told us all about some of the history in tea ceremonies and what you should and should not do. We then split up into two groups- the tea makers and tea drinkers. We ate our tea treats first- which you always eat before you drink during a tea ceremony. There is a special way to hold the chopsticks when picking up the treat and also a way to fold your napkin (let alone a different size napkin for men than there are for women- crazy huh). The sensei then showed us how to make tea. My group was the first to make it and it was a pretty awesome experience. We had a bowl, powdered tea, hot water, and a wooden whisk that looked like a BBQ brush and a whisk put together, just small enough to fit in your hand. You had to whisk the tea in a back and fourth motion until it frothed- which was a huge arm workout. Then it is handed to the other people to drink. You are supposed to drink it in three sips and hold it with the label of the bowl facing the outside. You then sip to the last drop and move it counterclockwise back to where the label is facing you. Then it is placed on the ground where you place your elbows onto your thighs and you examine the pretty art and who crafted the bowl.
We then switched where the other group made the tea and my group drank it. The tea was pretty strong but I thought it was delicious. We then practiced entering the room and waiting for the host to serve us tea. You have to say "sorry for entering/doing before you" and time you eat or go somewhere before the person behind. Then you walk into the room by scooting in and bowing. You then get up and walk but not picking up your feet so it makes a swooshing sound- meant for the owners to know you have arrived. You look at the artwork, flowers, things to make the tea with, and then wait for everyone else to enter the room and do the same. Then the tea ceremony can begin. It was a great experience and I learned so much about the culture from just a small event we had. I liked it a lot but I heard that sometimes they can take as much as 2 hours! People have even majored in tea ceremonies- so they definitely take it seriously here. That is one thing that I know I will miss in America- they have so many traditions and cultural events here that we don't seem to have in America which is too bad.