Jun's Exhibition opening

Got up pretty early but tried not to make any noise so that Yj doesn’t have to worry about my breakfast etc. Since I brought this heavy laptop, I tried to write a bit but fell asleep again and again. There was a kindergarten next to her flat, so you hear the kids singing aloud. It was kind of nice, I almost remember the song they were singing over and over. Hopped in a shower right after Yj left. She was saying that she needed to go to temple around 9am. She came home a bit before 10am and we had late breakfast. Her kitchen was on the first floor. She had already cooked some rice and vegetable. She said that she doesn’t cook much cause she is always so busy. She does volunteer work for her temple and it’s a big part of her life now. I’m so proud that I have a friend like her. She told me to stay one more night but she had to stay at the temple and there were couple of things I was worried about so I thought I’d better go home tonight. Well, if Jun is able to extend his stay for one more day, he was going to come to visit me there and Yj was gonna drive us. I packed my bag anyway and decided to decide later. Went down from the third floor and waited for her. I noticed the letter “spring” but it was upside down. Asked Yj why. She said it’s because spring sounds similar to something if you read it from back..what was it? I have to ask again..Yj called the paper shop and she was told to come after 2pm. So we decided to go this shop Yj knows.
It was actually an art and craft shop. Wanted to spend an hour to look around but we didn’t have much time. Yj asked a shop assistant if they have the paper I want. She showed me some but they were not good. I found something usable and bought it as an insurance. Also bought some magnets and spray which might get handy later. There was another shop she wanted to take me but it was closed unfortunately. We went to a stationary store instead and got some double sided origami paper. It was quite expensive and Yj was wondering if they are ripping off because I’m a foreigner and asked them some questions. I told her it’s because I got a packet of 500 paper and some more. I told her that I really doubt that’s gonna happen in this country anyway.
Yj had to do something at her temple(it was more like office) so we went there quickly. I walked around the town so that she can take her time. I wouldn’t be surprised that if one day she tells me that she became a nun.
On the way back there was a beautiful temple I took some photos. She told me that we have to enter from dragon door and get out from Tiger but some local people don’t know and they do the opposite. She forgot her bag and had to go back there so I went in by myself and I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to pay..so I looked around and quickly got out from the tiger door.
Yj asked me what I wanted to have for lunch and I said Yam-cha. I often have this in Melbourne. We went to SOGO which is actually a Japanese department store and it looked so Japanese every time the door opened when we were in an elevator. Well except that they had elevator boys in stead of “elevator girls” We went to a food court on the 14th floor but couldn’t find it there. There were so many other things and I was happy to have any of those well,if they didn’t have meat in it. Yj asked someone there an d found out it was on the 15th floor. She was getting so many phone calls because of the big upcoming event.
We ordered too much again and had to argue who’s gonna pay again. She wouldn’t let me pay. We decided that we are gonna split the bill from now. It’s too embarrassing..
Went down to the parking this guy came to talk to Yj and said that he was impressed that she was having a conversation in English. She was happy to hear that.
We headed for the paper shop which was like.. 15 minutes away? We found the place. It was in a residetal street. This lady came out and said hello. Well, she doesn’t speak any Japanese or English. So Yj had to translate everything for me. First she gave me this photo paper and I said it might be not strong enough. Well it was thick but doesn’t mean it’s strong enough. I asked her if I can test it and started to make a cut into this. Well it wasn’t good at all. What I was looking for was a big sheet of paper which is printable, strong enough(with fiber would be better) and not too thick or thin. I knew it wasn’t so easy to find. I was about to leave and she brought something. I wasn’t expecting much but that was the ideal paper! The only thing was that this paper was made by this company and it took long for them to find out how to make it. They don’t want other people to know the secret. I said that shouldn’t be a problem. I was thinking about giving this work to this town anyway. I was wondering how much it was going to be and before I asked Yj screamed. She said that she would do it for free to support this wonderful project!! Unbelievable..
I said it’s sooooo nice of her but I can’t do that. I’m happy to pay but she says it doesn’t cost that much and it’s ok. What’s wrong with these people?? They are just incredible.
Yj had to see someone at a children’s dentist. I wondered if I can take photos there and Yj asked them for me but they said no. Well one kid was having a treatment and crying. I didn’t mean that I wanted to take a photo of that but it was hard to explain anyway.
We went to Jun’s hotel. Yj called from the front desk. He came down in the elevator. He was still working on something so we decided to leave him alone and see him at the museum. The good news was that he could extend his stay one more day so he can come to see “my town”.
We went to the Temple Yj goes to. Again, this was more like office and it was just huge open space. They have a meditation class every Friday and Yj is helping organizing it. That’s why she’s been so busy with phone calls etc. I asked her what her mum thinks of that and she told me that she is not against or excited. She takes a neutral stand. I was a bit surprised with this. I thought she must be so proud if her doing it or worried, either way. Well, come to think of that, “being neutral” is a part of Buddhist teaching so she is right!
Yj was busy so I sat down on the couch which was a bit far from everybody and started to fold some paper I brought. Well I was so sleepy and started to fall asleep. I moved to the other side of the couch so that they can’t see me falling asleep just in case. It was like an hour waiting there I was glad that I had some paper otherwise I would have been a deep sleep. Yj came around few times. I showed her the paper I had-I was making ”YJ”.
Cha called me to see what I wanted to do tonight-if I wanted to go back there with them or stay one more night. I was actually asleep and couldn’t think straight. Told him that it’s up to Jun. I said to him that I should probably go back tonight for Moe. “oh she left” he said. I was like “what do you mean?” well she left there this morning. She decided that she won’t be able to make anything in this short time. Well, I felt bad immediately that I wasn’t there to support her but it was too late.
We left there to go to the museum right after 6pm.
The Opening was from 6:00. music was on and food was there but we didn’t see Jun there. We saw one of the people who were talking to Jun at the hotel last night so I asked him if he knew where jun was. He said that he hadn’t finished his work still when he talked to him and wasn’t sure if he could make it tonight.. well,well.. We decided to eat anyway. We saw Iva’s husband there. He said come and join their table but there were many people talking to him so we decided to move to the other table. It started to rain a bit but I didn’t really care. Yj had to go back to the temple and said that I can be with Iva’s husband until Jun comes. I told her that I’m fine by myself here, in fact I wanted to do some work on my computer.
I found a power point and used it without asking..well I couldn’t ask anyway. I was wondering if they are going to say anything but they didn’t. One security lady was wondering what I was doing on my lap top though.. I heard Jun’s voice and looked up. He was there with gallery people. He walked towards me and said “hi” . “so you finished” I said. ”sort of..” he replied. Cause my computer was still on I showed him a video of my old work. We went out and tried to eat some but all the food was gone. I had to have coffee because there wasn’t anything else. Because some other people were there I wasn’t sure if I should talk. Well we normally speak in English but he speaks Japanese to other Japanese people, I just found out. It was sort of strange talking to him in Japanese. He asked me if I had seen his work and I said no. We went back to the building and he showed me around.
All what I knew was that he was running. I heard this from other friend. Well he was doing this to be able to understand refugee people’s agony. This was the 6th place he did. I knew he was running in New York and Japan. At this stage I thought that he was just running for two weeks and video tape it. What I didn’t notice was that he was making a picture of flower using ..what do you call??GPS? one of those which you use for car navigator etc. There were some big maps and you see red lines going around. If you look it closer you see flowers. He plans where to go beforehand but it doesn’t work as he planned. Sometimes you don’t realize that there is a liver there or that you can’t run on the high way etc. So the line stops there or the shape of a leaf becomes funny. But that makes it more interesting. He is going to run the same distance for the diameter of the earth. On the day one here in tai chung he had crump everywhere and had to go to the hospital on an ambulance. I said this is not nice to say but it’s sort of made it more interesting on the screen.
Well it was almost 9:00pm and we were told to leave. I decided to go back to town tonight cause I had a feeling that Jun was too busy tomorrow and if I stay we are gonna give him a pressure to go there. I called Yj to let Cha know that.
I got picked up from the museum and it was so much easier. I noticed that the driver was the one who picked me up from the airport. Iva and the other lady was wearing a mask and I said to Cha that she was totally fine yesterday. He was making joke about SARS etc but I didn’t find out if she was sick or not. I got home ok but no one was there..