A Paella Night
Just a few weeks after I leave for the UK, one of my flamenco classmates will move out of her house in Tokyo and start her marriage life in the south of Japan. So, our class will become even smaller after September.
Under the name of leaving parties, we decided to have dinner twice (could have more, but we’re busy for other things as well, you know): the first one in a Spanish restaurant, and the second one in… well, another Spanish restaurant (just a coincidence). For the second gathering, we will invite our teacher as well, but for the first one, on last Friday, we just had a whale of time only by ourselves.
The restaurant’s appearance was rather like a warehouse, but the food was gorgeous. I honestly think it’s the best in Tokyo, and my classmates would agree. It was a pity that they didn’t have a flamenco show on Friday. Instead, they were playing a series of pop music (not necessarily Spanish) throughout the opening hours and it was quite noisy. Still, we could manage chatting and having fun.
All of a sudden, our chatting was disturbed by an ear-splitting yelling from all the waters. We couldn’t get what they shouted, but it was soon followed by a burst of even louder music. Oh gosh, what’s going on? Covering our ears with our hands, we looked at each other.
Then two waters came along holding one huge paella pan in their hands. We assumed that it was for our table, as we ordered the rice dish. But they walked pass our table, so we wanted to know to which table the gigantic pan would be taken instead. Somebody else must have ordered the same, delicious-looking dish then. But the waters also went through other tables, sometimes tilting the pan to show the inside to each table. We could see the artistic shape of the scorching Spanish sun, displayed with beans and tomatoes, on the yellowish rice. Just when the waiters had gone with the iron pan, the loudness of music went back to normal.
After a few seconds, we burst into a laugh… It was only a show! After all, the waiters’ shout was the announcement of the paella being ready and the holly parade was going to start off.
Back to our chatting for a while, we came to realise that our paella hadn’t come after the parade. Some of us said that the worshiped pan had been served for other tables. But an idea came into my mind… Was it a real dish? So I said, ‘What do you think if that paella was a sample?’
Another burst of laughter – we then remembered that the dish didn’t look ‘hot’ at all, proved by the waters holding the panhandles in their bare hands, and actually, none of us saw the steam which was supposed to be given off from a freshly cooked dish. Oh dear…
Later, our paella was finally served and we enjoyed the exquisite taste, but we didn’t get any beans in it! Well, well…
During our pleasant dinner, the girls who are staying in the class gave me a surprise present. They also gave the same thing to the other girl who is also leaving. We unwrapped our common presents, and there was… a paella pan! They said that they wanted to buy something to make an impact on us. Yeah, it certainly did! Now, I’ve got even more stuff to send off to London… But it was a wonderful present.
Anyway, the dinner was wonderful, and more importantly, we had a lot of laughter that night. I’m going to miss the girls with whom I’ve shared such a happy time as well as the passion for flamenco. Flamenco arts are so profound and it’s a long, long way to go until we ‘master’ them, but we know we’ll never actually do… Still, my classmates and teacher have helped me a lot with motivating myself to keep practising. We promised to meet up in Spain some time next year. Yeah, let’s make our plan come true! I just hope I’ll be able to continue working on flamenco…
30.7.07
23.7.07
Our Wedding Plan
We registered our marriage in Japan, but we agreed to have our wedding ceremony in England some time later this year.
The only thing we’ve decided on is where to have our blessing: in an old church in my husband’s hometown. Apart from it, nothing has to be sorted out, even the date. But we’re planning to do something unusual for an English wedding – he might be doing a DJ and I might be dancing to a flamenco song, although we haven’t decided if we should make it in collaboration. My husband seems to like the idea of me doing some dancing, but he doesn’t want to join me for Sevillanas, so whatever numero I choose, I must go for a solo performance.
My flamenco teacher suggested to me dancing Sevillanas on my own, but I’m not very keen on the idea… In fact, there is a particular numero I’d like to perform for our wedding, which is Guajiras.
I don’t know why but I’m not very fond of Alegrias, which must be the most suitable numero for a festive occasion like a marriage ceremony. Guajiras will, in my mind, rather suit our wedding, because it’s rooted in Cuban folk tradition. My husband lived in Cuba for a certain period of time before, and our first ‘date’, in a sense, was a Cuban music and dance festival in London. More importantly, I like this numero for its elegance and dapperness. As flamenco songs, I’m rather keen on earthy ones such as Bulerias, Solea and Tangos, but for our wedding, I’d like to try this refined tune in an elegant dress.
One of the problems is that I’m not at that level yet… In other words, I haven’t quite learnt how to use a fan (abanico), long shawl (manton) or long-tailed skirt (bata de cola). For Guajiras, however, it’s almost necessary to use one or two of them. I’ve learnt the numero itself before, but at that time we didn’t use such items.
The other problem makes me even more nervous. I’m recklessly trying to choreograph the numero on my own! The choreography I learnt before doesn’t suit any Guajiras CD, but I’d like to dance to a song… I don’t think we can afford to call a live guitarist and singer, so I’ll be dancing to a CD, and if so, I’d have to think up some suitable movements to the particular recording. Hmm… maybe I should just resign myself to solo Sevillanas after all…
All in all, we haven’t decided anything yet. I might have to give up the whole idea of dancing after all…
Another plan I’m thinking about is to prepare home-made snacks to our guests. Maybe it’d be better if we can serve them with a big feast, but if it’s not possible for some reasons, I’d like to cook some light meals for them at least. It depends how many people will actually turn up, though…
Also, I have to think about the dress design as well… Well, let’s see how much or if I can realise these plans!
We registered our marriage in Japan, but we agreed to have our wedding ceremony in England some time later this year.
The only thing we’ve decided on is where to have our blessing: in an old church in my husband’s hometown. Apart from it, nothing has to be sorted out, even the date. But we’re planning to do something unusual for an English wedding – he might be doing a DJ and I might be dancing to a flamenco song, although we haven’t decided if we should make it in collaboration. My husband seems to like the idea of me doing some dancing, but he doesn’t want to join me for Sevillanas, so whatever numero I choose, I must go for a solo performance.
My flamenco teacher suggested to me dancing Sevillanas on my own, but I’m not very keen on the idea… In fact, there is a particular numero I’d like to perform for our wedding, which is Guajiras.
I don’t know why but I’m not very fond of Alegrias, which must be the most suitable numero for a festive occasion like a marriage ceremony. Guajiras will, in my mind, rather suit our wedding, because it’s rooted in Cuban folk tradition. My husband lived in Cuba for a certain period of time before, and our first ‘date’, in a sense, was a Cuban music and dance festival in London. More importantly, I like this numero for its elegance and dapperness. As flamenco songs, I’m rather keen on earthy ones such as Bulerias, Solea and Tangos, but for our wedding, I’d like to try this refined tune in an elegant dress.
One of the problems is that I’m not at that level yet… In other words, I haven’t quite learnt how to use a fan (abanico), long shawl (manton) or long-tailed skirt (bata de cola). For Guajiras, however, it’s almost necessary to use one or two of them. I’ve learnt the numero itself before, but at that time we didn’t use such items.
The other problem makes me even more nervous. I’m recklessly trying to choreograph the numero on my own! The choreography I learnt before doesn’t suit any Guajiras CD, but I’d like to dance to a song… I don’t think we can afford to call a live guitarist and singer, so I’ll be dancing to a CD, and if so, I’d have to think up some suitable movements to the particular recording. Hmm… maybe I should just resign myself to solo Sevillanas after all…
All in all, we haven’t decided anything yet. I might have to give up the whole idea of dancing after all…
Another plan I’m thinking about is to prepare home-made snacks to our guests. Maybe it’d be better if we can serve them with a big feast, but if it’s not possible for some reasons, I’d like to cook some light meals for them at least. It depends how many people will actually turn up, though…
Also, I have to think about the dress design as well… Well, let’s see how much or if I can realise these plans!
7.7.07
Personal Colour Analysis
My friend asked me and our common friends to spare some time for her preparing for the exam to become a qualified 'personal colour analyst'. Do you know what it means? It's an analysis to find out which colour group suits you the best. It's not simply red or blue or green. There are different tints of red, blue, green and so on, and each tint is divided into 4 groups; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring and autumn colours are yellowish group of colours: for example, spring pink is not pastel but shocking pink, autumn green is not peppermint but olive green. The purpose for this analysis is to know which colour group helps you to look more attractive, healthy and younger, and which ones make you look tired, sick or older, so you can apply this theory to your daily fashion. My friend would like to be a specialist for such a sort of thing.
The test itself is on a one-to-one basis. At first, you will be told which colour group, yellowish or non-yellowish, you belong to, according to your basic skin colour, the hue of your eyes and hair. Then, you will see which colour group within the category of yellowish or non-yellowish suit you better. For this, the analyst will put pieces of fabric of different colours on your chest and see how each of them matches your face.
The girl who had a go first was told to be 'yellowish', and the would-be colour analyst checked which suited her better, spring or autumn colours. She was obviously an 'autumn' person, as it was clear enough even for us amateurs.
Now, my turn. I was told to have a rosy complexion, so I wasn't 'yellowish', meaning I would belong to either summer or winter. But when she was checking summer and winter colours on me, she seemed confused. She said that both of them looked fine on me, so she couldn't decide if I was summer or winter. As getting confused, she also tried to put spring and autumn colours on me to find out if the first decision was wrong. She and the others agreed that neither of them looked wrong on me, but perhaps 'non-yellowish' would slightly be better. So, we went back to the starting point, and compare the summer and winter again… then confused again.
Actually, before we started it, I asked her if the test result would stay the same throughout your entire life. According to her, it would basically be the same, and the only exception would be when you got very old, like twenty becoming eighty. But for my test result, she said, 'Well, I would say summer for this time, but please, please let me try again sometime later!' So, my result might be revised soon? But it was fun anyway, and I’m happy to have known that I could basically wear any colours.
My friend asked me and our common friends to spare some time for her preparing for the exam to become a qualified 'personal colour analyst'. Do you know what it means? It's an analysis to find out which colour group suits you the best. It's not simply red or blue or green. There are different tints of red, blue, green and so on, and each tint is divided into 4 groups; spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring and autumn colours are yellowish group of colours: for example, spring pink is not pastel but shocking pink, autumn green is not peppermint but olive green. The purpose for this analysis is to know which colour group helps you to look more attractive, healthy and younger, and which ones make you look tired, sick or older, so you can apply this theory to your daily fashion. My friend would like to be a specialist for such a sort of thing.
The test itself is on a one-to-one basis. At first, you will be told which colour group, yellowish or non-yellowish, you belong to, according to your basic skin colour, the hue of your eyes and hair. Then, you will see which colour group within the category of yellowish or non-yellowish suit you better. For this, the analyst will put pieces of fabric of different colours on your chest and see how each of them matches your face.
The girl who had a go first was told to be 'yellowish', and the would-be colour analyst checked which suited her better, spring or autumn colours. She was obviously an 'autumn' person, as it was clear enough even for us amateurs.
Now, my turn. I was told to have a rosy complexion, so I wasn't 'yellowish', meaning I would belong to either summer or winter. But when she was checking summer and winter colours on me, she seemed confused. She said that both of them looked fine on me, so she couldn't decide if I was summer or winter. As getting confused, she also tried to put spring and autumn colours on me to find out if the first decision was wrong. She and the others agreed that neither of them looked wrong on me, but perhaps 'non-yellowish' would slightly be better. So, we went back to the starting point, and compare the summer and winter again… then confused again.
Actually, before we started it, I asked her if the test result would stay the same throughout your entire life. According to her, it would basically be the same, and the only exception would be when you got very old, like twenty becoming eighty. But for my test result, she said, 'Well, I would say summer for this time, but please, please let me try again sometime later!' So, my result might be revised soon? But it was fun anyway, and I’m happy to have known that I could basically wear any colours.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
