Japanese floral arrangement & bottle wrapping workshop
Thursday, May 11, 2006
//updated
I managed to take a photo of the two objects instead, because my phone and laptop just couldn't get along. So here they are!
Went for this workshop as part of my lessons for one of my special term modules, Japanese Society, and I suppose it turned out rather well considering how disastrous it was.
List of things to bring:
- Empty wine bottle (or a bottle shaped like a wine bottle)
- Floral nipper (or make do with scissors) What is a floral nipper??
- Tape
- Stapler
- Scissors
Obviously we couldn't reproduce this list if it was given to us only the night before.
So this is what I brought instead:
- Empty vodka bottle (which was a third the size of a wine bottle I assure you)
- Scissors
- Tape
- Stapler
Don't laugh at the little vodka bottle just yet, there's a story to it. Because I couldn't find an empty wine bottle in my house (though I'm quite sure I kept a few before we moved, but after that, things just got lost very easily), nor did Aless have an extra one, so I had to go to 7-11 to get something that resembled a wine bottle. Right, that shouldn't be too hard right, I mean I'm sure 7-11 had plenty of this kind of stuff.
When I went to the liquor section, I had no idea what was what. The only drinks I had were usually wine or those already mixed by friends or at a club and that does not include beer. And considering this was at 5+ in the late afternoon and the class was at 7, I couldn't possibly get myself high before it started right. So I got the disgusting vodka premixed with berry. Actually it kind of tasted like F&N cherryade.
Anyway I brought it to the cashier, who stared at me and said: "Can I check your IC please?"
Huh? Hmm. Oh. I was stunned for 3 seconds before I registered what she was saying and mumbled an "okay". Wait a minute... SHE WANTS TO CHECK MY IC FOR BUYING A LOUSY BOTTLE OF SODA AND VODKA!!! I mean, it's not even real vodka.
When I fumbled out my driving licence (!!!) to give to her. She looked at it for 2 seconds and said: "Hey, you're older than me!"
ERRRRRRR....
"But you look so... young."
Right, now I don't know if that's a good thing or not. When I related this to Aless, she patted me on the back and said: "Don't worry, I know exactly how you feel."
And then she had to add: "I knew something like that would happen." Hur hur...
We ended up finishing most of the disgusting vodka-wannabe thing before the workshop. Actually it got so bad we had to mix it with rootbeer before drinking. Aless said it tasted like medicine. Poor Aless, who shared in my sorrow of drinking that lousy thing when she couldn't drink... all this and I paid six bucks for it, just to get the stupid bottle.
By the time we reached the place, we were already half-sleepy from dinner and gassy drinks. Little did we know that things will get so much harder later.
We started very painfully and slowly with floral arrangement first. Our sensei was a very soft-spoken Japanese lady who spoke little English. Fortunately for us, we had a translator. Although I could catch bits and pieces of what sensei was saying, most of the time she sounded too soft to be audible. However, there were still times that what she said was untranslatable and she had to show us how to do it.
Everything was going smoothly (slowly but still okay) before the flowers and what not were added. I never knew there were these many steps to floral arrangement! And I thought arranging the flowers was the hardest step. Now I think sticking the thick stalk of tulips in was one of the greatest chore. A few of us, including myself broke a tulip or two in the process. Poor Aless broke many things, and she felt so bad about it.
Because Mother's Day was arriving, we were supposed to be doing this for our mothers. And I emphasise "supposed" because many of us actually thought our floral arrangements couldn't make it.
The guy next to Weikai: "I think my mother will faint when she sees this."
And Weikai stuck so many plants and fruits in his pot, it reminded me of a jungle.
Good thing sensei was very kind and nice about it, saying that we should just have fun, which of course we did, amongst the complaining.
And just when we thought the nightmare was over, there was still bottle wrapping. Now, bottle wrapping sounds terribly easy and the final product looked terribly easy to make, because all it looked like was a nicely (not too elaborately) wrapped up wine bottle. BUT the wrapping was a killer.
The instructions were fairly simple: 3 folds on the right, another 3 on the left. Repeat for the back.
However, when we started attempting to fold the paper, it was difficult enough just trying to fold and hold the folds at the same time. It got so frustrating that I just wanted to give up. Eventually sensei had to go around to help us with it. And somehow we managed to make a shabby representation of the model example in front, and that was after exceeding an hour of the stipulated time for the workshop mind you.
Still, Aless and I were quite proud of ourselves for making something out of nothing, even if we did make a big mess out of it and hope still that our mothers will love our imperfect creations. We even took a photo of our products, which is currently in my phone and if I succeed in getting it uploaded, I might post it up. I guess we looked like we were the receivers of some award or prize with us holding the wrapped bottle and flowers and all.
Of course, things weren't as sunny for some of the guys who just wanted to go home. Weikai kept asking us what the point of this workshop was. Erm, actually I had no idea, neither did Aless. We were just happy to be there to have fun and waste the school's funds while at it (obviously the school was sponsoring it for us). In the end, we told him to use his newfound skills to impress his girlfriend or something. Hur hur.
3:58 pm
クロサギ
