Japanese Tea Ceremony! yummm~~~!

For the time being, i will be posting about a different event that took place the day after our exhibition night, which is the 'Cha no Yu' japanese for hot water tea.



A friend of mine was doing a performance art about Japanese Tea Ceremony and she has invited me, my tutor and two other colleagues as 'invited guests' for her performance. She will act as the tea master, and the four of us will act as the guests. There were also other people there to watch our performance and follow what we do, thus audience participation was included and refreshments served were hard and soft japanese biscuits, sushi and green tea (the main ingredient for the performance) sake was also served, but only after the performance for those who want it. Of course yours truly didn't take it because it is 'haram'. I stand firm that drinking alcohol is a huge sin not only for me but also for other fellow muslims.



I was very honoured to attend as one of Rachels guests, and came in the Bruneian Traditional Dress ( I had considered to wear a kimono, but it took time and money to make one, thus i opted to just go in my traditional dress, which was cheaper, less time consuming and also it had fitted quite well with the dress code as my dress already had floral designs on it, hehehe. )



The day that time was not one of the best at first because the night before was our exhibition night and the next morning i had to wake up early to pass over the art centre keys to Rachel and since i was there already i voluntary helped her set up a bit before going home at lunch time to get some rest since i had some time left before the event.



Decided that since there was time, had a good lunch, watched some friends episode and inevitably slept for a bit ( i was really tired to the MAX that day ) Woke up with quite a reasonable amount of time to get ready, got me a good bit of rest and casually dolled up for rachels event at 7PM.



Seems like it went just fine at that time.......until i realised.......i spent too much time getting ready, i had to rush getting my things ready and head over to the art centre.... and that is not all~~~ oh ho ho~~



On my way there i realised my fan and purse that rachel made for me was missing!!! ( they were handmade by rachel, it was very very pretty, thank you rachel!!! i love it! XD )




Stayed cool for a bit... "Oh yes! its in college on my work table."

Toodle doo~~ off to get it then!! Had to walk really fast to get to college hoping i could get it in time before the door gets locked up... "I can still make it...no worries..."




Unfortunately~~~.......i was too late.....college had closed early......Okay, lets start the panic phase!!!Uwa uwa uwa~~~!




In the end i decided to make my own fan and purse at the art centre since i still had some time left, but then rachel lended me hers as she was not using it. ( SAFE!!! KYAAA~~! Thank you rachel!!! XD )



Happy as i was and just when i thought it was going to go smoothly all the way, i was wrongo~~~ again! We were enjoying the japanese tea ceremony, and I had realised I don't have my camera with me!! Oh no!!! I should have brought them with me!!! *sigh* never mind.... might as well enjoy the performance......




Apparently after the whole tea ceremony was done, lucy handed my bag back to me and whhaaalaaaaa~~~~~!my oh my~~~~!!! My camera was in there all the time!!!! ......GREAT....just~~~ great..... -__-



Lucy - "oh no siti!! if i knew i would've taken photos for you!!!"



*double triple quadruple sighs*



Me - "its ok lucy, might as well enjoy the last bits before everyone goes home yea. =) "




And so started our little photo shooting vanity fair, hahaha.




And since it was rachels performance, of course she had videos and photos taken all during the time, and she was very nice enough to send me some of hers ( Thank you rachel!! Your truly the best! XD you deserve all the credits in this blog! and tell your husband his photos are really lovely. props to both of you, and your daughter too, she did a wonderful job with lucy and her kimono is really beautiful~ *smiles*)





Before rachels performance, i was really really tired, hehehe. But still managed to smile for the camera *winks*. As they say 'it's once in a lifetime, enjoy every bit of it while you can'



This is rachels hair clip, she made it herself,sooo preeetty~~~! I must say I am amazed because i really like rachels artworks! Her ideas are top notch! XD





Sushi!!!!! YUMMMMM~~~!I wanna eat some more~~~! ( Lucy's loving it XD hehehe~~~! sushi good~~~! Angelo eat the egg~~! XP who dares to eat the wasabi??? )



This was put in the front of the entrance, we take a sip from the bamboo handle and after that, pour a bit on our hands ( cleaning both hands ) and dry them with the towel provided. This is done in the order of the cheif guest going first followed by the rest of the guests in height order from tallest to shortest. ( I was the last,hehehe ;P )





These were part of her artificial japanese garden, the big rocks were made out of chicken wire and paper mache.





Same goes for the bridge.





To add effeects, she put some sand, some small pebbles and some bonsai, it was a really nice garden =) and rachel made them all by herself...wow~! =) Homemade garden, fu fu fu.





The purpose of the garden was for the guests to admire them along with the japanese scrolls while they are waiting for the tea master ( in this case rachel is the tea master ) to call them in using a bell, seated according to cheif guest first followed by other guests according to height, and enjoying the refeshments that the tea master offers, all the while giving comments and opinions about the place, the garden, the food and drinks, etc.etc.etc.





This was when we were 'admiring the garden' part where we made some comments about the settings and the japanese scrolls on the wall.





Waiting for tea from the tea master =) we also made comments about the utensils used and the scroll at the corner, it was part of the performance, as rachel explained to me that the whole process from the start to the end was considered for the japanese as an elegant art.





After the performance was over, it was chillaxing time, ( hahaha words chill and relaxing put together, pardon the misuse of words ) My dear friend lucy was helping out as a waitress for the other guests present at the time.





The 'invited guests', my tutor Peer, me, friends jay and chris. I wanna wear a kimono~~~! *takes notes to try and make one, muahahahha~!*





The after partay, enjoying the green tea~~~ cheers~~~ Cups were decorated beautifully XD Hahaha and love peers expression when he held the tea bowl. Take note, very thick powder green tea makes your lips turn green (with envy blue~~~~hahaha,saja masukkan the singing phrase XP )





Case of vanity gets a hold of us all the time, hahaha





Rachel " Look siti,look marni, this was made entirely out of paper mache"



Me "Really?? I thought it was a bowl....wait a second? Shouldn't it leak since its made of paper mache?????"



Rachel "Yes i was quite surprised too, i think it did not leak because i had added extra layers and some waterproof paper must have did the trick to not let any water spill. It's amazing!"



Smile Marni!!Your on candid camera!





The woman behind it all!!! Rachel Melrose!!! All i could say in a word is "SPECTACULAR!"

Rachel "The magic paper mache bowl! Hahaha, no leaks, no mess guarantee~orders taken now."



The menu, i was attracted to the flowers the most, hehehe. A lovely bunch of spring flowers with a bamboo shoot. =)





In the toilet, where i tried to take a pic on the mirror with my camera, i like the flash reflection, makes it look like im holding some mysterious glowing ball, hehehe.




After that me and lucy had an idea~~~
Lucy " Oh siti, let me be your shadow first and then u could be mine after"



We called this one 'In The Shadows...'





This is called 'What the other soul is like...'





Another case of camera and mirror vanity, hehehe. We love messing about with the camera. XD




Overall, the day went by with some troublesome things going on but in the end it worked out well, the night was very enjoyable and I had some very sweet memories, me and my friends bonded better and we all had a wicked time. =) If i could, i would love to do a performance like this someday. XD Maybe of a different cultures tea ceremony XD Performance art is really cool =) I remembered doing my very first performance art last year and it was in a way very educational and fun, hehehe >_<. But lets not talk about that now cause i gotta go do other things,hehehe *winks* Hope you enjoyed my lil rant on the Japanese Tea Ceremony ^_^'' Off and eating sushi~~~! (Me and Lucy "Sushi Goooood~~~! XD ")