Calling Japan

The more I talked about the fact that I was going to Japan for 30 days, and had no plans, the more people offered to help me. I also started realizing that I could do some things on my own to figure out my accommodations in Japan and to figure out what was going on in the temple. It occurred to me that one of my former students actually lived in Tokyo, and that his mom could probably call the temple on my behalf. Meanwhile, a friend of mine asked if it would help to know that her sister currently lived in Japan and wanted to be a travel agent. "Yes that would definitely be helpful," I replied. But then, the silliest thing happened. I was at my friend's house for her birthday party. Her room mate was gone for the night but as I was looking at her refrigerator, I saw pictures, of her room mate and her family, in Japan. I also saw the poster that my friend made for her room mate, in celebration of her getting either her Visa or her Greencard or her citizenship...
"Oh yeah," I thought. "My friend's room mate is actually from Japan. She speaks Japanese fluently. I could actually just sit next to her while she called Japan, and asked the people at the temple what was going on with my application."
I felt like an idiot, going through all these other avenues- find someone who speaks Japanese, email my former student's mother in Tokyo, contact my friend's sister in Japan- when there was someone, right there, living with my friend, who could easily help me.
I called her the next weekend. She was very kind but she had an important question to ask me, "Have you tried calling the temple yourself?"
"Uh....no?" I said.
"Well, if I were you, and I were going to stay somewhere for four days and there might be dharma talks, I think it would be helpful to know the level of English that the people speak before you decide whether or not you want to stay there."
In my head I thought, "But it's a silent retreat so it doesn't really matter," but what I really meant was, "Darnit, I wanted you to do this for me. I wanted someone else to call. Now I have to do it myself."
"I'm happy to call on your behalf," she explained, "But it makes more sense for you to find out if they can communicate with you before you go."
And it did, and she was right, and so I thanked her... and then I had to call Japan.

I looked in the Lonely Planet guide and found the number. But when I called it, it didn't work. So then I called my brother to ask him how to call Japan, but he didn't answer. So then I typed How-to-call-Japan into Google and followed the directions and then...
I got a message. It explained the application process for the three night four day stay at the temple, and then it hung up.
So then I called the main number, and someone answered, in Japanese!
"Do you speak English?" I asked.
"Hai!" they answered, and I knew that this meant "Yes" because it's what the susho says during the shuso ceremony.
"I want to stay, at the temple?" I said.
And then he said something else in Japanese and then the hold music came on. It was old-school hold music, kind of synthesized like a keyboard, not MUZAK. Then someone else came on and said something in Japanese.
Again I asked, "Do you speak English?"
"Hai!" he replied.
And again I said, "I want to stay, at the temple."
"For one night?" he asked.
"No," I explained. "For four days, the sanzen program?"
"Oh," he said."The guys who speak really good English are not here right now."
"Oh," I said.
"You send fax," he said.
"I did," I said.
"I check machine," he said.
"I sent the fax in March," I explained.
"Oh," he said.
"Should I send the fax again?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "You send fax again. Then some guy will contact you, okay?"
"Okay," I said. "I send fax again."
And I got the fax number from him again and then I ran down to the fax place from where I had sent the original fax and I was pretty sure that we got it right this time.
Mostly though, I laughed at myself. It had been three months at this point. I had applied for this program in March and now it was May and it had never occurred to me to actually call Japan and ask them what was going on with my application. I had put my entire trip on hold, waiting for this one thing to come through, when all I had to do was call and ask.
But now, it was done. Someone in Japan was aware that I was trying to visit them and all I had to do was wait to hear back, from that guy, who was going to contact me.