About a week after I actually called Japan, I got a little worried. I was pretty sure that my fax had gone through but was surprised that no one had responded. Also, I knew that I was going to be meeting with the woman who lived in Kyoto and wanted to know before I talked with her whether or not I was going to visit Ei Hei Ji. Plus, I had planned on visiting the Japanese Tourist Bureau to figure out whether or not to get a Japan Rail Pass and knowing whether or not I was going to Ei Hei Ji would factor in to the price of things. So, on Thursday afternoon, I called Ei Hei Ji again.
"Hello, do you speak English?"
"Hai!" they responded.
"I want to visit the temple?" I said.
And then they said something else in Japanese and put me on hold... and then hung up.
"Huh," I thought. "I wonder why we got disconnected," and then I called back.
"Hello, do you speak English?" I asked.
"No," they answered.
Hey.... I thought. I'm pretty sure that there is only ONE guy who answers the phone at the temple and I'm pretty sure it's you and I'm pretty sure that you just said NO so you actually DO speak English so...
But instead I just said, "Is there someone there who speaks English that I could talk to?"
And then he put me on hold again and then someone else answered in Japanese.
"Do you speak English?"
"Hai!"
"I want to visit the temple?"
"For one night?"
"No, the sanzen program- three nights four days? I sent a fax."
"Oh, yes, we got your fax. The guy will call you."
"Yes!" I thought. "It's the same guy I talked to before. They actually got my fax."
And then I hesitated.
I had wondered before I called this time whether or not I should ask if I could actually come. It felt kind of pushy but at the same time, it was what I needed to know. And I also knew that they probably already knew whether or not I could come so me being pushy wasn't going to change their decision; it was up to them, not me.
"Um, do you know if I can come?" I asked.
"Well, we have no program the first week of June," he explained.
I had said in my fax that I would prefer to come at the beginning or the end of my trip but that I would arrange my trip to fit whatever dates they had available.
"I can come anytime in June," I explained. "I am in Japan for the whole month of June."
"Oh," he said. "Okay, I will tell the guy. You will wait. He will contact you."
"Yes," I said excitedly. "I will wait. I am happy that you got my fax. Thank you very much."
"Okay, the guy will contact you."
"Thank you," I said again, and hung up.
It was progress, they had gotten my fax, they knew me, and they knew I was avilable the whole month of June. I had to let it go at that.
The next Tuesday afternoon, I opened my school email to see:
From Ei Hei Ji
in the message line of my inbox.
I was so excited!
I opened the email to see a sweet letter from "the guy" at Ei Hei Ji. In it, he apologized for taking so long to get back to me. He explained that they don't get their schedule until a month before it happens so they had only gotten it this week. He told me which dates I could visit for the four day program, compared them with the dates in my fax, and then asked me to pick alternate dates for a one day stay if I couldn't make the four day one. He also sent me the application for both the one and four day program so that, no matter what, I had everything I needed to visit Ei Hei Ji.
And then he put a PS
Issho Fujita called me to make sure your letter was forwarded to me. Please say hello to him for me.
I shoulda known....
So, everything was taken care of all along. I was just a little too early so they couldn't really answer me- no reason to respond when you don't have an answer.
And I hadn't heard from Issho Fujita because I didn't need to. He had taken care of getting my information to Ei Hei Ji, that was all that needed to be done.
And now it was done. Well, almost, I still had to fill out the application...
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