If you wanna play at coaching a team, you probably should wear the uniform

[betsuni]

170. Thanks!

Have been in culture shock all week. The mother-in-law died, which was long expected -- spent three nights in same house with dead body on ice, lots of Shinto ceremonies. After the ceremonies at the funeral hall, when everyone's crying, they immediately herd you into a dining hall and make you eat. Cry, eat. On the last day they had fed us after a morning ceremony, then we went to the cremation place and looked at the bones and stuff of the mother-in-law. Like, all the bones are explained and we had to lean in and take a good look (also was urged to touch dead body before it went in furnace but there are limits). Then pieces of the bones are picked up with chopsticks by all the relatives and put in the urn. I really regretted every single one of the tea sandwiches (tuna salad, ham and cheese, egg salad) I had eaten that morning, because I felt a little queasy. Then we had to go back to the hall and eat more. After final ceremony, another large meal, but at least then there was beer too. Am now conditioned to connect food with death.