Zen meditation

When I was in Iran, I was asked 'What is your religion? Are you taking it very seriously?' by every single person! I MUST pretend to be a super serious religious person. 'Yes, I am Buddhist.' Any hesitation is not allowed here.
...Well, you know, I have no particular religion I believe in.

One Sunday gloomy morning, I joined 'Zazen' = 'Zen meditation' at one of the most beautiful temple in Kyoto, Tofukuji.
I woke up 5 am (it was super hard try!), rode a bicycle and stop over at my friend's place to shake her up. This Zen meditation is open for the public only once a month. And it is free.



When we arrived at the Zen meditation hall, there were already quite a lot of people. From old men (Ojisan) to foreigners, various kinds of people sat with Zazen style. Suddenly two monks came and explained us the way to Zen meditation. Sounded easy but it wasn't. We sat 30 minuets and rest far a little while then for another half hour.
At the beginning I could concentrate on the meditation well, however after 10 or 15 minuets (I'm not sure because there were no clocks in the hall) I only could think about my legs. It hurts more than I imagined.
If people want to be hit by the monks, you just join your hands in front of your chest and wait. They will come to you and hit on your shoulder two times each.

When we came out from the hall, the cloud had gone and sky was clear. 'It was so painful when the monks hit me, but the tiredness was scattered out in a moment' my friend said.