Sorry

I know I haven't been updating very religiously lately. I have been rather surprisingly busy, all the more shocking for someone with a relatively low profile out there in the real world. Here in Asia-land, I have been astonished with the number of pressing social and business engagements springing up left and right like brightly yellow-striped spiders' webs. (Remember - if you come across anything in inaka, look closely: a spider has attached its web in the near vicinity of your head.)

For example:
This past week on Monday I had brass band club and small group. On Tuesday, baseball club practice and adult conversation class. On Wednesday, Japanese lesson and Taiko drumming (to be honest, when we got to Muroto, we found out class was cancelled, but not wanting to make our trip a total bust, we rang up a friend and went to dinner with another ALT and her japanese teacher-coworkers - and no, I am not referring to myself in the first person plural, I am referring to me and Yasuda Stephanie who is kind enough to drive to Taiko). On Thursday, I had brass band club and I learned to make fire at the elementary school! No classes today, Ms. Mary - we have to learn to make fire by rubbing sticks together. Very entertaining, plus I got to chat with the fellow running the demonstration and he let me do one before the kids came out. On Friday, I overslept rehearsal for Bunkasai, and then made a mad dash up to the JR High to rehearse with the teachers who were singing 未来へ (Towards the future) for the culture day on Saturday. Our town was hosting a welcome party for the Chugei Jets and their bosses - a grand lot of fun with good food, beer, sake shots, and karaoke after hours. On Saturday, I went to culture day, judged the singing competition between the grades, played for the teachers, and sat through the student-written and performed plays. Did not understand a single word, but I kind of got the gist of what might be going on. This was a multi-hour event for which I apparently got monday as holiday "in lieu of". I found that out this morning when I got to school. On Sunday, I went to a ceramics festival and then to dinner with one of the elementary school teachers and her husband and another teacher.

It may not sound like much, but I am not a very social person. I do not have many pressing engagements back in the states, not even in my busiest day of university, so this sort of social schedule is quite surprising. Add to that the alarming fact that each activity takes place almost exclusively in Japanese. I am often the only English speaker present (not always, but almost always) and I do my best to follow and listen to what is going on, but four months of study will only get you so far.

I will try to put up more pictures soon. They may or may not have captions.
AUGH!