March 10-16 (Mon-Sun) - Checking Stuff Off That To-Do List

Monday: Taekwon-do practice left me sore and tired, but the day was far from over. After koto we tried putting on the kimono again, this time took less time but it’s still very long. Then I explored on my way back, and finding a Book Off I hadn’t been to I popped in to grab a dozen or so cds. Then it was get gas, do grocery shopping, make dinner. I was a little worn out and slept really well.

These are all the puddings I got to try. The custard is the best.
(They are custard, fried, pumpkin, and fried cheese puddings.)

Tuesday: With no schools, I had a full productive day ahead of me. First, since the snow was so beautiful, I finally walked to this nearby shrine.

 It’s red.

It had huge beautiful ropes.

There was the funny-shaped tree.

And on the way back started my Sakura report.

Rest of the day was errands and work. It’s performance i.e. come-watch-the-class week at UFO Academy.

Wednesday: I had my last elementary school class, and last class at Itou Elementary. Itou was probably my favorite school because it was small and in the mountains, and I liked the teachers. They always met with me to let me know what they planned for the lesson. When I left I asked to take a photo and all 3rd, 5th, and 6th-grade students, plus the teachers, were in the photo. Yay!

Evening class performances. Kind of. Nobody really comes to watch. My first class they performed only 1 of the three riddles they wrote, because nobody was there. Poor kids. But they’re good sports about it, they didn’t seem to mind. In the second class there were only 2 kids, bringing the time it took for them to do their reading down by half. So… we played backup games.

I had Miki’s class after, and she brought me a souvenir from Paris and let me see her pictures.

Thursday: In the morning, Alice, Nathan and I went to breakfast at an interesting cafe (the only place open before 10), then we went to karaoke! Yay! After, lunch was okonomiyaki. Then that evening Alice and I went to a neat traditional restaurant,

to meet with Sayuri and some friends to practice English, and we ate delicious soba. 

I didn’t know soba was delicious until now.

But after the meal, they bring you the water used to cook the soba. It's in a tea cup. But it's not tea. It's rather horrible :O

Friday/Saturday: work -- but I saw a rainbow!

Sunday: The day arrived! After spending the morning fretting and trying to do my hair, I went to the Miwa house to prepare for the koto performance. Actually, it was some sort of long and detailed religious service, which was very neat, although it would have been more fun had I not been sitting out of sight in a kimono. Perseverance! 

At the start we organized these rice cakes, which would later be thrown to the waiting crowd — EXACTLY like a piñata!! I’ve never seen adults scramble for ‘candy’ like that. But they are pretty.

I got to meet my teacher’s teacher, who is the daughter of the woman who wrote the music we performed. And one of my (English) students played the Mario theme ^^

Thank you Kaori and Alice who came and watched!

Recent Japanese:

nebusoku (寝不足) = lack of sleep

torizara (取り皿) = individual plate (used to take from the main dish)