This has been a kind of slow week for me. I didn't have to go to the elementary schools which feels like a huge relief and break to me at the moment. On Friday, Amy, Fox, Cash, Coset, and I went to a mall in Takamatsu to support a mutual friend and English student, Miwa. She is a great lady and has volunteered to be my Japanese mom while I'm here. Miwa is in a gospel choir that was involved in the music festival celebrating the national holiday on Friday. That national holiday celebrates the birthday of one of their past emperors. There were different music groups performing throughout the mall. The one performing just before Miwa's gospel choir was comprised of 4 people: a female vocalist, an electric pianist, a base guitarist, and a drummer. We got their toward the end of their show. They sang/played a couple of songs by The Carpenters. The Carpenters are really big in Japan.
After the performance, we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Well, a Japanese Italian restaurant. The portions were relatively small and it cost a lot. The lasagna was made of green lasagna noodles. It was really good though. On the drive home Fox pointed out some things to be aware of such as an onsen (public bath) near their home which is co-ed, tinted store windows (even if the title of the store seems innocent), and certain kinds of hotels where Japanese men take their mistresses and pay by the hour. I forgot to mention that on the way to the mall we saw a Dominoes Pizza delivery guy on a scooter. Fox thought they had closed and wanted to know where they had moved so he followed the guy until he entered a one-way street going the wrong way. Scooters, bicycles, and motorcycles have different rules here. So we lost him to be found another day.
Some insightful highlights from the kids this week: a boy and girl from the After School group told me my body looked funny because my boobs were too big. I guess that's something they don't see too often here. And while Troy was teaching the Saturday kindergarten class he told them he was fat and pushed out his stomach to which a little boy responded "not as fat as Heather Sensei." Gee---thanks, kids. Little do they know that I've lost 5 pounds since I've been here and actually look pretty good after my Christmas break food experiences.
Speaking of which, I really want to exercise but for the past week have had this terrible infection going on in my throat. There is bacteria here that my body is not immune to and it sucks. All my American friends say this is normal and to expect it at least once a month for the first year I'm here.....the whole time I'm here in other words. Fun! There are disgusting brown pockets of bacteria coming out of my throat when I cough (which is frequently) and my voice is often non-existent and I have this to look forward to for a year. :-D I'm seriously considering swallowing just a bit of hydrogen peroxide to get some bacteria killing going on down my throat. I did try this once when I lived at Glenwood and it only made me a little queasy. (Side note: the poison control guy was really nice and sounded cute.)
This week is Golden Week. Almost an entire week with no work! Yay! My next class is Friday with the Utazu Elementary 1st Graders. This week I plan to relax and hopefully get better. Tomorrow is a Day-Camp where people can bring foods to sell to help kids that want to go to EFY get there. It's in the mountains somewhere a couple of hours away. I plan to go to that and will fill you in on the adventures later. Yesterday, Wakako (the secretary at Utazu El) invited me to her home where she taught me some phrases in Japanese. Her husband wanted to meet me so we waited until he got home from coaching his baseball team's game. He is a silly funny guy. They invited me to stay for dinner and Wakako showed me how to make Oyako Donburi (parent-child bowl) which is chicken and eggs over a bowl of rice. Mmmmmm. We talked a little about the gospel and the LDS Church. They are very nice people. They have a son graduating from graduate school in Australia this summer and a daughter that lives at home and works for the department for public roads. She let me borrow "The Family Man" in Japanese and I promised to show her how to make American pizza and Better Than Sex Cake next time we got together.
I'm sure I'll think of more to add to this later. If I don't record it asap I forget bits and pieces. TTFN!
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