Shawn the Sumo Strikes Again!
Well, the night after I wrote you last, I came home to find the whole gang there, apparently because of the holiday. We played around for a while (Playstation and a Kanji game) when my host mom received two phone calls. The first was from her family in Toyama saying that her dad was very near death. The second was saying that he had died. Well, my host Mom, Dad, and brother all headed up to Toyama for the weekend and I ended up at one of the friends house for the night. It was interesting, we all talked, their little dog was annoying. Next day, I went to school, normal day, came home, packed for the weekend, and then headed over to Miyoshi-san's house. I practiced tea for about half an hour and then she drove me over to Shindo's house where I spent
the night. Next morning, he took me over to the center of Takatsuki, where I met up with a bunch of Rotarians from my club. We all got on a bus, a plane, and another bus, and were in Okinawa. We did some interesting sightseeing, a famous castle, some other stuff and then ate at a traditional Japanese restaurant. The food was so-so, but the entertainment was interesting. Some
women doing traditional songs and dances. After that we headed to the hotel. A pretty nice one, where I found out that in Okinawa, there is American TV. That night, I stayed up with the Rotarians in the hotel lounge drinking and chatting. Only 9 of us stayed at this hotel, the rest played golf on Sunday at a different hotel. Next day, we did more sightseeing. A place where they made glass and ceramics, a couple of W.W.II sites, and an interesting park. At the park, a large piece was dedicated to something similar the Vietnam wall, commemorating all those who died (on both sides) during the war. The rest had a little section for each of the Japanese prefectures, with a statue or something at each. One of the Rotarians bought me a book on the Battle in Okinawa. Read it on the bus, very interesting, by a Japanese person and implies that Japan was worse than the allies in the War. Apparently, there were thousands of mass suicides of civilians because they were told that Americans would rape and mutilate them. But on to prettier subjects, I managed to buy about 15 gifts for people on the $84 (a 10,000 yen bill) plus about $8 of my own. And that was all I spent the entire trip. I love Rotary.
The week after was pretty normal, going to learn tea ceremony, and I also started a new Judo class. This is Wednesdays and Fridays and there are actually fairly big and very good people in the class, so it is good practice. Sunday was a Rotex trip to Kyoto. We made handicrafts and a shirt. It was fun. We also found a place for finding Gaijin gifts at not so expensive prices. Shara made herself look like a complete moron by asking how to spell February. And don't say nothing about she's from another country. She is from Canada, they speak English just the same as we do. Me and Lauri also got some stomach flu. I strayed home Monday through Wednesday due to
headache, fever and stomach ache. Thursday, I went with Mrs. Miyoshi and Gergo (who is also learning the way of tea) to Kyoto. We took place in a fairly famous tea ceremony which is held at a temple once a year. Afterwards we walked through a Ume (Japanese Plum) garden, which is now in full bloom, and then went to a nearby flea market. There were some things which looked
like small garage sales and others who were selling as a store. Nearing the end of the day (they close at around 3 PM) we passed a lady selling Kimonos. Normally one layer (a jacket, undershirt, sash, whatever) is about $25 dollars each (these aren't the nicest Kimonos in the world), but at the end, she was selling for 3 layers for about $8. So we stopped in and tried some stuff on and bought a good amount. Gergo and I are going over to her house to actually look at the stuff well and try it on again sometime this week. We then went to the Gaijin gift shop and looked around for a Kimono for me for the Tea Ceremony which we are doing April 25. We then ate dinner and then
drove home.
Friday I went to school for the first time in a while and we were having tests. I don't have tests, so I sat in the library for the first period and worked on my speech (more on that later). The second period, I did something similar to a test. I wrote on the difference between American and Japanese Foreign Language classes and such. After school, one of my school counselors helped me with my speech. She fixed it up a good deal and then introduced me to the school Tea Ceremony teacher. We apparently have a club at the school. When I came home, I worked frantically on the speech with my Mom to get it done and send it into the place before it closed. Let me quickly describe to you why I am frantically writing a speech. A couple of weeks ago, I am talking with Matsumoto (the other guy in the Judo Club) on the train home from school. I was showing some pictures of something, when the lady sitting on the other side of him asked if I was an exchange student. She then invited me to a speech contest that was being held at her office. She works for the Suita Interpeople Friendship Association. Suita is the name of the city where my school is. So, I accepted. Well, that night, I called John to see what we all were doing Saturday and found out that as of next week, he will be back in Canada. Apparently, he got his girlfriend pregnant. They have been going out since December or so. He was really worried about it and found out for sure last Sunday. The only person in the two family groups who actually wants an abortion in her mother, so she was convinced otherwise. Next week or so, Jon, his girlfriend, and her mom are all going on a plane to Canada. Her mom is just going for a little bit to see that she gets settled.
Well, Saturday, I packed all my stuff up and went out with the guys at night. Came home and went to sleep. In the morning, I moved to my new host family. They seem like nice people. The people in the house are Eizo (Father), Yoshiko (Mother), Yukio (son), Naoko (his wife), and Rina (their 4-month-old daughter). There is also an older son, but he is in the Marines and so away from home right now. I sleep in a traditional Japanese room with a futon which is nice. My room was clean for the first half hour after I unpacked. This house is right in the center of Takatsuki, literally in front of the JR station. Very good, except that sometimes high speed trains pass by at high speeds and are a bit loud, but nothing much. Today, I came over here (Shindo's house) to use my mail and such and now I think I am going to leave.
See ya later.
Shawn the Sumo
P.S. - This mail was supposed to be sent out on March 1, but unfortunately, I wanted to attach pictures and didn't have a chance to do so. I haven't been able to get to this computer since then, so sorry.
