Blog, Begin Again

Well I think things kind of got off on the wrong foot. Originally this blog was supposed to tell about my time in Japan in a fun and interesting way and have several reoccurring segments. That hasn't really worked out, what with all the drinking debauchery and stuff. I should add though that going out for drinks doesn't usually mean getting drunk though or even anywhere on the drunk scale. Anyway I was hoping since it's a Fresh new month, maybe we could just start over fresh, and maybe I can fulfill some of those original promises.

Or maybe I can't. Hey I'm not a miracle worker.

So basically this week I did some stuff. I don't quite remember all of it because let me tell you it was a lot. First thing kind of worth mentioning I guess is that I bought a manga that I can try to read. Only problem is that I hardly no any of the Japanese in the manga, so I'll have to learn a lot if I want to be able to read it in Japanese. I also started eating in the cafeteria this week. Cafeteria food here is pretty good and is kinda making me hungry because I haven't had time for lunch yet. So really I should add one last small fact from the week here, so I'll say that classes started this week so I'll be getting a lot busier.

Along those lines too, work started this week. I can't really say what it'll be like yet, mostly because I've done one our of EC with one group of people so far. ….And I just realized I didn't let you what I do for work yet. Dang it! I'm like the worst blogger ever. “Hey Phil think you can tell me about what you're up to.” “Why sure. Just let me leave out tons of important details.” Frick. Well anyway basically I get paid to talk with Japanese people in English. One time a week I do at a high school, and I also TA. EC stands for English Connections and TA stands for teacher assistant, in case you didn't know for whatever reason. Anyway the one session I had went pretty well other than the fact a couple of the guys were pretty shy and didn't want to talk in English. I prevented them from speaking Japanese as much as possible. Hopefully I get my cellphone soon so I can keep in better contact with people.

So OK. Lessee after that we went to this place called The Drunken Duck with this guy who was a Tokiwa student from a few years ago who's working here now. Funny story, turns out we had Japanese together back when I was in high school. Anyway that night was pretty fun. Some people had kangaroo, but I didn't get to try it because I wasn't hungry. Though I kind of wish I had now. I mean about often do you get to try something like that. Well....I suppose the next time I go I'll have that chance, but that isn't really the point. Anyway after some earring and make-up incidents and some generally embarrassing stuff for some people, we left. It was a pretty fun night of responsible fun on the part of most people who went.

So finally we are at yesterday, which is Saturday. Or was it Saturday? I suppose it'll always be ^a^ Saturday. (I'm trying to used the ^ to show emphasis. Usually I use caps but I decided to try this for some reason) Anyway the point is that I'm pretty sure I can remember Saturday because it just happened. So they day started around noon when we had to go to the Mito International Center for a culture party. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but it ended up being pretty fun. The Japanese people like my handwriting. I was surprised at some people ability to speak English. I had really good tea, and sore knees from seiza. I also won a fan, which hopefully gets pictured here.
I also played with this Japanese traditional toy that I'm too lazy to remember the name of. It ended up being pretty fun.
So after that we ended up going to 水戸駅 (Mito Eki or Mito Station) to meet Zaren so we could go to the 花火大会 (Hanabi Taikai). I'm pretty sure that's what it was called anyway. Basically it means fireworks big gathering. Hanabi mean fireworks (or really it means flower flame), and the taikai in this case we were told are usually competitions, so we got so see some really amazing fireworks, which should be pictured and videoed here. (The video isn't working or is just taking too long to upload so scratch that part) It was a lot of fun. I had お好み焼 (okonomiyaki), which means “grilled thing that I like (or want).” It ended up not turning out too well, but hey, it was food. So basically watching this show wasn't at all like watching fire works in America. In America, fireworks are spaced apart so it's like “Boom..............boom” and then a big finish. Here almost every segment was a big finish so the whole two and a half hours were interesting. There also seems to be much more fireworks shaped like things. There were so many fireworks that ash was falling from the sky and once landed in my eye. Firework debris also landed next to us. It was all pretty crazy. One time a firework went wrong and hit the ground very close to us. It was a little scary. After it was over we took the bus back to the train station, and rode the train an hour home. I guess I forgot to mention that we took the train originally to get there proving how bad of a storyteller I am once again. So by the time I got home I had been on my feet for almost 11 hours, not counting the time I “got” to sit in seiza during the tea ceremony.

So I think that's mostly it. I probably left some stuff out, but I suppose you can always comment questions about them.