Uhhh...Lots of Information...(and culture note #3)

Yay! Not much happened today but I thought I should inform that I don't have class for the rest of the week. While wednesday through friday will be taken up with school festivities, tomorrow is completely free. So Andrew and I decided we are going to TOKYO DISNEY!
Yay!
Anyway...
I also received an email from the guy from bridging about the couple...it reads as so:
Jessica,
This is Rick Dyck (your near neighbor in Ota-ku).
If successful, this will establish an e-mail link.
I will try to set up a meeting with Mrs. Fujisawa for English lessons.
The Fujisawas will, I am sure, open new windows for you into the area
of Japanese traditional art. Mr. Fujisawa is a well known art dealer.
He is a colorful, fairly flamboyant man. Mrs. Fujisawa is a more demure, typical
Japanese lady ( as with many Japanese ladies, she has more authority in the
family and the business than her demure exterior would suggest).

It is a happy coincidence that the Fujisawas live close to you.

We need to figure out the fees for the lessons. Do you know the going
prices these days?
I think the Fujisawas can afford to be generous.

Another matter: On November 13 I will help host a reception at the
International House. Are you free? The Fujisawas will both attend.
I can explain the purpose in a separate e-mail; but briefly, the reception will
be in honor of Mrs. Peter Drucker and their collection of Edo Period
Japanese art.
More later. I am with my family at our mountain cabin and it is time for dinner.
Rick

Sounds amazing right? I thought it was a volunteer type thing but now I find out I could be getting paid! and decently too! PLus..Ill be learning about traditional Japanese art and making connections in the Japanese art world. How amazing, right? I'm so pumped about this whole thing. It's a little funny. I feel like for me...jobs and other connections and experiences tend to fall in my lap, real easy like...It seems a little unfair but I am so grateful! I can't believe it sometimes!

On another note I put up pictures in a folder in photobucket called Manami schoolfest-akihabara...or something of the like. It has a lot of pictures in it. Ive decided tho....since my mom (and the rest of my family as well as andrew's) are probably missing Seeing us a lot....I'm going to post pictures with us actually in them here! I'll also be posting some tea cermony pictures since I especially enjoyed that experience.




oi..actually I've realized I have to change the file types of the tea cermony pictures so I'll have to show you that later. Alas...

on to...
Culture Note #3!

So...in Japan I have noticed that the majority of the dogs are much smaller and cuter than the dogs in America. I don't know why this is but I do know that the dogs and cats here are vastly more expensive in comparison. For instance...a young kitten can cost anywhere from 130000 to 150000 yen. yes...very expensive..this translate to average around 1400 us dollars. why are they so expensive? I have no clue. I asked Okaasan about it and she could not explain. She did say that you also have to buy exensive liscences for your animals. Interesting, no? But it may explain why I haven't seen too many stray animals around the city. In any case...witness the cuteness that is puppies and kittens:



Peace!

Yay for Great Weekend(scholarship forum and Manami's School Festival)

It has been a fabulous weekend! (Much imporvement over last^.^)

Let me start with Friday.
I had to miss my last class because I was going to a meeting with the Bridging Japan people (one of the scholarships I got) and it took me about an hour, at least, to get there. But I managed to get there on time, which is good. Upon arriving at the Citicorp office I got very nervous. For some reason big meetings like this one make me nervous. I was wondering what exactly we were going to be doing and thinking all sorts of crazy things (such as: what if the other students are smarter than me, doing more than me, better at Japanese than me, etc etc.). I was actually one of the first students there and arrived in time to be asked whether or not I wanted to be on the "panel". As this sounded like a dreadfully important position I really didn't want to take it but neither did the other girl who was there so I said I'd do it. I will never again shy from important seats because it was well worth it!
Turns out being on the "panel" meant me and four other students got to go upstairs ahead of time and smooze it up with all the big wigs from citicorp and bridging (citicorp is one of the main funders of the foundation). This meant just generally talking about ourselves and getting an advance view of the types of questions all the students were going to be asked. During this time one of the guys (in the suits) asked me about my major and I explained the art and japanese thing to him. We started talking and he is basically about to hook me up with a really cool Japanese contact. There's a couple he knows and the Husband is an eccentric yet very big traditional arts dealer. His wife is the quintesential Japanese woman(whatever that means aside from wearing kimono everyday) and speaks english. The wife really wants a speaking partner. The crazy thing is they live about 10 minutes away from me. SO I think Im going to meet this couple and I am very excited about it.
Anyway...after awhile the other students started to show up and everyone got seated. This is when I realized being on the panel meant actually sitting in front of every one. They even had placecards made for our seats. Basically the four students on the panel generated most of the discussion and answered most of the questions with input and comments and stories from the other students as well. It was very fun and a great experience. I even actually enjoyed talking in front of all the students. The whole situation made me realize how good I've been doing as far as experiencing Japan goes. It was great!
I also talked a lot individually with a lot of the students and most of them were very interesting and all of them were nice. It was so great to meet so many new people and we all pretty much exchanged contact info. I mean, I just really enjoyed myself. Oh yeah. Four of the students were from Sophia and two of those four were in some of my classes, so that's great as well!


Okay...on saturday Andrew and I went to Akihabara and Harajuku. I found some cute clothes at amazing prices and bought them and I may also decide to buy a scanner since I found a pretty cheap one. Andrew bought a DS and kanji dictionary for the DS. It was a good day^.^

Now...Today was the last day of Manami's School Festival. My school's festival is this week so it was nice to get a sort of preview of what it would be like.
Basically all the clubs have stalls where they sell delicous smelling food, such as takoyaki, hotdogs on sticks, bannas covered in choclate on sticks, noodles, and more good food. Also, int here classrooms there were lots of clubs activitied going on such as art shows, ikebana viewing and the like. I even got to participate in a tea ceremony. It was a little nerveracking but luckily there were other people there too so I could watch them and see what to do. Okaasan and her mother accompanied me today and it was a lot of fun. Okaasan's mom (obaasan) is really nice and always shared her food with me even if I had my own or wasnt hungry. she took pictures of the tea ceremony and has emailed them to me but they arent showing up right now so Ill put them up later. They both thought it was cute how nervous I was. Haha ha^.^

Hmmm...I took a lot of pictures and will have them in photobucket shortly.
Right now there seems to be a slight bug with my blog so it may be a bit funky for awhile. Bear with me.
I'm really happy right now. It's kind of amazing. I'm just realy enjoying myself. Oh...and I'm really starting to feel comfortable with my family...like real comfort...it's nice. And I may end up scuba diving sometime this year sicne otoosan does it all the time.
Anyway...that's it for now!

Much Love!

Cooking For the Fam

Yes. I cooked spaghetti. And it was possibly the most interesting spaghetti I've ever had. Okay, it wasn't that crazy. But it was different. At least Okaasan and I had fun making it.

Let's begin with the shopping. I must say I was a little frantic because, one, it's late and I know okaasan is waiting for me but what can I do-I've got class!, secondly, everything in the store is of course, in japanese. I had managed to translate most items on my list already so I was seemingly well prepared. Onions are no problem and noodles turn out to be fairly easy as well. But it's the tomatoes that are tricky. I wasnt sure if I was getting the right type and I completely forgot to get tomato paste...I don't even know if it exsits in most stores because Okaasan didn't knw what I was talking about. And the meat. Well...it seems easy...deceptively so! What I got was ground pork, not beef. They look the same though only hamburger, as I have now learned, is usually darker in color in its raw form(and now that I think about it its cooked form as well). Spices are difficult too because its hard to find the right ones. And I accidently bought two parsleys and no basil. Garlic was nice and easy. Just so every one knows the Japanese word for Garlic is "Niniku."

Yeah. SO I get home, realize what I have and have not gotten and decide to just go ahead and cook it anyway. It's all going pretty well too. Only the sauce is very watery so I just let it cook for quite sometime...just to let it "firm" or get less watery. It did...a little. Okaasan is the one who noticed I got pork instead of beef. It was pretty funny too. Oh, she was taking pictures the whole time. In any case...I managed to get it cooked and even added sugar which I think probably saved it. I think okaasan thought it was a little too sweet but she didn't say so. She said it was interesting and good though she thought it might be better with beef. And I'm okay with that. Naoto seemed to like it too. Manami and Otoosan have yet to try it...hopefully they like it too. Anyway....I'm pretty sad I did so horribly but at least its edible.

hah hah. This is so funny to me. I didn't inherit either of my parents cooking skills...I am honestly a terrible cook!
(except breakfast...I can kick anyone's butt at breakfast!)

In other minor notes:
Mom, apparenttly okaasan LOVES quesadillas so I'd say that gift Idea is a good bet.
Rae, Sara, Alice, Caitlin-I'm going through withdrawal. TALK to me!
Dad...I love your notes. They always make me laugh. Andrew was thiking the same thing about him maybe being creepy(liking me)...but I talked to him and he said there wasnt a problem anymore. stupid teacher.
I think that's everything...oh, ERIN...you email me first!^.^

MUCH love to all....and delicous food.

Fukagawa Edo Museum (plus, culture note #2)

Welcome to Edo Tokyo.


Let's begin with the vegetable shop.

Yay! bright veggies all lined up in their baskets. And also we have some rain coats and hats..made of straw of course(or grass or something?).

As we walk down the street, pay close attention to all the stuff along the way (though I can't quite remember what most of it is...


Oh! let's not skip the rice store...


and this is the thing that pounds the rice...the name of it? like I remember...(some tour guide I am)...

and now we're going to pass a river...obviously we've got to go fishing and stuff...


Let's stop in for a quick bite to eat, alright?

hmmm...don;t forget to take off your shoes...and your coat and hat^.^

oh..sneaking into the back roooms?


oh, that boat is a good luck charm. Obviously a lot of stuff happens here on the water...don't want any storms or shipwrecks, now do we?

And now for some of the local houses:


Yeah....
so I'm a terrible tour guide. Whatever! Still...this was the coolest thing ever! You could go in all the houses and touch everything and take pictures. All museums should be like this. There are more pictures on facebook, as well as pictures from the dali museum and kareoke.

Oh...
now...I realized I've probably been imparting some culture outside of my little "culture notes" but I feel the need to specficially address some things...
so here is

Culture Note #2

You may have noticed that in all the pictures I have taken of children the children are all wearing hats. There is a specific reason why all elementary children wear hats (according to my women's history teacher). You see, in japan, any kind of hat is seen as protective wear. So if you get in an accident the insurance will, well, I don't know all the right terms but basically if you're wearing a hat the insurance company is nicer to you. Therefore, all elementary children wear hats. Isn't that interesting? Also, elementary children are not afraid of cameras...and they are adorable!



Much love!
PS: no stress about the teacher...Ill talk to him and everything will be fine...and I wont let it ruin anything^.^

Quick Update!

So..not too much has been happening though I've been very busy with homework and schoolwork and such. Still, classes are good (with one exception). Today in Women's history(one of my favorites), we went to the Fukagawa Edo Museum but I'm going to dedicate a whole post to that since I got to take pictures and it deserves.

The one exception I mentioned earlier is my Literature class. Although I find the class very interesting and good I now have an issue with the teacher. It happened like this:
At the end of class I go up to him to turn in the extra handouts from during class. When I do he says to me that he needs to talk with me a minute. He then preceeds to tell me that he can "see what I'm doing and its very distracting." I proceed to be completely confused and ask himm what? And he says "Oh, you don't know what I'm talking about?"(a little sarchastic or skeptically) and I'm like, "no sir, please, what is it? I'm sorry but I dont know". And he says something about showing contempt for the class and I am really confused now because I just got finished taking 3 pages of notes during class. SO I say, "I'm sorry. Im taking notes and paying attention, what-" and he cuts me off with "I don't want to argue about it." and so I say okay and walk away utterly confused and upset.
I seriously have no idea what he was talking about. The problem is if he has a legitamate problem with something I'm doing I still don't know what it is and he was not willing to let me know. That's what bugs me. He acted as if he immediatly knew I was doing something to purposefully distract him (because seriously I don't think the rest of the class noticed anything). But I honestly don't know what I could be doing. And he won't even talk to me about it. It wasnt even really arguing, I was apologizing! And I am not the kind of student who purposefully distracts a teacher. And it really hurt my feelings and upset me and now I'm just angry because I feel my teacher was being a bit immature. And now I have to go to him again and figure out what to do about this. Because I do not want to be on the teacher's bad side even if he is immature. But if he doesn't cooperate what am I supposed to do? No offense to anyone, but I feel like some adults feel like all students just don't care about school or class, or anything like that. I've been lucky not to run into too many of them but this teacher....it's just his attitude seriously upset me.

Okay. Enough rant.
I'll update soon with the Edo pictures and decription, it was really great! I really am loving school and everything. I'm excited about most of my classes the majority of the time....it really nis amazing!
Peace!

No more nomihoudai for me!

Nomihoudai basically means all you can drink. I went to a nomihoudai/tabehoudai(all you can eat) a few weeks ago with Andrew and had good clean fun and only got a bit tipsy. I however have decided that I will no longer be participating in the alcohol part of the Nomihoudai I may attend in the future.
This is the based on the events of last night. I'm not going to go into detail but I will explain a bit. I went to kareoke with andrew and some people from my japanese class. Now...usually you get kareoke and it comes with Nomihoudai and its all good. This was my first experience. All the other people there drank beer but I am not a beer person so I ordered this grape sour drink that was very good. Problem is, i think with the whole kareoke situation, is that you sit around moving a little to the music but basically you're just sitting the whole time. And you're drinking and having fun but you're not really keeping track of how much...and I was the only one drinking that grape sour drink.
In any case the Kareoke was fun and the people from my Japanese class were all very nice. andrew and I had to leave early though so we could catch the last train.
This is where I will leave off detail and basically say once I started moving my body began to register the large amount of drink I had consumed. I am glad andrew was with me and I got home okay and I didnt get hurt or anything but I definatly, definatly don't feel the urge to drink again. It reminds me a little of Rachel, only instead of getting angry I get silly and reckless.

Hah hah.
I guess it's not that funny and some of you may be a little surprised at my alcohol consumption in general but its no big deal. As long as I can do as Rachel has done and give it up. I really don't think that will be a problem. Besides, I like strawberry milk better than grape sour anyway.

Peace!

Okaasan and Manami return home!

Wow...just wow.
I'll get to that.
So, for those that didn't know Okaasan and Manami were away in Seatle visiting three of their former host sudents (coincindently they all live near each other). So during this week I spend time with Otoosan and Naoto. Now, they know less english than I know Japanese. But I wasn't worried because I've developed a sort of nonverbal speech with otoosan. Still. The week required much excersizing of my japanese thought. I know my listening skills improved but since I am quiet, as are naoto and otoosan I didn't really feel like I was talking too much. I must say, I really like my host father. I mean. Don't get me wrong. I love my host mom and manami, but Otoosan just is so sweet and quiet and sort of in the background...it's adorable! and he's really really nice. Like I said, he sort of reminds me of Grandpa Joe.
In any case, the week went fine and Otoosan was even impressed with the kanji I used in phone emails to let him know when I was getting home later.

Okaasan and Manami got home yesterday. They told me about the trip and showed me pictures and everything. It sounds like it was a lot of fun. Manami got me some gum and a little halloweeb stuffed bear. Cute! Mom, sorry to inform you but Okaasan bought a waffle maker. I guess, like you, she just can't turn down a good deal. Maybe there is some other sort of "maker" you can get and show her how to use.
Here's the wow part. During dinner today I was talking to okaasan. And we weren't talking about anything to dramatic or difficult. Just how today was and what I'm doing tomorrow night and next week's Tokyo Film Festival. The really wow thing was that I was talking in all Japanese. I mean, not my typical stumbly sort of way where I end up saying it in english anyway but all in Japanese. And okaasan totally understood it all and I understood her. It was such a great feeling! I'm not saying I'm starting to understand everything and I suddenly have it down like pat but my Japanese is improving! Even okaasan said so. She was so pleased and I felt really good. I think my japanese class is really helping because although we arent learning much stuff I don't know, we are practicing far more speech and repitition. I'm still learning things, and my writing is good but my speech and confidence when I speak is improving so much! It's very encouraging. It just makes me very happy! I can't wait till I can understand television shows and the news!

A few notes before I sign off:
1-Sara, I received your package!
2-Rae, I had this delicous fish and you'd have loved it....simple but amazing!
3-Dad, do you know about the director Ozu? If not you need to see his movies. one would be Tokyo Story, plus he did a lot of silent films. Also, I saw Roshomon...(obviously this is all because of my cinema class you would love)...by AKira Kurosawa...I really didnt like it. I'm gonna watch it again just to be sure but it was disapointing. Still, when I get back to the states I think I want an Ozu collection and a Kurosawa collection.
4-To all you guys...its very hard not to walk home at night considering it gets dark here at 5:30ish and I get out of class at 4:45 and dont get home till...6:00. Sorry but it's the way it is.
5-Jessie...there was something I wanted to tell you but I can't rmember...
6-Andrew has been helping me keep up with my American shows (gilmore girls, grey's anatomy, project runway, etc)...hah hah. Season finale of project runway. I totally called it. Sorry to rub it in your face girls (caitlin, sara, rachel) but I was so right. Still...it's funny that our first big oversees argument was about this show. Im so happy Jeffrey won!
7-oh...and Im showering more regularly now... I still think it's hilarious that I've gotten so many responses to that post.

I think that's it...Im so happy right now!!!
Much Love!

Flashing Lights

It is dark as I am walking home from Senzokuike Station. Walking down the street towards my house, I notice a few cars with red flashing lights ahead. I begin to think. Is it fire? Maybe worse. Maybe it's an accident, or a murder, or something insanely gruesome. Is it my host family? Is it someone I've seen in Senzokuike? My stomachs turns as my imagination begins to run away with itself.
Whe I get closer I see a bunch of cops standing around and waving cars by. There is a parked cab and a lonely, bent up bicycle. I breath a sigh of relief, curse my overactive imagination, and awkwardly walk past the seen of what seems to be nothing more than a slight fender bender. No one looks hurt. I am happy.

That is all.
Much love!

PS I watched the kempo during lunch today. It turned out to be more along the lines of karate rather than kung-fu. Thanks for the info dad but I don't think I'll be joining Kempo. instead I'm going to see if the gyms are open in the early morning and just work out before school. also, there may actually be a judo club. Not sure yet.
^.^

School Clubs

Well...
Today was my day to check out the different clubs I was interested in joining and trying to find out more about them. Let me tell you, I'm obviously getting way too used to the amount of english that is spoken at my school because walking into those clubs was a huge shocker.

First, let me start with a rundown of some of the clubs I wanted to maybe join:
Art Club
Art "seeing" Club (like going to museums and stuff)
Volleyball club
Walking club (hiking and stuff)
and some others...

well...let'
s just say. It was awkward and I severely frustrated myself. Everytime I walked into a room everyone just sort of stared at me and my mind would go blank. So I'd ask (in clumsy english no less) if this was whatever club I was looking for. The art club people seemed a little cold but they did give me a flier with all the info on it. Still, there's some sort of fee or something so I'm thinking I'll just do art on my own.

Walking club meets on fridays so that's good. I've heard they are friendly so great!

The art seeing club was just confusing. While everyone seemed friendly and receptive I don't know if they understood me and I couldnt understand them. I'm going to try again next monday for sure though, because they all seemed really nice. I can do it! Still...it's slightly depressing when you're mind goes blank and you can think of no japanese whatsoever. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to teach English in Japan if I always freeze when a room full of japanese kids is staring at me.

Oh. And volleyball meets on wednesday. Apparently a lot of their team just graduated and they are very enthusiastic about beginners. So maybe I'll try out some volleyball.

Unfortunatly my school doesnt offer Judo which was to be my martial art of choice. I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm thinking of researching "kempo", because this is offered as a club. We'll see.

Basically, I need to better prepare myself mentally for encounters with large numbers of Japanese speakers.
Bah!
Peace^.^

Showering

This is just a little note on something pretty specific to me.

Back home I was the type of person who showered every day. I hated going without a shower and always felt gross if I hadn't taken one on whatever day. And I was particularly fond of taking showers in the morning, when I woke up. It just seemed to me, the perfect time.

One of the first things Okaasan told me when I got here is that I would be showering at night, like the rest of the family and most Japanese people. At first, I though 'no problem.' But it's actually more interesting to adjust to. For one, I never feel like showering at night. I am usually focused on school work, spending time with the family, or relaxing so I never feel like actually taking a shower. I still feel like Id love to shower in the morning, expecially since I wake up earlier and usually have a bit of extra time. But I'm not supposed to.

This has resulted in me not taking showers everyday. For me, this is interesting. I still hate the feeling of not having showered...but I'm beginnning to get used to it. It now feels normal to go a day or two without showering. All because of my laziness at night!

Now. I suppose if I were excersizing I would most definatly be showering everyday. But I've yet to develope a steady runnning schedule and find a place for kung-fu practice. So that's not an issue.

And everyday I wash my face at least twice. My face is always a big issue for me so it always gets attention.

But showering? Well...its become a casual thing. It's just wierd to think that changing the time would change my habits that much.

That is all.
Peace.

Easy Days

Not much of note has happend as of late.
Classes are good but I have a lot of reading assignments everynight. Still, everything is really interesting. I did decide to drop the Art History class. This makes me a little sad but Cinema will have to make up for lack of an Art History course. Something sort of scary happened with registration. The forms were due on the 11th before 5 and I almost completely forgot and got ot the office something like 3 minutes before 5. Still, the women there would not take my papers. They insisted I had missed the dealine. Needless to say I got very upset. Mostly I was mad at myself since it was my fault for being so last minute but still, I felt like they could have just taken the papers. I tried not to get upset but I was really worried about several things. Anyway, I kind of sat outside the office wondering what I was going to do when one of the ladies came outside and told me to come back after final registration results. she said they could try to fix everything then but there were no garuntees. I decided that whatever happened I would be fine so there was no need to get upset.
Happily the whole thing seems to be resolving itself. I received this email today:

"Dear Jessica-san, This is Jun HATANO,Overseas Liaison Center. The Academic Center contacted me about your course registration. According to them, they refused to accept your course adjustment sheet on October 11. But, I know you were there before 5:00 pm. Now they can accept your course adjustment. Will you be able to come to our office next Monday ? Thank you in advance for your attention. Best regards, Jun "

I don't really know how she "knows" I was there before five, especially since I was there like 3 minutes before five but I'm glad it's going to work out. Two lessons to be learned: The Japanese take deadlines very seriously and, Don't get upset, things will work out somehow.

On a lighter note, I went and Saw the Dali exhibit at the Ueno Royal Museum with another student from Sophia. It was amazing. I will definatly have to return with notebook to take notes and money so I can buy some Dali stuff. I love Dali, I seriously die over his work. Its amazing the allusion, referencing, allegory, detail, and everything he puts into his paintings. And the way he uses color and the paint itself..and I mean, everything! Its just so great. I will definatly be returning.

Hmmm....not much else for now...
Much Love!

Jiyugaoka

So...like I said. This past weekend a good portion of Japan was celbrating Sports Day. The thing at Andrew's dorm, as far as I know, is a once a year thing. Maybe more...lets hope so!

But elsewhere in Tokyo people were celebrating...and mostly, as far as I could tell, by buying stuff.
Okaasan took me to Jiyugaoka which seems to be the sort of "little france" of Tokyo. We rode bikes there and the ride was marvelous. It was relaxing and beautiful and just a lot of fun. I tend to get a little stressed riding bikes in the states so it was nice.

Jiyugaoka is full of little shops for clothing and food, most have french names, and they've got a very authentic crepe shop as well(I think the guy there is french). On this particular weekend(we went both sunday and monday) many of the shops were having really good sales. They'd put some stuff right outside their door, mark it down and crowds ensued. Also, at the little Jiyugaoka shrine they had a large garage sale type event. Here items were the cheapest. It was very fun. Manami is really good at barganing with these people as well.

I bought some clothing...all very cheap and cute. Thwe whole thing was a lot of fun.
Some pictures of Jiyugaoka:



Oh..and at the shrine I got a really big kick out of seeing one of the women who take care of it...in traditional garb. Jessie, you'll like this picture(too bad its blurry).



And also...at Jiyugaoka and in the train station on the way to andrew's dorm...there were performers...randomness I just don't understand^.^




So that was Sports Day weekend in full.
Yay!
Peace
^.^

Kiibasen

Okay, there is a lot to talk about from this weekend but I decided to start with by far the craziest thing I have ever seen...and the coolest.


Yes...I know what this looks like; a ton of shirtless japanese boys angrilly mobbing each other. This is the sport of Kiibasen(sp?). What I imagine must be a pretty old and fairly traditional sport.

First I'll explain that Andrew's dorm, Wakeijuku, has been preparing for weeks (more likely months) for this sports festival they have the weekend of Sports Day(the holiday we had on monday). Now...I missed most of their sports events day whcih included a tug of war sort of game, movnoving stones with chopsticks, an obstacle course(which had math problems?) and things of that sort. I did however maker it in time to witness all the Kiibasen matches.

There are four dorms(east, west, south, and north). Anrew is a prt of South Dorm. Because they supposedly have the smallest average weight it is not often that they win to many of the games on sports day but they all get really into it and practice very hard.


In Kiibasen there are groups of four people who make up "horses". Three people hold the fourth on their arms and shoulders. Each team has a lot of horses (dont know the exact number) but the most important horse is the one holding the general who is all in white. The point of the game is for the other team to get the general to the ground as fast as they can. Each team has offensive horses (who atttack) and defensive ones (who portect the general). If you get a normal horse to the ground then they have to leave the field.


So that is generally how the game works. Two dorms would compete against each other at a time and the remaining two dorms would be referees and crowd control. these are important things to have a in a sort like this to keep people from getting too hurt.

In any case, this game is freaking incredible to watch. These "horses" charge at each other like they think they are invincible and I even saw one guy jump from the top of his horse on top of a general. One match lasted 20 minutes and there was only the general left for one team. It was insane! And seriously, these guys were very intense. It was increbly amazing.

Andrew's dorm won kiibasen. Their general, TOma, was very good. At the end of each match both teams give a sort of speech and bow to each other. But at the end of the whole day Toma and the SOuth Dorm team also gave a speech to all the people watching and suppporting them. Some of the guys were crying and they also do this sort of yelling thing. It's all very powerful.


It made me and Andrew want to start a kiibasen clubu at Uga. Somehow I think that would go very well but dang it would be fun!

I uploaded all the pictures I took during the games because I didn't feel like going through them but I've picked out my favorite and included them in this post. If you want to see more they are in my photobucket acount. (some got uploaded twice though...) I also uploaded some more pictures and I will be posting again today with another update from the weekend.


Seriously...watching these guys be so into this sport was amazing. It was very intense. I just really can't believe it sitll...


anyway,
Much Love!