Last night I had my "welcome enkai." (enkai - party..read earlier post for details) It's true, I've been here for almost two months, but better late than never, aye? It was all the teachers who teach first year (sophomore) and we went to this really nice restaurant. We were served about 6 or 7 courses including octopus, a plate of sashimi, and fried fishbone with the tail still attached. I managed to eat most of it, wasn't all that bad. The fried fish bone tasted like a chip! I was able to use some of my Japanese and my coworkers tried to speak some English. It was really cool and I feel much more comfortable with them. They kept telling me, "we hope you feel comfortable here, and we will help you with anything you need..." They are the nicest people. There is a group of about 4 25-year old women...hopefully sometime I can hang with them outside of work, they are about my age. :)
Today I went with Shawn to his school's sports day. It was pretty entertaining. Then we both came home and took a super super long nap. We were exhausted! It's been a much-needed lazy day around the homestead.
The shower is fixed! It is so great to take a relaxing shower...as a result I've been returning to my old ways and taking longer showers, sometimes twice a day! I know, I know...I just like it, ok? :)
Here are some pictures from our BBQ in Hita last weekend. Hita is really gorgeous, it has a few rivers flowing through it and is surrounded by mountains...I would live there. At night there are little boats with lights that take people on the river for dinner cruises. Hopefully sometime we can go.
This is Shawn and Phil being helped out by Tom on the bongos. They provided the entertainment for the evening...
Shawn manned the grill and did a fantabulous job, at that.
The BBQ area.
View of the river.
It was a really good time.
Last Monday we also had our first earthquake! It took us both a few seconds to realize what was really happening and then just like we had read, we ran to stand underneath our door and waited it out. It only lasted about 10 seconds, but that was long enough. At the epicenter it was a 5.2, but weaker when it hit us, about 3 or 4. It is such a strange feeling to have the ground swaying underneath your feet. I would hope it never happens again, but I'm sure it will in the time we are here. Japan is the land of volcanos, earthquakes and typhoons. We lost a mirror in the earthquake...it fell to its death and broke on the floor. We still have no mirror...which is interesting...I never know quite what I look like when I go to school :)
On Wednesday we rode our bikes about 30 minutes to Park Place, the very new and modern mall. It turned into a really nice little date night - we ate dinner, saw a movie, and rode the ferris wheel! We saw the second Pirates movie, pretty entertaining. The ferris wheel is for little kids so it moved incredibly slow but its situated on a mountain top and you can see some of the city lights. It was really nice. A great evening.
Overall, no complaints here...just going with the flow. Next weekend we are taking a trip to Miyazaki, a surfer town on the eastern coast. Our friends Lauren and Erik live there so we are staying with them. It should be a great time!
In other news...
I find myself with a large amount of time to read the news online during work. I comb the news pages until I have read the interesting articles and the boring articles...twice. No, just kidding, but I do spend a lot of time following world events. I must say, the world right now is in a sorry state of affairs. Tonight this one caught my eye...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5394222.stm
Are we seriously building a fence along the US-Mexico border?
Wow. I am astounded.
2 comments:
Tori! Yay for your shower and a double yay for traveling! It sounds like fun and good food too. As of now, I´ve survived without rice for almost a month! (I don´t count Spanish rice as rice). Take care and keep writing!
Silly little world super powers and their silly little walls.
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