First Shot

This is my busiest week yet! I've got a paper and an exam coming up...will have to join the dance team next week instead. Still, this week started with a bang! I hope that this energy lasts until Friday　（笑）

In my Japanese class this morning, we studied Kansai-ben (the accent used in the prefectures around Kyoto), which I've been meaning to learn. I actually learned a lot from my friends in Amagasaki, but getting it in a classroom setting was pretty neat too. I'm serious about learning it, too. If I can master Kansai-ben, I can appear on TV as a famous gaijin celebrity and make ALL the money. Either way, tons of fun to hear my classmates going around saying ～やで　and なんでやねん。

And for the second hour of class...we went bowling! Seriously. We piled into taxis, and went down Kawaramachi-dori to Round One. I led the pack, no big deal. They didn't have my size shoes in the vending machines, so I had to ask for them. Luckily, they had some that fit me well enough. We got assigned to bowling lanes, and I was paired with my classmate Leila (aka 昼寝ちゃん）,Tala-chan, and Yamaoka-sensei. I suck pretty hard at bowling, but the kicker was that Yamaoka-sensei used to be a serious bowler. Folks here take their bowling pretty seriously, just saying. It goes without saying that I lost. I wound up in third place, with Leila in fourth. But to be honest, it was her first game, and I beat her by one point. So I'm really the worst bowler.

Except not. Prizes were awarded to the top four and the worst. I was none of them, surprisingly. My kyudo-brother Aarron won the booby prize (yes, there's a word for that in Japanese). As much as I would have liked to stick around and hang out, I had afternoon classes. So I hopped back into the taxi, and rode back over to Doshisha, Imadegawa campus.

Fast forward to the end of class. The only thing worth mentioning there was that Henry kept on walking into the room at the WORST times possible (the second time involved platypuses; I won't mention what we were talking about the first time). Anyway, after class, me, 昼寝, and Kenji went to Futaba, where I made use of my super handy iPad to record my experience at the shop. I need all the data I can get for my Flavors of Kyoto course. After breaking off from those two, I went on to my bakery, Ryugetsudou, and did the same. I asked for recommendations, as usual, and the ladies suggested the walnut bread, as usual. But since the french bread was fresh baked, I picked out a walnut baguette (it was the cashier's personal recommendation), and ate it on route to the dojo. Fresh bread = best thing ever. EVER.

Ironically, I wound up getting to the dojo at the same time as Leila and Kenji. Considering they had bikes, they should have beat me, but whatever, right? Time for some excellent archery. In fact, today was a day for excellent archery. I got stuck with an 11kg bow - but there was no way I could pull that. So sensei swapped it for an 8kg bow a middle school girl had just finished with. Yes, I'm on par with a middle school girl. Bite me.

Sensei continued to criticize my grip on the bow - something was funky with my wrist. She actually went so far as to punch me in the stomach (not so hard, no worries) to make her point. It worked, as strange as it seems. The way I was holding it earlier was weak - if you threw a punch like that, you'd break your wrist. At the step where you ready the bow to shoot, you have to keep your wrist straight with your arm. I finally got it!

And then sensei broke out the yugake, the gloves worn in Kyudo. I tried it on, and had another epiphany, this time related to holding the arrow. You don't actually touch the arrow. It snaps onto the string. The right hand pulls the string, and the arrow stays in place. Neat trick! I only figured that out after dropping the arrow five or six times. While I was practicing, Aarron got to shoot for the first time. Not on the actual range, just on those big straw targets. Still, lucky guy! I kept practicing, and finally sensei came over to see how I was doing. When I got to the drawing stage, she helped me with the bow, and asked me if I wanted to shoot. My reply was fairly obvious. If it was okay with her, hell yes I did! And so I took another step forward in Kyudo. I'll tell you, my heart was racing, and my hands were shaking. But man, did it feel great! Little by little, I've been progressing, but if you think about it, this is only my fourth class! I'll keep on giving it my best. I feel a strong respect for my sensei - after the lesson, she asked me if I was tired, which I was. But then she asked if I was happy - which I also was. She gave us some sweets she got from another student as omiyage. I'm going to get her a little something from Futaba for Thursday.

I took the bus home today - I was wiped out from practice. I ate a huge dinner - miso pork, eggplant, cucumber salad, rice, special festival rice, umeboshi (jumbo sized!), and then some jelly thing. I have no idea why I'm so hungry, but I just keep eating! Archery must be good for metabolism.

I'm gonna rest my hands now - they're achy from practice with the bow. I'll do my best this week as well!