After re-reading my last blog, it sounds like last weekend
was amazing. The problem is, just when you think things are going your way,
life turns around and whacks you on the head. I’m not going to write about it
all online, but come Monday, Sam was a fairly sad camper. Now let me tell you how
I turned myself back around.
Monday, at Kyudo practice, I finally was able to start
talking to some of the other college-age practitioners. There were two girls there
with whom we chatted a bit. Nothing important, but I think it would be nice if
I could make some friends my age at the dojo. Not that there’s anything wrong
with our sensei – she’s actually one of my favorite people in Japan. But more
on her in Part 2. She convinced us that it was time to buy our Kyudo gear, so
we decided that we’d go out to the store on Thursday.
Tuesday was wonderful because I went to Kyoto Univeristy’s
Ballroom Dance Circle (Amadan). To begin with, everyone there is AMAZINGLY
good. I went in expecting to be better than some of them, after dancing for two
years. But the vast majority of the group was dancing Gold level. I realized
why afterward – they only dance Standard and Latin here, whereas we have four
styles in the states. Still, it was humbling having to apologize to all of my
partners for sucking. But it was so much fun. Actually, my friend Tala-chan
came with us, and he had a blast too. When asked if he had any comments on this
matter, he replied “I like potatoes.” Thank you for your words of wisdom,
Tala-chan. I didn’t realize how much I missed ballroom, but I don’t think I
want to stop. I can’t attend regularly until next month though.
But Tuesday night was miserable; due to the incoming
typhoon, strong winds and rain were rattling the gates and shutters in the neighborhood.
And I wasn’t getting much sleep because of it. Finally, I remembered I had
earplugs, and made it to bed by 2 am.
Wednesday we had a guest speaker: Nishimata-sensei’s kohai,
a musician named Sakaki Mango. He specializes in African music, especially this
instrument known as the “Oyayubi Piano”. I was one of the three emcees for this
event, so I was kind of stressed at first, but he’s one of those really cool,
funny people that you can just relax in front of. The lecture was a lot of fun,
and the music he played was fantastic. A few times, I lost the rhythm, and a
few of the intervals felt a little off (because they use different scales), but
overall, I’m glad he came to present. I always love to learn more about music!
I was supposed to go have Mexican food with my AKP friends
after class, but unfortunately the weather was not conducive to going anywhere
far away. So instead, we went to a little curry house along with Austin, who I
just learn is actually half! He’s my half-black half-Chinese kendo master
friend. Anyway, we just got some curry, and talked the time away. Next time, we’ll
do it in Japanese, at a Mexican restaurant!
The rest of my evening was dedicated to studying for Yotsukura-sensei’s
midterm. It was…dense, to say the least. Tala-chan and I would shoot jokes
about the material back and forth, although he got to the point where he would
just pick out the sentences with grammatical errors and point them out (COMMA
SPLICE, COMMA SPLICE!) Although I think we’ve decided the worst made up word in
all of linguistics has to be habitus, defined in one reading as “structure and
the structure that structures structure.” With such bizarre material, how did
Sam fare on the midterm? To be Continued in Part 2, Gear Up.
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