I survive the rainy season and managed to stay relatively dry for that month and a half. However, sadly this means that it is now summer, and with its coming the humidity happily hits 90% on many days. Still its a good feeling, once you get used to sweating all the time, you start to really enjoy it. I'm drinking 5-6 litres of water everyday, and like to imagine that all the liquid in my body is being replaced daily as it exits through my skin and into my clothes. Aside from being full of moisture, the school is also filled with the sounds of cicadas which seem to permeate everything from morning til evening. There are also lots of fireworks! (We recently had the Sea Festival, Sailboat Festival, and this weekend the Harbour Festival) My apartment is close enough to the oceanside that it is rattled everytime and shaken everytime something is going on.
I haven't really blogged much recently in part because I've been spending more and more time at my school. Despite getting off at 3:45 I'm sticking around to 6 or even later on most days. Though you shouldn't worry that I'm working too hard in that time. Mostly those extra hours consist of using the school gym and visiting various student clubs. Rugby, Handball, Basketball, Gymastics, Soccer, Art, Karate, Ping-pong, there are many of them and I just cycle through 1 or 2 everyday. I think being around more has opened other teachers up to talking to me more than previously and I've been able to learn the names of a good 10-15% of the school (of 960 students in no small feat).
Last week, I was invited to come to Judo club. I spent a good 45 minutes fighting my students, learning some of the basic throws and practicing taking falls. After some weight lifting and a little cardio, practice was over and I went home absolutely exhausted. The 5 flights of stairs up to my apartment had stopped bothering me, and I'd been thinking of them as gratuitous excercise, but after that practice I was moving up them like an old lady (no offense to the old lady readers of this blog) (also you're not that old, and if you are that old, old is beautiful!). The next day I came into the office and there was a blue judo outfit waiting on my desk, a gift from the teacher in charge, so I guess this means I'll be going a lot more often, including a second day in a row yesterday. I'm currently riding the train to Tokyo, and am thankful that I can sit for 8 hours without having to worry, because everything is aching, bruised, or covered in raw skin. JUDO!
This past weekend I went to a coworkers wedding, which was my first Japanese one. The ceremony was done in a "Christian-style" with a foreigner dressed in a minister outfit, hymns, white dresses, ring exchanges, prayers, people saying "amen", and closing with a riveting performance of "Amazing Glace" (I went there). Neither person getting married was Christian, and a full half of the service was done in English, but I think it is just the appearance that they desired (and they got it with a glass chapel on the side of a mountain and water fountains that would jet up and the most picturesque moments). Then we headed to the reception which was a blast (Did I cry!?) and included nearly all the teachers from the school and members of the grooms branch at Mitsubishi sitting up close to the couple, and friends sitting somewhere in the back. Food was fantastic, open bar is great, there were laser lights, automated blinds, screens popping down from everywhere, 3 different outfits, and on the whole a really good perforance. Almost like going to broadway for a few hours. Still it was almost overshadowed by our school's simultaneously ongoing baseball game (its the prefectural tournament! This is bigger than any wedding!). We lost.
Anyway that is it for now, going to enjoy my week off in Tokyo.
