BIG THING, little thing

Sup Everyone! Just thought I’d update since I haven’t done so in a while. I’ve been really busy with KSEP and have not had much time to update. My kids are freaking amazing! They’re the greatest, and I’m really sad that I have to leave them in a few days. We’ve done a lot. Their final projects will be done very soon. There’s a lot of work on my part that must be done, so we’ll see how much more I can update. New pictures are constantly being uploaded on Facebook, as always. So let’s briefly recap a few things that have happened recently.

We began teaching and that was fun. All the kids in my class are awesome. The boys are a lot less motivated than the girls, and sometimes difficult to talk to than the girls because of their lack of English skill. Nonetheless, all the kids in my class are exceptional artists and their work has really impressed me. They’re all very shy. I mean, I have the nerd class in a society of very shy people. They’re fun, but sometimes difficult to get excited. They find very strange things funny. Most things that make most children laugh don’t make these kids laugh. However, if I put cat ears on my head, it is hilarious to them. Also, the phrase “don dake?” is really hilarious. It means “how much?” or “how many?” Why is this funny? I don’t know. Apparently, some Japanese comedian is using it as his catchphrase and comedy trends are big here. It won’t be funny in a month, but it makes them laugh now, for reasons I will never understand.

Most of the KSEPers are sick. I’m taking a lot of vitamin C to avoid their disease. It’s working so far.

The JDC kids have moved into Sprouting House, so there’s a good eight extra people living with us. They only moved in two days ago, and we’ve been so busy and our conflicting schedules have ensured that our paths don’t cross often. There have been short informal introductions, but nothing substantial. As in, I forgot most of their names already. I kind of equate our situation right now to the awkward junior high dance with the boys and girls on opposite sides of the room. I’m sure they’re nice, I just haven’t had a chance to talk to any of them yet. Unless, they’re vampires, in which case I will stake them. I will stake them all!

I went to the Kasukabe Matsuri tonight. It was pretty cool. I got nice ninja shoes and wore a blue robe. Then I smooshed together with thirty so other people and picked up a huge portable shrine called a Mikoshi. It has bells on it, so you walk down the street, yell, and shake the Mikoshi back and forth to make the bells ding. The judges then decide who shook their Mikoshi the best. I didn’t carry it the whole time. When you get tired, you tag out and have someone in the party jump in for you. Then you clap and yell and wait for someone to tag you in. I must say, having a huge slab of wood smash down on your shoulder repeatedly as you rock a huge shrine back and forth really takes its toll. My shoulders are really red. I think I went in at least four or five times for five to ten minutes at a time. Alex was a crazy man though. I had to break away from the party several times to keep from getting tagged back in. I needed rest. But Alex didn’t stop. He went for huge amounts of time and then stood by the shrine and shouted the whole time. We all have sore throats from shouting so much.

I bought a sweet Astro Boy shirt and I’m wearing it right now.

Our bosses at Kyoei Kasukabe took us all out drinking last night. It was kind of fun. The Japanese drink A LOT, so needless to say, drinks were had by all. I had a few, but I stopped once I got dizzy. I didn’t like being dizzy and I can’t imagine liking anything past that. It was crazy though. I talked to a lot of the Japanese teachers and most of them got nearly as crazy as us Americans. Nearly… Alex still trumped them all by taking his shirt off and doing chin up on the wooden rafters. One of the other Japanese teachers, Naoki, joined him. Then the two had a punching contest and some people fell on the floor.

There is currently a typhoon making its way up Japan. It hit southern Japan today and tomorrow it should hit us. Everyone here says it’ll just rain really hard and then be over. Luckily, we have a pull down storm door and metal plated window covers for zombie attacks. I guess they’re good for this occasion too. It’s raining pretty hard right now, so it will be interesting to see how bad it gets. I hope it magically disappears, because I want to go to Shinjuku or Akihabara again.

I must go now. It’s a long walk from the computer lab. Well, it seems long because it’s raining and there are no streetlights, so the very short walk looks like something straight out of Resident Evil 4. Thus it becomes a long walk. I’m not proofreading this because I am WAY too tired. So I apologize for the typos in advance. I just hope this will hold you over until I have time to post something else. Goodnight to all and I love you!