Explosion

Nothing dangerous, just my social calendar. Suddenly it's packed! My Mom arrives in Japan today (TODAY!) but she will travel around before meeting me in Fuji City next Tuesday. She'll stay for a few days, maybe a week, and I'll show her around my setup in Japan.

(Last night I had some friends over for dinner and we stayed up late talking, so I'm tired. Hence the bullet-style blog.)

Today will be my first day with the tea ceremony club after school. I'm REALLY excited and looking forward to learning something peaceful. Maybe I can use my yukata now (a yukata is like a summer kimono).

Thursday night John and I will go to Mayumi's house for dinner! She'll teach us how to make gyoza so I'm really looking forward to it. Mayumi is my friend and fellow teacher, who lives in our apartment complex, and hanging out with her is always fun.

Saturday I'm going to another town to see a children's festival that has been celebrated for hundreds of years. I'm going with other ALTs and we'll stay with different families who live in the small town, so that should be an interesting cultural experience to say the least.

Monday is a holiday and the school librarian invited me to her house for dinner. This is a big deal and I am really looking forward to it. She'll teach me how to make tempura and I think how to roll/prepare sushi as well. Very exciting.

Then Mom arrives Tuesday and I'm taking her to the traditional neighborhood restaurant. The owner loves John and me by now and her face lights up when she sees us. We love her food and her sake.

Thursday Mom and I are having dinner with my supervisor at a nice Italian restaurant. I'm interested in seeing what Japanese Italian food is like!!

Friday is another holiday, and Mom and I are joining other ALTs in Ito for a dance festival. We'll get fitted for kimonos, learn a traditional Japanese dance, and then participate in another festival that "celebrates the happiness of the people."

We'll spend the night in Ito, then hop on a train the next day to Numazu (beach town), but for academic reasons: one of my students is in a speech contest! (An English speech contest, of course.) I'm helping her practice after school, and on Saturday we'll watch and support her in the actual competition.

Then at some point Mom leaves. :(

September 30th my school is going on a hike, and that night the teachers will go out for a party (enkai!). A much-anticipated event so hopefully I'll have good stories.

And at some point after that, I think Mike is coming! :) And the weekend after that, I'm going to Kyoto!!

The point of regurgitating my calendar is to let you know why there may not be any posts for a while...I hope you all are doing well. EMAIL ME and tell me what's going on in Amerika!