Beautiful Fall Day

If I could quickly take a picture and put it on the web, I would, but just trust me when I say it is a beautiful fall day.

What has been happening recently? Well, lots of "spontaneous dinners" as Jez would say. I received some omiyage in one, namely a little fern. I was told implicitly to "not kill it". So far so good, I think.

Last week was sports day at my H.S. I will post pictures later, but for a brief description: It was another great day, and lots of fun. I was in the teacher's relay with the third year's, and received much praise on being "早い" or fast, although most other teachers don't really keep up the physique to be able to keep up with third year boys.

I also started the third year class relays just for the thrill of 5 people starting at once, and had two kids wipe out in front of me on the turn, prompting me to pull off the track laughing and not even bother to run any more. Teachers asked me why I joined from the start and I said because I wanted the thrill of the first 100 meters, although the surprise and humor at seeing two fall down like dominoes on the turn was sufficient.

Last weekend at the nursing school in Tamano there was cultural day. I went only on Saturday, although just at the end, so didn't see very much. I did run into my friend "Butch" (that's the nickname he wanted to be called), and talked a bit. I didn't see any "nurses" although I am sure that there are some. Supposedly if you hang out at the station around 5pm, you can see the whole lot all pile onto the train since of course nobody of that age that's single actually lives in Tamano!!

The next Sunday I went to a barbeque. You can check out Claire's blog for some pictures (I will post her link on the side). That was good fun, just relaxing under the bridge with a whole bunch of friends and making some new ones...

I had dinner on Friday night with Kondo-san, Ben's last host mother. Dinner was, as usual, fantastic, the highlight being Daikon Leaf Tempura: The story being she pulled up a couple of Daikon from the garden since it was overcrowded, and what came out were these little pinky-stubs of Daikon. Not wanted to waste a whole lot, she went uber-creative (very rare for Japanese), and decided to create a Daikon Leaf Tempura. It was really crunchy, and actually tasted a lot like spinach.

And finally, I went rowing yesterday. Yes, I am trying lots of new different sports here in Japan: Cycling, Touch Rugby, now Rowing. I understand now why rowers love their sport. The feeling you get when everybody's oar hits the water and pulls at the same time, the lurching of the boat and the rhythm when everyone is in psynche, it pretty sweet. But, unfortunately it is not sweet when you screw up, either burying your oar, or skipping the water entirely.

We barely lost our first race, holding the lead for most of the race but losing by a couple of feet in the last 20 meters (due to a member burying his oar twice). As for the second race, well, about halfway through the lead rower had his oar dig in and actually swing behind him, so for the second half of the race, only one person was rowing on one side of the boat, and we rocked and rolled and jerked our way to the finish. The fact that we also had cries of "we're done" twice before we actually finished the race also meant that there was no chance we would finish second and advance to the final.

What was really unfortunate though was that our first time would have put us in second place and in the finals, but we were unable to recreate that magic. All I have left now are the blister on my right thumb and the heel of my right foot.

The women's gaijin boat on the other hand (mind you none of us have ever rowed before in our lives), actually managed to win second place in amateur division (the men's boat was also in the amateur division, meaning in Japanese standards though you've practiced the sport for less than 8 years). They got really cool etched medals (silver of course), and really ugly bath towels which they intend to regift as birthday presents for members of the men's boat!

I actually am intrigued enough to try again, and will be going next Sunday at 9:30am for the bimonthly informal adult club practice. The workout that your upperbody (forearms, shoulders) get was much more than I expected, but am not sore today at all, probably due more to the fact we only raced twice than the couple of pushups I do after runs.