undokai, dance, and my pet cockroach. . .

yesterday was undokai (the junior high school's sports festival), which was awesome! we have been practicing for this thing for two weeks straight (and even had a full dress rehearsal instead of classes on tuesday)! the students march and sing and go through all of these rituals, but for the most part, undokai is just a day of random events from running to obstacle courses, to climbing bamboo poles. i ran the 150m with the second year students, danced a folk dance with the first years, and was part of the teachers' spoon relay team (which was done with a tennis racket and two balls instead of a spoon and egg. . . but still called a spoon relay? hmmm. . .) oh, my favorite was running on the english club relay team. we had to run against the pta (a bunch of really fit guys in their forties). . . they were winning when i got the baton, so i did my best to catch up with the guy. . . somehow i managed to forget that i was only running about 75m and plowed over one of the students as i was handing off the baton. ooops. . . in the end, my team came in second. . .anyway. . . they have some of the most random events in this thing. one of my favorites involves half of a team holding up a bamboo stick while members of the opposing team sprint and launch themselves to the top half of the stick in order to pull it to the ground before the other team. (this would make more sense with pictures. i promise to get some up soon!) the main goal of undokai is to encourage team work, group unity, etc. they do an amazing job with this. . . it's funny how much improvement the students make over three years. . . for example, the centipede race, where teams of about ten students line up and tie their legs together and then have to run a lap. i love it when they mess up because of the lovely domino effect, resulting in a large pile of students still stuck together struggling to stand again. the third years always win, while the first years are still back at the starting line. ahhh. . . i have so much to say but really cannot explain it all in one entry. . . my main point is that undokai is tons of fun with a very strong moral. i often appreciate the sense of responsibility the people here feel towards each other . . . this can be seen everywhere (literally). it's not a chore to help their neighbors but just part of life. . . and so much more seems to be accomplished when everyone is doing their part! (for example, they have soji, cleaning time, everyday at school. during this ten minute period of time, the students scour the school. there are no janitors, only soji. it makes so much more sense!)

enough of that. . . what else have i been wanting to write about? oh, my amazing thursdays!!! in my two weeks of teaching, i have realized that the teachers make all the difference in the world! luckily, i work with some freaking amazing people! as i was giving my self-introduction to yet another class two thursdays ago, the teacher suddenly asked me to give a dance demonstration in the class! i thought she was joking until the tables were pushed out of the way to create a mini stage. (when i went back last thursday, i was asked to dance in two more classes!)

oh, that reminds me. . . i have really missed dance a great deal lately. (i always say that i don't get homesick, but i do get dancesick.) i tried hard to allow the town to let me use the budokan (martial arts building) for dance. . . but no luck. after hearing about my love of dance, one of the fathers at the undokai enkai. . . sports festival after party for teachers and members of the pta. . . suddenly got up and made a phone call. it turns out that he has connections with the best dance group in kochi, which supposedly has everything from modern to ballet to traditional dance. everyone wants me to dance with the group in the awa odori festival next august. . . kochi happens to be a very famous for this festival . . . i don't really know how good of a dancer i am. . . nor do i really know the type of dance they will be doing, as i am slightly afraid that my definition of modern dance is different from theirs. . . oh well, it is certainly worth a try!!! oh, i love the motto of the festival. . . "it's a fool who dances and a fool who watches, so if both are fools, you may as well dance!". . . sounds great to me.

okay, i'm going out to dinner tonight, so i should finish now. . . though i have so much more to say!!!! (oh, including that i have a cockroach somewhere in my house . . . ugh. . . and did i tell you about the spider with a three inch radius??? i am not exaggerating at all. i had no idea they came that large. my fear of spiders has tripled since i got here. ahhh. . .)