ten pages on the past month of my life in japan. . .

ahhh. . . i have been dying to write an entry but have absolutely no time!!!!!!!! so. . . here it goes . . . one month of experiences. . . or what i can remember of them. . . or what i have the time and energy to write. . .

ooops. . . evidentally, i am an image of death, blood, and cruelty today. three or four people commented on my outfit (black skirt with a red tank top and light-weight black wrap) . . . "erinn-san, red and black. . . sugoi" . . . i finally asked ms. kawamura exactly why they thought it was so cool. . . black is the color of death, punishment, and cruelty; red is blood. . ..

anyway, things have been great here. i accidentally ended up with (semi-)private dance lessons with this lady in kochi. she asked me if i knew martha graham. . . of course! what modern dancer doesn't?!?! . . . and then said "martha graham. . . my teacher". . . i thought, okay, sure, you studied the graham technique at some point. . . no, martha graham was her teacher in nyc many, many years ago. it will be like taking lessons with paul again. :) the best part is that they are not even that expensive. . . or at least not any more so than group lessons at a school in the usa. she even rearranged her schedule for me on the spot. . .i had my first lesson last night. . .i don’t think she has had an opportunity to teach modern dance to a more advanced student for a long time. while i am still not clear on her background, i can tell you that she is amazing . . . there are pictures of her all over the studio from what appears to be performances in the usa years ago. . . anyway, the lessons consist of me and one girl, who is quite useful for translation/demonstration . . . she is only about fourteen years old (like my students). . . after lessons, we have soji (cleaning time). . . i honestly love soji. . . it’s nice way to do your part and not always count on others to clean up for you. . . plus it’s a good cool down after an hour and a half of dance. . .

anyway, i commented before on how kind the people are here. . . i basically just assumed it was like minnesota nice and that they do these things for everyone. . . and i think that they do, but . . .i think that i get extra-special treatment. . .

after i mentioned to one or two people that i really missed modern dance, i ended up with fifty offers. . . the private lessons being one. . . one of the teachers found a school for me which doesn’t technically teach modern but has a jazz class with a modern influence. . . the teacher studied in california . . . and therefore speaks quite a bit of english. . . he taught the entire class in english just for me!!! . . .

the same thing happened at ballroom dance in kahoku. . . while i expected some local farmers to teach the class, i found instructors who compete often . . . sometimes internationally. . . unfortunately most of the people who take the class are beginners. . .

another ballroom group (in tosayamada) has asked me to perform in their concert in november. . . why not? . . . this is the best part. . . one woman informed me that she would be making a pink dress for my performance!! haha. . . me, in pink??. . . she would be very disappointed if i told her that i am not a pink person. . .

still going on the niceness thing here. . .this saturday, sayaka and i are going to a professional modern dance concert at 8:00, but. . . i have been invited to attend a children’s modern ballet concert at 3:30 for free! not only is the studio giving me tickets to the concert, they also offered me free lessons . . . granted the lessons are with children. . .they really want me to come to encourage the students to learn english. . . or at least develop a positive attitude towards language learning. . . when have i been one to turn down free dance lessons??

that’s my busy dance life. . . i think i may end up dancing more here than i would be if i were working a random job in the usa!!

what else is going on??? too much. . . i attended another undokai on sunday for the elementary school (and have two to attend for the nursery schools this saturday). . . they requested that i dance with the fifth and sixth graders and that i be one of the obstacles in a relay. . . playing janken!!! (janken is the insanely popular japanese rock, paper, scissors). . . the kids were wonderful. . . as usual. . .

ohhh! saturday night was my first evening with other foreigners!! i finally met the alts from monobe, tosayamada, and nankoku (all small towns surrounding kahoku). . . we decided to go to the smallest of the four towns (monobe) to get dinner at a local café followed by my first karaoke experience with the locals!!! i really got into karaoke. . . the locals started requesting english songs for us to sing. . . including material girl by madonna. . . these people love all the old songs (abba, queen, the beatles). . .

ugh, i waited way too long to make another entry. . . did i tell you that i went to see one of the waterfalls?. . . this time with a friend, as i refuse to drive in the mountains. . .the one we went to is ranked among the top one hundred in japan (whatever that means). . . it was gorgeous. . . i have pictures to post. . . why are there only twenty-four hours in one day???

oh, my pet cockroach has been smashed. . . along with an enormous (4 inch) グジグジ, which translates as ‘house centipede’ or ‘bushy eyebrows’. . .the boys in the dorm thought it was cool. . .i thought it was a crummy wakeup call as i was taking my garbage out at 6:30a.m. . . i held an earthworm today, while playing with the first graders at the elementary school. . . the first time in about fifteen years . . . i forgot how entertaining children can find bugs. . .

cute. . . this guy, who speaks minimal english but always says a genki “hello! how are you?” just came through the office. . . i am still amazed at the enthusiasm these people have. . . always wanting to say hello and teach me about life. . .

ah! i got a perm on sunday! my first experience at a japanese salon. . . not only did i get a trim and a perm, i also got a head and shoulder massage and my hair washed with some kind of aromatherapy shampoo. . . that makes up for the extra expense. . . the people were once again adorable! since i cannot read japanese fashion magazines, one of the girls, who ended up being called ‘crazy girl’ through random naming of english adjectives, gave me picture books to look at!! one with ‘beautiful flowers’ and one of ‘brown’. . . a bear that goes on mini-adventures. . . crazy girl’s favorite book. . . by the end of the hour or so i was there, she managed to jabber away about her visit to australia fifteen years ago (how she ate ice cream everyday after dinner and therefore got chubby). . . she also managed to nickname every worker in the shop . . . all of which were working on me at one time. . . have i mentioned that i am basically a celebrity. . . everyone yells my name when i walk down the street, people like to touch my hair and my skin, they all want to talk to or at least flock around me and stare or listen. . . ‘shy boy’ (back at the salon now) wanted to talk to me but was afraid to use bad english and had ‘crazy girl’ ask me if i liked basketball and what teams i liked. . . i really need to follow sports. . .

and i really need to end this entry. . . ugh, ugh, ugh. . . so, so, so much more to say. . . i hardly even mentioned the students in this blog!!! sad!!!

(note to self: write about 1.ふとうこう. . . this relates to the japanese school system and something described to me as the ‘free pass’ system. . . something i do not agree with. . .2. my community classes. . .more of a pain than adhd elementary students. . . 3. reflection time. . . something scheduled into every school day. . . yet another activity i think we could all benefit from. . . like soji!)

okay, i am starving . . . ‘let’s finish!’

quick postscript. . . my apologies for the randomness of this entry. . . it doesn’t flow quite right. . . i think my engrish skills are going downhill. . . no, that is not a typo. :)

fun links. . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/4282936.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4295968.stm

also. . . i recently discovered that mr. george w. bush will be visiting japan around the time of my birthday. . . would it be to much to request a visit to kahoku? not that i am all that anxious to meet the guy. . . okay, really. . . おわりましょう！