さくら and spring!

i just learned how to properly drink liquids out of those little juice boxes. . . if you pull the tabs out on the top and bottom, it removes the corners and sort of flattens out . . .you can then properly suck out every last drop (as opposed to searching around the bottom with your straw). . .good to know, huh? it also saves space in your trash can. . .

anyway, lots to report. . .

pippi and fuzz (or jeff and gilda if you prefer non-camp names) came to visit two weeks ago. . . we were able to see a few sites of kochi along with some of japan’s first cherry blossoms! (everything in japan is always famous for one reason or another. . . kochi was evidently famous this year for having the ‘first’ cherry blossoms of the year. . . were they really the first?? i think that may be debatable) . . .it was nice to finally have visitors. . .

march 21st was vernal equinox day, which evidently merits a day off work in this country. . .i went fishing with tsuyoshi from 9am to 5pm and caught nothing. . . i did, however, get my first sunburn of 2006. . . who knew spring came so early?? someone should notify the minnesotans. . .

so, spring is here, life is busy, etc.

before spring break, i had the pleasure(?) of attending four graduation ceremonies (jr. high, elementary, and two nursery schools). . . ceremonies in japan are the longest, quietest, most boring events. . .it would help if japanese was my native language. . .especially at the elementary and preschool ceremonies where they read a little blurb about the students interests and accomplishments as they received their diplomas. . . really though, these things were crazy! one word to sum them all up: silence. . .literally dead silence. . . there were no children crying or students coughing or audience members shifting in their seats. . .or even people clapping. . . no one moved for an hour and a half. . . at the sound of a chord, we stood, the next chord we bowed, the next we sat. . . every 'important person’ in the city gave a speech (principal, mayor, superintendent, pta, underclassmen, graduates). . . the girl that gave the main speech for the graduating class at the junior high school started crying on the second page and continued through the eighth page almost completely inaudible (not that i understood her japanese before she started crying. . . but after, i was really at a loss). . .even the preschool students sat silently through their hour long ceremonies with five or six speeches. . . these kids develop patience at a very, very early age. . . they’re way ahead of me. . . all in all, it was a good experience, but it is definitely not something i could handle more than once a year. . .

oh, at the elementary school graduation, i accidentally got in the wrong entrance line (i.e. the humble alt entered the gym with the city’s most ‘important people’ and had to be hurried off to the other side of the gymnasium where the teachers sat). . .oops. . .

anyway, the jr. high school after party provided some nice bonding time with parents. . . i taught the teachers a dance to the ozone ‘dragostea din ti’ song (a.k.a. 'the numa numa song' or 'mariahi'). . . it was a big hit at the students' concert last month and again with the parents at the graduation party. . . the pta had some quality performances as well. . . after party number one, we went to party number two at the local karaoke bar. . . here i scored more brownie points by singing a japanese song (one which i thankfully learned in my japanese class at olaf). . . the party also helped me meet a local mechanic (i teach all three of his sons from primary school 1年生 to junior high school 3 年生). . .

which brings me to my next story. . . my minica stopped on me twice this month (once in the middle of the mountains with virtually no cell phone reception!). . . thankfully, it started up again right away both times . . . anyway, japan has some amazing customer service. . .when your car goes into the shop, they give you a loaner car! my students’ dad gave me a 2005 suzuki while he fixed my 1995(?) mitsubishi minica. . . on top of that, he fixed my car for free! crazy, huh?

okay, i’m almost finished. . .

i mentioned viewing the sakura (cherry blossoms) when jeff and gilda came to visit. . . since that time i have had a million more opportunities to check out this japanese wonder :) . . . on monday, i went to a nearby park with the 3年生 teachers and had a picnic under the cherry blossoms. . . in japanese, this is called ‘hanami’ ~ flower / cherry blossom viewing . . . everyone - literally everyone- in japan is doing the same thing this season. . . asahi beer is sponsoring a hanami party for genki senenkai (the mini-theatre group i am in) this saturday. . . they will be filming our rehearsal as well as the party for a local program called ‘we love kochi’ . . . nhk international came to our rehearsal two weeks ago. . . i’m on my way to stardom in japan. ;)

anyway. . . i will be taking afro-fusion dance classes with vincent mantsoe next week http://www.sekwaman.co.za/ . . . the new school year starts on april 10th . . . we have 2-3 genki performances a day the weekends of april 15-16 and 22-23 http://www.sanyo.oni.co.jp/newspack/20060318/20060318010000961.html . . . the kyoto international dance workshop festival runs through golden week (april 28th-may 7th) http://www1.neweb.ne.jp/wb/hot-summer/h_s/h_s_e_index.html . . .my life/death (still not sure which is which) solos will be performed sometime in mid-may . . . then my life should dull down a bit as summer approaches and as i begin preparing for the famous yosakoi dance festival in august http://www.yosakoi.com/en/index.html (still not sure which team to join) . . . you now know the next five months of my life. . . although i still want to squeeze some trips in there somewhere (places to visit: seoul, nagoya, tokyo. . . so many more). . .the reason i don’t like to plan is that planning tends to show me just how quickly everything is coming at me. . . hmm. . .

fyi. . .

playing on slides, merry-go-rounds, balance beams, and monkey bars every thursday for the past seven months has shown me how true this article is. . .granted i’m not yet elderly. . . i have lost a lot of the skills i had as a child (monkey bars are rough!). . .
finns open playgrounds to adults
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4691088.stm

way to go missouri. . .
to ease traffic, mo may drive on left
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1784498