IrishOboe

Sunday (Aug. 28^th) I decided to bike until I hit mountains no matter what it took. I went for about 45min directly West on what I would have described as gently sloping up terrain; however, on the way back I did not pedal at all and had to use my brakes frequently so I’d say it was quite an uphill trek. I was quite worn out when I reached the foothills and I was very disappointed to discover that wherever I looked the mountains were fenced off. I guess I should have found out where I was going first. So, instead of hiking a bit to a nice spot to do my quiet time I found a cemetery at the foot of a hill amidst all the groves and had my quiet time there. It was cool up there and I had a good breeze. The sky was pretty and I had a nice time. As I said, the way back was very easy . . .

I showered, made lunch, and met Rudy at the train station in Kofu. We had planned to go to the chanson concert together then go out to dinner. I had thought it odd that an early music specialist was in the area, so I didn’t get my hopes up too much that it would be what I was hoping. Sure enough, it was basically French pop karaoke. The dude was a good singer, but karaoke is not really my thing, especially when I’m hoping for 17^th c. French singing. I guess that goes to show that I’m not at Eastman anymore and “chanson” really just means song in French. At the cost of being rude, Rudy and I left after 10min. We walked around Kofu, had drinks at the organic café, went to the castle, which I had only seen at night, then had an early dinner at an izekaiya because I was starving. I’ve been much more active than usual so I’ve really had an appetite! I went home soon after (the food was very good) and tried to take care of business before going to bed. I went to bed a little late, but not bad. I woke up this morning (Mon, Aug 29^th) before my alarm, which is always a happy thing. The only reason why I’m telling you such an unimportant detail is because I’m writing at night and I’m very tired and when I’m tired I just go on and on about nothing important. It’s only 8:30, but I’m pooped and I’m going to bed. Today I ran in the morning but I had trouble with cramps so I didn’t do much. School was good and busy as usual. I had two classes and the first went much, much better than Friday’s and the second went not as well as the first but much better than Friday’s, if that makes sense. After school I met with the English club by myself since Shimizu sensei had a teachers meeting. I gave a modified version of my self introduction taking time to chat with the girls (6 altogether) about parts of it. One girl is quite able to speak English and the others seemed to understand much of what I said. It will be fun to meet with them each week. I got them to talk a little about themselves and they will all bring a piece of them in next week. We’re going to listen to heavy metal, Japanese pop and Britney Spears, and learn shodo (calligraphy) and eat Japanese sweets. If that’s what they like then I want to learn. Funny that I had to go all the way over to Japan to finally listen to Britney Spears . . .

I came home exactly an hour later than normal because of English club. I fixed myself some kick-butt ramen, soba, and tomatoes with olive oil and basil. Yum, yum! I dabbled a little at the Geography Olympics, which I love now that it tells you if you’re correct right away and shows you the correct answer on the map so you can learn more easily from the game. I need that much help, so it was fun. The highlight of the evening was getting three Oceana questions in a row and completely guessing and getting them all right! I’ve thought about doing something productive but as my eyelids were drooping I figured I’d see what it was like to go to bed at 8pm. Well, as I got ready I figured I should write an update, so it’s now 8:30, but I’m still wiped out so I’ll say goodnight even though many of you still haven’t said good morning to this day yet!!