IrishOboe

Leslie Soule planned and arranged for any interested JETs to meet up in Tokyo for a Kodo concert. Kodo is a famous taiko (Japanese drumming) group. Perhaps the most famous bit of trivia about them is that they are famous for playing long sequences of music in a sit-up position with their legs extended with the drum in-between and their torsos leaning back at 45 degrees to the ground. Taiko is about the visual as well as the rhythm, and Kodo pushes the limits. They live on an Island that’s dedicated to traditional arts for a third of the year practicing and preparing new music, then they tour Japan a third of the year and they tour the world that last third. I’m not a big taiko fan, but it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. I’m glad didn’t, because it was possibly the best performance I’ve ever been to. (More)

Surprisingly, it’s been another busy, but wonderful week of experiences. Wednesday I took the afternoon off (I had no classes) and met a friend who took me shopping for kimono at second hand shops. I don’t like shopping, but I was very happy with the outcome if this trip. At a general second hand shop I bought an obi (the part that ties around the waste) for the yukata (summer kimono) that the home economics teacher at Shirane made for me.

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Can you say "toy boat" quickly three times? I can't, so I included it in my list of tongue twisters my students could pick from for my Tongue Twister class. Well, one after the other said it flawlessly to my absolute shock. They had a great time watching me fail miserably at trying it. If that wasn't interesting enough, I shared this with friends at my English Free Zone and one boy (born and raised in Japan) could of course say it with no trouble. However, the boy who was born in Brazil (to Japanese parents) had the same trouble I did even though his Japanese is so good his friends didn't believe him when he said he was from Brazil. If I was getting my PhD I think I would pick this as my research topic. What makes a tongue twister hard? It's fascinating to think about. This shows that it can't simply be a matter of whether or not your tongue can get into that position or not. It appears that the lack of tongue flexibility helps the Japanese with that one. Fascinating.

Not too much happened last week but I’m sure I’ll find a way to go on and on about it. Sunday morning, May 7^th, I decided to see how fast I could run a mile so I went to Dragon park, which has a labeled running track. I could have gone faster since my second 800 meters was faster than my first, but still, I think it’s the first time in my life I’ve run an eight minute mile. In college, ten minutes was pushing it. In high school, I don’t think I could even run a mile . . . (More)

Having been out all day Wednesday I was feeling a little sick again, so I canceled all plans and just stayed home. It was the first time to have two consecutive days of staying home in a very long time since now my weekends are full of Hippo, Bible study and church. I enjoy my weekends, but it was very nice to have time to relax, have a slow start to the day, get work done, and still have time to think and reflect. The other nice thing about staying home is that it takes much less time to report on than having a crazy adventure!

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Wednesday, May 3^rd I spent a leisurely morning before Shimizu sensei and her husband and son picked me up at 11:30 for a day at her in-laws’ place in Sutama. Yuko also met us at my apartment and we all drove there together. It was good to see Shimizu sensei again, though the conversation on the ride there was mostly in Japanese.

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At Bible study at Adden’s it turned out to be just Adden and me. We had good discussion about Matthew three and four. Then he fed me obento from where he works and took me to church. Somehow what started out as being helpful got turned around to being helped! That’s part of what makes life so fun!

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