Almost October?!?

I really can't believe how fast the days are going by now that school is in full swing. Almost two months have passed since I got here! Last night I had a dream that my year here was finished, and I have a funny feeling that dream is going to become a reality in no time at all. I thought that graduating from college and no longer having any homework would mean having tons of free time on my hands... SO not the case. Already I'm behind on my to-do lists! Look at this blog, for example: it's been nine days since my last post, and I even have the internet in my apartment now. I'm currently posting at school. Where does the time go?

I'll tell you where it went two weekends ago-- all over Tokyo and back again. I promised to write about my weekend adventure, so here it is: Four other ALTs and I took the night bus from Toyama city to Tokyo, leaving at 11:45pm and getting in at 5:45am. We did not get much sleep that night, needless to say. So, we checked into what turned out to be the best hostel ever, and took showers and naps before heading out for the day. (A quick note on the hostel: it had opened only a month before, so it was brand spankin new, super clean, and super cheap-- such a great deal!) After resting up for a bit, we headed out to this huge garden and Shinto Shrine area that I am embarrassed to say I never actually learned the name of. (Much of this weekend was like that-- me not knowing what was going on. I blame it on the sleep deprivation, but really it was probably just laziness on my part.) We hung around there for a bit, and I bought one of those little wooden boards you can write your wish on, and I hung it up with all the others. I liked the idea of leaving something that might still be there even when I leave Japan.

After the shrine, we headed out to Yokohama for the Great Japan Beer Festival 2007-- all you can drink (more like all you can sip, considering the size of the glasses they gave us) for a mere 4000 yen (about $40). That was a lot of fun; Yokohama is a beautiful harbor city with really beautiful night views! My favorite beer was a raspberry flavored one that, again, I don't know the name of. (I sense the overall theme of the weekend developing here.)

Then, we went back to the hostel and freshened up for a night out. We met up with one of Sarah's friends at a bar, then at 1am headed to a club in Shibuya to see a Japanese funk band play. Turns out we just missed their first set, and they didn't start their second one until 4am. Soooo, 3 hours of sleep deprivation later, the band came on, and they were AWESOME. They covered James Brown songs, and they were really good! But, alas, around 5am, I had fallen and couldn't get back up, so to speak. Sarah, Ann and I took a delirious cab ride back to the hostel, and I was asleep by 6am. Thank god.

At 1pm on Sunday, it was time to get started all over again. We were going to go see sumo, but sadly the tickets for that day were all sold out. So, we headed to a Buddhist temple (you got it- I don't know the name) for a lantern festival. Of course, considering we slept until 1:00, it was night time by the time we got there, so the timing worked out perfectly. After that it was dinner at an American-style restaurant (they had REALLY good pizza), and back to the hostel for another late night of cheap wine and "Never Have I Ever."

We checked out on Monday at 11am, and headed out again for sumo, this time armed with tickets we had purchased the previous day. We got to the venue, and it was great because the sumo wrestlers were just walking around in their robes and top knots and buying snacks at the convenience store like it was no big deal, totally normal. (Wtf??) I was about to take a picture of this strange sight when I realized my camera wouldn't turn on. I opened the battery compartment, and sure enough, in my near comatose state the night before, I had taken it out of the charger and put it down in a mystery location in the hostel, which remains undisclosed to this day. I was SO bummed, and in classic Type A style, I silently fumed over my stupidity for the remainder of the trip and much of the next day, until I was able to bike to the nearest electronics store (about 40 minutes away) to buy a new one. Anyway- back to sumo: it was the BEST part of the trip, hands down. I loved it!! The whole thing was very ceremonius-- This little man in a brightly colored robe would chant something before each match, and then the wrestlers would warm up by lifting their legs in the air and waddling around one another, much like nervous mother hens protecting their nests. Then they'd throw some salt in the ring, and BAM, have at it. Sometimes the matches would be over in a few seconds; the best ones would last half a minute or longer. I really enjoyed the whole experience. And despite what my teachers at school now believe, that I "like fat man," it really had nothing to do with their gelatinous bodies. In fact, the truth is, many of them were more muscle than fat! Well, ok... maybe half muscle, half fat. Anyway, the point is, I do NOT like fat man-- but I do LOVE sumo!

After sumo it was back to the train station to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) back to Takaoka. Three long, exciting, *expensive* days later, I was home. My little apartment never looked so good.

Soooo that was my weekend in Tokyo! Since then I have been teaching during the week and generally trying to catch up on rest and errands on the weekends. This weekend I will be getting ready for my parents' arrival on Wednesday-- I've got groceries to buy, my apartment to clean, travel arrangements to make, etc etc. But I'm really excited for their visit!

Before I go I'd like to leave you with some excerpts from some student essays I graded this morning. Just for kicks. The topic was "What kind(s) of energy should we use from now on, and why?" Here are some of the ones I enjoyed reading the most:

"Solar energy and blow energy" -Sounds good to me.

"I think solar energy is very good. It is useful for us to use. Solar energy prevented warmming glove from wormming glove." -You tell em, kiddo.

"I think solar energy is the best. It's different from atomic energy that human being created. Its energy can get from sun and probably unlimitted. If we go on using atomic energy, the earth will collapse. It means our death. We should use "nature" resources for fear we die. We can use solar energy in place of atomic energy from now on. If you buy your house, you have seller fix the solar panel on the roof." -This kid's got green architecture down!

"What we should do at first is study for improvement. I want to protect our earth. I study hard to look for the way to use alternative energy sources. I hope our future is excellent and beautiful." -Now, if only our current president was so determined...

"I think hydroelectric power is best. Water is unlimited resource and Japanese people are familiar with water." -Good thing, otherwise this whole island thing would be a problem.

And finally, "The best energy source I think is cheap, safety, able to be used simply. because if it's safety, nobody would be killed by it, if it's cheap, it could be used everyone, if we can used it everytime, and in all over the world, we could save the poor." -In Jesus' name, Amen.

I hope you enjoyed reading these six even more than I enjoyed reading all two hundred.

Until next time,
Mandy