feel the beat from the tambourine

So now there are suicides
because of the high school transcript fiasco. Amazing stuff. Shame is a very powerful thing in Japan. This is not what Confucius intended. (Yes, he was Chinese, but apparently his teachings strongly influenced Japanese society. Thank you Bryan and Rachael, that book has many helpful insights.)
Most of my students don't have to worry about their credits because their high school studies are focused on English.

I have another cold. But I am not going to talk about it because it is going to be gone by Friday. I have planned on joining another expedition, this time up the other side of Mt. Diasen for an overnight stay on the top of the mountain. If I miss it, I will be very disappointed.

Last weekend I spent my time at a Halloween Charity Pub Crawl. My group, the infamous, "Bad Santas", dressed as ABBA. Lena and I (thanks to the genius of Donna) made ABBA costumes on Friday night with help from the paint and taping talents of Karin. We painted cats on men's Ts, "ABBA" on the asses of men's underwear, sewed sparkly silver things and sparkly red things to collared shirts, and taped "A" "backwards B" "B" "A" to the back of everything. We carried a tape player and a tambourine. Only one was lost by the end of the evening.

We may not have looked like ABBA, but we looked hot. Considering it was a charity crawl, we were competing with other teams for who bought the most, looked the best and so on. We won third in the drinking competition. Mom and Dad must be so proud.

It was fun being out and about, even with several drunk JETs alienating the Japanese people around us. Lena found a ride with a scuba diver, and a room with a skier. I danced with a yellow brick road, a Japanese road construction worker, a picnic, a piece of sushi and a hospital patient. "Dancing Queen" and "Take A Chance on Me" howled its way down busy streets in Matsue. Halloween is spooky in so many ways.

These displays of organized foreign drunkedness can be a good time, but I think I am in the mood to explore more of what Japan has to offer than discover how crazy I can get with other gaijin. It is time to hit the road, I think.
I want to see shrines and carp in gutters, clay roof tiles, little hovels steaming with smells of strange food, cliffs overlooking that gelatin that is the Japan Sea, shinto priests and old pottery.
I'll make it happen.

I have joined the Iwami Aragane Taiko team. I have been there twice now, but will miss this week's practice due to illness. Taiko is incredible. Difficult, tiring. Take two large, heavy wooden sticks, stand at an awkward angle and use all of your strength to pound a solid rythym from big, little, sideways and backward drums. You can feel this sound rattle your rib cage. It travels around your toes, knees, spine...all over! I can't wait to get semi-okay at it.

I also have begun taking Japanese in Hamada City. I am taking the lessons from none other than the infamous Nogami-sensei. She was one of our favorite teachers at the Language Program this summer. I think she is disappointed in what little I remember from those classes. I am so glad that I am taking Japanese, I want to be able to communicate at least a little with people around me. I think it is important to show effort regardless of how bad it is.

Will write more soon, just wanted to give you an update.