Good week....so far...

Last weekend was the M's party! It is an overnight party down in the south of Nara...where civilization becomes difficult to find. It is also called, Yoshino-gun, or, The Goon for short. It took roughly 2 1/2 hours to get to Marty Party from my town. Japan doesn't really have highways (when they do, they are fucking expensive to use) and the trains can become scarce the farther south one goes. I rode in a car with 3 other JETs. Yes, we traversed mountain passes (constant state of almost-death), and flew through mountain tunnels, but we finally reached the party around 3:00PM. I chipped in for the keg and the party began. We played Ultimate Frisbee first. It was fun. Really exhausting, but fun. Probably wasn't a good idea to play an intense sport with beer in my stomach. Lesson learned.

After Ultimate, we went for a dip in the nearby Yoshino River. It was cold, but after playing around, it felt nice. It was very shallow (probably 3 ft where we were) so my groin found several rocks as I floated along the river. Following the river portion of the party, was the BBQ portion. We all brought various meats and veges for the 4 grills that were set up by M's school. Oh ya, did I mention this party took place at his school? Amazing no? (Don't worry, we had permission) We grilled, ate, talked, and drank. It was a good time.

Someone even opened up the gym for us to use. I played volleyball and basketball until 11PM when my batteries began to run out. At midnight, the JETs sang me the "Happy Birthday" song. It was sweet. We all passed (SLEPT for the slang-impaired) in the gym on the judo mats. I got up at 6:30 for the early bus because my TV was being delivered that day and I would not miss it. The TV came in, it works, and life is now wonderful.

At school, I've given my self-intro probably 9 times to different classes. I am all self-intro'ed out. Today, C and I watched commercials the Seniors made over summer vacation. The acting was terrible, the camera work was atrocious, and the English unclear. I held back from laughing my ass off the whole time. I guess Japanese students aren't known for artistic creativity. I am hoping to score a copy of the videos so I can show family and friends what I'm talking about.

Today, I watched more commercials with the Seniors. After that class, we have spent the rest of the day preparing for the school festival taking place 9/9 and 9/10. Th festival is a BIG DEAL. The students have been preparing for this event for months. I set my little booth in the English Club's room. I printed out a 50 states word search, pictures of flags, fun Florida facts, etc. I also signed up for a 15 minute massage with the student massage club. For those of you asking, yes, I am weirded out by the idea of being massaged by a teenage boy, but I was asked by their teacher so I couldn't really say no.

A's bday on Friday, movie night on Saturday, and Touch Rugby practice on Sunday. I will be busy again! More updates to come!