Matsu-Ken Samba!

I had an eventful weekend. Saturday, I finally went to Mujirushi to order my zabuton, zaisu, and chair (read: things to sit on). To date, I've been sitting on my floor when watching tv and sitting on my sitting-table when at my desk. Got that? I sit on a table when at my desk. So it's about time I bought some furniture. I talked to the Mujirushi folks today and the goodies come Friday morning. I'm stoked.

Sunday was a bizarre day. Chong-ri woke me up at 9 AM to tell me to meet her at 9:30 at Obashi (a bridge near school) because she was taking me to a Sports Club to go swimming. She had a free day pass and wanted to give it to me. It was early and I had no idea what the hell was going on, so I hopped out of bed and put myself together quickly enough to be 10 minutes late. The pool at the sportsclub had a strange mix of people in it, and swimming made me realize just how out of shape I am now that I haven't worked out regularly for 2 months. The weirdest part of the morning was doing aqua-aerobics because Chong-ri wanted me to; I see why that's a popular diversion for old people. Afterward, we went to eat cheap udon at one of those joints where you have to stand and eat.

I made it home just in time to change my clothes and run out the door again to go back to (homestay family #1) the Yoshikawa's house. No, I'm not a big fan of theirs, but host dad was throwing a party with his zemi (thesis seminar) kids, and I figured it was about time I dropped in to say hi. I figured it would mean getting to meet and hang out with other college kids while drinking free booze and avoiding certain characters I don't like (and trust me, I did all those things), but there were a few elements I wasn't expecting. First off, the Brazil theme. Remember, this is a thesis class for English majors; 'Samba in Rio!' is not the first party theme that comes to mind. Second, was the Japanese-Brazilian dancer girl wearing her Vegas Show girl Samba outfit and shaking her tail feather all over the tatami. And then shaking her bon-bon. And then backing that thang up. It was awkward, particularly when my host father was dancing with her and the girls in the class. He's 70 and about 5'2". I was pretty sure he was going to die of a heart attack in front of everyone. And then a decent bossa nova group performed (remember, this is all in his little Japanese house). After they performed, host dad introduced ME as the next performer and so I sang a few songs on the guitar for the kids. I had packed away enough Shochu and beer to allow that to happen. A few of us stayed til 10:30 PM (very unexpectedly) and then wandered off towards home.

Aya (another one of his students) and I went to eat okonomiyaki tonight and teach each other English and Japanese. She didn't offer me much in the way of teaching me Japanese other than giving me the discouraging news that my accent ain't all that good; I, however, finally figured out an effective and fairly simple way of explaining "the/a" to Japanese speakers. I'm a linguistic genius!