Today was a very fun day. We had our Taikusai (Undoukai) rehearsal, which, while I do not understand the point of it, was quite fun to watch and be a part of. Our class relays went well, though we did not win. But the second year’s relay was very interesting to watch, for each person had to do 50 meter stretches (on a 200 meter spray-painted track) each member of the relay doing something different. (Every second member of each team did the same thing, every third did the same thing, and so on.). The unique things included riding a tiny tricycle, eating a donut hanging from a stick without using your hands, find something (beans I think) in a platter of flour using only your head, walking with either excessively heavy shoes or a string connecting one’s hand to that same foot (I am guessing based on the way they walked), and having a whole group of people walk in a line with a long wooden pole of each side tied to their shoes (think of a train’s wheels.). Then the third years competition consisted of hoisting a person of three other peoples’ shoulders. The person on top would have a hachimaki (headband) on and the goal was to take of the headbands of other on-top-people from opposing teams. Our relay, or the interesting one (every grade has 2 competitions, one regular relay where everyone runs half of the track, and one interesting one,) is very hard to explain but I will try. We line up with five per row and as many columns as needed. Everyone in the first row holds onto a horizontal pole, and at the start runs forward, jumps over an obstacle pole, around two cones, and back. You could imagine running around the cones is very hard because the inside person (me) has to be the pivot while the outside person has to run very very fast to keep up. Anyway, when they come back everyone but the inside and outside people let go, and they lower the pole and continue running through the matrix of people really fast (everyone has to jump over the pole.). At the end everyone crutches down, and the two people with the pole bring it back up the matrix of people above everyone (which is why we crouch) and hands it off to the next row. I will see if someone can take a video.

BTW, I realized today that the Undoukai happens once every three years (next year they will have a singing festival and year after a Bunkasai, or culture festival) so I am lucky to have come the year I did! Oh and also even amongst years the kumi moves up together; this years 1-9 will all move up to next year’s 2-9 and then 3-9.

Oh and BTW it seems that the Jspanese are really big on electrolytes — there is the Pocari Sweat I already talked about, and today after our relay our home room teacher brought some mint-sized candy (like Sweet Tart) which was salty sweet and sour, designed to revive our bodies electrolytes. And also jaywalking is a huge thing in Japanese culture, even of there are no cars, if there is a walk sign they will wait until it changes. I jaywalked across a minor street this morning (and there was no walk sign unless I walked all the way up to the next big intersection) and yet an elderly lady gave me a very long, evil stare.

BTW I had noticed that everyday when we were practicing for Undoukai there would be various people using a hose to water the fields. I did not understand, because it was just a huge sand/dirt field, and it would only make it harder for us to practice. However, today I realized. First of all, it is soo hot here that the water evaporates pretty soon, cooling the ground. But also, due to the heat, there would be no moisture on the field, so our running would raise dust clouds. The water helps the dust particles stick together. Really ingenious, really!

And the Japanese are also very trusting, they leave their stuff out and visible without any qualms and nothing gets stolen! It is really very incredible!

Oh and I also think I am getting very strong thighs from squatting so much — they have us sit a lot on the field but since no one wants to get their uniforms dirty we all squat. One thing I do not like is they make us squat for only a couple of seconds, then stand up, then squat again, etc.

Also, short forms are very abundant here (this may be jargon unless you speak Japanese) — iroirona いろいろな becomes ironna いろんな , toiu (or to say/ to call) という becomes teyuu てゆう, and the i in teiru form is always dropped! I mean I guess it’s kind of like fsho vs for sure and kinda vs kind of, but still…

Oh and maybe it is just coincidence but honestly homestays seem much more common than I thought! One of my old host family’s kids had done one in LA, I met a girl today on my way to school what had done one in Ohio, there is a girl (in my kumi I think) who had done one in Switzerland, and I know there are more that I am forgetting. It seems more common than I thought.

Oh, and the repercussions of trusting Indian black markets — the watch we had bought in a cheap watch shop in India this winter has some problem keeping time, for over the course of a couple of hours it ends up going back (slowing down) as much as 5 minutes! I have gotten to class late twice because of it so I think I will start using my Itouch as a time guide rather than the watch.

Okay, that is all for today, Hsppy Bday N and N!!!!