Solar Eclipse : Moon eats Sun

Yesterday there was a solar eclipse that we could see in Japan! I learned that the word for solar eclipse is 日食 -- the first kanji means sun, and the second kanji means 'to eat' or 'food'. So, I suppose that the meaning comes from the sight of the moon eating the sun. Delicious!
The students and teachers grabbed some nerd-glasses and were able to view the eclipse during the few sunny parts of the day. From the sound of it, most others in Kyoto couldn't see the eclipse through the cloud cover. Alas!
Anyway, it was neat. A lovely spectacle for my last day at Honjo JHS. I felt sad cleaning out my desk and taking my shoes out of their cubby, but I'll be seeing those folks on Friday for what will go down in enkai history as "the drinkiest day of all." Honjo JHS loves their beer.

After that I went home and finished up my "thank you presents" for people around my town and schools. I'm making each person an origami paper crane and throwing it in a plastic bag with some hershey kisses and hugs (thanks to my sister). It's not much, but I have 70+ people to thank, so I was thinking thriftily.

In the evening I drove to Sutenten in Iwataki to meet my friend Yasuka to have dinner with her. We only lasted an hour before we were both full and sleepy. It was nice to see her one on one again (usually I see her with a lot of other people around). I will certainly feel the sting of leaving all my Japanese friends. Boo.

Oe Yama and The Eight Person Date

Local Teachers Wander into Mist ; Camoflauge

This weekend I was invited by my friend, Yasuka, an employee of the Mineyama Town Hall, to join her in Amino for a konpa, or a group date. From what I understand, a konpa is a group of people (even amounts of single boys and girls) where they get together at a restaurant or bar and get to know one another. So, that’s what we did.

I took the train up to Amino from Mineyama so I would be able to drink (this would help me relax around perfect Japanese strangers). Yasuka brought her co-workers, Yumi and Yumi. The guys were pretty diverse… two of them worked at a bank, one works as a 4th grade teacher in Mineyama, and one was a jerk, though I did not hear what he did for a living.

Mostly the party was fun. We ate a lot of fried chicken and salad and drank a lot of cocktails. The two guys I talked two (and had to sit next to) were nice enough. Though, one of them smoked cigarettes into my hair all evening. Considering it was in Japanese, I think I held my own. Though there were times I had no idea what was going on and the jerk guy kept making fun of me in front of me, which wasn’t cool.

Four hours later we were all quite intoxicated. Kate and Natanya, champions of love and friendship, came to pick me up. After that I told ridiculous stories and passed out watching Gone with the Wind.

The next morning, after Kate made us eggs and told us that she did the dishes every morning because if she is ever found dead before she can get to them, she thinks people will judge her. Even though she’s dead!

We drove in the rain and mist to Oe Yama in Kaya and hiked up a good deal of it. The mist made the walk very interesting and we took a lot of fun pictures!

This Place is Death

We ended the day at Apple Farm with curry and sandwiches. We also talked about Octomom and how many children a crazy person should be allowed to pump into herself. Ridiculous. I made many poor arguments.

Then I came home and found out that my grandmother is most likely going to die, so that’s probably going to change the course of this week. Flying 7000 miles home when I’m leaving in less than 7 weeks for good? Absurd timing.