Wow, it is already August. Cannot believe it! Went into school for the first time today. I am working at Usuda Jr. High School (臼田中学校, usudachyugakkou) as my main place of residence. I will also be teaching at four elementary schools in the area on rotation. I met the principal of the school and he was very nice, Ichimura-sensei. He is a very proud man who is very proud of the school that he runs. In some ways, it makes me even more proud to be teaching there. We had a nice little chat and went on our way, Nagaoka-san showing me the way to get from my house to the school. Ended the day fairly early, which was great news because it had been a long week.
That evening Erika, Tom, Joey, and myself all went to Ueda where there was pretty much a hippie fest happening. It was aptly named Joint Fest and was held at the old castle grounds in Ueda…very scenic place for bands to be playing. It was neat because there were traditional festival type foods there for consuming. Personally, I loved it. The sights, sounds, smells, people…it was all that and more. The Japanese youth were all over dancing. There were few people who were standing that were not bopping to the beat and I don’t just mean nodding their heads or shuffling their feet but outright dancing. Such energy and spirit in everyone as opposed to just a few back in the states. Now, having walked around the stands and scoped out the food, nothing caught our attention more than the guy making takoyaki, which for those who may not know is fried octopus. It is basically octopus and a batter that is fried in a ball shape. It starts out flat on the griddle and with lightning fast chopstick maneuvers that Hollywood can’t even mimic, the artist (had way to much talent to be called a cook), formed the batter into perfect little balls and without skipping a beat, tossed them off into containers. If the idea of trying fried octopus hadn’t sold me already, this display of talent got the money out of my pocket without a problem…well I did ask to see if they had dairy in them first. :P
The rest of the evening was a great time. We hit up a traditional Japanese-style bar, where we met a few new people and had a decent time aside from some chain smokers who nearly killed me and another girl at our table. Took the train back into lovely Saku and had ourselves a good sleep.
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