What's up?

I recently taught one of my students that phrase. I can only handle so much "How are you?", "I am fine thank you, how are you?". Samething over and over like a broken record. I think my JTE (Japanese teacher of English) told them to stop saying "fine" so they have switched that with "sleepy" or "tired" even in the afternoon.

I am using this post just to tell you what has been going on in my life. Lots of cultural posts, but this is just going to be what has been happening. I guess I will start off by saying that I have joined the flamenco club in my town. Very bizarre to be learning a Spanish style dance while in Japan. I love to dance, and I just can't give it up. I partially feel bad for not taking up a Japanese hobby. Although, I have begun to learn Japanese Calligraphy called Shodo at school which is very relaxing and nice. So every Tuesday night I go to flamenco, I have two performances coming up very soon (not quite skillful enough, but I am foreign and they want to show me off). It has been quite an issue to find a skirt and shoes that fit. I finally broke down and bought a pair of shoes. Wednesday nights breaks up the monotony of speaking Japanese all week (ironically, however). I have Japanese class in Hagi on Wednesdays but before hand about 8 of us go out to dinner. It is really great to see some westerners mid week! Then a few more days of class and the weekend begins.

I have been hanging around Yamaguchi ken on the weekends. I have a few big/expensive trips coming up, so saving a bit of money. I have been hanging out a lot in Hagi with my friends. We are able to go out at night and stay at Rosie and Dan's "ryokan" (Japanese style inn). There is plenty to do around Hagi in terms of sight seeing and shopping so it is nice to visit there. There are old castle ruins, a samurai town, you can make some Hagi-yaki (pottery) or blow glass. Plus that is where many of my friends live, so it makes it all worth while! Last weekend I was able to go camping and kayaking in a village called Yuya. It was a wonderful and beautiful weekend. Nice to be outdoors. In a few weekends I will be participating in the JET soccer tournament. It is held on Awaji Island (about 5 hours from here). All of the JETs in western Japan compete in this tournament and of course, party afterwards. I am definately looking forward to it. Other than that, my friend Christine and I are in the process of booking our trip to Thailand over Christmas, so that will be amazing, I am sure. So to answer the above question...EVERYTHING!