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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

August 14th-17th

August 14th
We left in the morning and headed to Miyazaki.  We stopped off and met up with Cassi, Topher, and Tyler (his first day in Japan) at the beach.  They took off and left us a surfboard, although the waves were a bit small.  We still stayed for a few hours and caught some waves.  As we were leaving, the lifeguards formed a search party, 8 firetrucks/paramedics, two helicopters, and about a dozen jetskis were looking for a lost child.  About 20 surfers joined hands and swept through the water to see if they could find him/her.  We found out the next day that the child was found, but didn’t survive.  That was when we all realized that the undertow they talk about is no joke.  We don’t know all the details of what happened, but it was a shock to have seen the search take place. 
Afterwards, we went to an onsen (bath house) and rinsed off.  It was only about $10, and was wonderfully relaxing.  John and I dunked in the hot water for a bit, but I found myself hanging in the cold, alkaline water for the majority of the time. 
At night, we headed to downtown Miyazaki, which is crazy.  We met up at a Mexican restaurant, where I ordered carne asada tacos and a chorizo flauta.  It wasn’t quite like the real thing, but it was close enough.

We headed next door to a salsa club, that the owner of the Mexican joint owned, and proceeded to do the merengue. 
Cervezas Mexicanos!

Only stayed for a bit and then headed out for some karaoke.  Some drinks later and a little drive to the beach, we popped our tents on the sand and watched kids light fireworks until we fell asleep.
Thanks to the heat, we woke up in our sauna-tent at 7am.  Packed up and headed to meet up with the other guys at the beach.  Surfed for a couple hours and had a great time.  The waves were only a bit larger, but I got to ride Chris’ 10ft board that caught every single wave.  Got some Thai food for lunch, with coconut ice cream, and then went to a 2nd hand shop to look for boards.  I think I may have found one, but I’ll have to wait until the next pay period.  John bought a 9ft board that looks like it’ll be great for the waves out here.  The shop also had a bunch of fishing poles, guitars (unfortunately no ukuleles or slide guitars), and just about everything else you could imagine (washers, dryers, stereo systems, toys, TVs, etc.)  We left and drove back to Osaki.  It was a long day, I think I got a little burned, and now I’m beat.  Turned out to be quite a fun weekend (my first private room karaoke and onsen) and I’ve found a new shop to look for surfboards.  I was also stoked to have finally met Chris, who is an avid surfer and is actually heading to Mexico for a week-long trip.  I can already tell that we’ll be riding a lot of waves together.

Augus­­­­t 16th
Today was another day in the office, with practically nothing to do.  The mechanic from a local garage came in to take my car away for its shaken inspection.  They left me with a yellow-plated car that looks like a cube.  At least it has A/C and automatic windows.  Yuko Tojo, from Daiichi J.H.S. in Nogata, sent me one of her student’s speeches.  I got to correct it in preparation for his English competition.  Yuko came to the office and showed me a video of the students competing last year, and we went through the speech very carefully.  She invited me to an evening Taiko session and I accepted. 
When I got to the auditorium, it was junior high schools students practicing Taiko.  The high school performers and adults were teaching them different cadences.  After the junior high students left, they allowed me to practice with them and invited me back next week.  It was a ton of fun and the drums literally shake you with every beat.  I had been wanting to try this since coming to Japan, I’m so glad that it’s such a great group of people.
Tomorrow, I’m heading to Daiichi J.H.S. to work on the speech a bit more.  I forgot to add that during work, Aiboshi brought an omiyage of sliced horse meat.  I was all pumped to try it until they came over and said, ‘Horse.’  Now, I know I’ll try it, but I just feel horrible.  Hopefully it was some lame horse that was on its way out. 

August 17th
At about 9 this morning, I got called by Yuko from Daiichi J.H.S. to come on over and work with Kazuma's speech.  We worked on pronunciation on R’s, D’s, OU’s, and a variety of other English language rules.  Kazuma did really well and will be giving his speech this next Tuesday.  I was excited to go, but realized we have our KAJET orientation next Monday and Tuesday.  He’s working so hard on it, I don’t know how I’ll make it up to him. 
After working on the speech, Yuko and I went to a horserace-betting building.  It’s just a room filled with gamblers watching a huge screen of horse racing in northern Japan.  There’s also a little lunch room inside, which may have become my new favorite place to eat.  Not only is the food great, the price is substantially lower than other places I’ve been.  STOKED!  Yuko was driving me back to the school when I told her about my work on the ranch, and she immediately turned to take me to where the racehorses are kept.  The facility was amazing, filled with stud horses.  The people working there were so nice, and took us on a tour of the grounds.  Their oldest horse is 23 and he kept nuzzling us.  Every one of them is exceptionally tall with a huge chest.  (I wanted to saddle one up and take it for a run J)  The caretaker of the horses invited me to come back anytime, as he needs help shoveling manure, feeding, and random checkups.  I think I may be visiting a path I once previously took.  Anyway, it was so nice to be around horses again.  The guys even kept dirty magazines in their back room (reminds me of another ranch) and they kept asking me if I’m single and what type of girl I like.  Of course I told them that I like the hairy type, about 120 lbs., long tongue, and usually referred to as ‘Canis Lupis.’ 
Sake-Bear

They didn’t understand but smiled and nodded their heads anyway.  I love Japan. 
Went surfing after work today, but it wasn’t much.  Got a couple short rides and then headed home.  The rental car is still hanging in there, but I think they bring back my good ole’ hatchback tomorrow.  Finally, I’ll get to put all my awesome California stickers on it.  I can’t wait to get the internet so I can post pictures of all this for you.  It’s the coolest little car in Japan, with its super-reflective tint and everything.  UPDATE: Here it is!
Haaaambaaaaagaaaaa!

So glad I saved my Taco Surf sticker for so long...

This has to be the only one in Japan...thanks John!

Tomorrow, another day with Yuko and Kazuma at 9am.  Then, who knows?  Another big swell is supposed to hit the shores, so hopefully tomorrow will be the day. 

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