In short, I barely survived my New Years trip to Fukuoka... nuff said.
Life has been very busy, but is now settling back to normal. I am branching out more and aggressively trying to travel when I have time. I usually am at it alone which sucks, however, no one there to slow me down.
Had a quarter life crisis and got a long board skate board. One of the best damn decisions I have ever made. When it arrived I was so incredibly excited.. reminiscent of a Christmas morning when I was six years old. I was also scared shitless, being completely new to this and all... this thing could kill me. I actually got the knack of it pretty quickly. It is a lot like snowboarding. Pavement hurts more than snow though I have found out. Only one big fall when my foot caught on the ground while pumping down a street. Then today some lady cut in front of me and then continued to go in front of me till I had to jump off the board to avoid hitting her. I couldn't believe it. A whole topic to it's own; Japanese people are terrible walkers, runners, riders, and drivers for the most part... they do not pay attention or look around them at all. A few of my peers in Kure tried to clue me into this before, but only now am I seeing the light.
Last night was a wonderful occasion. My friend Sui who is a JET (English Teacher like me) in Saijo invited me up for a private Koto playing and dinner by one of the teachers that sometimes works in one of her schools. It was amazing! The woman who is now almost sixty has been playing her whole life and is absolutely amazing. For those of you that do not know and are too lazy to google"Koto", it is a large stringed instrument. Basically functioning in the same way an empty tissue box does when rubber bands are stretched over the opening and strummed. They are long! Made from Paulowina wood the instruments are about a foot wide at the thicker end and at least six feet long. Some can get much larger (she actually had one there that she played and it was simply divine sounding) and heavier. They are rested on the ground perpendicularly in front of the player and played by pushing the thumb index and middle finger "through" and past the desired string near the base/thick end. On the fingers they wear odd pics made of ivory.
She made us a wonderful dinner and entertained us with great stories and knowledge. She also gave us some home made Umeshu which her husband had brewed. It is a fermented plum concoction and it is wonderful. She even sent me home with some... and I am sipping it now as I write. Noteworthy: She had a psycho dog and a very beautiful cat named "Pi-chan".
I then took the trains all the way home and had a nice night time ride through the countryside.
