July 26th

Braden and I are trying to make the most of our last few weeks in Japan, so it looks like I'll actually have interesting stuff to write about ;). Last weekend we went with our friends Ed and Hori San to the beach of the Japan Sea and had a great time swimming and playing in the sand. The temperature of the water was great, just like a swimming pool, but it tasted terrible! I really haven't swam much in the ocean before, and so didn't realize just how incredibly salty it would taste :X. But despite its bad taste, it was still lots of fun, and afterwards we all went to a hot spring to clean up and have a nice relaxing soak. We spent the evening playing video games with Ed and then went home. The next morning both Braden and I woke up very sunburned and sore from swimming, but it was worth it :). Let's see, what else have we been up to? We went to a birthday party last night for our friend Shuhei, who turned 20. Birthday parties occur pretty often at the International Students House, and they're always fun times. Just everyone relaxing, eating some snacks, drinking (there's always juice available in addition to sake and beer, since not everyone who lives there drinks), and chatting about anything and everything. These days I also spend a lot of time studying Japanese, surfing the internet, and riding my bike. I used to watch TV, but just this weekend Japan ended its analog broadcasting system and switched everything to digital, and since Braden and I are leaving soon we didn't bother to buy a digital converter. I kinda miss having the TV though. I usually had it on while I studied for some background noise, and I always watched the kids shows that came on in the evenings while I made dinner. It was a great way to practice my Japanese, and I could practice kanji too, since most Japanese talk shows show captions on the screen with kanji. Oh well, bye bye Japanese TV :P.

On other news, Braden and I had a nice anniversary dinner at a yummy Indian restaurant in Matsue called Spice Kingdom. They always serve really big, really delicious naan (Indian bread). I had a hard time finishing it all, I got so full :X. After dinner I had an English lesson and then we went to our friend's birthday party.

I almost forgot to mention an interesting thing we got to see on Sunday evening. There was a matsuri (festival) that day, and a bunch of people gathered in downtown Matsue to watch a portable shrine called a Mikoshi being carried from Matsue Castle to a shrine on the other side of the river. There were two shrines, one carried by women, and the other carried by men. Both groups carried the shrines along streets lined with vendors selling lots of delicious looking junk food and cool toys, and every once in a while they would stop and shake the shrines so that the bells on them would ring. When they finally reached the plaza near the shrine everyone cheered and then they followed it up with a dance performance. Now, you'd think they'd follow it up with some sort of traditional Japanese dance, but actually it was followed by a dance school that specialized in hip hop XD. I was a little surprised, and it was funny to cross the street to the shrine and suddenly hear the traditional flutes and drums of the Shinto Priests. It was quite the contrast, hehe. Well that's all the interesting news for now, but hopefully I'll have some more soon! Till then!

July 17th

So far it's been a pretty hot, but fun, July. I'm still trying to get used to this muggy heat. It's especially annoying at night when I'm trying to sleep. Every day in the middle of the night I wake up hot and sweaty so I turn on the air conditioner, but after a little while I actually start to feel too cold so I have to turn it off. Then about an hour later I wake up hot and sweaty again and turn the air conditioner on again. Its a vicious cycle :P. Aside from the heat the weather has been pretty nice, and Braden and I have enjoyed getting some sun now that the rainy season is over.

For my birthday we went on a little boat ride through the moats around Matsue Castle. It was a lot of fun, and it was just the two of us and our guide who steered the boat. We saw swans, ducks, a turtle, a heron (or something like that) and lots of fish jumped out of the water to eat the bugs sitting on the surface. And there were lots and lots of dragonflies. We got to go on another boat ride this weekend with our friend Chieko when she invited us to go on a boat tour to some caves along the coast of the Japan Sea. Both caves have legends associated with them. The first cave, called Kyu-kukedo, is said to be the home of the souls of dead children. It is said that the children build little piles of stones in memory of their families. Then, every night, oni (Japanese demons) come to knock the stone piles down. Then Jizo (a Japanese diety who is the traditional guardian of children) comes and chases the oni away. At Kyu-kukedo we were able to get off the boat and look in the cave. Inside the cave were many little piles of stone, and a lot of stone statues of Jizo. Parents of deceased children often go there to leave offerings of toys and food to the Jizo statues. The next cave, Shin-kukedo, was filled with water and big enough for the boat to go through. Inside was a torii gate and lots of water dripped from the ceiling (the boat was covered so we didn't get wet). That cave is said to be the birthplace of a Japanese diety named Sada-no-okami. It is said that while his mother, Kisaka-Hime-no-mikoto, lived in the cave, she got tired of the darkness, and so shot a golden arrow through the east wall, creating the east entrance, and piercing the rock to the east of the cave (which also has a prominent hole in it). After going through the cave and exiting through the hole said to be created by Kisaka Hime, we passed a small light house said to be near the birthplace of the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. After circling the light house we returned to the harbor. The ride was about an hour long, and really interesting. We got to learn alot about Japanese mythology.

I also got to practice a lot of Japanese this weekend. Today in church I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, and I gave a lesson in Relief Society, all in Japanese :). The ward members told me I did well, but I know I still have a lot of Japanese to learn :P. By the time I get really comfortable with my Japanese we'll be leaving :P. I'll just have to keep up my Japanese studies in America!

July 9th

Just a random update on our summer activities so far. Today Braden and I had fun making paper lanterns at an activity at the Matsue Community Center, then we rode our bikes around Matsue for a while looking at various hobby shops. Japanese hobby shops are lots of fun to just look at, even if I can't afford to buy anything :P. They always have lots of model gundams, dolls, manga, toys, games, etc. We even saw someone dressed up as a maid in one of the stores we visited today.

It's been really hot today, but thankfully all the stores in Matsue have air conditioning. I guess if they didn't they wouldn't get very many customers in the summer time. The humidity hasn't been as bad this week though, which is nice. When it's really humid it just feels hot all day and all night, shade or no shade. But when the humidity is normal it cools off at night and makes it easier to sleep. (I have such a hard time sleeping when its all muggy :P). The rainy season has officially ended, or so I hear. The rain can be annoying sometimes, but I'm kind of sad to see it go because now it's supposed to get hotter :X. I need to develop Braden's good habit of drinking several bottles worth of water a day so I don't get dehydrated.

For Independence Day Braden and I went to Izumo and had a barbecue with some American friends and even played with some small fireworks. It was a lot of fun, even though I felt sick the next day (must've eaten an undercooked bratwurst or something...). The weekend or so before that we went to a concert in Yonago with an alumni of CWU who happens to be living in Matsue, and that was really fun. Afterwards he treated us to sushi. It was awesome XD. We've both been keeping pretty busy lately. I had more English lessons than usual last month and Braden has his classes and part time job too, but we still have time to hang out with friends. We like to go to Izumo and play video games with out friend Ed, go to free student concerts at the University with our friend Shuhei (who also took us to see fireflies one nice summer evening), and go to hot springs with our friend Chieko. Chieko took us to one this last friday that was pretty cool. It was on the 9th floor of a building and had a big curved window with a really nice view of Lake Shinji. It was funny though, cause the window wasn't a one-way window or anything like that, so if you stood up and walked by the window anyone walking on the sidewalk by the lake would be able to see you XD. Japanese people aren't so shy about that sort of thing though, so I doubt anyone complains, and it's easy enough to just avoid the window if you're worried about it. But still, I thought it was interesting, since I nothing like that would be allowed in the states. Someone would get sued XP. Well, that's all that's been going on lately. I will definitely be able to post some interesting things once the summer festivals start. I'm very excited to experience my first Japanese summer festival :D.