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!