Alfred, yakiniku

So those of you from the Alfred community already know this, but there was a big fire in the town of my old University. As far as I know, a wooden building burned down, surrounding structure had water damage but no structural damage, and about a dozen people as well as a few businesses are without an apartment, everything gone.

Unfortunately, Nick's girlfriend Hannah was one of those people displaced by the fire. The day we heard about it he was taken to the Board of Education, where they offered to let him go home to help her out without having to request vacation time. He took them up on their offer, and is now stateside. Because of this abrupt change of plan, I'm staying at Ichu a week longer than normal. As of yet, I haven't heard from Nick at all, so I'm not totally sure when he's coming back, but I'm sure he'll show up someday :P .

The other night I was invited out to yakiniku with some of the people from the board of education. They ordered many plates of meat, including pig heart and liver, pig head, and adult and baby sheep. Every once in a while we requested some cabbage or onions for a change of pace. It was really nice to get out in a comfortable atmosphere and just chat for a bit. Also, it was really good practice for my Japanese conversational skills.

Tuesday I went to Tomikusa Elementary School. I really feel welcome there, and always love a visit. After classes, the 5th and 6th graders ran a few kilometers near the school to practice for the upcoming "marathon." I stayed behind at the track and chatted with the 5th grade teacher about differences in U.S. and Japanese units of measure, shoe sizes, etc. The first kid was done in 18 minutes.

After that, I went back to Ichu, ate lunch, and went outside to watch the mini field day the 1st and 2nd graders were participating in. The traditional Japanese field sports are interesting to a foreigner, especially the horse battles (which would NEVER be allowed stateside due to safety issues). However, watching all the other teachers participate with their respective classes, and only being able to root them on, was kind of saddening. Then after that, I realized I'd lost my car keys. And it was raining. And I was homesick. And without a close friend for thousands of miles. That was probably the lowest point of my stay here in Japan, but after a cheerful adult English class and a good nights sleep, I felt alot better the next day thankfully ^_^ Car keys were also found, and I'm in a really good mood today. Chocolate is a very good thing.

Gotta go, school's ended. I might post more later if I feel like it :P