Starting to write

So I still don't have my own internet in my apartment but I am 'borrowing' wireless from a neighbor and I have just enough power, bandwidth, internet juice, whatever you call it, to post a few things. So far Japan is amazing. I am pretty sure I am still in the honeymoon period of culture shock but I am having a great time. Obviously I miss home and people from home but Japan has treated me quite well so far.

It has been a very busy weekend! On Friday night I went to my first onsen with some new friends. It was very relaxing and, once you get over the fact that you and everyone around you are nude, it isn't so weird. Overall, it was a good experience and I would go back. On Saturday and Sunday, Nisui High School, where I work, had their school festival which is a HUGE festival with lots of activities. All of the third graders (equivalent to US grade 12) take care of the food boothes and sell tons of food including yakisoba, takoyaki, okonomiyaki and even tacos (although the tacos had rice and broccoli in them!). The second graders (US grade 11) do dance performances all day. Each homeroom performs for about 30 minutes and some of the dances were quite impressive. I was treated to such wonders of American music as "Crazy in Love", "I Got 99 Problems but a B Ain't One" and "Put it in your Mouth". While the dances themselves were quite tame, some of the song choices were a little odd and I can only hope that no one actually listened to the words. No one seemed too bothered by it, not even the English teachers, so I suppose Zach (my Canadian co-worker) and I were the only ones able to pick up on the finer points of the English references. Definitely funny though. The first graders (US grade 10) did activities inside of the classrooms where you could try on costumes, make fans, buy goodies, etc. It was a great weekend and I was SO impressed that all of the students put into the festival. Saturday night, I went for dinner with some JETs, went to a cafe with some other JETs, and then went salsa dancing with some other JETs..... and I will still in bed by 10:30 PM! It was a busy night but lots of fun. Sunday night I went for dinner with the "Spanish Club". Yes, indeed, I have joined the Spanish club! There are a few JETs who get together to practice Spanish and it was a lot of fun! We went to a delicious Spanish restaurant in Katamachi (downtown). There are so many interesting people here.

Today, one of my teachers, Miura Sensei, took me to the Geisha District in Kanazawa. We had lunch and walked about the district. We also stopped into some gold leaf shops. Kanazawa makes over 90% of the gold leaf produced in Japan. We drank some tea with gold leaf in it and it was a pretty cool experience.