Student: Because I wanted to learn about another species!
Laura: What are you doing this weekend?
Student: I’m going to play with my ears.
Laura: Perhaps you mean play it BY ear?
Student: I love here!
Laura: Yes, me too! It’s good to be back in Japan!
Hello my tomodachi!
I hope and trust that this email finds you all in good spirits, ready for the approaching holiday excitement!
It’s been a little while since last my update.
Why you wonder? Well, I really hit the ground running this time when I returned to Osaka from India at the end of September. Within a day after 2 months traveling I found myself back in my classroom at Kansai Gaidai, ready for the second semester to begin. Busy as a bee I’ve been: working, writing, planning, planning, planning, dancing and hiking! I’ve put other “projects”, such as cleaning… cooking… sleeping… on hold.Within a week of my return to Japan, three chicas guapas from Mexico came to stay with me and explore Kansai.
Four women in my one bedroom studio was actually a lot of fun and I greatly missed them (and our late night chats & breakfast feasts) when the left. Then Miseon and Joonsoo (my favourite Koreans) came to experience the Osaka Halloween madness. My Swedish brotha from anotha motha, Oskar, was shipped to us from China by Carlos a few weeks ago. And, by this time next month, the sweetest Auzzie couple around, Kirsty and Anthony, will be here to bring in the new year! So always someone to show off Osaka to!Late September to
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early December is the absolute best time of the year for hiking here in Japan, and I’ve done my fair share. I joined a fantastic club of outdoor enthusiasts (IOC) and have thus spent the past 7 of 9 weekends in the wilderness. There’s no place I’d rather be than in the beautiful fall sunshine. However, when the sun goes down, our bodies are thirsty from all the activity and the IOC members seem to know some of the best drinking holes around!Zero
is my newest friend. Yes, his name is Zero and he’s my stureeto dansu sensei (street dance teacher). I joined a hip-hop dance group a month ago and am hooked. I’m the only gaijin (foreigner), as usual, and have really clicked with this group. We dance for an hour every Tuesday, but then spend hours chatting after class. I even brought the class to Sam & Dave nightclub with me last weekend. The next day I received an email from Zero asking if we could “provoke it again in the club”. Sure Zero, anything for you!
The next big event coming up is my tanjobi! Yes, it’s December already so in a few days I’ll be adding another notch to my years of experience with lots of little parties. The celebrations actually began last night (the 1st) and will continue until the 16th. As usual, there’s a unique theme and this year we’re having a sexy santa party. I can't wait to see the look on the locals’ faces when they see 30 sexy santas walking through the streets next Saturday night!
Planning, yes, I’ve been doing a lot of that. In 3 weeks, my friend Audrey and I will be in Malaysia, and by Christmas Eve we’ll be on the island of Langkawi soaking up the sun, sand and Singapore slings. Hopefully we’ll meet up with Carlos, who has been traveling Asia (Korea to China to SE Asia) for the past 2 months, before we head into the Malaysian rain forest and down to Singapore.
More planning: I’ve also been seriously looking into some Masters Programs, as well as Japanese courses for this spring. So, in January I’ll probably be on the opposite side of the chalkboard. I just hope I don’t try to correct my teacher! That probably wouldn’t go over too well (*_*).With everything going on, I’m actually very proud of my latest domestic accomplishment: I unpacked my remaining suitcase (from August) last week! Yup, those clothes all require a good washing and ironing now!
It’s 11pm and time for me to go to bed, so I'll end my update here.
Sayonara xx
