Taiko and BBQ's!

Yes, I know it has been a few weeks since I last wrote an entry but it’s only because my life has been so exciting! Where do I even begin? I’ll start with a Taiko update! As you know I have been rehearsing with a Taiko group here in Hongu which has rehearsals twice a week. It’s so much fun to be at rehearsal trying to learn how to play the drums as they explain it in Japanese. I think it is hard enough learning them in English, but try learning them in Japanese!
Thankfully, the language of musical notes is universal and I have been able to use my 11 years of being in choir to good use. Having some music sheets in front of me makes it a lot easier but I still have trouble with the crazy rhythms they throw in there like 5 triplets followed by 16th notes and then back to triplets. It’s some tough stuff. Then they have different movements that they do throughout some pieces which I haven’t even begun to practice because I don’t have the music down yet! There is a performance at the Hongu fire festival this Saturday which I may be performing at....emphasis on the MAY. Maybe they will have me do some easy rhythms that I can’t mess up.

In addition to Taiko, I have been busy because people have been inviting me to parties and bbq’s left and right, which I take as a sign that they like me! The first one I was invited to was one which Hane-sensei threw. She is a teacher who works at the local elementary school and she has a home stay student from Nepal. She thought it would be a nice “welcome” party for the both of us. Konchan, the student, is attending high school here in Japan and part of the curriculum is a home-stay. He says he’s from Nepal but he lives in India and is also Tibetan which is really cool. It was nice getting to know him and speaking English! The bbq was on a riverbank near Hane-sensei’s house so it was sort of a picnic and bbq. The food was all really good but she did make me try sushi. I resisted at first but she had this really nice platter and I felt bad refusing to eat some! So I let me fears of the rawness subside and tried some. The ones I ate had shrimp and egg, which are two things I don’t mind eating. I left the ones that had raw squid and fish to Konchan and Hane-sensei’s husband. After the sushi, we had beef, chicken, egg plant, grilled squid, sausage, cabbage and green peppers. The Japanese don’t put spices on the food before they cook it but what they do is dip the food in a sauce. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s really good and I may have to take the idea back home to use when I grill!
While Hane-sensei was grilling, Konchan was really inquisitive asking what I thought about some events taking place in America and China. He asked me if I agreed with Obama on the mosque being built near ground zero and what my feelings were on the Tibet-China situation. For being 19, Konchan was very much in tune with what was going on in the world around him. A few days ago I read an article asking how the millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995, think about international relations and this conversation with Konchan gives me some hope that not all people my age are spending their time watching Jersey Shore or the Kardashians. There are things going on in this world that are much bigger than ourselves and much bigger than the US. We may not all be able to help the people affected by flooding in Pakistan but we can at the very least be aware of what is going on in other parts of our world. The very thought that every article of clothing you are wearing right now was probably made in countries other than the united states should make you think about the kind of world we are living in…but I digress.

The following day, while at work, I received a phone call from Aki-san, a member of the taiko group, informing me that there was a welcome bbq for me that night. She said someone would pick me up at the gas station by my house at 630. Luckily, living in Hongu has placed limits on my social schedule so I was free that night. I was really excited that I had two nights of going out in a row! I thought to myself that I should cherish these moments because they are pretty rare in Hongu! When 630 rolled around I walked to the gas station and waited. After a few minutes, a car approached with two people I didn’t know. The gas station attendants, who have become my friends or “best friends” as they would say, told me that those were the people I was expecting and motioned for me to get into the car. It felt strange getting in their car but I figured that they looked like pretty safe people. When we arrived at the place they had already started grilling. They gave me a cup of that bbq sauce and told me to start eating! This pretty much followed the same lines as the previous bbq except that there were some different items on the menu. By the end of the night I would try 4 things that I had never tried before. The first thing they made me try was nato which I had been warned about by the current JET’s. It didn’t look like it tasted bad so I decided to try it. It was pretty bad; I should have listened. Then they made me try deer liver. This wasn’t too bad but the aftertaste it gave me wasn’t very good. After the deer liver came.....raw deer meat. Yes, fresh raw deer meat. I was hesitant at first and I think that they could tell by the look on my face that it wasn’t something I was interested in trying. But they made me try it anyways. One of the men grabbed some with his chopsticks and fed me the raw deer meat. He literally fed me the meet. After this I think they really knew I didn’t like it. Haha. When the meat was grilled it tasted wonderful though! It was really good and I made sure they knew I liked it cooked, rather than raw. Apart from the raw deer meat, this bbq was a lot of fun and the beer wasn’t bad either ;-)
For more Taiko photos, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076384&id=40804678&l=e256ccd564