Learn to Play
Last Saturday night was a guitar-playin' brouhaha at the Saeki household. Jiro-sensei indulged me with a lesson, free because I teach him English. He is a funny guy, and most of the lesson is spent laughing. He taught me "Furusato" on the guitar, a famous Japanese folk song that my previous English students in Tama taught me to sing. Maybe the people at my next host family will teach me the bass line and I'll be set.
After the lesson, two English teachers from the Okayama area, Scott and Amber, came for their first guitar lesson from Jiro. I had met Amber a few weeks ago at my host mother's English lesson and Scott at the Okayama International Center on a school field trip. Scott and Amber had never played the guitar before, so Jiro showed them the basics while I helped translate his Japanese into English. Using two chords, Jiro taught a crude version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" Probably the last tune I expected to hear in Japan, but I'm up for anything these days.
After a finger grinding hour of play, everyone retired for dinner. Delicious Oden and Okonomiyaki, with Anko rice balls for dessert. After dinner Tomoya and Takuro played a Shinkansen board game that I couldn't quite figure out, although a whole board game dedicated to a bullet train does sound mighty exciting.
Earlier in the day, Andee and I took a trip to Okayama so he could buy last minute items before returning to Malaysia. We did a whole lot of aggressive window shopping, and then Jittan met us for Purikura, coffee, and cake. I left around 2 to meet my Rotary host counselor back at Kawai-san's house to discuss Monday’s tour of the Mitsui shipyard, my planned trip to Tokyo, skiing on Mount Daisen, and a possible journey to World EXPO 2005 in Nagoya. That evening Andee came to eat dinner and consequently stayed the night. He purchased a lava lamp in Okayama, so we fired it up but couldn't sleep due to the intense green glow.
After the lesson, two English teachers from the Okayama area, Scott and Amber, came for their first guitar lesson from Jiro. I had met Amber a few weeks ago at my host mother's English lesson and Scott at the Okayama International Center on a school field trip. Scott and Amber had never played the guitar before, so Jiro showed them the basics while I helped translate his Japanese into English. Using two chords, Jiro taught a crude version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" Probably the last tune I expected to hear in Japan, but I'm up for anything these days.
After a finger grinding hour of play, everyone retired for dinner. Delicious Oden and Okonomiyaki, with Anko rice balls for dessert. After dinner Tomoya and Takuro played a Shinkansen board game that I couldn't quite figure out, although a whole board game dedicated to a bullet train does sound mighty exciting.
Earlier in the day, Andee and I took a trip to Okayama so he could buy last minute items before returning to Malaysia. We did a whole lot of aggressive window shopping, and then Jittan met us for Purikura, coffee, and cake. I left around 2 to meet my Rotary host counselor back at Kawai-san's house to discuss Monday’s tour of the Mitsui shipyard, my planned trip to Tokyo, skiing on Mount Daisen, and a possible journey to World EXPO 2005 in Nagoya. That evening Andee came to eat dinner and consequently stayed the night. He purchased a lava lamp in Okayama, so we fired it up but couldn't sleep due to the intense green glow.
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