Who DOES that~!!?

Recap list...and...GO~!!!

5 Jan 09:
Didn't go to school, rather, the other place.

6 Jan 09:
At the other place again. Talked to a dude that wanted to meet me because he read my profile in the town magazine or something. Said he's always wanted a foreign friend that shared the same hobby that he did. Interesting. I like how my supervisor told him all the places I work AND where I live. Thanks a lot. The dude invited me to his house to play taiko. Hope he's not a freak. He kinda looks like Jackie Chan.

11 Jan 09:
Met up with Asako in Osaka. Met her husband, Goh, and her baby, Mio! She's SO cute~!!!

16 Jan 09:
Finally decided to meet up with Kazu, the taiko dude in the town over. Before hand, I decided to go to Uji to get an omiyage, thanking him for having me over for dinner. I was torn. Buy something inexpensive vs. something expensive. That was until I got a text from him.

"What do you think of this? I want to give it to you." or something like that. Attached was a picture of shime daiko...NO WAY, seriously? Maybe his English is not working for him. Maybe he's giving me the PICTURE as a gift.

Bought the more expensive omiyage JUST IN CASE he was going to give me a drum...but yeah right...right? Text #2.

"Did you see the photo? I'm giving it to you as a gift." I KNEW it. He's giving me the PHOTO as a gift...that HAS to be it~!!! If that's the case, who DOES that~!!?

Was picked up. We drove to his house. Before going into the main house, he asked me to step into his office.

"See this? This is my shime. Play it. Go ahead, it's ok." I played it, had a nice tune, awesome shime. "It's yours."

"What~!? No, I can't~!!!"

"No, I insist."

"What~!?"

Then his wife came out and told us that dinner was ready. I also met his baby girl. They have a cool house! We had sushi and Japanese fried chicken for dinner, all washed down by beer of course - Japan's water. Afterwards, did a little demo on a VERY young sounding drum. Got tired, so the misses drove; Kazu and his baby girl sat in the back. But before getting into the van, he ran into his office to grab the shime daiko. I TOTALLY didn't say anything about that!

Finally got to my house and thanked everyone for the meal and the ride and TRIED to book it up stairs. Kazu, however, yelled out of the van,

"Don't forget your drum!"

"Oh man, thank you SO VERY much~!!! This is such an AWESOME omiyage, thank you~!!!"

In my mind, I was like, "Who DOES that~!!?" But now, I can honestly say that I own my very own drum, now! Awesome~!!!

Btw, he invited me back to his house next Friday.

My First Taiko: Taka-chan

18 Jan 09:
Went to 三十三間堂 (Sanjūsangendō) to watch some older people and high schoolers do 弓道 (kyūdō - Japanese archery). It was awesome!

This guy's FIERCE, man, FIERCE~!!!

Check out Obaasama~!!! She's friggin' AWESOME~!!!

The Boys

The Girls

Girls Finalists

Today:
PAY DAY, BABY~!!! Gotta save for my trip to snowman land. Man, on Thursday, I have to go to the kindergarten here. Then next week on Tuesday, I go to the other kindergarten in the town over~!!! I hope I'll be ok. After all, they're but mere babies.

Oh yeah, I'll be meeting up with my taiko mentor, Kinoshita Sensei, from Canada Saturday in Osaka. I'm excited~!!!

Like I said, gotta get ready for my trip WAY up North~!!! SNOW LAND HERE I COME~!!! Crap, gotta put in my nenkyu soon.

SO MUCH TO DO~!!!