Kyoto + Obama = Happiness

Yay! Obama won. It can't even express how happy that makes me, so I won't even try. You know already.

Life is pretty sweet. I love the fact that my host mom breaks into a big smile every time she sees me. I’ve been off in my own little world, away from the rest of the group for now. Monday was “culture day” in Japan. In the morning, I went to an International Peace Festival with my host mom, and we ate pad Thai, Syrian sweets, mango juice and watched two men from Nepal play the flute and drums.



Afterwards I practiced calligraphy with this sweet lady in a kimono, who gives lessons on Saturdays for only 50 cents (I'm so there). When I told her I was studying Buddhism, she gave me a piece she painted because it has a Buddhist saying on it. Then I learned flower arranging from another lady, also very patient, and ended up with a pretty swank bouquet, and it all cost me nothing. Japanese people are so generous, sometimes it baffles my cynical American mind.





Then we watched some kids fight (Ninjitzu is it?)I wish I had someone to wrestle with! I did arm wrestle some of my girl friends on the trip (and beat them all, hands down).



Then my host mom took me to a classical music concert. In the last half, they played a bunch of songs I recognized from Fantasia. I still get stuck with “the Sugarplum Dance” now and then, usually before I go to sleep. It’s eerie.

So, then I took my mom and sister out for Indian food, which cost me $50. But that was ok, it was very tasty and I wanted to get them back for all the things they have been doing for me. My host mom is always taking such good care of me. She won’t even let me do the dishes, but sometimes I do them when she’s not looking. I also made pesto pasta for them one night, and they liked it. It was ok, obviously I was being a wimp about making something more complex. I was thinking about learning to make tortillas and putting together some enchiladas or something.

I bought a flute in China, called “Tao Xun,” which the vendor translated to mean “The Orient Magic Flute.” But I just call it the Potato Flute. I learned how to play “Do Re Mi,” check it out:





So, that's my first song. And since I quit the piano, I have never sucessfully mastered an instrument. But expect more! Feel free to bother me about it!

I have a confession to make. I shouldn't be writing this. The library, my sole source of internet, is closed today and armed by guards for some reason, so I am crouched illegally in the woods next to the library, stealing the wireless. And I have a ten page paper due tomorrow. So I better get on it...