October is already halfway over??

Hm, since last time I wrote I have

1. Seen the Phantom of the Opera in Japanese

2. Experienced true izakaya-style yakitori dining (this included chicken heart, which is tastier than it sounds)

3. Attempted to understand my host-grandmother's Nagoya-ben (Nagoya dialect)

4. Made homemade pizza for a friend's host family (and getting to play a legit shakuhachi flute!)

5. Made Nicaraguan food for my okaasan

6. Traveled to Ise--location of the Ise-jingu, one of Japan's most prominent Shinto shrines (http://www.google.com/images?num=10&hl=en&q=ise+jingu&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=649)

7. Crossed the entire city of Nagoya on bicycle with my okaasan to see the Nagoya matsuri (Nagoya's 400-year anniversary festival), in which we saw Nagoya castle, a parade with traditional Japanese dances and puppets, the geisha look-alikes parading Oosukannon Buddhist temple, weaving in and out of kimono shops, getting interviewed for an English online news-blog, eating delicious festival food...

8. Saw a Noh play called Hagoromo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagoromo_(play)) with okaasan at the local Buddhist temple. The beginning was Buddhist chants followed by setting fire to a huge stack of wood while the taiko drums and shinobue flutes were played. The sticks people wrote their hopes on were thrown into the fire (in hopes that they'll be answered!), then the play began. I didn't understand it, and nothing much happens on stage but the actors singing to each other to the beat of 2 types of ceremonial drums (not quite sure of the significance of the drums) . Then at the end more hope-sticks are thrown in the fire to taiko and shinobue music. Then we ate delicious octopus, yakisoba, and some sort of shrimp-cracker-egg-mayonnaise thing.

The days are always packed. Japanese classes still continue to provide me with constant homework, and I've been part of the first round of presentations in my other classes, so the load is bigger than usual. But it's all truly interesting, I love all my classes!

Here are some favorite pictures: