(no subject)
Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here's a recap of mine...
Friday night I went to Kumamoto to see some friends that I haven't seen since leaving for the holidays. It was nice to catch up with them and hear about their journeys elsewhere. We ate alot and drank some beers and then sang some karaoke until about 3 in the morning. I lost my voice around 2...I had been teaching at an elementary school earlier in the day and spent a good portion of my time there trying to calm the kids down, so I knew my voice wouldn't hold up too well after that. Anyway, I still managed to dominate Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name."
Saturday, after a surprisingly early start, I set out to clean my apartment. I say set out because this was a daunting task. After about 4 hours of continuous cleaning, I decided to take a break for the day, but was pleased that I didn't skimp out on cleaning the shower and bathroom. I went back to Kumamoto to watch "Proof" with some friends. I thought Ms. Paltrow did well with her character and was glad that the movie didn't have too much focus on Jake Gyllenhall (sp?) of "Brokeback Mountain" fame. What I especially enjoyed about the movie was the realness of the relationships between Paltrow's character, her sister, and her father. If you see it, let me know what you think.
Yesterday I traveled to the neighboring town of Nagasu to watch a festival called "Matobakai." I was there with some kids who live near me and some Japanese folks that take care of me...I tried to get an explanation of the festival's meaning from the Japanese folk, but they pretty much told me that there was no meaning to the festival activities, but it was supposed to celebrate boys entering into manhood. Here's how it went down: First of all, the men of the town are clad in nothing but a sumo-type thong (remember its about 30 degrees outside)...they all drink a crap-ton of sake, get fired up, then they retrieve a ball of hay from the town's temple. Apparently the hay was something that God had sent to the people of Nagasu back in the day as a sign of some good harvest...how hay symbolizes a harvest is beyond me. So after someone gets the hay they all form a rugby scrum-looking mass and basically wrestle to get some of the hay off the ball in the middle. All this while people climb on top of people's heads and shoulders and while outsiders throw cold water on them. The men who make it to the top of the pile then start calling for their boys (I believe boys who were 2 years old)...the children get passed to them and they hoist them up over their heads as everyone cheers...meanwhile the boys are screaming bloody murder because they are so scared. After about 40 minutes of wrestling, the horde starts moving toward the sea and when they make it into the ocean (remember, still 30 degrees out), the festival ends and everyone in the town gets a piece of the hayball, supposedly bringing them good luck for the year. Crazy. I'll post some pictures on the website either today or tomorrow... http://spaces.msn.com/members/jonathanmorgan
I've got a gnarly cough from a long weeekend.
Friday night I went to Kumamoto to see some friends that I haven't seen since leaving for the holidays. It was nice to catch up with them and hear about their journeys elsewhere. We ate alot and drank some beers and then sang some karaoke until about 3 in the morning. I lost my voice around 2...I had been teaching at an elementary school earlier in the day and spent a good portion of my time there trying to calm the kids down, so I knew my voice wouldn't hold up too well after that. Anyway, I still managed to dominate Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name."
Saturday, after a surprisingly early start, I set out to clean my apartment. I say set out because this was a daunting task. After about 4 hours of continuous cleaning, I decided to take a break for the day, but was pleased that I didn't skimp out on cleaning the shower and bathroom. I went back to Kumamoto to watch "Proof" with some friends. I thought Ms. Paltrow did well with her character and was glad that the movie didn't have too much focus on Jake Gyllenhall (sp?) of "Brokeback Mountain" fame. What I especially enjoyed about the movie was the realness of the relationships between Paltrow's character, her sister, and her father. If you see it, let me know what you think.
Yesterday I traveled to the neighboring town of Nagasu to watch a festival called "Matobakai." I was there with some kids who live near me and some Japanese folks that take care of me...I tried to get an explanation of the festival's meaning from the Japanese folk, but they pretty much told me that there was no meaning to the festival activities, but it was supposed to celebrate boys entering into manhood. Here's how it went down: First of all, the men of the town are clad in nothing but a sumo-type thong (remember its about 30 degrees outside)...they all drink a crap-ton of sake, get fired up, then they retrieve a ball of hay from the town's temple. Apparently the hay was something that God had sent to the people of Nagasu back in the day as a sign of some good harvest...how hay symbolizes a harvest is beyond me. So after someone gets the hay they all form a rugby scrum-looking mass and basically wrestle to get some of the hay off the ball in the middle. All this while people climb on top of people's heads and shoulders and while outsiders throw cold water on them. The men who make it to the top of the pile then start calling for their boys (I believe boys who were 2 years old)...the children get passed to them and they hoist them up over their heads as everyone cheers...meanwhile the boys are screaming bloody murder because they are so scared. After about 40 minutes of wrestling, the horde starts moving toward the sea and when they make it into the ocean (remember, still 30 degrees out), the festival ends and everyone in the town gets a piece of the hayball, supposedly bringing them good luck for the year. Crazy. I'll post some pictures on the website either today or tomorrow... http://spaces.msn.com/members/jonathanmorgan
I've got a gnarly cough from a long weeekend.