7th September - Monsoon Season!

I was going to post yesterday to tell you all it was the worst rain I had EVER seen... untill today that is! Same rain as yesterday x 10 with added fear factor of thunder and lightening. Thought I was going to die today and not because I was soaked through (come on, i live in Scotland) but more the fact that I lost both contacts on the cycle home, the rain was coming at me from all directions and I couldn't see the road!!! The drivers also don't think twice about driving past you at full speed, sending a 12 ft wave of cold puddle water flying through the air to make sure the actual rain didn't miss a bit.

So think we caught the tail end of a typhoon because it has not stop raining!!! I got soaked cycling home from school yesterday (much to the amusement of the students and locals!) and then had to catch a train into Nagano for Club Konnichiwa (My Japanese class, original isn't it?!). My train gets me in far too early for class so I enjoyed my dinner in Starbucks and managed to dry off slightly. I met up with Justin (our PA - Prefectural Advisor - who has the amazing ability to remember everything about everyone and memorised their photos to make sure he doesn't miss anyone!) and Belinda to head on over to our Club K meeting.

Kyla was already there but apart from us, she was the only one! Not many people were brave enough to venture out in the downpour. So, we all sat down and did out introductions before moving on to traditional Japanese tea ceremony lesson. Our teacher kept it very informal and let us try the sweets and bitter green tea. We were then shown how to do Shodou (like Japanese calligraphy) and got to paint words that we like. Subsequently, love and boyfriend were too difficult so I settled with 'genki' which means happy. Kyla did 'yume' which means dream, and Belinda did 'hana' which means flower.





After the class, Belinda and I legged it in the rain back to the Eki to catch the last train home. When I arrived back in Iiyama my poor wee bike was swimming in water and made for an uncomfortable ride home! 'Rusty' is looking like a more appropriate name now...

School this week has been good - students are definitley better when they are kept busy. I had 3rd years design their own Island Nation and prepare posters last week and present to the class today. It went very well considering they are not huge fans of public speaking! I have my first 'enkai' (office welcome party) on Friday night with teachers from my visit school. They keep winding me up about making me eat horse... I just hope they are actually winding me up!