well, when it started raining yesterday in sendai, i didn't realize that the rainy season had officially began, but it really seems that way today. from about 10:30 am on, there has been a pretty constant rain going. i've heard a couple comments of "the rain is terrible, isn't it?" from natives, so i'm hoping it ends in a few days, but it's a definite possibility that my boots, rain pants, and rain jacket are gonna get some steady use over the next few weeks. and it's not the good kind of rain, either. no thunder, lightning, acts of God to liven things up. i love thunderstorms, especially when i get to see the massive cumulo-nimbus storm clouds build beforehand. it's like having your cake and eating it too.
the rest of my weekend. well, saturday morning i awoke and talked some more with my host and fellows guests before we bid our intrepid host adieu. i wanted to get back to sanbongi and change out my backpack a bit before heading to sendai for yet another party, so i managed to get about thirty minutes in my apartment before i had to walk out and catch the furukawa-bound bus. once in furukawa, i took the bullet train down to sendai. it's freakin' fast, but i was still running a little late when i got to the station in sendai, and couldn't find the meeting place to go down to the southern town of ogawara, where the latest party was being held, so i went to the ticket machine, trying to find the kanji for ogawara somewhere on the map, when one of the furukawa alts bumped into me. he showed me what was what, and his finding me was quite fortuitous. we went to ogawara together, having an earnest discussion about the utter suckiness of keanu reaves' acting ("whoa."), and talking about movies in general. pretty fun. arriving at ogawara, we met a group of gaijin already there, and split up into three taxis. after being dropped off in front of the town office, we walked to our gracious hostess' house. it's pretty large, and some of our group were pretty impressed (with good reason, i might add). even so, despite the fact that the alt living there doesn't have to pay rent, i wasn't dissuaded from my opinion that i'm in one of the best situations in miyagi-ken. i don't have to pay rent either, my fellow english teachers seem nice (though rather lenient with their kids compared with american teachers), i've got internet connectivity at work on my laptop (yay, popmail!), i've got a really diverse and interesting set of alts to interact with here in miyagi-ken, i've got the sun to see your blue eyes, and tonight you're in my arms...er, sorry, just started channeling gram parsons there. but, all seriousness aside, i think i've blundered into a decent situation here, with superiors that look out for me and who've got my back. so i can't really be jealous. plus, i've got a guitar with a great purple finish. :-) i mean, that may not mean i'll stay the full three years (i'm too much of a greedy capitalist bastard to not parlay my skill set into moolah sometime in the forseeable future), but as to misquote paul, i'm learning the secret of being content whatever my situation. it helps that said situations have been pretty schweet so far in my short life, but, hey, i can be proud of myself nonetheless, methinks.
but back to my weekend. the party saturday was a ton of fun. i discussed sports in depth on multiple occasions (bob gibson set the single season era record in baseball with an otherworldly 1.12 era for the entire season in 1968. the next season baseball lowered the mounds. in case you care, it's one of the topics that came up.) and found a fellow internet addict! honestly, i was very glad to get to meet someone i can be geeky with in this ken. one of the qualms i had about coming over here was the fact that the jet program mainly attracts liberal arts type people, which, unless the liberal arts type person in question just happens to come suddenly to his/her senses and start learning computers (that was a joke, please don't take offense), leaves little that i can discuss wrt processors/programming during the two second span before my unlucky listener starts squirming and looking for a different conversation (preferably one in another room) to join. so that made me happy. and then, as if that weren't enough, i found someone in this informational black hole of a country who knows about and is dying to play _perfect dark_. you've got to realize, i thought i was the absolute shiz-nit for bringing perfect dark over to japan, where it is not available. but when i get here, no one in the one country supposedly obsessed with videogames has any clue what i'm talking about when i happily blabber about _goldeneye_ and _perfect dark_. all i get are sidelong glances and confused looks. so, with deathmatching in the near future, i can rest easy.
after other conversations and a couple of late-night beers, i absolutely hit a wall and had to sleep. i got an entire room to myself, but because of the open-air windows, and a lack of any type of screen, my feet were feasted upon by mosquitoes while i slept. a breakfast of pringles was followed by a trip in sendai with my supercool prefectural advisor, a second year alt, and one of my fellow first years. upon dropping the first year off, we further proceeded upon some scenic roads into sendai. after smoked salmon bagels and some more interesting conversation, an afternoon of cd shopping emerged as the activity du jour. mmm...cds. my partner in crime, while also basking in the strange, wonderous afterglow that occurs whenever new music is acquired, seemed concerned about her lack of cd rack space and a relapse into her former life of music dependency. being a music addict myself, i reassured her with such phrases as "c'mon, everybody's doing it!" "it feels good!" and "you can quit anytime you want to!" somehow, i don't think she was exactly placated. after stopping to see a couple of performers at the street "jazz" festival going on that weekend in sendai, i hustled over to the sendai station to catch a shink to furukawa. when i bought the tickets, i made sure to check the timetable, and noticed two departure times during the four o'clock hour, one written in black, the other in red. a little voice in the back of my head seemed to think the different colors meant something important, but i ignored that voice, and blithely bounded onto the train whose time had been posted in red. the little voice got my attention again, and this time i paid it heed, and asked after boarding the train, "this train stops in furukawa, right?"
i got my answer about five seconds too late.
after the most emotionally exhausting one and a half hour train ride i've ever experienced (i didn't have enough money to pay for a ticket to and from morioka, the main city in iwate-ken, the prefecture north of miyagi-ken), i used the restroom, then consulted the more detailed timetable on the opposite train platform before boarding a southbound shink that actually *did* stop in furukawa. the teacher with whom i was supposed to meet at 5pm fortunately was there at 7:15, when my train finally arrived from morioka. all's well that ends well, and the teacher and her husband treated me to dinner despite my late arrival. still, i hope that i won't repeat *that* experience for the duration of my stay in this country. so that was my weekend. e-mail me further elucidation on topics mentioned here, if you're really *that* curious. i'm goin' to bed.
been listening to: sunny day real estate, nile, poor old lu, mxpx, the velvet underground, bob dylan, uncle tupelo, and pitchshifter.