Week 29 in Japan: Spring Semester, Football Game

       Classes started for me here in Japan so that's definitely the biggest news for me over the last week. I'm taking more classes and more challenging classes this sememster. As for the Japanese language classes I'm taking I've moved up to the intermediate level. It's interesting because at this point everything I'm learning about Japanese like new grammar etc. is being taught in Japanese so it makes it kinda difficult but it's working pretty well so far. It makes me feel good about how far I've come in speaking if at this point I don't need English to learn the language. Maybe the most fun class I'm taking this semester is a Judo class that I actually have this afternoon. Judo is a 'modern' martial art that was created in 1882. I don't know much about Judo yet but I know it involves a lot of take downs and not so much kicking and punching like Karate or TaeKwonDo. I joked with my friends about how I spent a short time learning boxing, wrestling, and some time practicing Taekwondo quite some time ago. After learning judo I joked that 'they'll have to register me as a lethal weapon'. I don't think anybody understood that it was a quote from the movie Lethal Weapon but they still laughed. Another funny thing was that on the first day of Judo class we were learning a little bit of basic history and information on Judo. It also had a listing of the techniques, me and my Russian and Romanian friends Sasha (guy) and Sebi (also a guy) were joking about the 'Sacrafice Technique' because it sounded so hardcore. Definitely going to be a fun class learning a little Japanese martial arts.
       Friday night there was a little welcome party for some students from Africa so they had some good food and lots of drinks. Me, Sebi, Sasha, and a few others were already planning to hangout that night so it was fun when we saw that another group planned to have one to so it turned into a bigger party. It has been really fun meeting lots of new international students over the last week or so. What is also fun is meeting my old friends' underclassmen. So I've met some Koreans and some people from Taiwan who are friends with some people I know who already went back to their country. That felt really hard to explain mainly because in English the word 'Kouhai' doesn't have a very good translation. If you knew the word I could have explained it easier I think.
       Saturday there was a short football practice at noon and then preparation for the game afterwards. I went with 3 others Genki, Koki, and Yoshimi to go buy food for the meal after the game. There was a feast of Curry, Yakisoba, and Yakitori. It was interesting because rather than buying rice everyone was just asked to bring a bag that could feed easily two people. So everyone brought a little bag of rice on Sunday. We met at 730am on Sunday to get things prepared for the game. The game started at 1030 and only went for about an hour including half time. Spring isn't exactly football season so I think that had something to do with why the game was only two 20 minute quarters. Very very few people came to watch the football game too. In Japan there just really isn't much interesting in football. Anways it was cool however to see the halftime show which was a Yosakoi dance. I actually had one friend who was on the dance team too. Yosakoi is a traditional Japanese dance but mixed with modern elements too. Honestly probably my favorite type of organized dance. As for the game I just played special teams so during the kick offs. I think there were a total of four kick offs. I hope to play more in the next game but I can understand why I didn't play much. Eveybody else who was played had been on the team almost a full year longer than me and seniority is a big deal in Japan. Plus the game was short so lots of people wanted to play. Anyways we won the game 19-0 (it's an odd score because we missed two field goals). I was lucky that I had 4 friends who came to watch the game and see me. Richenmin, Ka, Hwayeon, and Ayeon came. Also Hwayeon and Ayeon who recently arrived in Japan are from South Korea. They were able to stay after the game to eat and chat with the team.
      Anyways thanks for reading. I'll try and have the next blog on time but I got really busy with classes so I gotta start managing my time well again. Bye!

 I don't have any pictures from the game (maybe i'll get some eventually). This was after the game with most everybody from the team.

 Picture from Friday night. Keeping it real with my friend Ayeon from South Korea. She's friends with Yunseok who you might know I got to be fairly close friends with while she was in Akita.

 Buying lots of food.

 Painted the helmets Saturday to look nice on game day.