I Really Like this Poem

No classes today, so while reading the New Yorker I came across a reference to Horace's Ode 1.9. I looked up the ode and I really like it so I want to post it here.

Deep With Snow
You see how white Soractus stands deep with snow
and how the laboring woods cannot support
their burden, and the rivers stand still with frost.

Drive out the cold, Thaliarchus, piling logs
high on the fire, and bring out in abundance
that four-year-old vintage in the Sabine jar.

Leave all else to the gods, for not cypresses
nor ancient wild ash trees are disturbed when
they scatter warring winds over raging seas.

Don't bother asking what tomorrow will bring,
consider as gain whatever days fortune
grants — don't spurn sweet loves and dances while you're young,

while yet you flourish and capricious old age
has not yet arrived. So let's seek out the town,
with low whispering at the appointed hour

under the stars, the tell-tale laugh of a girl
hiding in the farthest corner, and the pledge
torn from her arm or finger, not unyielding.

Canyoning and Camping

Two weekends ago, a group of friends and I went canyoning and camping in Minakami, Gunma, where there was still snow in the mountain peaks (you can imagine how cold the water was). It is a ridiculous amount of fun, and scary as hell.



Our camp site. My tent is the weird shaped blue one to the right. It's supposed to look like that, promise.


Grab the meat!
Terran, Matt, Guido, Lee, Bruce, Me (not shown: Kaaran and Michelle)

Ikebana Class at Sanwa High School

So I had my first Ikebana class at Sanwa last Wednesday, and I was super excited because Ikebana is something I have always wanted to try. There is a really cool class one of the teachers has developed, and basically it's a course on traditional Japanese arts. We had been learning about tea ceremony, but this week was flower arrangement. We got some brief instruction and a piece of paper (none of which I understood) and then a huge bunch of flowers, a vase, some clippers and a heavy spikey thing to stick the flowers into. Then, we were told to begin. I had absolutely no idea what to do so I did what any good Westerner would do, I doggedly found a way to squeeze in all the flowers and arranged them all in the center, in a heirarchical fashion--tallest, shorter, shortest.



These students seemed to have a much better idea of what was going on.



My attempt.



My teacher's redo.
With 5 minutes left in the class, the teacher finally came to survey my arrangement, which I had been gloating over for an hour. She looked at it and exclaimed, "Perfect!" Then she looked at it some more, and tentively at first, but then with more force, started to move around some of the flowers. When it became clear to her that simply bending wasn't going to be enough she asked if I minded if she "rearrange it". I said, of course not. And then she proceeded to completely deconstruct my arrangement, but as she redid it she politely explained why mine sucked and why her arrangement was so much better. You see mine lacked space and atmosphere and was too busy and crowded. Ikebana is about beauty, and beauty is simplicity she explained. I couldn't agree with her more. 

What a Brilliant Idea!!

100 AWESOME MUSIC VIDEOS!!!!!

Cover me up

in Saran Wrap and call me Lucy cuz the rainy season is here!
After 2 years, my grasp not only on the English language but also idioms/colloquialisms/figures of speech is tentative at best. (The other day an ALT asked me, "How's it up?" to which I replied, "Not good much")
Anyhow, it is so humid here I literally feel like I have been covered in Vaseline and then wrapped up in cling wrap (there's a nice visual for you). But hey, it's good for the skin right?
Two weeks ago I went camping and canyoning in Minakami, Gunma. It was my second time to go canyoning, even though I swore I'd never do it again (canyoning is really fun, but I mean, how many times can you jump off a 20 meter waterfall before Mr. Reaper starts to notice??).
Last week I had my first Ikebana class.
And last weekend I spent in Tokyo and bought myself a sweet pair of shoes (one of hopefully many farewell gifts I plan to get for myself).
Will post pics of all this (not the Vaseline/Saran-wrap scenario) soon.

Sports Day!

My Boys.








The supa kakui boys. The one on the far right works at the gas station near school. He gets all hazugashii (shy) when I pull up. 

Sports Day! The yearly 2 day event where students get to compete against one another in baseball, kick base (kick ball), soccer, dodgeball, volleyball, and basketball.



Me and my new favorite student, who is super genki to learn English. She want to be a beautician in Paris.


The girl on the far right was one of the original members of my failed English Club.