a little tambourine

I am always amazed at the amount of fun that a little adventuring can warrant. Today we did ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, at the International Community House. I really enjoyed it, since I arrange flowers back home, and have often thought of becoming a florist as a fall-back career. It was difficult, since we only had a limited number of specimens to work with, thus making it very hard to make a unique arrangement. All the same, I enjoyed trying. Afterwards, we chose to get bus passes and head downtown where we visited Neomart (a very cool store, though not very Japanese) and saw the sights. We ate at a fantastic restaurant where I had a salad and some kushi (fried things). We were headed away from downtown towards the bus stop to head home when I heard an interesting sound. Rhythm. We followed it and discovered two Japanese guys playing Brazilian music. They were really nice and tried to teach us to play their instruments and were singing in Portuguese. The one guy had spent a year in Brazil and had brought that knowledge back with him. I really enjoyed listening to them play, and one of the girls here who has visited Brazil showed me how to samba and dance to Brazilian music. Believe me, it involves a lot of hip movement and I was tired after dancing for only a little while.

I think the best part about the interaction was that it reminded me that we really do live in one world. Just as I am coming here to Japan and learning what I can in the hopes that I can bring a little of the knowledge back to the States, these guys were sharing the Brazilian culture that they had acquired with the people in their home country. Plus, Brazilian music really makes you feel good.

We rode the bus home and then several of us hung out in my room, contemplating nothing and mostly sitting in silence watching the smoke from my incense, every once in a while discussing the community as it exists and our plans for Saint Patrick's Day (one of the guys here is Irish). This weekend is shaping up, with SPD on Thursday, a wine and cheese party on Friday, and the beginning of our field trip on Saturday. We won't be back until Tuesday of next week, and I'm starting to wonder if I'll get much work done between now and then.

As it stands, it's far too late at night for me to be thinking of such things when I should be sleeping, and sleeping it is.