June 10, 2003

For my faithful readers I'm glad to let you know that my foot is now fully recovered. It took five full days for the swelling to finally go down, but my bee sting incident has finally come to a close. Let’s hope that it will also be my only encounter with bees while I am here in Japan.

Here in Yamaguchi we are about to enter the lovely time of year known as the ame tsuyu, or rainy season. From what I have been told I can look forward to an entire month of rain. And when I say entire month I mean that there will be rain showers nearly everyday. Great… The rains haven’t started just yet but you can tell they are near. On a more positive note, as a result of the rainy season I no longer have to ride my bike to school. A fellow student or a teacher is now taking me to school everyday. Score!

This past weekend I went to the Minazuki Festival, which was sponsored by YPU. Each school organization had their own booth with tasty foods or handmade crafts for sale. The festival kicked off with a variety of athletic events in which the students from each department competed against their corresponding faculty (e.g - biology students versus biology faculty). There was also a hellacious girls-only chicken fight.

The Japanese chicken fight a bit differently than we Americans do. Instead of fighting in the pool, they opt instead for a sandy athletic field. Once this was over, the festival transitioned to the musical realm in the form of a student showcase. I watched the entire showcase and saw everything from Japanese girl punk rock bands, to Japanese rap. Needless to say it was very interesting, and I think some of these groups actually have a shot at making it here in a country chocked full of music idols.