October 15 , 2006 - page 2



I couldn’t help but think that it was a pity I wasn’t any good
at this. However, the thing that sticks out at me the most is not the embarrassment of repeatedly missing hits and
slipping around in my socks, but instead the remarkable sportsmanship of the Japanese students. Every single time anybody, on either team, made a particularly good play or scored, everyone, on both teams, stopped playing and clapped enthusiastically. If anyone felt frustration or irritation you’d never know it.

After volleyball we made the grave error of believing that we could do something as simple as bowling on our own. Meeting up with Whitney, we made our way to the cleanest bowling alley I’ve ever seen. The first hurdle was simply trying to reserve a lane. The clerk had us write our names on a slip of paper, then handed us a basket with hand towels, candy, and our lane number… but no bowling shoes. So we wandered around ineffectually for a while, bowling shoes nowhere to be found, while the other patrons looked at us curiously, until we saw a series of large green signs reading “SET-UP” with