パーティー (Paatii)

After Aikido, I went to Yoshimatsu-sensei's house with Felicity. It envolved taking a train to Kurume (久留米) and then a bus onto Nishiizumi (西泉). The journey took about an hour altogether, mostly due to the waiting at the station and the bus centre.

Yoshimatsu-sensei lives out in the country and it was really wonderful to get out of the city. Everyone was already there, including all our teachers, when we arrived, eating away. Watanabe-sensei's son, Yūta-kun, was there too. He was sweet and only five years old. Flick and I got stuck into the various Japanese foods on offer: sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, and nabe. There was plenty of alcohol flowing as well, since everyone had bought something to drink. We partook of various wines (red, rose, and white) as well as a few glasses of port.

After eating we played a couple of games, both played in Japanese. The first was listening to a word and grabbing the card of the corresponding starting syllable. I got three, but Lauma won with about six - she was miles ahead of everyone else. The second involved two teams, one of whom was blindfolded: me and Rushen. We were then directed by our teams into placing bits of face onto a piece of paper with a head drawn on it. All in Japanese, and with the other team screaming rubbish in your ear. We won, mind you!

We then went for a little walk around the garden, and then down some of the back streets to a little garden. It's peaceful in the countryside: the sound of nature is very calming. We walked up a hill to a little temple. There wasn't a very big building there, but there were lots of little statues dedicated to different kami (spirits) and some of demons. There was a bamboo forest that was impressive to see, especially since we have nothing like it back at home.

Everyone except Ohnishi-sensei (who was guarding the house) came to see us off from the bus stop, which was nice. It was a good little day out enjoyed by everyone. We invited ourselves back for next week!