Busy Weekend

Friday was so- so. School wasn’t as much fun as the track meet, but that’s to be expected. I had classic Japanese, which I still have no idea what’s going on, math, we're learning law of cosines, chemistry, and history. Then after lunch was modern Japan and we watched a movie the last period. They don’t have projectors in individual rooms. Instead we all moved to a media room on the first floor. The movie was about a Japanese high schooler, and I’m not quite sure what the purpose of showing it was. We didn’t get to finish it, so I’m not positive on the message. But he starts out as a music and art loving teen, who has a lot of creativity and devotes all his time to practicing guitar and painting. But then his test scores are really bad and he becomes very depressed about his future. I think they’re saying, “conform and do be unique or else you will end up depressed.” But I can’t be sure.

Then I dropped my palm pilot, and it half broke. There’s a bar on the top of the screen that is permanently blue. That's not good. But it is just small enough that it doesn’t interfere with any of the functions. So it’s not too bad. Then my bike had a flat tire so I got to walk it back to the train station. Oh joy. On the way I thought some really deep thoughts. I just finished reading this book Collapse which is by far the best book on the environment I’ve ever read. It put it in a context that makes sense. It didn’t argue, “Stop polluting because birds are dying.” Instead it reviewed historical and modern cases of societies that have collapsed or died out. Easter Island, Norse Greenland, Ancient Maya, Rwanda, Haiti, and how the environment they lived in and the way they treated the environment led to their collapse. Jarred Diamond made a very convincing case that if we damage the environment; we damage our society and ultimately contribute to its downfall. Anyway, one of the points he discusses is society’s values and whether or not they can change their values to live in a new environment. Societies that do, survive. Those that don’t, fail. So I thought about my values and what I’m willing to change, and what I’m not. It was a very interesting walk to the train station.

So that concluded Friday. Saturday I woke up late, off to a great start. Then I went to my brothers’ basketball game which I thoroughly enjoyed. It helps to go to family events. This time I knew who my host brothers and their friends were, so it was a much more exciting game. The last time I was at their game was the first day I was here, before I had even met them. Not as much fun. I biked home from the game and was so stunned by the spectacular weather that I sat down by the river and ate lunch rather than going back home. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with spotted clouds, and a bit chilly so that I was nice and cool when biking. Perfect running weather too. Around 4:00 I went for a really long run down the Tsukuba Rinrin Road. It’s a long bike/ walking path about a kilometer from my house. It stretches from Tsuchiura Station all the way to Mt. Tsukuba, about 40 kilometers. Anyway, I ran to the trailhead and just kept running for a long time. Every few kilometers were picnic benches and restrooms. Aparently a long time ago it was a railroad, but it has since been converted. It was perfect for a timed run because there were markings every kilometer. I’m getting used to thinking in kilometers, Celsius, and kilograms now. I ran for maybe 20 kilos, which is about 12 miles. Needless to say I was exhausted, and when I arrived home there was a hot bath waiting for me. Perfect.

Today I went to the church near my house. It’s very convenient to have a Catholic church a 10 minute walk away. I met the head pastor who has been out of town until last week. He’s from Ireland, and his name is Fr. Michael. He gave the homily in Japanese and then in English. I was surprised to get a homily in English but it was really nice. We chatted for a bit after mass over tea. Every week they serve tea and sweets in the rectory after mass. The liturgical head always jumps at me to come. I guess they like having a young, international student in the parish. It’s been great because I feel really welcomed, and several of the parishioners speak English. Not only Fr. Michael but there is a significant Pilipino community that speaks English. After mass I came home, and went out to see my brothers play again. They lost, again, but apparently they won both games I wasn’t at yesterday. I think I’m bad mojo.

Came home, did some shopping, and now I’m off to the library to read the newspaper for free. I can’t read the Japanese one but there is a Japan Times in English. On Tuesdays it has all the American football results, so I usually buy one then at the train station, but on the weekends I just spend my time at the library.