Happy Friday! Because we have a test every Friday here, when I finish that I really feel like it's worth celebrating. :)What made Friday so good, you might ask? Well, it was just one of those days when everything goes well! It's my first weekend since January I get to spend here in Hikone, so we actually made plans and I wasn't busy rushing off anywhere. The test was okay - I won't say it went really well because it didn't, but I think I did plenty well enough. :) After the exam, we had another cultural activity - Wadaiko!
Wadaiko means "Japanese drums". These three awesome ladies came to perform for us, then taught us a short piece to play. There's a story behind these masks. The person in the middle is a random guy heading home on an errand along a mountain path. He hears this weird noise up ahead, and discovers it's a demon and a monkey, playing drums right in the middle of the path. The man wants to go home but he can't pass by so he has to play the drums in front of him. He likes it so much he decides to continue playing!I'm afraid I don't have any photos of me showing off my mad drumming skills, but getting to play on that kind of instrument was pretty cool. We also sounded really good!
After wadaiko we went out for Indian food out on Bell Road, one of the main thoroughfares in Hikone that's full of shops and restaurants. The restaurant, Sapna, is pretty new but has such tasty food. Look at the naan! It's amazingly delicious...my trial when I get home will be to find an Indian place that's up to snuff.
Then, we did karaoke for 4 hours! Japanese karaoke is pretty awesome. You can queue up songs on this little display so there's no time wasted on choosing songs after you finish one. And they have SO MANY SONGS! Of course, their Japanese selection is pretty prodigious - basically every song in Japanese I knew was in that database. But they have a lot of other stuff too! We sang 2 K-Pop songs and I found Nightwish AND Sonata Arctica AND Kamelot! None of my favorites of theirs were there, but the fact that they were there at all was pretty fun. I ended up singing a combination of symphonic metal, random Japanese songs, K-pop and anime intros. I love karaoke, and I can't wait to go back. :)Tonight we spent teaching more people to play 42! Its popularity is constantly spreading, which is awesome. We played for about 3 hours, and definitely recruited more to the cause. The current count of people here who know how to play is 8, and we have 2 more wanting to learn. I'm so glad I can continue one of my favorite pastimes here. :)
ALSO, I found white button mushrooms at Beisia! I didn't think they were here in Japan at all until I saw them in Kusatsu while shopping with my homestay family last weekend. And they magically appeared at the grocery store. Guess who's making pasta with sauteed mushrooms? :D
Have a fantabulous weekend!
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