Fall Has Fell

Hi everybody. No real news, but I realized it's been a while since my last post, and I had resolved to try and do these things more frequently ... even if it means rambling about nothing in particular! Yay!

The weather has gotten cool, which I love. Fall is my favourite season and I have to remind myself to enjoy it while it lasts. Actually, it has started to get uncomfortably cool, especially at school, which is on top of a mountain. Yesterday, here in town it was absolutely perfect -- sunny, about 22 degrees, a few clouds in the sky -- so I wore a t-shirt and proceeded to go up to the university to see the "Tenku-Sai", the annual student-run festival.

There were lots of bands playing on a stage, cultural events like dancing and traditional music, as well as a flea market and dozens of food stalls selling everything from octopus cakes to mini pizzas. It was a lot of fun, and I saw quite a few students, but it was really, really windy up there, and at least 10 degrees cooler than it had been down in the city. So I got pretty chilly, and didn't stay all that long.

Iaido and Jodo are still going well, I guess. I feel like I'm not making much progress these days, but I guess I'm just on a bit of a "plateau" stage right now. I'm going to be demonstrating Jodo in the prefectural kendo festival (which I also did last year) sometime in mid-November or thereabouts.

School is fine, my classes are okay, and I'm feeling relatively healthy despite being surrounded by coughing, sniffling people. Having said that, I'm sure I've just jinxed myself and will be getting sick very soon.

In a couple weeks I have a week off school ("the quarter break") so I have to start thinking about where to go and what to do. Officially, we're not supposed to go anywhere very far away as we're still "in service" whatever that means (I guess it means that we have to be able to come into work should they inexplicably need us for something) so I probably won't leave Kyushu, but that still leaves me lots of places I'd like to go.

Take care and stay in touch!