No Music, No Life

A few weeks ago, I asked one of my friends from the hospital if he likes music and he really impressed me with his answer. He replied, “Of course! No music, no life.” It impressed me because that is pretty much exactly how I feel about music; it expresses something for me that nothing else can. Add onto that that it is quite a clever thing to say considering English is his second language. Anyway, after this, I respected him more on a personal level. Imagine my surprise then when I see the following sign outside a music store while I was shopping on January 1st:

That scoundrel! He tricked me. They weren't even his own words! There they are in one foot tall, bright red lettering. *shakes head disapprovingly*

I told May to stand in front of the sign and “look disappointed”, which I think she did absolutely flawlessly. She even seems to have got a little of a “you've been found out” expression in there too. This has to be my favourite photo of her. She said her favourite photo of me is one where I am hunched over a skirt that I am reattaching a button to. She calls me Granny because I can sew and bake and knit. For some inconceivable reason I don't mind being called Granny. I am knitting her a scarf (the only thing I know how to make) at the moment, as a matter of fact. She also calls me Mean Mommy when I tell her she can't have ice-cream for breakfast.

わたし の しゅうまつ- My Weekend

I had a really great weekend, maybe the best so far since coming to Japan. It started off with lunch at Ezoesan's house with May. Ezoesan is a now-retired nurse who used to work at the Genbaku Hospital and who befriended May and me back in September. It was possibly the best Japanese meal I have had. It was really wonderful. Exquisite, even. Also, she showed us how to do the tea ceremony. For the first time I felt I was getting quite deep into Japanese culture, which was a nice feeling.

The opera on Saturday evening was fantastic too. It wasn't a performance of the entire Madame Butterfly opera, but kind of an ensemble. There were three main vocalists, two soprano's and a tenor (the tenor and one of the soprano's were Korean and the other soprano was Chinese), as well as three pianists, an violinist/violist, a clarinet player and a group of chorus singers. The show opened with 18 kimono-clad women on stage singing the chorus. It was truly amazing. The clarinet player was the best I have ever seen. I was glad to see his talents were being rewarded with an excellent solo. Of the two soprano's, the Chinese woman was the most skilled, but the the Korean woman, wow. Her voice... her voice just melted into you. Her name is Chun Sonmi, if any of you want to look her up. My favourite performance of the evening was the tenor's rendition of a traditional Korean folk song. He was clearly enjoying singing it, which makes all the difference.
Sunday started bright and early with an inter-departmental volleyball competition at the hospital. May and I went with the intention of just watching and cheering on our friends but, well, one thing lead to another and we ended up playing in a match. I had never played volleyball before in my life and there I was is a tournament game. Naturally, I was appalling. Fortunately, the game didn't last long and May and I didn't let ourselves get dragged into another one for the rest of the day. We enjoyed the cheering part, and a lot of the hospital staff brought their kids along so we got to play with them too.

After much hilarity during an MSN conversation with my friend online and after running 10km 2 minutes faster than my previous time (woo!), I had my monthly phone call home. Although one of my brothers and my Mum couldn't be there, I still had a lot of fun talking to two of my siblings and my Dad. There was lots of laughing, initially at the huge time delay between each person finishing a sentence and the other hearing it. Speaking to them made me realise something: I am happy here. Before I was fine, but now I am happy.

I only have a four day week at work this week since it is a national holiday in Japan on Friday. May and I have plans for pretty much every minute of the three-day weekend. I'll talk more about that later though. Oh, one last thing. May informs me that today marks 100 days of our placement remaining here in Nagasaki. That doesn't sound like a lot does it? That's all for now; Got to get back to work.