Asahi Elementary School and Sumie

This week was rather exciting. On Wednesday, everyone went to Asahi ELementary school for a visit. The kids were cute, if rather boisterous. We also learned the ika (squid) dance, which Yale kids are now planning to dance sometime in Yale (if we dont get bogged down with work.

On Friday, I went to meet with a sumie painter/teacher for my independent study. What I thought was going to be a one-on-one interview turned into a large discussion with the rest of her class. I loved the teacher and the painting. Other people were nice, although all of them were ancient. It also bothered me that they would translate the simplest of things to me in horrible English, even though they knew I am studying Japanese. I think I can understand [One only] in Japanese by now. But coming back home, I saw sunset over Nanae [place where my host family lives] Hakodate, which was pretty spectacular.