For the past two weeks my sister and her friend have been out to visit
The first week we did a bunch of stuff around Takeo and Saga. It started out slow-- the girls enjoyed shopping at the YouMe Town, a mall just down the street from me, and seeing all of the Japanese produce everywhere. Then I introduced them to Okamura-san and Tatara-san with a kimono lesson, which Ashley in particular adored and wanted to try again, and perhaps buy a kimono. We also took koto lessons, and Ashley adored them and wanted to try again, and perhaps buy her own koto. (Perhaps I sense a clone in the making?)
Another nifty thing I did was bring Jessie and Ashley along to my ginei (吟詠）performance. It was my first performance! (A month after I started taking my lessons! I'm sensing a trend from my teachers...) I ran out of breath in the middle of the song because my lung capacity is shot after taking 6 years off of clarinet, but it was fun nevertheless. I really enjoyed the lunch afterwards, where we talked with a lot of the other singers and then had a free-singing. Basically, the good singers showed off their awesome songs. I really REALLY adored this old Japanese wedding song that one of the old men sang, and want to hear it again (unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it on youtube yet). Another woman sang this really adorable, more European-sounding song about tulips and other flowers. I recognized the melody, but couldn't put a title to it... it felt like a dance from Mozart's time. Jessie and I sang "Simple Gifts" together, and it was excellent singing with my sister again.
The highlight of their stay was a road trip of southern Kyushu. Since I wasn't taking many pictures and since Daniel put in a lot of time making a post about it, I will link to his description of the trip.
http://dhattem.blogspot.jp/2012_09_01_archive.html
He did an excellent time showing the highlights of the trip.
peace!
Mary
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