The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

Well I wasn’t able to take any pictures at the Noh stage. It was pretty cool though. I’ve seen a Noh stage through pictures and video in some of the classes I took at ASU, but it is different when you get to see a real one. I think the stage belongs to my professor’s family since it is the Kawamura Noh Stage and his name is Kawamura. He said it was built in the same year that he was born, back in the 1960’s. He explained all sorts of things to us, like the construction of the stage, the positions of the different performers, where they rehearse, how they make props, and all kinds of other stuff. Him and a younger guy who comes with him to class (I think he’s an apprentice or something) performed a part of a play about Yoshitsune, a important figure in Japanese history. It’s interesting, because they don’t use hardly any props at all and the one’s they do use are very simple. So, when Yoshitsune is supposed to be fighting, the fan that the performer is holding becomes a shield, sword, or anything else. The professor explained the movements and stuff to us before he actually performed it, which helped a lot as it can be hard to tell what’s going on if you know nothing about Noh.


Anyway, so that was cool, but Rie and I got some good pictures of Sachi.

Ignore the stupid expression on my face…. Sara rode a bike for the first time a couple of weeks ago. That time it was just with me, but as you can see, when we are riding she can’t see me. She was a little scared I think and held tightly to my hand. The next time we went, Rie came with us and rode in front so that Sara could see her. We kept laughing and smiling for her so she would feel like it was a fun thing and she soon decided she liked it. The picture was taken when I took Sara around for a ride just to get out of the house. Here’s another:

She really didn’t like the helmet at first either, but she got used to it too and doesn’t complain when we stick it on anymore.

I’m sure no one wants to see this, but this came out of Sara ear. That’s some nasty wax.

Here’s the desk and chair that Rie’s parents bought for me, a little cluttered. In the container on the right I keep my little electronic stuff. I bought that when I got here. I bought the lamp too, but everything else was Rie’s stuff that her parents hadn’t got rid of yet. As you can see, Sara has a bunch of toys that her Obaachan(grandma) bought for her under my desk and the printer.

He’s the poor baby’s first mosquito bites. She got two at the same time. They weren’t the last though; all three of us got a bunch when we first came. The mosquitoes like fresh blood, I guess.

Peace!