Bowling with Mormons...

Yesterday I went bowling with Mormons.

That opening line in itself is a perfect entry- or sounds like it would make a good story- except- the Mormons were surprisingly normal and really nice.

Don't ask me what kind of freakshow I had expected. Organised religion makes me twitchy. It's all good if you have a faith- in fact on some level I kind of envy you- but I guess I don't really want one myself. Or maybe I do? Don't be surprised f I come back converted- I'm kidding- do be surprised, I'm pretty sure I won't be getting religious anytime soon.

Anyway- somewhat ignorant me thought the Mormons were some kind of polygamous, incestuous cult or something along those lines- so when my friend Maria said we were going bowling with some members of her church and two guys in white shirts with nametags walked up to us- a tiny bit of me thought- oh oh..

They were really nice guys. We went for dinner afterward to a Japanese Mormon's house and though they shared a bible message with us, I didn't feel as though they were trying to induct me into their religious family too much. I did ask whether they had many takers in Japan, since it isn't a very religious country- apparently they don't, but it didn't seem to discourage them. In the evening we went with them to an English conversation club where we played cards games with some Japanese people and I had a good time.

But here is my issue- if Mormons are normal and nice, maybe Jehovah's Witnesses are too- which means I'm going to have to stop telling them that I worship the devil...

I'm also irritated to discover that if my laptop had its wireless card I would have been able to take advantage of the unsecure connection somewhere in my building months ago, as I'm doing now on Maria's laptop- but annoyingly it doesn't so I'll have to wait until June 1st when I get my connection.


Sexy bowling shoes...

The last row says my name in Katakana

Maria and Yuko

Caption Competition

Hello there --
Jay here, sorry San can't be with you today, but she's sent some pictures along to post for you all to enjoy.
Since there's no post to go alongside them, I've decided to make it a caption competition. The best captions get a sticker.
Alternatively, just leave comments about how nice the pictures are.
Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of San dressing as a Gothic Lolita, so you will have to wait a bit longer for those.

Still...

I'm sorry for the lack of updates- I'm in an internet cafe in another city (Kyoto which by the way is amazing and makes my little town of Tsuyama look like a bit of a dump!) at the moment- so I thought I'd put you out of your misery and update!
But where do I start?!
I'm still without internet at home- so no pics.
I'm still at my first junior high school- I switch over to my second on in June and I kind of can't wait- I need a change.
I'm still struggling with my Japanese- or lack thereof- but at the same time I'm still doing ok.
I'm still collecting photos and blog entries like a fiend and am itching to put them up here.
I'm still experimenting with food- blindly trying pretty much anything- sometimes with yucky results, sometimes with ok results.
I'm still trying to find my feet here-
Basically I'm still here...

Jay is going to be a doll and put some of my pics up on here for me so you have something to 'ooh' and 'ahh' over as soon as I send him some pics from my phone.
Sorry for the short entry -- but the internet cafe's clock is ticking away...