Several days ago, the Japanese national weather service formally announced that the "tsuyu", or rainy season, had begun. Typically lots of rain falls during June and early July. BUT . . . this is apparently not a typical year. There hasn't really been that much rain, and the long-range forecast doesn't predict a lot in the coming weeks either. I heard that's what happens here in a "La Nina" year, which this is supposed to be. The down side, I'm told, is that when the tsuyu is short or otherwise not strong, it's often followed by an unusually hot summer. If you want more information about tsuyu, check this link at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiyu
On Saturday, a group from the church performed as a gospel choir at the large train station downtown. I went to watch and took some pictures and videos which I'll post later. They did great!
We have about four more weeks of school before summer vacation. School is going great, but of course it's fun to have a break. I'm looking forward to my guests that are arriving this summer and fall (see you guys soon!)
I can't remember how much I posted about my garden before; I planted vegetables in garden boxes on the deck next to my room. The kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) died recently (GRR! I think it was just too small of a space for pumpkin) but the tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are doing pretty well. I've already eaten several cucumbers, which seems strange to someone from Oregon where we usually can't harvest much until later in the year.
Recently, I finally got hit with some culture shock. For me, it manifested only as communication frustration. I really don't have problems with cultural norms, food, etc. here, I just became discouraged from not being able to communicate as much as I wanted with people that speak only Japanese. The positive result is that it motivated me to get more serious with my Japanese language study again, so I've resumed my daily studies, and am feeling much more positive about eventually being able to communicate well.
The church is recording an all-original worship CD that will be released shortly. I was involved in the project and I'm excited to hear the final results soon. More details about that later...
