Let's talk about something positive!

So, a special present for anyone who can send me some good news from America.

It's Thursday. That means I have ballroom dance tonight. I'm not really looking forwards to this lesson.

Yuki originally asked me to come along with her because she was a beginner and there were no other young people in the class. Considering the utter dearth of goings on in town on Thursday nights, I figured it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

On the whole it's been great. It gives me a reason to hang out with Yuki and an opportunity to dance (although it's ballroom, so not really my specialty). The regular teacher, Mrs. Kumagai, is very sweet. She gets really uncomfortable when I call her sensei, because I guess she hasn't passed the sensei level of the ballroom dancing exams. (Not joking. It is, in my opinion, the most ridiculous thing to have exams in dancing, and I don't know if it's just Japan, or everywhere.) She just focuses on routines, and we pretty much waltz around the room for the hour and a half class. I really like her classes.

Tonight, we have the real sensei. In my opinion he's a real ballroom snob, too. Last week, he spent the first hour lecturing us. I don't think it was because of my level of Japanese that I found it boring and hard to understand. Yuki and I agree - we go there to dance, not for lectures. I don't think anyone in the class is planning to go on to become world class dancers. The real sensei is also the kind of guy who, two steps into a dance will just stop and bight his lip, as if thinking how to explain proper form to such a simpleton. At first I thought he was flustered with me because I wasn't a native Japanese speaker, but he does it to all of the students, except for one lady who has been doing this type of dance for several years. Yuki said the other day when I was dancing with him, she could see him scrutinizing my posture to find something to criticize. He's really annoying, but I generally amuse myself by acting childish and making puzzled faces at Yuki.

Unfortunately, Yuki's in Thailand with her family and the other beginner (Mayuki or Mayumi?) is with the delegation that went to Samoa for the week.

Aaaaaaaaah!!!!

Well, at least with just me there, he probably won't bother wasting his breath with a lecture. Or will he????