Four Hundred Days Til Re-entry

It isn't Easter, I don't care what anyone says

In Japan there is no notion of Easter. Mention of Easter brings cries of wonder that big chocolate eggs are involved, possibly containing other kinds of sugary treats. The couple of bright kids start asking what the significance of it all is, but the majority just let it slide past in a haze of multiculturalism. It is like a car journey through the world, whoosh! Christmas tree - bullfight - chocolate eggs - people throwing tomatoes - cricket - curry. I'm really not sure how much of it they pick up.

I work at a couple of junior schools teaching English and Foreign culture. I am sitting on the brink of the spring break. Let me just forestall everyone by saying that no, it isn't the same as the Easter break because they don't have Easter and the school year starts and ends around it. Which vis why it is a time of change for me, too. It is one of the rare times I have free. The holida itself is about two weeks, though for me it extends a bit either side because I don't have any lessons. Hence my recent online productivity.

For everyone else, the term ends tomorow. I mentioned before it is the goodbye season and the guy from up the road, Rob, is off back England via India on route to teach again in China. There are going to be goobye drinks for him on Friday, at the local sports bar. If I get my **** together I might even post some photos. Everyone knows; God loves a photoblog. It might bring across some of the bizzarrity of the place. A sports bar in a village, for all love. Though he didn't know it at the time, the guy opened it at the end of my road. It stands a sore temptation, though it will be a Godsend during the world cup.

Anyhow, there was mention of me buying a double bass, at the urging of my esteemed colleague C up the road in Echigawa. She plays the harmonica (which is Old English for saliva collector) and is wooing me with the thought of playing for money. First I have to learn to play the thing. Which brings me back to the spring break, circuitously, as I am going to need a while on my own before people are allowed to hear me practice.

"But," say the wiseacres, as they always do, "why not forestall all those comments we ourselves will surely make about rather playingb the piccolo, by playing the piccolo?" Fuck off, wiseacres! I had a friend who lost hearing in her left ear due to piccolo induced trauma. I played the flute and will retuen to it one day. In the mean time, I intend to play something that matches my inner beast. Let me tell you, my inner beast is booming quite satisfactorily at the moment. No mouselike tootling, nor yet jarring crash of electric guitar, either.

The wiseacres chime in again, "Is this going to be the next in a long line of abandonned instruments, tossed aside to have their cost lamented by all and sundry?" Quite possibly, though surely it makes no odds to anyone. I might, just, surprise everyone by picking up these scattered remnants of hobbies as I cover old ground. Let's not forget, the bouble bass is the close relative of the 'cello, my first instrument.

Lo! All that money wasted is suddenly pouring back dividends. Though it does require a further layout of about 200 squid and, more dauntingly, a telephone conversation in Japanese. Luckily the guy selling lives in the same prefecture as me. It is the link above. I have no plans to buy it online, though. There is a phone number and it would be strange if I couldn't induce the seller to skip the auction charges and show me the item in person, before recieving crisp new notes on the spot. I also, metaphorically, want his balls in my hand while I view the item. A slight squeeze to signify what will happen if it turns out to be a lemon. Not that I expect a Stradivarius for the money but it must be functional.

So there you have it: A spring break full of music, badly played but without none of violinic banshee wails. Also to look forward to: A couple of weeks of long posts as I won't have a great deal else to do.

posted by Between daisies @ 10:09