Got a chance to go to Tokyo this weekend - the sakura were in full bloom and the Tokyo Swing Dance Society had a small gathering! (yes, there are photos)
The meet-up was a hanami party. Hanami happens only once a year - when the sakura bloom (the word comes from hana, “flower”, and “mi”, to see.). Everyone gathers under and around the huge pink trees and relaxes all day. Sake (Nihon-shu) is a popular drink while people talk and eat.
I met many of the dancers that came to Fuji (and few more) at Kinuta Park in Tokyo. Good music, food, and drink - properly unwinding. A few small-talk conversations in Japanese (I’ve discovered that while my Japanese hasn’t been growing so fast, my confidence to try and not care about messing up has been picking up the slack).
The new classes aren’t so bad. Turns out for the first month the periods are only 40 minutes long, which actually makes things too brief. (A 45 minute class is perfect.) I’ve had three already, and I’m doing the shim-sham again because the new third years didn’t have any classes with me last year (when they were 2nd years).
This year, I am fully coordinating the 3rd year curriculum (grammar, quizzes, vocabulary, classwork) - sorta slid over to my corner by itself. I’m taking it a sign of trust or non-incompetance rather than their desire for less work. It’s prolly a mix, ね？