thank you sasaki's

One of the teachers from Shukunohe-Chu invited me to have dinner with his family last nite. It was a blustery, snowy evening--got almost 6 inches in one afternoon!! But Sasaki-sensei's wife braved the conditions to pick me up. Saori-san is so lovely and their 2 beautiful daughters were especially 'genki'. Ryo is the little one pictured below and Shyo is demonstrating her taiko skills above. Saori made an exquisite American-style dinner and a sponge cake made of tea leaves for dessert---oishii so! OK here's the Playstation plug: I'm not a videogame fan, but this wasn't the usual blow-em-up type of game...this actually required skill. I haven't been to "real" taiko practice in several weeks, so I was incredibly out of practice and shown up by these pre-schoolers. Forget karaoke @ izakayas...I want to play Taikodon!

Saori is a former junior high Japanese teacher, and wants to study English conversation with me. I know I can learn a lot from her and have a great time, so I hope to see her and her family soon! Thank you again for a super nite!