Opera!

I can't remember if I mentioned the nice older gentleman I met totally by accident on the street a month or so ago. Probably not. Anyway he asked me to his house for dinner with him and his wife because he's a Japanese teacher and it turned out that he knew my predecessor's predecessor and her friends quite well! He and his wife are lovely and I started taking Japanese lessons with him two weeks ago. He's even giving me the lessons for free! (Well, we're exchanging English and Japanese, but he's taken a university degree in teaching Japanese.) He says he volunteers with a couple of Chinese ladies who are learning English, too.

He also invited me to their opera group which meets every other (I think) Saturday or so. I've always been a little interested in opera so I said sure ^_^ Turns out it was an awesome decision! One of his friends who is also helping teach me Japanese has been all over the world and to Vienna quite a few times. He loves Opera and has a separate workshop/relaxation building where their friends meet for their Opera club. Not only does he have a good sized TV but he has two humongous speakers which have amazing sound. I think it must be similar to actually being in an opera house and having an awesome seat. They told me that one speaker cost over two-hundred thousand yen. That's like twenty thousand dollars. For one speaker.

Anyway, I got to meet lots of awesome new people and afterwards I got to enjoy their end of year party with them! It was fun! And a few of the ladies are learning English so I can help them practice while they help me practice Japanese. I'm thinking I might even be able to pick up some of the speaking style that older people use here. I'm already learning bits of Gifu-ben (the Gifu dialect) so I might as well!