sorry! it`s been awhile hasn`t it? well things have been crazy and internet is hard to find. so much has happened lately. the biggest thing though is the world puppetry festival thats going on in iida. it`s a festival that happens every year and last`s 4 days. this year though its the 30th anniversary so its been extended to 10 days. for the past 2 months ive been studying with a  traditonal japanese puppet troop here in iida. the puppet troop is called imada. the type of puppets are actually very big. it takes 3 people to operate a single puppet. the puupets are about 1/3 the size of normal human beings. one person operates the head and right arm, another person operates the left hand, and the third person operates the feet. In total we are performing 3 different days with a total of 7 performances. yesterday was our first day and we performed 3 times. we had some decent crowds, but tom. we expect our biggest crowd since the local newspaper interviewed us.

      the summer program officialy ends in a week. from there ill be going back to my host family for another 3 weeks and then im off to school at the end of the month. it seems like yesterday i was in america. i miss everyone a lot, but im far from ready to come home. everyday that im here im reminded about how much i still have to learn. everytime i cant come up with an answer to a question and everytime i have to have someone translate for me i get frustrated. it just makes me want to try harder though.

 

 

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