Tuesday was the second day of adventure with Michelle. I tried out her Japanese Calligraphy class. It began with the trek….remember that the temperature in Tokyo this week has been in the 90’s with high humidity…I got to Michelle’s and we walked to a station about 20 minutes from her house so we would be on the right line. Then we went to the end of the line and as we were exiting Michelle….

Yikes!!!! Earthquake alert!!!! Just as I am writing this we had the second earthquake of the day the first woke me at just after 4 am!!!! Yikes!!!! I really don’t like them!!!

Anyway, Michelle said now for the hard part. We had to walk straight up a hill to get to the studio and there was no shade. She told me that the teacher serves tea, but that she never drinks it. We stopped at a market at the top to buy some water and stood in the air conditioning for a minute. The sensei is not Japanese but Israeli, figure that one out. He brought us iced tea immediately and I wasn’t planning to drink it until he told me it was moogi-cha (wheat tea) One of the missionaries serving in our ward told me that it’s the only kind of tea they are allowed to drink, so I drank it. He was so pleased that I got a second glass. It would have been better with a little sugar and lemon.

He is very good and speaks Japanese a lot during the lesson. I am awful at this style of calligraphy with a big brush and ink. It is very challenging to contol the pressure and the amount of ink. I used to do the western style with a pen and ink. I think I am going to try this Japanese style for awhile and see if I can get better at it. Michelle is very good.

After the lesson we ate at my least favorite place McDonalds. Michelle’s sister was with us and she was tired of Japanese food. Wow!!! That was twice at McDonalds this month and the first time in several years. I left them at that point and came home to do some grocery shopping before 3pm so it would be delivered. The heat and humidity sucked the life out of me and by the time I got home I got a 1.5 liter bottle of water out of the fridge and spent 30 minutes recovering in Rick’s recliner.