up in the hills

Right now I am up in the hills and mountains in Sougawa. It is a great place and the 11 kids that populate the entire elementry school are great too. However the 1st and 2nd graders were outta of hand today. That is only 4 kids too. Two boy were just pounding and scratching each other during class so I broke out the coloring activity and then they quieted down. Ryota and Yasahiro. For lunch today were had some sort of vegetable tempura and on the side some small tiny fish. These guys are tiny. After lunch I could feel a small piece of food in my mouth that I couldn't chew too well. I knew what it was before I plucked it out of my teeth. It was the head of one of those little fish guys. One of its eyes had already popped out. Yummy, ne?
One other crazy thing. Head lights. In the US many cars are equipped with Day Time Running Headlights, right? They run all day. No big deal to see a car with its headlights on, no? Well here, it's a no-no. I have been flashed, gestured, and beeped at by other drivers because I had my lights on when it was still light out. Most of the time I just forget to turn them off after coming out of a tunnel. There are a lot of tunnels in the mountains here. One time a guy came out in the middle of the road to stop my car, and then motioned me to roll down my window like he was going to say something. All he did was just point to my headlights. So unless it is completly dark out, you shouldn't have your headlights on. Unless you want to be noticed.
Last night I met a calligrapher teacher. She seemed nice but kind of strict. Maybe I need that. She told me how to take my shoes off and how to arrange them next to the mat at the door. Well Shuji, calligraphy pays attention to small details, and for to be a shuji master, I guess she notices every little thing about everything.