Violin Presentation and Dinner in Osaka - Nov. 4

Today I gave a presentation in Japanese class about the violin. We are all required to give ten-minute long presentations about a topic that interests us. One of my Japanese teachers suggested I present on the violin, so I thought, "Why not?" If I ran out of things to say, I figured I could just start playing the violin to take up more time...

But I had plenty of things to say. I talked about the different orchestras I have played in, my summer music experiences, my views on practicing, and my previous private lesson experiences. I demonstrated how to set up the bow and violin to prepare to play, and I played a short piece called Hamabe no Uta, which I learned here in Japan. I took such a long time with my presentation that the person presenting after me didn't have much time to speak! But no one was complaining...

In the evening I met up with a Mexican friend of mine who lives in Osaka. He took me out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, so I got to eat very delicious chicken enchiladas with salsa verde and also practice speaking Spanish. My friend Jorge is twenty-five and works as an engineer for a construction company in Osaka. I am enjoying getting to know various people who are part of the Japanese workforce because it is interesting to hear about what it's like to be employed in Japan. There are language barriers, however, because I am fluent in neither Spanish nor Japanese, but I try to ask and learn as much as possible.