It was bound to happen

Well, it finally happened. I was riding to school this morning in a light rain. There is an area in between two parking lots where there are these metal plates lining both sides of the road. I had already realized that these metal plates (which are all over my city) get extremely slick when wet. I tried to ride as close as possible without riding on it. A car that was driving by got really close, closer than they ever needed to, so I had no choice but to ride up on the metal. As I was trying to get back on the road, my bike slipped right out from under me and I came crashing down on my right side and my head ended up bouncing off the road. I have cuts, brusies, scrapes, and bumps from my head down to my toes. When I finally made it to school, I quickly found the nurse who took care of me for the next hour. I decided not to go to the hospital. I feel ok now, but am really sore! I have huge bandages everywhere and a giant bump on my head that really hurts. Hopefully, this will be my one and only wreck!

Last night I went to my first Taiko class. The class has many children in it who spent the entire night using every bit of English they have talking to me and having my friend Miri translate the rest of what they wanted to say. In the class, students take turns playing the group of Taiko drums. So, most only actually get to play the drum for about 15 minutes. Since it was my first class, Miri and the teacher spent my time just trying to teach me how to hit the drum properly. It is much more complex than it sounds. There is a very precise way to do everything. Since the drums are so large and expensive, people don't have their own. They just have their own sticks. So, since I loved the class, I ordered mine and will have my own Taiko drum sticks next week!!! I'm sure there will be many more Taiko updates to come.