Yosakoi practice!

So, tonight I had my first Yosakoi practice, but I almost didn't make it. I was careful to leave the house with plenty of time and waited in front of the restaurant where someone was supposed to meet me. No one came. 20 minutes after practice was supposed to have started, I decided to wander around and see if I could find the building myself. I found my way to the right area and located the building that the practice place was supposed to be across from, but everything looked to be residential buildings. By this point, I was pretty frustrated because I had been looking forward to practice all day, and it was starting to get dark. So I wandered around the block until I found a lady watering some plants, and asked her. She pointed me in the right direction and it turned out that I had walked past the correct building earlier, but hadn't recognized the name because it was in kanji (go figure). I only figured out that it was the correct building because I saw some dancing silhouettes in a window.

I went inside and walked upstairs. I waited a few minutes before I got up my nerve and opened the door to the room where the dancers were. By this point, I was about 40 minutes late. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind; they greeted me really warmly and from there on I was all set. They equipped me with a set of wooden clackers and started teaching me the dance. There was one other foreigner there that night, a guy from Canada. His name was Andre. Fortunately, he speaks more Japanese than I do and was able to translate some of the conversation for me. I usually couldn't figure out what people were asking me unless the questions were really, really simple. The dancing was really fun; I don't actually know the steps yet, but I can follow along okay if there's someone in front of me. There are several more practices before the festival and I might be able to get it down before then. I think they made it as simple as possible, but there's still a lot to remember.

Practice ended around 9, and the leader of the group gave me a ride home. I could've taken the tram back, but it was nice of her to drive me. We talked some in the car but I couldn't understand much of what she said. I'm still not sure if she offered to drive me home next time as well. That might've been what she said, but I didn't entirely understand. Also, it might be a situation where she's supposed to offer, but I'm supposed to turn her down. Politeness is complicated here. I might just ride my bike next week; that probably wouldn't be too hard. If I follow the tram line I certainly won't get lost. Maybe I'll test it out beforehand to see how long it takes.

Anyhow, I'm really glad I made it to practice. It was lots of fun and I'm looking forward to the next one. Even if I don't manage to find social dancing here, at least I've got Yosakoi. I'm really lucky that the international team is less strict; most teams have been practicing every night for a month already. It would be way too late to join one of those teams. Anyhow, I better get cleaned up for bed. Good night!