Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. Exhausting but good. Saturday, a couple friends who used to live in Fukuoka came back to visit. It was fun but after a while I got really tired and since I had to wake up early Sunday morning, I was the first to leave.

On Sunday, Jin and I went to meet one of his professors, his professor's wife, a researcher at Kyushu University and his wife. We took a trip to a nearby pottery villiage in Saga prefecture.

One of the things I really like about living in a foreign country is the opportunities to meet new people from all over the world. As we were driving to the pottery town, I realized that of the 6 people in the car, 5 countries and 3 continents were represented. The professor and his wife were Japanese, the researcher-Swedish, his wife-Canadian, Jin-South Korean, and myself-American. I thought, what a wonderful opportunity to get to get to know and hear opinions on various topics. Well, I was once again reminded that people are people all over the world and those 5 people happened to share my views on small talk and breaking the ice. So, we sat in silence for most of the 2 hour drive, which, I suppose was ok because I was still really tired.

Finally, to the pottery villiage. I have been so excited about this trip because I noticed that I have been feeling kind of un-inspired at pottery class lately and it has taken a long time to think about what I should make. Well, the pottery was nice but I was a little disappointed. It wasn't really my style. All of this pottery was so perfectly formed and identical from shop to shop, I have my doubts as to weather they were really made by hand or not. I prefer the lopsided style of pottery where every bowl, cup, and plate are original-dents and all.

After the pottery villiage, we had some good udon. Apparetly it is a very famous restaurant in Saga and Fukuoka. It must be excellent udon because it was a pretty big restaurant with many tables but we had to wait because it was completely full. I say it 'must be excellent' because, even though I enjoyed it, that doesn't really mean much. Since I rarely eat udon, I am in no position to decide what is good and what is just so-so. But, like I said, I thought it was good.

After lunch we stopped at Karatsu Castle. This is not one of the more famous castles in Japan but it was still nice. It had a very nice view of the sea and since it was particularily windy that day, the waves were crashing on the rocks below and it made for a nice picture. Like most of the castles, the original was built centuries ago but burned down so the castle we saw is about 30 years old. It kind of takes some of the thrill out of the experience. The artifacts inside the casle were nice though.

Finally, we went to the professor's house for dinner. I cannot remember when the last time I ate so well was. There was pork w/herbs, keesh, california rolls, and so much more with cheese cake as dessert. The professor also had a vast collection of Japanese sake and shochu from various places throughout the country. So, soon we were all talking like old friends. By the time we left the professor's house I was completely exhausted. It turned out to be a pretty nice weekend...but I'm looking forward to a calmer, less exciting next weekend. I really must be getting old.