Not Quite An Alien in Armor.

Kyudo.

So, I go to the Dojo and I discover that Mr. HighSchoolTeacher won't be there. This means I'm completely on my own as far as speaking goes.

Which is alright, I guess. Nothing like a good challenge (Besides, my 6 month clock is still ticking on the "Japanese Only" thing, this is good practice). I go through the standard startup; stringing my bow, starting to stretch.

Sensei comes over to me and puts his hands on my stomach with a concerned look on his face (He does this a lot, usually following it up with some comment about how huge I am and then adding more situps to my daily routine...) He says: "I can't find armor big enough for you."

Okay, so maybe I misunderstood... I think I got "Armor" and by now I really know "big" and I think I got "Wear" (But I'm not sure, Maia just introduced me to the "wear" verbs and they are rather insane)... while he was patting my stomach... I haven't seen anyone wear armor in this dojo...

Then he shows me a flyer for the local Bunka festival (Culture Festival) which will be held downtown (And since this is MyTown, downtown is a 2 minute walk from my apartment... I love this). The culture festival picture shows a cadre of Samurai in full armor, and behind them a cadre of archers, also in full armor, all looking stern and Japanese and all looking very cool.

Sensei points to the archers, then points to everyone in the dojo.

Holy Bowstrings... our Dojo are the archers in the Japanese culture festival. And Sensei is trying to figure out how to put me in armor for the festival...

I haven't nocked an arrow in my bow yet.

I quickly tell Sensei that I will happily film the festival, but since I am really too junior to have even put an arrow on my bow yet, he doesn't need to find armor to fit me just yet. Next year I'll join.

Then it occurs to me; I just agreed to represent a traditional Japanese archer in a culture festival for the locals in MyTown Japan...

Woah.

---Almost An Alien in Armor.