Another full weekend of sports, and I am wiped out. Next weekend is my first unplanned weekend since... February. I intend to vegetate and do some serious sleeping.
BUT, all the tiredness is worth it! This weekend was the third annual AJET Games Touch Rugby Tournament here in Tokushima, and it was the biggest yet! Over 200 people from all over the southern half of Japan came out for it, and I think they all had a blast. I do hope so! The weather certainly could have been kinder, it was somewhat cold and rather windy (windburn abounds on the faces of all ALTs this morning!), but I think that spirits were high enough to negate the less than ideal weather.
My own team, Touch n' Go, pretty much sucked at the game. Most of the team had never played before the weekend, and our inexperience was quickly picked up on by our first opponents, the Gaijin Ninja, from Hyogo. It was something of a baptism of fire, though, the Ninja are probably the best amateur touch team in southern Japan. Nevermind. We finished the first day having won not one single match on our pool. Damn!
Saturday night saw me on duty as BBQ organiser, and I am so grateful for all the help I got. I had never been in charge of something as huge as this, so I was really worried that people would get pissed because of lack of organisation, lack of food or whatever. But Ron (who organised and bought all the food, as well as planned the actual process) was on hand to help out, and the people I had recruited to help me out (namely the Gaijin Ninja, Okayama's Grapes of Wrath, and of course Touch n' Go) were absolutely wonderful at just getting on with it. I'm especially grateful to the Ninja: so laid back, nothing was a problem, they just did it, even though they were paying guests.
AJET babes Froilan and Jessie came from Kumamoto and Kyoto respectively to help and hang out, and it was great to see them. Also got to know a lovely Kochi bloke by the name of James a bit better. He was part of the Kochi frisbee crew last weekend, and then came to play rugger this weekend. Actually, a few of the frisbee people were here for rugby, it was great to see all of them again. Also met up with a girl from Shimane (whose name escapes me!) who had lived in Scotland for a long while. We met last year, and chatted a bit, and did the same this year.
Play finished mid afternoon on Sunday. Touch n Go surprised ourselves by actually winning a match, and having to play an extra match on Sunday. We damn near won that as well, but lost on handicap points (points awarded for tries scored by girls). We had fun on Sunday: we'd picked up the game, and knew much better what to do with the ball when we got it. I don't think the kids want to play regularly, though, which is a shame, but I guess it's not a sport for everyone.
After a spot of dinner and an onsen last night, I finally got home. Sadly, the mayor's election headquarters are behind my house (he's running for prefectural governement) and it was results night or something, so the place was packed with shouting and cheering supporters til nearer midnight. Meh.
Back to school this week: some classes to teach, but mostly the timetable is still out of sorts, as it is for the most part of this term. Am now organising a rafting trip with Happy Raft in Golden week, and hoping it will be something of a block event. Jill and Kirsty will be here then, and Dave will be guiding by that time, so it should be a good time of it.
Ok... am going to go and work out how to get my ass to Australia now. Yee haa!
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