Farewell party

Last night the local (and some not-so-local) falconers got together to have a farewell dinner for me. Not exactly the steak and potatoes affair that it would be in the States. Lots of raw fish, eel, raw beef mixed with raw egg (!?!), and a lot of stuff that I don't even know what animal it came from. I'm gonna miss that kind of stuff. Japan has a tendancy to make foreigners feel pretty alienated. It's awfully hard to feel part of the group when you're so obviously not. But hanging out with this group of falconers has made me feel more at home in Japan than just about anything else I've done here. It's been a great three years. Thanks guys.

昨日関西鷹匠たちが私のために別れ会を開いてくださいました。アメリカの別れ会だったらステーキとフライポテトだけど日本では生物が多かった。刺身，うなぎ，生肉と卵など，よく分からない食べ物もあった！アメリカではなかなか経験しないような食事でした。外国人として日本人と交わるといつも“あの外国人”と見られるけど関西鷹匠たちが私を仲間に入れてくれて，本当の友達という気がします。皆さんありがとうございます！

Of course we talked a lot about what everyone will be flying this year and I told everyone that there's a good chance, what with all the red tape I'll have to wade through when I get to Colorado, that I won't be able to fly anything this year. They all thought it was rather wacky that I could be out shooting stuff with a high powered rifle within a week of landing in the States but it will more than likely take me months to be able to fly a bird again. I think they have a point! It'll be interesting to see how things work out on the falconry front when I get home. Wish me luck!

もちろん今年皆が何を飛ばすかという話がよくありました。帰ってから銃をすぐに手に入れるのに鷹狩免許を取るのは難しいという話をしたときに皆が驚いた。やっぱりアメリカはその面でおかしい！まぁ，全てがうまく行くように期待しています！応援してね！