-One time, a guy on the other team had the ball, and he ran past all of our defence, but I ran after him as fast as I could, and when I figured I was close enough, I jumped and snagged his legs, and he tumbled to the ground.
-Another time, I had the ball, and I plowed right into a group of four or five guys, but they couldn't bring me to the ground, so I just kept running, pushing them away and whatnot, but by the time I got out of the crowd and had a clear path to a try, I was so disoriented that I tried to keep running, but due to my lack of balance, I fell over.
-Again, when I had the ball, instead of thinkign and going AROUND a few people, I decided to meet this one guy head-on, but he was so low to the ground when he was getting ready to tackle me, so I figured (once again, not thinking) I could jump over him, since I had successfully in a game before. Well, I jumped, but it all happened so fast I don't exactly remember it. I saw it on video, though, and it went something like this: I jumped, the guy grabbed my ankles, and in about half a second i slammed top-speed into the ground. Did I mention we play on gravel? I layed on the ground for a bit after that.
But that's it for rugby, I suppose. Other news? Well, the new group of exchange students came...all one of them! Yes, we have one new exchange student who came from New Zealand. His name is Melvin. He's pretty cool. He came on Monday. Also, tomorrow, the whole E.S. class is going to Tokyo. The next five days there is no school because of Yamate's entrance exams. I really want to go to karaoke, because I haven't gone in a while. A little over a month. Speaking of karaoke, if you ever have any time, I definitely suggest you watch `Lost in Translation`. It is a great movie, and it also portrays Japan how it really is. But anywho, I guess I'll be off now. Catcha later!
Other news, I forgot to mention that I did not get a try at rugby, and before the games, I told all my rugby friends that if I did not get a try, I would cut my hair, so I guess this weekend, my hair will be a lot shorter than it is now. Today also marks one month since Nathan's passing. I do miss him a lot, but I fight to enjoy everything, because that's what he would have wanted. I will write again, probably when I have no hair left. :-)
I got a fair amount of chocolate on Valentine's Day (here, the girls give the guys something on Valentine's Day, and then one month later, on White Day, the guys have to give back a more expensive gift to the girls), so I am dreading White Day. I was going to bake cookies, but that proves to be a little difficult when you have no oven.
The 22nd was the Yamate Road Race, which I had been looking forward to for a very long time. All it is really, is we go to Kodomo no Kuni, which is a fair ways away (about an hour and a half by several trains), and everyone races, and we get to miss a day of school. The junior highs ran (or walked) a lap around the 4 km long course first, then the senior high girls, then the boys. The only thing that's different, is the senior high boys (meaning me) had to run two laps plus a little, meaning a total of 8.9 km. I will recount a true moment of horror (kind of) that I had during the race. Well, the end of the first lap was at the bottom of this HUGE hill, and you can't forget it because it's so huge, and so, I concluded the end of the second lap was going to be there as well. So, I came up to it the second time, and I thought `OK, I can do this, I just have to sprint as fast as I can to the bottom of this hill and it's over.` So, I went speeding down the hill, passing people like nothing (and not once stopping to think why THEY weren't running top speed), and then I get to the bottom and what do I see? The teachers waving people to go LEFT (before, we went right). So, to make the rest short, I had at least a good half a kilometer before the finish line, and I felt like passing out. I ended up finishing the race in 80th place (out of around 450 people). I took 38 minutes, and man, it was good to be done.
I can't think of much else that's new. I have tests this week starting on Tuesday, so I have been studying a little more than I usually do. Oh yes, I plan to add a new section on here, about Japanese jokes. Shane read one and told me it, and it was so horrible, I knew I had to put it on here for all of you to read. I hope to get a whole lot more. But anyway, until next time!