Tennis in Japan

Well I had my tennis date today. It was awesome. To begin with, we played on a clay court, which was a first for me. It wasn't difficult to adjust to, though occasionally I felt like I would slip and fall. And the ladies were all fairly evenly matched. I was trying so hard to understand what they were talking about. Luckily, the scoring is all in English, and there were lots of "good shoto" to be heard in our match. The woman who invited me brought orange slices to share between sets. At the end of the match we took these rake things--they look like what they use on baseball fields, and we smoothed out the court. Then we took brooms to sweep the lines.

I had bought a pair of pants to play on Sunday, as I noticed that folks don't wear the same thing that we do in the states to play tennis. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that white was the color of the day. In fact, it was not easy for me to find pants to fit. I ended up with size men's O, which is one up from L. This did not make me a particularly happy camper. The blue pants I got were fine. But at the club I played at , everyone had long white pants, long-sleeved white shirts, white sweater vests and white jackets. And most of them were over 60 (or over 70). It looked like acres of white-clad old folks. I have to hand it to the Japanese--the elderly are very active.

I asked my friend about joining the club, but she said that you couldn't join for just one year. Don't know why, but I can't ask. There are rental courts for guests, though, so hopefully I can find enough games to make me happy.

After the match, my friend invited me for lunch. We went to a Japanese noodle shop. It was ok. Not fantastic, but ok. I think it was a pretty typical little Japanese restaurant, and I was glad I had her to interpret for me. Nice day. Now I have to go back to work tomorrow.