Mira la luna?

For an American the concept of moon watching as a spectator activity is not very popular, or well received, or maybe it's just me. When asked to attend, more like told, the first moon watch of the year I bitched and complained, typical of me. I have a cold that is borderline bronchitis, there is a typhoon on the way, I haven't slept in two months...why would I want to spend a night on a boat along the polluted river watching the moon? But as I have learned, the tasks you most dread often turn out to be those you appreciate the most. Ironically, I never once saw the moon, for a) the boat had a roof and b) the typhoon clouds blocked out all visibility, but I did get to see the famed duck/pelican cross kept on a leash which dives into the water, catches fish, then is brought back to the leash holder which tugs at the leash until the duck coughs up the fish. This is a plausible method of fishing here. Um, okay? It may sound eerie, and indeed it was, but it was surprisingly interesting, but more morbid-curiosity car accident interesting than "Wow, I'll take that bit of info everywhere I go with me" interesting.

Afterwards a few of my coworkers and I sat along the Chikugo River and listened to the musicians just up shore. This is the strange part, there was a Japanese guy playing the dijideroo and two Venezuelans playing the harp and a mandolin. They all played together...talk about a weird combo. The school principal, drunk at the time, thought it'd be a good idea to converse with the musicians between their takes. Seeing as how only one of them spoke Japanese I was brought in to translate. Insanity. Ten years of intensive Spanish training to translate the principals' ramblings, in Japanese, to two Venezuelans, and vice versa. Is my major really going to good use here I wonder? I felt a sense of achievement though, even after only a few minutes of speaking with the band. Like having natives of Spain ask you for directions to Palacio San Telmo, or being able to direct the lost German girl to the Yoshii train station, despite my horrendous German and her inability to speak either English or Japanese. So, one of three majors is panning out to have some practical application...what about the rest?