Ofune Matsuri, day 1

Today was my town's festival "Ofune Matsuri." The word "ofune" means boat, but apparently in this case it means "float" or something. Anyway... The first event of the day started at 5:15. A few groups of students from the two elementary schools danced to upbeat songs. They were incredibly cute!!! It was a nice start to the festivities.

Theeeeennnn, the rain came. And the thunder. And the lightning. And when I say came, I mean pouring down buckets of rain with thunder so loud it makes you jump. <_< And lightning you can actually see zig-zagging through the clouds. I'm not scared of thunder & lightning, but once or twice it was so loud that I instinctively covered my ears. :P The five of us, Amy, Brendan, Phil, his wife Yuki, and I shared a couple umbrellas, but it got so bad that we ended up taking refuge under a deserted outdoor patio. At that point we were all soaking wet and chilled. It wasn't exactly ideal. -_- The lightning was so close and bad, in fact, that at one point we thought maybe it was dangerous to stand under something metal (the canopy was a metal frame). But by then, it was getting better.

Eventually, maybe around 7:15-30, it got a lot better, and just sprinkled. The fireworks for the evening were canceled and then because it got better, they ended up doing it. It wasn't that great though- only one firework at a time. But some were cool, changing colors several times in the sky. Makes me excited for the big fireworks festival in a couple weeks!!

Well, I didn't get very many good pictures. I ran into SO MANY of my students!! They were so cute. Some of them were like "TRACI!" and others just waved shyly. Haha. Some of them actually ran away... <_< A group of 2nd years (8th graders) was really excited to see me, and one of them, a boy named Riku, told me to buy him some yakitori (grilled chicken skewer). I laughed and said "I'm sorry." Which of course made them laugh. XD

Tomorrow is the continuation of the festival, from 1 until around 6. I'm so tired, and my hair is still drying off, but I'm planning to go. I just hope the weather is better. -_- I guess there will be a parade and food stalls again. If I see more of my students dressed in yukata, I'll try to get their picture. :) Until next time!

The opening ceremony. The guy in grey on the right said hello to me, Amy, and Brendan from the stage. Totally caught me off-guard!!

A group of 2nd graders performing

Akimiya, my town's main shrine, had many food stalls set up on its grounds

The entrance to Akimiya

I think those are some of my students on the left in yukata, but it's hard to see.

More people came out as the evening went on and the weather improved.

Making sushi rolls

So today I went with my school's head English teacher, Ms. Fujimori, to Suwa city (about two towns over I guess?) to make sushi rolls. The event was hosted by the English community of Suwa city, and unfortunately there were only two of us foreigners, me and a guy named Thomas who works at a JHS in Chino (another town further south of the lake, towards Tokyo). Anyway, there were about 5-8 people running it, a few of which I met before, and I think maybe 10 or so participants who came. There were a couple 4th grade elementary school students, who were bigger than some of my 7th graders!! :P One of them was really silly and refused to shake my hand, so I tried a high-five, but he kept faking me out. Haha. I finally got him, though. ;)

A sushi chef from a restaurant in Suwa city showed us how to make the sushi before we were let loose to do it ourselves. The sushi rolls were in the shape of Anpanman, a famous Japanese character with a red bean bun for a head. They were made from seaweed, rice, carrots, fried egg, sliced gourd (whatever that is, it was very tasty), and rice mixed with processed fish. They were very tasty!! I think I did okay on mine. I've made California rolls back home before, so I've had a bit of practice. The hardest part is the cutting, because you have to be quick and efficient. Haha. Everyone in my group said I was good at it... I don't know though. <_< Oh well, it was really fun, and I'm glad I went, especially since they only had one other foreigner there, and the whole point was for the participants to speak English while cooking!

Well, my summer break has just started and already I've gotten to do some fun things, like this and the taiko festival. But there is so much more coming up! Tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday, my town is having its big summer festival, "Ofune Matsuri" (Boat Festival), so I'm going to that at least tomorrow. Maybe the next day, I'm not sure. So festivals the next three days. :) I'll be blogging again really soon!

Me with my sushi rolls, and the sushi chef behind me :)

The rolls I made!

Roll-cutting in action

The group that I made rolls with, from left to right: Mikiko, Shun, and Hitomi. ^_^

Matsumoto Taiko Festival

Phew... it was quite a day. Slept in, did some Skyping, and then about 1:00 I headed to the station. My train ended up being almost a half hour late, so I got to Matsumoto later than I intended, but not by too much. I went to the JR service center and was able to get a ticket refunded (thankfully the guy spoke some English).

Then I met up with Eric, Brendan, and eventually Max (because he ended up missing his train, lol). Anyway, the taiko festival began with taiko in front of Matsumoto station, so we watched that for a little bit. There wasn't much left of it by the time we got there. By then it was about 4 pm, and the taiko at the castle would start at 5:30, so we decided to wander slowly towards the castle. Eventually we made it there and sat down in the shade for a while to visit while we waited. A guy walked his Jack Russell terrier past us, and the poor dog was so hot that she laid down on the gravel path, panting quickly. I felt bad for her. :( The guy was very friendly and spoke a little bit of English. The dog's name is apparently Chelsea. :P

Eventually it was 5:20 and we decided to go see if we could get a seat in the castle's inner garden. I was surprised that we were able to get a pretty good seat, although it was most of the way back. There were a lot of people but it didn't feel overly crowded. And because the taiko was from 5:30-9, people came and went a lot, so the seats never really got filled. Some people chose to stand behind all the seats, too.

The taiko performances started with one guy playing on the giant taiko, which was really cool. I like the songs that incorporate multiple instruments, though. We stayed until about 7 and probably saw about ten groups or something. There were a couple with children, and some were very serious while others were lively and happy. I enjoyed all the performances a lot. :) Here's some links to video I took and uploaded to facebook. You can click on the HD button to improve the quality.

Intro piece: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154378411115371
My favorite group: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154378522730371
Flutes and children: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154378482010371
Energetic 12-member group: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154378445145371

When we decided we were tired and ready to leave, we went to a soba restaurant to get some food before going our separate ways. I wish I had taken a picture of the food, but I forgot. -_- Oh well. It was very good, though. I had "ten zarusoba" which is cold soba noodles with tempura (which in this case was shrimp, green pepper, sweet potato, and mushroom).

I'm really glad I went today, even though it was incredibly hot. Like, ridiculously hot. The thermometer at the station said 39 degrees Celsius, which I later looked up and found out was 102 Fahrenheit. That was in the sun, though, so it might have been 95 in the shade. Still, I had to drink a lot to stay hydrated. Even then I was probably dehydrated some of the time, with the sun shining down on us. I bet I'll be sunburned tomorrow, but it was worth it! :D Next weekend is the Matsumoto Bon Bon, a dance/parade festival, and I'm planning to go, even if I can't convince anyone to go with me. :P And my town has its big festival in a few days, so watch for more blog postings coming soon. :)

The giant taiko drum is my favorite.

One of the less serious groups, haha

Love the unique costumes

So cute- the two kids on the right look similar to my students!

My favorite group that performed (there were about 10-12 people in the group)

One of the more serious groups

Sunset at the castle

The castle with the alps in the background

Two weeks until summer break

I don't have a ton to say, but it's been 10 days since my last blog post, so I wanted to let people know that I'm still alive. :) There are only two weeks (only 8 actual teaching days) left before I get to relax and enjoy summer break. Summer vacation for public schools in Japan is only three and a half weeks vs. three months in the States, but I'm not going to complain. Haha. This week I have four normal days of teaching and one day where I have to be at school but there won't be any classes, and then next weekend is long because the 21st is a national holiday. I'm so excited for the break and having a chance to relax. =_= Although to be honest, I bet I'm going to miss my students. :)

Yesterday (Saturday) I went to Matsumoto for some shopping. Since my last trip a month ago, the big bookstore that I love remodeled as well as opening a new anime & manga store on the third floor! It was very dangerous stepping foot in there... I wanted to buy everything. :P I also stopped by a department store that had a mini "Tower Records" store which basically sells cds and a few dvds. I bought a cd of Studio Ghibli songs in music box style. It's very relaxing to play when I'm reading or just want to rest. It was very hot yesterday, although surprisingly not too humid, and walking in the sun always tires me out. I spent today resting and cleaning my apartment a bit.

Well, depending on what I do next weekend, I may or may not post again before summer break starts. However, I will be posting all over the place once it does start!! There are 5-10 festivals that I want to go to starting on the 26th (first day of break), so I will be blogging about those as they happen. :) Can't wait for fireworks, shaved ice, and traveling!!

A lucky glimpse of Mt. Fuji on a recent morning

My loot from Matsumoto: Essential Japanese phrasebook, CD, cell phone charms & mini memo books based on video game characters, and a mini wall scroll.

New cell phone charms :)

This character is "Japan" from the popular anime Hetalia.

Update on my Japanese ability (sorta)

I've had several people recently ask me if my Japanese is better now that I've been here for three months. Actually, I guess some people here don't even know I understand any Japanese because I'm shy about speaking. But anyone who spends even a bit of time with me starts to pick up the fact that I can hear and understand a lot of what is being spoken. Depending on the topic, of course. Sometimes I can even understand whole conversations, but when it comes to speaking, I still have a hard time. I think it's because forming full sentences (especially long ones) is really difficult. Sentence structure in Japanese & English is very different, and even though I understand the differences, it still can be hard to work out how to say something. Plus, I already have a hard time saying things in English on the spot, so to have to think of what to say and then translate it can be difficult.

One thing that's kinda cool is that I now sometimes will listen to someone speak in Japanese, understand it and translate it in my mind, and then later relay it to someone in English. The person later will sometimes ask me if I heard it in English and I'll realize no, it was Japanese. So I guess my brain is picking up on Japanese faster, more like an instinct, than before. And I certainly have become better at reflexive Japanese, such as "good morning", "hello", "excuse me", "that's okay", "thank you", "see you later", etc.

On another note, today I had to visit the other junior high in my town. It's quite a trek to get there and the forecast said a lot of rain, so I decided to just spend the money to take a taxi. At first the driver didn't say anything, but then he asked me a few questions, like why I was going to the school, where I am from, etc. He was really nice and I tried to answer him as best I could. :) Then, after I got done at the school, I started to walk back and was stopped by a lady in a car who was coming from the school. She asked where I was going and insisted she give me a ride! I was never so grateful to anyone (at least not recently, lol)!!! It had just started raining, too. Anyway, it turns out she has a son at my school (who I don't know too well, he's a second grader). We talked a bit and looking back, I think that might have been my first real conversation with a Japanese stranger without someone to translate. O_O I'm just happy I understood most of what she asked me! Yay!! :D I asked her where she's from and she said Kyushu (the southernmost of Japan's four main islands). She said she came to Shimosuwa when she got married. I asked her if she likes Shimosuwa and she said "maamaa" which means so-so. XP I guess it's more fun in Kyushu, haha. Anyway, wow, I'm so happy with myself for carrying on a conversation all in Japanese. Even though there were a few things I couldn't understand, I'm just proud of myself for replying and asking questions! :) Gotta take baby steps I guess.

In two days I have to go to Tokyo for training. I've been very, very busy lately with work-related events and such, but thankfully summer vacation is almost here!! Have to get through a few more weeks of school, though. -_-