Tuesday, September 19, 2006

The Weekend of Sports Day #1

Sports Day. Everyone I talked to this Saturday asked me "Do you have Sports Day in America?" I said "no". That was all I had the vocabulary for. If my vocabulary had been better, this is what I would have said: "No, Sports Day does not exist in the US for several reasons. Firstly, liability issues. With the amount of blood that flows from children on Sports Day, in America it is a sure fire lawsuit. Secondly, you couldn't get American kids to be this orderly and synchronized. Thirdly, there would be more people watching, and you'd half to have chairs." But enough about that. Here is my principal speaking in front of the lines of students.
Here are the first years throwing balls.
And here is the really dangerous hat grabbing fight. Dangerous by US standards, that is. This isn't that different from a regular day of Japanese school.
This was impressive.
This is me, the head teacher and the principal at the party after Sports Day.
And a very confused me with some members of the PTA that were REALLY happy to be able to talk to a young, male foreigner.
The cat is still cute, and still living with me. I am starting to develop an allergy to cats I think. That combined with the sunburn I got on Sports Day made me sick this weekend.
While sick, I decided it would be a good idea to go to Cainz Homes to get more Kitty litter. My map said it was only a kilometer away. But, wouldn't you know it, I got lost, ended up walking to another town, got more sunburned and finally headed home after walking for 5 hours. While sick.
At least I got to see Konyaku fields.
On Tuesday...oh, did I fail to mention that thanks to the national holiday on monday and the school holiday on Tuesday, I had a four day weekend? Too bad I was sick. Anyway, on Tuesday Keiko and I got together and went on a temple tour. First the giant Kannon-sama statue in Takasaki.
Then, self cooked Monjya. Monjya is very interesting, by the way.
Is this what you think of when you think of Japanese food? Probably not. You eat it off of a tiny spatula.
Then we went to 松林山 temple. Translated into Chinese: Shaolin mountain Temple.
But this temple had no warrior monks, just a lot of stairs that made Keiko very tired.
And lots and lots of Daruma Dolls.
Bodhi Darma meditated so well that he no longer needed to move to get food or water, so his arms and legs fell off from atrophy. Now, in doll form, he grants wishes.
Then, Keiko and I went to the Ikaho Matsuri, where I had been on Monday passing out fans. I saw this pile of turtles, which was really sad.
And also saw kids carrying Mikoshi up stairs at night. Ikaho is a cute town, by the way. When you all come to visit me, I'll take you.
Here are the kids.
Sorry this post is a little sparse on details. Kitty has taken to attacking my fingers while I type, so I am trying to finish before she wakes up. Aloha!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are those turtles alive? I thought they were fake

Anonymous said...

We used to buy that kind of turtle in Chinatown when I was a little girl. We would take them home but, sadly, they only lasted a couple of days.

Some of the temples are quite beautiful.

I was surprised to see the kids all barefoot on sports day.

I look forward to seeing some of these exciting things when we get there.

Also, not to put additional pressure on you, but if you can't find a home for the cat, does that mean that you won't be able to travel to Tokyo with us?