I am back to work now after a long weekend. We have two of them in a row. This weekend was Respect for the Elderly Day and next weekend will be Fall Equinox Day. Since I started work six weeks ago, I have only worked two five-day work weeks. These people love their holidays. Friday was Sports Day at most elementary schools in the area. Sports Day is pretty cool. It isn’t about competition on an individual basis. The whole school is divided into red or white based on the colour of their hats (which are reversible). They do things like “stances” which are all about making forms of things with their bodies. This was seriously cool. They made Matsumoto castle out of about 40 kids. It's like sheep dog trials, the teacher blows a whistle and kids fall into formations. It is all about form and beauty. There were also “horse races”. This is an event for girls where four of them will lift up one girl. That girl will then try to take the hats off other riders. If the horse breaks, then they are out. There were also relay races and giant tug of wars with a huge piece of bamboo. There was also a lot of traditional dancing and cheering involving fan displays and slow taichi-type movements.
On Saturday, I went to Nagano City to go shopping. It is about an hour away by express train. I had bought the ticket a month ago and thought that I had better use it. This shopping day was the most depressing day of my life so far. I knew I wouldn’t be able to buy clothes but I didn’t bring any jeans with me and I really wanted a pair. I asked where I could find larger sizes and I was directed to a department store. By larger sizes, they meant that they went up to size six. Also, did you know there is a size smaller than zero? Well there is. I found shirts that fit but no pants. The shirts weren’t that great so I just didn’t bother. I came home with four postcards. It was a nice train trip though.
On Sunday, I was woken up by very loud fireworks. They like to use them at any time of day here. I don’t know if they are practicing them or what but it was 8:30 in the morning. Because I as already awake, I got up and went to a Scarecrow festival and ate some corn. they offered me a bag of goldfish but I declined. It was good times. The scarecrows were all made by neighbouring schools. I met several of my students there, including little Wataru, a four year old I teach in the evenings. He is very cute. He showed me the scarecrow his kindergarten school made. Kindergartens are often attached to elementary schools but have much younger children. Sometimes they have a petting zoo as well. It is a little bit more like day care I think. The scarecrows are made to keep the birds away from the grapes. I have never eaten so many grapes in my life. Here they eat the seeds but not the skin. You are just supposed to suck the content out of each grape. After this scarecrow mission, I took a two hour bike ride into the country. I ended up in some neighbouring town and had to find my way back. I was very hot out. I came home and had a shower and a nap.
On Monday, I went out and respected some old people for a while in honour of their holiday. I did it from a distance, mind you. I saw a few of them working in their gardens and I gave them the thumbs up. Wait to go! I also saw them harvesting some rice. I stopped and took a picture. Right now, I can here one of my grade seven students pounding her way through piano repertoire that I would normally hear on a third year university jury. I think she may be super human though. Next weekend I believe I am going to Tokyo with the girls. Should be interesting…