Now that the dust has settled on Thanks Giving, I can give you all the low down on my weekend. I went off to Nagano City with my friends Tom and Dec. We went to visit Tom’s home stay family who is now akin to his real family. They call him their son. We stayed in the guest house which is nicer than my actual house. A giant meal was consumed and I got to hold a cute little baby. This country has some beautiful children. It was a splendid time! After that, we went to a Samurai Festival were the descendents of actual Samurai and Ninja come to a small town near Nagano City and get out their reenactment gear. There were many types of Samurai, some on horseback, some shooting at things, some marching in a parade. It was good times. We got to meet the Mayor and a member of parliament who happened to be there. There is always time to have your photo taken with some random foreigners if you are the mayor of Samurai town I guess. It was also my first time to see a Taicho performance which is traditional Japanese drumming. It was very cool.
The guest house we were staying in was a block away from the temple and shrine in that town. I got up early and walked down there to see what they were up to. There was some kind of pre-festival preparations and dancing going on. Then the paraded past me with a big tray of breakfast. If I ad known what awaited me in terms of breakfast I would have joined them. After the guys had finally dragged their lazy British behinds out of bed, we went next door for breakfast. Waiting on my plate was a whole grilled silver fish, a bowl of rice and some miso soup with shell fish in it. It’s hard to eat a whole fish at that time of day. I mean a whole fish, eyes, tail, fins and all. I did eat it though. It wasn’t easy but they were such nice people, I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. I am going back to see them next month at which time they plan to dress me in a kimono and take me to the temple for some pictures. They home stay mom’s hobby is internationalizing with people. She was a very nice lady. She gave me a hug which is extremely unusual to have happen to you in Japan. We caught the train home and tried to remember the lyrics of songs people sing at base ball games. The two Japanese kids who were sitting beside us were in stitches listening to these two foreigners singing on the train. And the fact that Tom (who is a giant in this country) was sprawled out sleeping on the floor.
I was mysteriously sick that night and have been for the past three days. I think I have some kind of flu bug. But we carried on with Thanks Giving anyway because no one knows what it is here so I wanted to do it. I had eight people over to the house which is a challenge I’ll tell you! I had one Australian, a South African and the rest were brits. It was a lot of fun explaining our different traditions to each other and a huge challenge to cook the whole meal in my tiny micro wave oven and two gas elements. In the end, we managed to make chicken, various veg and dressing along with a huge amount of wine, desserts and tea. I had to use every dish and piece of cutlery I owned.I finished knitting another scarf. I gave this one to Gisela. I gave the first one to Dec. I am now making a hat for Gisela. Knitting feels very purposeful. I have never attempted a hat but I have imagined how it will look. Hope you all had a great thanks giving and plenty of rest.