Homestay (2)

8/2

I wake up bright and early at the crack-o-dawn to go for a walk with my host mother before she goes to work. Probably the only outside-time I'm going to be able to stand once the heat kicks in. Adorably, the little boy insists on coming with us, even though he's clearly half-asleep and mom has to dress him while he stands there rubbing his eyes. What a cutie.

I kind of wish I'd brought my sneakers, because this place is great for jogging. Clean air, quiet, pretty scenery...oh well.

We talk a stroll out from the house and up to the dike, from which we have a great view of the river. The little boy rides along behind on his bike with training wheels...he's only like 5 or 6 years old, but I recall insisting on keeping my training wheels on until I was like 8 or something...I remember because I only ever rode behind the school on weekends when I was sure no one would see me. The shame...

After we got back, she left for work and I went back to my room to take a nap until the rest of the family woke up.

They fixed a great breakfast, just like back at Kamogawa - little egg, little salad, some miso, a bit of fish, pickles...yumm.

Later that afternoon, the lot of us loaded up in the car and we went to a riverside park for a picnic.

The river was really cool - the water was sparkling clean, and it seemed that this stretch of it had been dug out and rebuilt with gradiated steps and lots of large stones and bolders to step on and cross the river. The kids had a great time, and I tagged along with my video camera hoping for dear life that I would not slip and fall and/or drop my camera...luckily, we both made it out alive.

When we walked back up to the main park area, the kids showed me this rain-simulator called "AmeTarou" - "ame" is "rain", and "-tarou" is a common suffix one sees in Japanese boys' names, for instance "ShouTAROU" or "ShinTAROU".

It was kind of cool - it was a large shed with the front half of a truck inside that you sit in while it blasts rain at you at speed upward of 180 mml/sec. Unfortunately, Ai-chan did not like AmeTarou, and her reaction is on video at my YouTube channel...poor kid.

While we were hanging around the park, one of the groundskeeper guys showed us a monstrous beetle that is apparentlt native to the area (there are even large-scale statues of them) and that lots of people keep as pets. The kids, or course, both declared that the poor hapless creature was *theirs*.

For lunch we stopped at this fancy little soba shop up in the mountains. I had TenUdon, which was pretty bland compared with what I'm used to...they must use less oil in their fryer or something. But it was good.

Today is the Ina-Matsuri also.

So after we go back and "rest" for a while at the house, the daughter's husband comes home and the little girl just goes nuts 'cuz "papa" came home. Awwww...

Anyway, we pile into the mini-van and head into town. We actually get an awesome parking spot considering we're pretty close to the beginning of the festivities. Its just a short walk to the main street, and once we get there the crowds are really dense and its slow going to walk down the sidewalk.

We eventually stop somewhere towards the end of the parade line, and already I've seen several other people from the program. Most of the girls are in yukata, but I'm just in my regular clothes, and I kinda wish for a minute I'd bothered to buy one. On the other hand, I've always thought non-Asian people wearing that kind of get-up was a bit goofy looking. They just don't go together, IMO.

Anyway, the parade announcers get the crowd kinda worked up, and then the parade starts. They play a song throughout the whole thing based on this year's theme of "Dancing on the Road", or "Dancing on the Load", if you listen carefully to what actually is being said. Heh.

After we've been watching a little while, we actually join in the line and do this funny little side to side swaying-dance for a couple blocks, then, during one of the breaks, we skoot off to the food court area.

They had little cups of cut watermelon, which was really good, but probably my favorite thing was the Goheimochi, which is mochi/rice balls on a stick with a miso paste smothered on top. Yums.

As it starts getting dark, we move back toward the main street and they have some really cool floats going by.

On the way back home, we stop at a grocery store, and the grandfather buys a bunch of sparklers and little firecrackers.

Because I'm rather attached to my eyes, limbs, and other body parts, I decline to actually participate, but instead watch them blow-shit-up from about 15 feet away.

Hooray.

Bedtime...