Yosakoi dance festival

Had a fun day yesterday... I went to the Yosakoi Matsuri (dance festival). It was very cool!! People even came from Hokkaido and Korea and China to dance in it!!! For 2 1/2 days, they danced their way up the arcade, highway 35 and on a big stage on the oval nearby. The teams varied greatly in size - from 10 to 100, and their costumes were bright and beautiful!! The dancing was unreal! Many of the dances had a tribal feel with a bit of an oriental twist, and a touch of hip hop mixed in there! And all the dances were performed with such energy and emotion! It was such a fun, festive feel! On the oval, which was the main performance area, they had all these festival stands set up where you could buy food, drinks and festival stuff like souveneirs and balloons - so much fun!! I bought a sausage on a stick and some souveneirs. I ended up staying til the end (8pm). After they announced the winner and they did their victory dance, everyone was allowed up on the stage for a big dance party! They played cool music, and everybody was dancing on the stage and on the grass around the stage! So much fun!! I like festival crowds!

Had a yummy lunch today, by the way. Couldn't decide whether to have pancakes or tuna casserole, so I had... tuna pancakes!!! I know, it sounds gross, but it was really yummy!! Flat pancakes, with tuna, cheese and mayo on half, then fold the pancake over so its like a burrito... mmmm! Try it!!

Micah 6:8

The Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what He requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Working, that's what I do, I go working

Oct is a busy, busy month... a couple of teachers, Matt & David, left at the beginning of the month, so I'm doing lots of overtime this month - have gone from 3 full days and 2 half days to 6 full days a week. Combine that with a couple extra days b/c of shift swaps from last month, and it makes for not much time left for anything else. Which means I have nothing interesting to blog about! :( Although, I am going to Okinawa on the 6th of November to visit Chizuru!! Yay!! It's a little island south of Japan. Very exciting!! Hope you all are having fun and not working too hard! XXOO

You know you're in Japan when...

~ Voice class is moved to the kids classroom, and your boss says, nah, don't worry about rustling up some chairs, and sure enough, your adult students waltz in, remove their shoes and plop happily down on the floor, ready for their English lesson!

~ you pull into a petrol station, and before you can get out of the car, 3 staff come running up - one to fill your tank, one to take your money and one to wash your windscreen, then they even run out on the road to stop the traffic so you can get out again!

~ a customer comes into work right on closing time, and instead of being asked to leave, the staff sit down and discuss the customer's needs for 45 min (unpaid overtime, of course).