Summer Festival: Tanabata

July 7th is a Summer Festival Holiday called Tanabata.

Story goes something like this.

A celestial maiden, Tanabata, comes to earth and while bathing in a pool, a man steals her heavenly robes. Thus, she cannot return to heaven. Sad. So Tanabata ends up marrying the guy. One day, she finds her robes! DUN DUN DUN! So she puts them on and returns to heaven.

Dude is sad.

But Tanabata told him that if he made 1,000 straw sandels to prove his love AND planted them around a palm tree, he would be able to see her again. So he made A LOT of sandels but unfortunately, he lost count. So when he planted them around the tree, the tree grew ENORMOUSLY and rose up far into the sky.

Dude climbed the tree and realized he was ONE SANDEL short. So he called out to Tanabata and they were reunitied. Awwwwwww.

But wait, the god of the stars is most displeased his daughter should be with a mortal. So he tells the man to tend the heavenly fruit garden, but may never eat anything. The dude is MORTAL: he's gotta eat. So he gives into temptation and then WHOOSH, the Milky Way comes between him and Tanabata, and they are forever separated. Sad awwwwwww.

However, these two can be seen in the sky as the stars, something and something else, and once a year, July 7th, they can be seen opposite each other from across the Milky Way. How sweet.

The End.



I met friends in front of the train station to attend the festival together. However, there were SO MANY people there, I could only get shots by looking up.
The sign says "Shimizu Tanabata Festival". I live in Shimizu in case you forgot.



A picture portraying the folk tale.



It's tradition that people write wishes on slips of paper and attach them to bamboo, symbolizing the wish to be reunitied and the role of the palm tree.
Honestly, if I were a star-crossed lover, the last thing I would want to do would be to read the wishes of other people on the ONE DAY I get to be with my soulmate. Just a thought.



More decorations featuring a beloved anime "Sazae-san".



After, friends and I went to the beach to enjoy some fireworks.
Yuuzo



Laura and Eri.


And just because it looks cool.

文化祭 (Bunkasai) - The Culture Festival: Fun Times

The start of the Culture Festival! Here are 3 members of the Student Association, both vice principals, and the principal of my school.




Making anko (red bean) sweets



Hallway Decorations



Some of my juniors.

文化祭 (Bunkasai) - The Culture Festival: Shodo Demonstration

During lunch break, the shodo club (calligraphy) put on a demonstration.




This one is actually backwards. I think it is supposed to be shodonchu.






I have no idea what this says.

文化祭 (Bunkasai) - The Culture Festival: Kyudo Demonstration

After lunch, the kyudo club (Japanese Archery) put on a great performance!

The definition of miserable.

miserable: adjective.
1. very unhappy: experiencing a serious lack of contentment or happiness
2. very unpleasant: causing or accompanied by discomfort, unpleasantness, or unhappiness.
3. contemptible: deserving contempt or condemnation
4. inadequate: inadequate, often insultingly or embarrassingly inadequate, in quantity or quality.
5. dirty or squalid: dirty, squalid, and lacking any comfort

I especially want to focus on points 2-5. I can be happy and still be uncomfortable.

It is 92 degrees today. There is no air-conditioning. There are no ceiling fans. There are no fans at all. No wind is blowing in through the open windows. And I am recovering from a summer head cold, chills 'n' fever, my own kleenex box, the works.

The rainy season has only begun and I'm already "miserable".

I am totally buying a clipfan for my desk in the staffroom.

A Brickwall of Homesickness

It kinda hit me all at once.

I knew perfectly well that my mom had only the slimmest chance of coming to Japan this summer, and I told myself not to get my hopes up and I thought I hadn't. After all, I can be rational and logical. Of course, only after the fact that it's for certain she isn't coming do I feel the full effect of her absence.

On top of that, yesterday was Father's Day. I suppose Father's Day was doubly sentimental... maybe even triply (tripley?)... since I had spent Father's Day at Camp Tahkodah for almost a decade. Of course, my thoughts are towards Daddy, but I get a little nostalgic thinking of the 2nd Sessioners that are being visited by their parents, getting to swim in Salado Creek, walk along the Lower Darn, etc. I am kinda jealous of their youth and carefree-ness.

So today, Monday, I am having a hard time being motivated at my job. There are 2 weeks until final exams and maybe 2 weeks after that to come up with random activities before the end of the first semester. I think it is 10,000 shades of idiotic to have final exams and then STILL have classes after. Final Exams are called Final Exams because they are FINAL. THE END. CLOSURE. DONE. FINITO. ETC. -.- Ugh.....

And have I complained yet about how Japanese teachers don't get summer vacation? Yeah... I have to use my last 5 days of paid vacation to host a friend. Definitely looking forward to the visit, but certainly NOT looking forward to using paid vacation when there are no classes, no students at school, but teachers gotta be there. D-U-M-B, DUMB!

To end on a positive note, I bought a really cute teapot. I broke the lid of the previous one and Japan doesn't sell teapot lids. It is the same color as the blue serving dish Granddaddy gave my mom. Mom, if you are reading this, I really want that bowl, the bamboo tea set, and the piano. I can settle for just the piano though ;)

Superstitions

To get my students out of a slump, I had a culture lesson about superstitions. I suppose I could've waited to use this until Halloween, but it's also the Culture Festival soon, so here is some culture!

Japanese superstitions, the good and the bad (but mostly bad).

If you whistle at night, a snake will appear.

If your naval is facing the thunder when it claps, the Thunder God will capture your naval.

If you find a tea stem floating upright in your tea, you will have happiness all your life.

If you cut yourself with a nail, you will not be able to be with your parents on their deathbeds.

If you do not eat all the rice you are served, your eyes will be taken out.

A certain combination on a yellow license plate is supposed to be lucky.

If you step on an ant, it will rain.

I don't remember many of the good ones... the bad ones seemed a lot more interesting.