Tanabata, the best holiday ever conceived.

Phew! Done with my Speech, done with my final, and now its the 4 day break!  So time to bring everything up to speed.

When we last left our heros, it was Tanabata, on 7/7/09.  What a holiday! Picture the fourth of July- fireworks, hot dogs, beer, picnics, etc.  Now picture halloween- kids walking from house to house dressed up getting candy.  Now fuse them together into the ultimate holiday, and Tanabata is born!

In class, we hung up papers with prayers written on them onto a bamboo tree, and all over Hakodte you would see various decorations.  Wehn I got home I helped set stuff up- we had guests coming! My host cousin Kai, my host grandma (who I met for the first time) and several of mamasan's friends.  Those friends ended up bringing watermelon, which is a very kind gesture in Japan.  My host family goes all out on Tanabata.  One thing I helped set up was the barbecue grill and chairs in the front lawn.  And to think I complained about not having a fourth of July!  I even got my hotdog!  

Although as seen by the grill, there are also some not so classic American dishes, like the huge barbecued squid in the middle of the grill.  Also, the "Ikameshi" which is the dish I showed a picture of yesterday-- It's a squid head chopped open, stuffed with rice, cooked then sealed and served.  Amazingly very delicious!

The main event of the holiday though are the kids! While we sit in front of the house eating food, drinking, and talking, kids go from door to door singing the traditional song.  And once they sing it...you give them a prize! Our family gave out water balloon yoyos, which were a big hit (although really hard to make!)  Traditionally kids dress in Kimonos, but nowadays only about half of them do.  If you're interested in seeing the song, see the video I attached at the bottom!

At night fall, we all continued eating and talking.  Kai and his little friend returned home victorious, with all kind of toys and candy.  And next, to make the holiday even more fourth of julyier, Sparklers!

It was a blast!  But the next day I had my big speech, and I had to have it completely committed to memory.    So time to study.  I'm sort of tired maybe I'll do it in the morni...

"KURISU?" It's 7:40AM the next day, and I still haven't fully memorized my speech.  ahhh! On the plus side, it was raining and I tend to sleep really well when it rains.  It also meant that mamasan offered to drive me to school, since she had planned to drop shinon off anyway!  I practiced the whole way and it went great! After school, returned home and studied butt off for today's test which went surprisingly well!

Afterwards, time to treat myself to ice cream. Meanwhile one of my crazy friends Juan Miguel decided to do the "Challenge."  8 scoops.  20 Seconds.  Do it, and its free.  He did it in 23 seconds!! beastly.  And painful looking.  but unfortunately, not within the time limit.

Tonight, dinner was great and the TV shows were greater.  Some highlights included a show where they show a man and a woman, but both are dressed like women.  You have to figure out which one is which! Another AMAZING show they would never have in america is the one pictured above.  People have to do a set of challenges in a random sleeping person's hotel room at 3:00AM.  For example, this person had to transfer two lobsters from one tank into another with his bare hands without waking the woman in the back.  I don't know who comes up with this but my god please move to America. This is awesome.

High: Tanabata, the ultimate holiday.

Low: Tanabata, the ultimate procrastination of homework day.

Hero: Mamasan for driving me to school when it was raining and practicing my speech with me until I had it committed to memory! 

And here's the video of Tanabata! Things of Note: mamasan's laughter which happens all the time and brightens my day, the crazy assortment on the grill, the tons of kids singing all the time, and me saying "I like this festival" in japanese!