A Wonderful Day...

What a day! I just had one of those days that makes up for about 16 bad days.

It was a lovely (If not a little chilly) Sunday morning when I awoke lazily and Maia and I did nothing of consequence for about two hours.
Then, the day started.
Now, before I continue, allow me to share a little story from a couple of months ago.
At the beginning of the summer, Maia and I went to Cocos for dinner and we spotted Katie, a fellow English teacher, giving a private English lesson to an older Japanese lady (Many of us take on private tutoring, not just kids, but all ages). Katie introduced me to her and I thought she was a very interesting lady. Maia and I left her and Katie to continue their lesson.

During summer break, Ms. Team Teacher unexpectedly retired. Which is a shame, but I could see it. The kids didn’t like her much, and they were pretty good at expressing their feelings to her. I think the pressure got to her.

So, for about a month into this school year, we were without the Team Teacher position. Which was a little bit of a strain on the English department as we all had to pitch in to help fill the gaps and all.

So about a month in to the year, I am called into the Principals office (Along with the rest of the English Department, to meet our new Team Teacher… And it turns out to be the lady from Cocos! Who promptly looks at me and says: “Guy-Sensei! Do you remember me? I met you and Maia-Sensei that one time!” At the mention of Maia, Mr. Second year looks at me with a quizzical look (a “How did she know about Maia?” look). I tell her (Not so terribly truthfully) that I did remember her (I actually knew I had met her, but I couldn’t tell where or when… Except for Maia, everyone I have met over the last 9 months has been a brand-new face… so it’s sorta all a blur).

Thus, Ms. New Team Teacher… whom we shall call “Ms. Team Teacher” because it’s easier…

Now, onto the great day!

The morning starts at 10:30 as Sensei (My Kyudo Sensei) has ordered me to meet him in the Town Square (Which is circular) at that time. I show up and there are a whole bunch of MyTown High School students dressed in traditional Japanese Armor with bows and arrows and the whole getup.
Sensei gets to meet Maia, she introduces herself, chats in Japanese with Sensei and then Sensei gets this big grin on his face and says: “Your Japanese is so good! His is horrid.” He says, pointing to me.

To her credit, Maia politely disagrees with him. But I am laughing (I did, amazingly enough, understand that).

They start practice, and I start to videotape (More stuff you, as my family, will undoubtedly be subjected to upon my return… and yes this means you, too Nick, as you know, my family is not limited to blood relations).

The Archers then begin a series of really neat military drills.

Then we break for lunch, at which time Maia and I decide to try to get lunch out of town.

Now, the problem is, MyTown is pretty much the hub of this part of the state, thus, all roads lead to it. And the main road, of which all roads lead to, has been blocked off for the festival… meaning, the traffic leading into and out of town is insane. It takes Maia and I all of our allotted time to get out of town and then back again (All of the restaurants were packed).
But that’s okay, we got to wander the Japanese countryside for a while (Because I am my father’s son, and I did everything I could, including driving 20 miles out of my way, to avoid that traffic jam)
We get back and the festivities are about to begin, so I get back and I discover that I am being placed right next to the stage with my camera. I am as close to the festivities as it gets! So I set up and start rolling tape.

The festivities begin with a man, in traditional Japanese armor, going on at length in stilted, ancient sounding Japanese about the beginnings of the festival, at which time a parade of Samurai come into the main arena and sit down, followed by a cadre of Archers (Our High school Kyudo club), followed by the city officials, also decked out in armor as well (Most of them, anyway). There is a lengthy introduction set (That’s very traditional Japanese… long speeches). At which time…

Evil Samurai attack! And a whole mock battle happens, complete with staves and swords and all kinds of neat things.

Then (After the evil Samurai are repelled), we go into our archery demonstration, Sensei explains all kinds of things, then the Archers start attacking the target, sometimes in teams, sometimes in unison, pretty much exactly like the practice, except the crowd is cheering us on.

It was all very cool, and that wasn’t the end. We ran into Ms. Team Teacher whom was visiting the festival. She had a friend with her (And Katie) and the five of us watched the rest of the parade and had food from the vendors.

Then, as we were standing on the street, Ms. Team Teacher and her friend go into a shop on the main street for a moment. They come out a minute later and invite us in as well. It’s a jewelry shop and very nice. Apparently, Team Teachers friend is a longtime friend of the shop owner, and thus she invited all of us in for coffee and Manju (It’s a Japanese sweet). We sit and chat and have a grand old time and then we each go our separate ways.

There’s more to this story, but I think I’ll fill it in more later. Dad and Tio are waiting for pictures! :D

----Me.