Backlog

It's been a while since I've posted on here. Almost a month again. That's pretty bad on my part, but I completely know the reason for it. In the end of September I lost my camera. Usually these blog entries end up going up when I have pictures with a story behind them, and it's been a while since I had any to share. Not that my life isn't full of events and adventures... (ha). 

Regardless, I was able to get some pictures off the camera that I'm borrowing from my friend, so here are some incredibly backlogged photos from the month of October and November.

This is pretty self explanatory. I already posted Halloween photos, but I thought this was worth sharing. I went to a Halloween party held for kids in the Koka City area. It was organized by an international organization in the area and the English ALTs volunteered to help. On the left is Jessica, as Pikachu. I am Doraemon. We are some angry (cute?) characters! Happy Halloween!

This is a Doll Festival that happened in mid-October. It was a small local shrine that's nearby an ALT who lives a town over. A few times a year they hold a festival to cleans the spirits and life forces from old dolls and toys before they are thrown away. All of the dolls in this picture once belonged to someone, but are now "dead". After the priest finishes the ceremony the dolls are up for grabs. I grabbed a few for safekeeping. 

In the beginning of November I attended the Yuru Chara festival in Hikone. Many of the geographica areas in Japan are represented by their own character. This tradition began in Hikone with Hikonyan, Hikone Castle's cat mascot. This festival is held at least every year. You can walk around Hikone Castle park and meet all of the mascots, see shows, by souvenirs, and generally be enthralled by the sheer number of people in costumes. This Bear melon headed thing was one of the more ridiculous ones. 

Another major event in early November was my school's Bunkasai Festival. 文化 ("bunka") means culture, and the Bunkasai is a day in which the students and teachers do not attend regular classes and instead hold a singing competition, present artwork, and hold club demonstrations. For a few weeks leading up to the Bunkasai, the students and teachers spend a lot of time practicing and preparing for the performances that will occur. Each homeroom class performs a song in front of the entire school and an outside judge assesses and grades the students based on various aspects of their performance. Everyone takes it very seriously, and enjoy showing their artistic achievements to the parents who attend. This picture is of the brass band performance that took place in the afternoon. 

As always, purikura happened.... 

And recently, I got an oven! It's handy, and I've already made a few things this week. While my first batch of cookies wasn't as successful as I would have hoped, this quiche and the muffins that I made the night before were delicious. I love being able to bake! 

Today I had the day off to celebrate 感謝祭, or Japanese Thanksgiving and Labor Day. Since the Japanese don't celebrate same type of Thanksgiving that we do in the US, my friend Ann and I took the opportunity to make a bunch of food, watch movies, and listen to music. All in all, not a bad thing to do on a Wednesday. It's going to be strange going back to work tomorrow, let me tell you. 

Speaking of, it's time for me to get some sleep. Elementary School calls tomorrow!