The Month of October

So much to my mother's dismay, I've been falling behind on updates. So sorry. While life here may seem like all fun and games, it really isn't. Okay, so a lot of it is, but I do have a job and this past month was a smack-on-the-head reminder that I am employed.

Takko 2009...oohh good times :)

As many of you know, the first weekend of this month was the Takko Garlic & Beef Festival and was the mark of the one year anniversary of my first Takko visit. This particular trip was the exact trip that I took one year ago as queen, but this year was going to be quite different. Minus a couple very important people and changing my perspective from queen to CIR, the trip was nearly the exact same schedule with the same activities, but felt very different.

Takko Garlic Ladies '09 & '10
with Garlic Queens '09 & '10

After being here for four months, the novelty of me transitioning from queen status to CIR has pretty much worn off, especially since the excitement of having this year's queen and crew come to the G&B Festival was rising on the regular. However, repeat attendees of the festival who are not native to Takko were not aware of the change of position. While the confusion of "oh wait, you were here last year...but now you're CIR?" only happened a few times, me being pulled into pictures with people happened more than once (and yes, Patrick, you won that bet).

Teppan yaki nom noms

The entire Takko portion of the trip was very surreal. I totally related to what the Gilroy group was feeling during the parties, the festival and saying good bye on the final day. What was even more strange was remembering how much I had wished that I could stay in Takko longer last year and now...here I am!

Tokyo Tower

The Tokyo leg of the trip was going to be the real challenge for me. It would be my first time playing "real" tour guide in the city and I could hardly count myself as an expert of the sites and the railway systems. True, we all remember my and Kate's adventure in Tokyo (and how well that ended!...), but this would be totally different. We had a loose schedule that we *should* try to stick to, but being flexible was inevitable given that I had never been to one of the places we visited. After tackling Tokyo Station with everyone's luggage (add one more bag to that mix), we checked in to the hotel, had lunch and began our sightseeing tour.

Asakusa...ridiculous
tourist shopping

For dinner, we attempted to return to my favorite restaurant in Shibuya (that's right...I have favorite restaurants in Japan now. Classy)...it was closed. But in true Japanese fashion, the restaurant called over to a nearby place and had one of the waiters walk us over (we figured out later that they must be owned by the same people). When we got there, a table was all set for us and ready to go. Excellent.

The next day was more sightseeing (and extremely warm weather!) and then we headed to the airport and the group was on a plane back to America. Yasuyo and I enjoyed an おつかれさまです dinner from Dean & Deluca's on the Shinkansen ride home and before we knew it, we were back in Takko after a whirlwind of a week.

Who wouldn't want us?

Ran into one of my students
Look! They're matching!

I had two more days to rest before my next guest arrived. Yes, my friends. Keito chan of Chiba made the trek to Takko! AAAAHHHHH! Everyone must have been thinking that I was crazy to have a guest for the third weekend in a row, but such was not the case! We had some big plans ahead of us: two school festivals and a dinner at Ikeda Farms. For those of you who have never been to Takko before, spending the day window shopping or sightseeing (at least without a car) is near impossible. Lucky for me and my sanity, dear ol' Keito chan was down to hang out at the apartment, catch up and watch American TV online (oh the wonders of the internet). But when we weren't vegging out on my tatami floor, Kate got to see what it's like to live in a small town in Japan. Yes, being an American in Japan is definitely a novelty no matter where you are (maybe except Tokyo...maybe), but it is a completely new experience in a smaller town. I had been invited to three events over the weekend: Takko High School's "parade", for lack of a better word, through town; Shimizugashira Elementary's school festival (in America we could best describe it as a school pageant); Takko HS's school festival (more literally a festival held in the school). I guess I've been to a few of these events at this point so I don't think twice about it, but Kate mentioned that it was like being a diplomat everywhere we went. We made an appearance, walked around, and did the small talk with administrators and such. It seemed like Keito had a great time and I KNOW that the people of Takko got a kick out of her. Everyone was thrilled to have finally met my friend from Chiba that I kept talking about. When having dinner on her last night with my coworkers, one of them walked in and said "Keito chan! You are real person!"...yes, yes she is.

Happy Halloweenieeee!

Since then, I've been working what seems like nonstop. Soon after the Gilroy group left, I was all over planning for the next trip to Gilroy: Takko Jr High trip. Although the last trip home was a bit stressful being that it was my first official duty as CIR, this one has seemed to cause me a bit more anxiety. Hence, the reason I've been so MIA lately. Between that and teaching the children and adults of Takko about Halloween, things have been a bit crazy. And now...I have 4 days left until I fly back to California after being gone for three months. It marks the longest time I have ever been away from home. I will がんばれ！

This weekend is my last to prepare/pack for the trip but I'll also be decorating for the big Halloween party at the Garlic Center. What am I going to be? Sshhh...it's a secret! I promise...pictures will be included in the next entry :)

Can I be more Japanese?

A "You know you're in Japan when..." Moment: Shimizugashira, the school I rarely go to but I absolutely loving being at, invited me to help in harvesting their rice. Yes, harvesting rice. The school had planted a rice paddy earlier in the year with Patrick and now I was going to help them harvest it (adorable, I know). Commercially, rice is harvested in a much more efficient manner using large machinery, but we were going to do it the old-fashioned way...with sickles. So I marched over to the fields with the 30 students that attend the school (yes, 30 total) and we all grabbed a sickle and went to it. Shockingly, even with 30 kids running around with very sharp objects that looked like they belonged in the Children of the Corn movie, no one was sent to the hospital or even injured. Well done, Shimizu!

We did the entire field
in about 2 hours

Coming Up...: The teachers of Shimizu (again!) have invited me to an enkai this Friday night. I'm foregoing all responsibilities that evening and I'm going to hang out with those fabulous people. An enkai is an excuse for people to get wasted-face with their coworkers and completely let go of any inhibitions that they may have at work. Will let you know how that goes.

Mata ne!