Another wonderful weekend!

This past weekend was another activity filled yet wonderful weekend.  On Friday night, we invited several friends over for a pizza party.  We’ve been wanting to do it for a while, and Friday night worked for everyone.  We wanted to have it at someone else’s place since ours is so small, but it seemed like everyone else couldn’t.  We weren’t sure exactly how many people were coming, so fitting multiple people in our house was going to be……interesting.  I didn’t get home until 5:45 since I had to stay and help with English competition practice.  As soon as I walked in the door, Ian asked me to go to the super market to pick up a few things he had forgotten.  He was busy making the dough and had run out of time.  I didn’t even have time to change.  Once I got back, he said that I needed to go to the train station and pick up one of our friends.  Whenever I got back, I had to go back to the super market because one of our friends was lost and waiting in the parking lot for me to show her the way.  I had to return AGAIN to the super to pick up pineapple for one of our pizza toppings, came back, and we were out of cheese, so back AGAIN I went to the super.  I’m pretty sure those cashiers thought I was crazy, lol. 

The actual party itself was fun. We all had a great time.  I don’t know how many little individual pizzas we made in addition to the garlic cheese bread and nearly five liters of coke we went through.    It was a good night.  We stayed up looooooooooong after our bedtime.  Three of our friends decided to spend the night, and we were up until 4AM talking, laughing, and discussing things.  It was a really, really good party.  In addition, we learned that if we want good American pizza, all we have to do is make it. 

Since we went to bed so late on Friday, I did NOT want to wake up on Saturday.  It was very difficult to do so.  I’m not a morning person, and anyone that knows me well enough knows that.  I’m fine if I wake on my own terms, ie no alarms, but if I wake up for one reason or another or don’t have the right amount of sleep, world watch out!    I think my friends quickly realized this.  I didn’t bite anyone’s head off, but I did lay and bed and growl as people woke up and got noisy. 

Everyone left around 10AM, and that gave us a little time to lay around before meeting back up with the gang in Hitoyoshi at 3:15.  I wanted to talk to people back home on skype, but no one was online!  Usually, the weekends are the only time that I get to talk to multiple people, so it was a little disappointing.  We were able to talk to one friend, which made me very happy.  The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent very sluggishly.  We were both exhausted from the night before. 

Every year at this time, Yatsushiro (a big city in Kumamoto) has a huge fireworks display. It’s rumored to be the biggest one on Kyushu (my island) and possibly all of Japan.  We picked up one friend and met several others in Hitoyoshi around 3PM.  We knew it would be stupid to drive since the traffic would be horrific, so we took the train.  It was a pretty fun ride there.  We all love hanging out with each other, so we talked and laughed and carried on.  Once we arrived at the Yatsushiro station, we were incredibly glad that we had ridden the train.  People were EVERY WHERE.  It was quite ridiculous.  We were afraid that our return train might be full, so we bought our tickets just in case.  There were attendants directing us and handing out maps about which way to go.  We all had to use the bathroom, so we waited in line for a good twenty minutes before following the crowds toward the fireworks.  Up and down the streets, there were stands full of delicious carny food, Japanese style.  While things looked very appetizing, we wanted to make our way to the park where the fireworks would take place before buying everything we could get our hands on.  Although a walk from the station to the park would probably only take ten minutes on a normal day, it probably took us thirty since the crowds were so thick.  We had to cross a bridge across the river to get to the park, and the bridge was still open to vehicular traffic, so there were tons of people, including us, trying to cross on the sidewalk.  I will say this for the Japanese—they are remarkably organized and patient.  All along our route, attendants were stationed to mark the way.  Plus, despite the enormous crowd, no one was pushing or shoving or trying to beat everyone else. 

At the park, we indulged ourselves in carny food.  Ian got tako, which are little fried octopus balls, I got an ear of corn that was probably about a foot long, and we both got crepes and bubble tea.  There were tons of stands selling noodles, fried chicken, tempura, squid, octopus, crepes, chocolate bananas, fried calzones, etc, etc, etc.  I wanted one of everything (well, minus the seafood)!  When we actually made our way to a good spot in the park, the fireworks were amazing.  I saw fireworks that I’ve NEVER seen in the States.  There were ones that exploded into smiley faces, waterfalls, flowers, and hearts.  In the States, all the good fireworks are saved for the very end, and the finale is good.  In Yatsushiro, it was like the finale ALL THE TIME.    Each company sponsored a five(ish) minute display, and each was bigger and more beautiful than the last.  Think of whatever fireworks you see at the Fourth of July and multiply that by 100.  I promise to upload pictures to facebook soon.

Whenever the display was over, we made a bee line for the exit.  Once again, the crowds were ridiculous, but also once again, there was no pushing, shoving, or people acting like idiots.  Actually, we were the ones acting like idiots.  We had to hold onto one another to not lose anyone, and Ian was our fearless leader.  He was VERY good at moving through the crowd with a train of six other people behind him.  Half the time, we weren’t in a straight line, but more of a constantly changing ameba shaped blob, which we endearingly called “blob formation.”  We arrived at the train station and feared that we would be packed in tightly into our train cars.  We watched train attendants on trains heading toward the city shove more and more people on board.  Whenever it was our train approaching the tracks, we lined up quickly and got ready to hop on board as fast as humanly possible.  However, our little two car train rolled into the station, and only about ten people got on.  We were so concerned about even GETTING ON the train, yet we were almost the only people in our car, lol.  Sometimes there are benefits of living in the middle of no where.   

Sunday morning was a blissful morning of sleeping in.  I was hoping to catch people at home on skype, but alas, no one was online again.  We talked to Kim again, which was nice.  I made a horrendous breakfast of burned pancakes.  They were terrible.  I guess I didn’t save the delicious pancake recipe that I had found, so I tried a new one.  The batter was extremely thin, it burned too quickly, and the unburned pancakes tasted like nothing.  EPIC FAIL. 

Sunday afternoon we rode with Krista to Hitoyoshi to meet other friends at Baskin Robbins for ice cream.  Krista recently got pet turtles and wanted to stop at a pet store.  They had different pets there, and while she shopped, Ian and I enjoyed watching the other animals.  Ian feel in love with the ferrets and has been bothering me ever since about getting a ferret.  I don’t want a pet here, but Ian does.  I don’t have anything against pets, but a) our house is ridiculously small as is, b) not sure if we’re even allowed pets, c) ferrets creep me out……they look like something you would find squashed along the side of the road, and d) right now we’re living free and easy……if we want to take a weekend trip somewhere, we can.  With a ferret (or any animal!) we’d have to think about it before hopping off anywhere.  What happens when we come home next summer for a few weeks?  Who’s going to take take of it then?  I told Ian that we could get a pet whenever we get back to the States, but I’m really not comfortable having one here.  That hasn’t stopped him from nagging me about it.  For example, if I ask him to turn off a light he’s not using, he’ll say, “Sure….if we can get a ferret.”  If I ask him to help me with my computer, he’ll say, “Okay….if we can get a ferret.”  Ugh. 

I could go on and on into further details about our Sunday activities, but I think I’ll stop here.  This blog is already rather lengthy, and if you’ve made it to this point, I commend you.