On Saturday morning I Skyped my sister, Christina. We usually Skype on Thursday or Friday nights, but (bless her heart!) when she called me on Friday night, the kids were going crazy, so I told her to call me back on Saturday morning. We talked for about half an hour, but we had to cut it off because Ian and I had to begin on weekend adventure!
The plan was to go to the Aso fire festival on Saturday night, stay the night, and then drive back on Sunday. We drove our little putt-putt car, but I was very pleased with it! Yes, our car is old. Yes, it has mold growing in the back. Yes, the doors won’t lock. Yes, if you slam on the brakes too hard, the seat belts sometimes unbuckle, but dang it….it’s a pretty good car! It faithfully took us to Aso and back and plenty of places in between. That was the longest trip we’ve taken it, and we feel pretty good with the outcome! Of course, we didn’t take it on the expressway…..I’m not that brave yet, so we did have to take the long way. 
Mary, Justine, Melissa, Ian, and I planned to meet at Mary’s house and leave from there around noon since Mary had nursery school graduation that morning. Melissa had to cancel, and David called the night before to see if he and his girlfriend, Ikumi, could ride up with us. We picked up Justine on the way but had to wait a bit for Mary to get back. As we rounded the corner to her house, some of her neighborhood kids saw us, and immediately ran over to our car. They kept their distance, but I got out of the car and ran over to them. The three girls were probably around upper elementary age, but the little boy was only two years old and kept asking me what I was. HAHAHAHA! He was confused as to what the big dumb foreigner was! We started playing tag. 
I tried to get Ian and Justine to play, but they stayed in the car. I had fun and was actually sad when Mary pulled up. The kids might not have spoken it, but I’m pretty sure that there was a collective “oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh!” whine that kids make when play time is over.
I drove myself, Justine, and Ian, and Mary drove Ikumi and David. The 219 goes to Yatsushiro and follows the Kuma River gorge. It’s an absolutely beautiful drive. What makes it even better now is that the sakura (cherry blossoms) are blooming. You can see little pink blossoms on all of the trees. Other than stopping for lunch/potty breaks we made good time to Kumamoto where we picked up Ana and Michael. Michael rode with us, and I felt so bad for him squeezed into our back seat! Onward we went to Nishihara, Rebeca’s village, to meet up with Rebeca, her boyfriend Yuusuke, Shara, Krista, other Ian, Amanda, and Rachel. We piled into four cars and caravanned to a burger restaurant. I felt like our car was slowing the pack. Since we have a yellow plate, our engine is smaller than the standard one in a white plate car. With four people loaded in it, the pedal pushed to the floor, and trying to drive up a mountain, our little car often makes horrendous noises. (Fun fact—Ian’s motorcycle at home has a bigger engine than our car.) We finally made it there, and the burger place was awesome! It had an authentic western/biker bar feel to it, complete with motorcycles, rocking chairs, and wooden barrels. There were about twenty of us, and we really filled the place up! 
After that we drove on to Aso City. The festival was at the Aso shrine. I soon realized that wearing a white coat to a fire festival probably wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. Ash was falling from the sky, and it smeared little black streaks all over my coat. The festival itself was A LOT of fun. It reminded me of the Japanese version of the Fourth of July…..there were blatant drunk rednecks and fire. 
Anyone who wanted to could pick up a little bale of dried Aso grass, stick it in the fire, and twirl it by an attached rope. It’s a purification right. I saw young kids all the way up to old women twirling fire balls. I lost count of how many almost-accidents I saw, but there were fire fighters EVERYWHERE. Everyone in our group wanted to do it, but I was terrified. After a little peer pressure and my own determination, I did it! (below left) I shared a bale with a friend. Once he finished having his fun, he passed it off to me. It was scary, but as the bale flung through the air, the fear left. That was such an amazing experience, and now I can officially say that I have twirled fire. Whenever each of us did it, the Japanese onlookers focused their cameras on us to see the crazy foreigners. The festival really didn’t last for very long. We were there for maybe an hour. If it wasn’t such a once-in-a-lifetime thing, I would have been a little upset that we drove so far for such a short time.
After the festival, our group fractured. Krista and Rebeca’s car load drove up to Fukuoka to spend the rest of the night in the city. Mary’s car headed back to Kumamoto City, and Justine, David, Ian, and I spent the night at Rebeca’s house, which wasn’t too far away. She has the CUTEST little dog, Zuma. He’s a long hair Chihuahua and is absolutely precious. We all miss our pets at home, so we enjoyed playing with him. David and Justine slept on Rebeca’s spare futons, and Ian and I slept on Rebeca’s bed. That’s right….an actual bed! We’re so used to our futon, which is nothing more than a flat, uncomfortable pallet on the ground, that sleeping in an actual bed was such a treat!! We let Zuma sleep with us, and he was such a sweet cuddle buddy! He would curl up on top of the blanket into the crease of our legs (above, right). Anytime we moved during the night, he would reposition himself and continue to sleep. Adorable!
Yikes! I’m already too long-winded, and I haven’t even started on Sunday! Therefore, this seems like a good place to stop.
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