ラベンダー (Lavender) Matsuri in Misato - July 2011

My tall friend & I

My first weekend in July was really busy but filled with tons of fun. On Saturday (2nd July), a bunch us gaijins went to the lavender matsuri (festival) in Misato. Once a year, the lavender fields are opened for three weeks and on this day, there was a meat event, as well as a "heaviest" rabbit competition. First, we had grilled meat for lunch and the meat was amazingly delicious and not at all expensive. Part of the fun was also due to the fact that we get to grill it on the spot and consume it there and then. After that, we got lavender ice-cream. I bought some lavender flavoured mochi too and those were yummy!

Oishii niku

 Aside from the lavender fields which were the main attraction, there was also a mini animal petting zoo for kids. You can choose to pet rabbits, goats and even calves. I got to hug a rabbit which was really sweet. Poor Jeff got scratched when he tried to hug one of them. Guess that little bunny wasn't in the best of moods.

We also got balloons!!! Just the gaijins! My Japanese friends weren't as excited as I was about the helium-filled balloons. I love balloons!!! We were lucky too :). The balloons were meant for the kids but I think we got away with it because of our gaijin status. *One of the perks of being a foreigner*  Look how gay we look with our ice-cream.

We love balloons!

The lavender fields weren't in full bloom yet. My kyoto-sensei explained that our winter was much longer than usual and as such the bloom has been delayed. It was still fun though and pretty. The weather was really nice but it would have been better if we had more breeze. After seeing the pretty purple flowers, we enjoyed cakes and coffee in the quint air-conditioned Gomashio-Kitchen. It felt wonderful to be able to escape from the harsh sun and just sit and chill. The whole outing ended before 1:30pm and I had the rest of the day to myself which was great. Think I should try and start my weekends earlier so that I can get the most out of them.

Sunday (3rd July) was interesting but not as fun. The day started off with a 2-hour drive to Morioka for my JLPT N5 test. This is the 3rd time I have signed up for it and the first time I'm attempting it. The last 2 times, I got lazy and didn't prepare for it. The test went well. It was't as difficult as I expected it to be and while I was uncertain about some questions, I should be able to clear it. Going to give myself a break and start preparing for the N4 test in December.

Can you guess what 八百屋 refers to?

八百屋  = (eight) (hundred) (house) = Historical building???

Make a guess and see if you got it correct.





Ans: vegetable store/ green grocer (look for the answer here)

And in case you are wondering, it reads やおや (yaoya).

Onigiri for school lunch tomorrow

15 Mar 11 - My first full day back in school after the 9.0 earthquake hit Japan last friday. School seems pretty much the same except for the following:

• All the corridor lights were switched off to save power;
• Instead of using the regular heater in the staff room, we switched to a smaller one;
• No milk was delivered today because the highway roads were disrupted; and
• Due to the shortage of food supplies, the school lunch company will be providing us with onigiris instead (starting tomorrow).

Thinking of taking the bus to school instead of driving just so as to save petrol. Don't wanna be stuck in my apartment without any means of transport if something major does happen. This means I have to get up 45 minutes earlier and walk for a good 20 minutes to the bus terminal. Hope it does snow for the next few days.

Kanji for husband (主人)

Was reading the Pera-Pera Penguin column from the Daily Yomiuri website when I came across the Kanji characters - 主人. In Japanese, it's pronounced as "shujin" and it means "husband". In Chinese, 主人 refers to "owner" or "master". Guess, you can tell just how chauvinistic the society is by looking at their language.