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| 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!
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| 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.
