Boom

So this weekend was the weekend o' festivals, in Kanie and Inuyama.

Saturday night after work we headed to the Kanie festival with Mieko and Satoshi, the two nicest damn people you'll ever meet. They were having a party at their house but took the time to walk us to the river to see the festival, the centerpiece of which was a cool tall ship decorated with lanterns. It was sooooo cool to see and the photos just don't do it justice. There were guys on board throwing out sweets and gifts and then it just sailed away.

Then we walked throught the carnival part, heard a tiny bit of Teiko drumming which is sooooo cool, I rang the temple bell and then headed back for barbeque and beer. Met some super nice people.


Thats the thing here ... the people are just 'drop dead fall over themselves make you want to marry them' nice. So so so so damn nice. And we just keep meeting em.

Sunday we did a bit of shopping, a bit of eating, a bit of hanging around in 5 star hotels enjoying the view and the air conditioning and then headed back here to see the Inuyama Dance Festival. It was a mix of local groups, amateur groups and this cool drum trio from Okinawa that were just amazing. Didn't stay long, because This Life and some imported tortillas awaited us at home.


Today is a day of cleaning, planning, scrubbing, shopping, preparing for the families arrival tomorrow (well for Dave anyway, I'm here eating icecream, having a beer and reading). We're so excitied to see em and show em round. While at times it might sound like all we do is work, the coolest things about our life here, are still the little things like convenience stores, shopping and eating!

More photos are here in the Festivals set.