Undoukai, Part I

At six o’clock this morning, the village shook gently with the sound of fireworks announcing that today was Undoukai. Ridge immediately popped out of bed (or should I say “futon”?) and was dressed in a record time of about three minutes. By seven-thirty, I had sent Aaron down to the school to claim a good spot for us, and the boys and I joined him around eight, accompanied by Ryuuya.

After the opening ceremony at 8:45, we then spent the next 5 hours playing and hanging out at the school sports festival. Ridge and Holt ran a number of races, and Aaron and I were pulled into a few as well. There were dances performed, marching, and more games. Lunch began promptly at noon, and we all enjoyed the bento I had spent two hours the night before preparing. I just couldn’t handle the thought that the other Japanese moms would look at our lunch and laugh. Well, maybe they would have anyway, as there was a notable absence of rice in our meal.

After lunch, there were more games, and an exhibition of sorts performed by the middle school students. As I write this, I’m resting from having cleaned up after arriving home (sorting the trash is always time consuming). Aaron and the boys are doing yard work, oddly enough, and I’m thinking ahead to seven o’clock, when my overnight English camp will begin. So, needless to say, this blog is short. I hope to be able to have time to write about “Abashiri part II” and “Undoukai part II” on Monday, when I have a lot of free time to look forward to.

Here are a couple of photos from today’s event. Ridge is standing in formation with the rest of the students during opening ceremony, and Holt is doing his best to run fast for his race!