Monday was a half day of work. First we split up into several teams and went to sweat away at various farms for a few hours so we didn't feel like lazy slobs for having a night out on the town later on. My team went to Ostubo-sans' strawberry farm.
We took down a covering in a greenhouse.
Ethan is the man behind the tarp.
Otsubo-san tries to explain to Ben and Ken how to properly fold a 50 meter-long tarp. We all failed miserably.
Inside, Ethan tries to make sense of it.
Then we all went weeding.
Before.
After! Ed joined us and is excited on the other end. Can you see him?
Bright.
After our morning work we went home, showered, and headed off to Sendai!
We met Yui and Edie at the bathhouse by the Cummings' house and talked it up to the male initiates, who were a little unsure about the idea of being naked with a bunch of strange men. As expected, they ended up loving it and are determined to go back tomorrow before we leave.
After the bathhouse, Jesse, Anna, Edie, I, and a few others jogged across the street for a quick shopping spree.
After that we all walked down to the train station to catch a train into downtown Sendai for the
Tanabata festival!
Synopsis for the reason behind the festival:
Orihime (織姫 Weaving Princess?), daughter of the Tentei (天帝 Sky King, or the universe itself?), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川 Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river"?). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星 Cow Herder Star?) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛?)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
Bummer for Orihime and Hikoboshi, it rained yesterday, so they don't get to meet again until next year. That's actually making me super depressed now. Geeze.
Anyways, these two lovely ladies are happy.
Yui and Anna, beaming away.
Another manhole cover.
On the train.
For those of us who can't speak Japanese very well (or at all), Yui made us "help me, please; I'm lost!" cards with her cell phone number and countless apologies on them.
Ed (Pops) is practicing.
"Will you help me find my way home?"
Mugshot.
Chillaxing on the train.
Here Ken practices acting like a Japanese man and Joe flops into the seat beside him in a blur of American noise and motion.
Quiet actual Japanese people.
We made it! Jesse is pleased.
It's raining ribbons in Sendai.
Watanabi-san elected himself our guide.
The beginning of the decor.
A wall of advertisements.
Spot the Pikachu.
We enter and Watanabi-san leads the way.
I kept trying to take non-creepy pictures of women in yukatas (summer kimonos), but most of them looked like this.
For Ken's wife and girls.
I was hardcore lusting after those fish-balloons-within-a-balloon balloons. I also would have been happy with a stag beetle balloon--we saw several of those, too.
For Caitlin. Ultraman says hello.
These look familiar.
Policemen help us cross the roads. There is a loud beeping sound whenever the light is about to change to let cars pass through. In Japan, when this beeping starts, everyone begins jogging for the sidewalks to clear the way. In America, in this same situation, people would probably lay themselves down in the middle of the street or start humming and strolling more slowly.
Waiting to cross. Cal, Ben, Chikako-san, Jesse, Joe, Ethan, J.B., and Amanda.
Red rover, red rover...
Send people right over.
Watanabi-san, me, and Anna. I was actually trying to do bunny ears on Watanabi-san, but didn't stick them up far enough, apparently.
Sunflowers!
Some middle schoolers decorated a row of banners. I loved the little bear faces.
This man was selling things on the street for Claire's. I took a picture both because you would never see this in the states, and also because he's attractive. He's wearing a man's yukata, in case you were wondering.
A couple in their yukatas.
Yui is so lovely.
Space invaders, I guess.
The Japanese have Scots-Irish heritage, apparently.
Anna and some purple cranes.
A man disappearing through a throng of cranes.
Finally! A good picture of two women's yukatas.
A man outside a store brought along this little fellow.
He seemed very interested in things.
It was actually sensory overload.
After shopping and admiring everything for a while, we retreated under the streets for some dinner.
Yui and I played peek-a-boo through some table decor.
The winning banners, seen on our way out. Sorry it's a little blurry.
And there you have it.
