Yen's Yarn: MOMOISHI TOWN FESTIVAL

16th Sept 2006

Took a bus to Oirase to meet up with Felicia & Crystal. Felicia's Assistant kacho (section chief) invited us to his house for lunch just before the matsuri (festival ) started. Wow, what a spread... I love Japanese home-cooked food. The servings are huge & everything tastes so good! What's more, it's healthy! This Assistant kacho has a very hyper dog as a pet. It looks like a cross-breed sausage dog. SO cute! It's name is Mari-chan. Very greedy though.. Kept comin close to us coz she wants to eat our food.

After lunch we started to pull the float. Got to know some Japanese ladies & children. They are all so decked out. So pretty! The boys look really cute too! The floats are fully automated but the children, especially the young boys, use all their might to pull the floats as if the floats depended on their strength to move. Haha, so cute! The whole procession ended close to evening time. Then we were invited to have a small meal at a tent near to Assistant kacho's house. There, I made friends with Assistant kacho's daugther. We played games like the "thumb pressing" game and janken. Then Gerard (fr Ichinohe) & his wife, Jaslyn came & joined us. Then we all went to

the bazaar that was nearby. Wow, they sell lots of Japanese food, as well as many toys & games. Assistant kacho's daugther was so excited! All of us ate so much that night! We had tako balls, Doraemon cakes, ramen, yakitori etc.
Gerard, Jaslyn & I all crashed at Felicia's house after the long day.

17th Sept 2006
Accompanied Felicia to a church in Rokunohe. Her church in Singapore, FCBC helped her look for churches near Oirase so here we were. We were warmly welcomed by a nice old lady & her daughter, Makiko. It turns out that Makiko works in Megumi kindergarten (the kindergarten beside my church) & knows my churchmate Yurika! What a small world! Haha After service, Makiko kindly gave Felicia & I a ride to Jusco where we were supposed to meet Gerard & comapny. Felicia, Gerard, Jaslyn & Crystal will go back to Oirase to attend the second night of the matsuri. This time, as spectators. I did not stay coz I had to attend Choja JHS's enkai at downtown Hach tonight. Took a ride fr Crystal across the bridge that separates Hach from Oirase and managed to catch a city bus that sent me straight back to Sakaemachi. Yeah, I love boarding city buses coz I get to use my bus pass so I don't need to worry about paying bus fares. heh heh...

Met Tanaka sensei outside Sakurano & she brought me to the izakaya where the party was held. I was sitted just beside the principal as I was an important guest! Wow! The food was great! Managed to chat with the principal, some teachers and even one Choja alumini student who is now a university grad in Hirosaki. Left after the dinner coz was feeling too tired to stay out late. The rest went for karaoke, as usual. I went home & began to prepare the dish for tomorrow's potluck party at Mrs Takahashi's friend's house. Accidentally cut my left index finger while chopping the carrots... Arghhh..

18th Sept 2006

Gerard & Jaslyn took a bus fr Oirase & reached my house promptly before 10am. Gerard said the festival yesterday was very different fr the traditional one on the 16th... Too bad I missed it! Mrs Takahashi gave us a ride and soon we arrived at her friend's house. It was an international lunch as there was Japanese food, western food, Indian food & Italian food. Really yummy! We had a great time chatting about Singapore & various other stuff.. They were particularly interested in Singapore food. Seems like I must try to learn to cook some Singapore food!