Uhhh...Halloween, Toyota and School Festivus

So today is the 4th? That seems right. I haven't updated my adventures for a little while because I got all blogged out with writing about Hiroshima and Kyoto. The past week wasn't any less busy, either. With tons of homework to do every night, not to mention meeting with Japanese students and just trying to keep up with everything, I can't even begin to think of getting ahead. To make it worse, my nightmares have started again. I don't remember what most of them are about, but I normally wake up sweating.

So this past week was Halloween. Some of the Japanese students threw the exchange students a Halloween party on Wednesday. No one seemed all that into it. At least not like back home. It seemed as though it was simply to humor the Americans who have gotten used to having fun on a random day at the end of October. I talked to some of the Japanese students, and Halloween is getting more popular in the more urban centers, but out here, in Kasugai, not a whole lot happens for it. I was a lumberjack. It was okay. Afterwards was nomihodai at a nice bar. I drank far too much, and stayed up far too late. Worth it, though.

Friday was our trip to Toyota to watch car manufacturing. I know how cars are made, and I can see the exact same thing in America. It is not why I came to Japan. Enough said about that.

So I didn't get to go to the mountains like I had hoped. The weather up there was just too bad. I guess I'll just have to come back. While a disappointing development, it did allow me to attend the School Festival, which occurs once a year for three days. It is the biggest thing the school puts on, I liken it to a fair. Families with small children from the community come and everyone has a good time.

Saturday, walked around the festival for a while, but I soon tired of it and several of us decied to head into Sakae to do some shopping in the shopping district there. It was fun. More presents were purchased. The will be shipped back. They are not to be opened. Sunday, I went back to the festival. Like the good little boy I am, I was not content to just enjoy the fesival. I had to participate. Spur of the moment-like, though. While walking around the festival, I saw my conversation partner carrying a sandwich board and announcing what his group was selling. We had a brief conversation, and I took the sandwich board with a promise to walk around and then return to his group's tent. So I did. I stood and hawked his food. The tent next door were friend's too. I stood and hawked their food. I did damn well. Business picked up. I was an oddity. A foreigner? Speaking Japanese? Selling things? I've gotta see this. And so on. So I worked for a couple of hours until I tired of that. I told them I would come back and help the next day as well. And so I did. And it was fun again. I went to a third tent that I had promised to visit, this one selling African food, and helped them for a while. Soon, some of my other Japanese friends chanced by. We sold food together, with lines like,
"If you want to be big and hairy like Ike, buy these!"
"Ike eats these every day to be strong!"
and so on. It was incredibly fun, and we actually managed to sell the stand out completely. Every single thing. I bought the last cup of tea. I got a bowl of soup in payment, that was it. I didn't want anything, I just did it to have some fun and help out my friends. All in all, a good weekend.

Time here is funny. It seems to fly by during the days, but when you look back, you say, "Was that really only two days ago?"

The group is starting to tire of one another's company, I believe. Tempers flare more easily, more conflicts arise. I'm trying to stay in the middle. It's comfortable here. Only a few people really annoy me. These things happen.

Unfortunately, since I didn't get to go hiking this weekend, that was it. There will be no more chances. Once the weather turns sour in the mountains, it stays bad until spring. Oh well.

I love and miss you all,