Happy Canada Day Eh!

So, again a long update is in order... it seems that I don't actually update as often as I think I do! Last week I played in a volleyball tournament. They periodically have community tournaments for anyone who wants to join. I was asked to join two different teams this time and due to numbers I wound up on the Shuraku Centre team with my friend Kimiko. We played on Monday and Tuesday night and... (drumroll please...) we won! Unfortunately I was playing and none of my crew came to watch so I don't have any photographic evidence :( There was a photo taken afterwards of the winning team in front of the banner but I don't have a copy of it yet. On Friday night we had Miss Miyamaru over for dinner. She is the music teacher at the Otaki Chugakko and she is really fun! She brought her GIANT hamster with her so that we could meet her. She is totally cute and Taran got right into playing with her. I played with her for a bit too but she bit me! Taran pulled out his toy bagpipes and even managed to get some sounds out of them! He thinks he'd like to try out the real thing sometime! Saturday was a sort of craft fair in Date. We didn't go for long because we were also expected at a matsuri (festival) in Otaki in the afternoon. There were some amazing things at the craft fair, including this wooden Harley. Joisan decided she'd be a good decoration for it! There were performances throughout the two day festival / craft fair and while we were there an African drumming group was playing. It made us think of Byron and Lynn! The lead guy in particular reminded Ian of Byron! Their dancing wasn't as good as Lynn's though. After the craft fair we hightailed it back to Otaki because Ian's friend had specifically asked us to come to a party for the Finnish friendship club. Between the cross country skiing, the nordic walking and the consultations for the handicapped programs the Finns have a big fan base and influence here in Hokkaido. There were five people from Finland at the party who are studying in Sapporo. We didn't talk much with them but there were some other really nice people we met. I met an opera singer, a guy who used to work for a UK company (so he has great English) and a really lovely woman who owns an organic vegetable shop in Sapporo. She helped us make rhubarb jam during the first part of the gathering. Yum! As the evening progressed the bugs started to come out... mosquitos and this other really nasty thing that looks a bit like a small flying ant. Unfortunately, we had not gone home before coming to the festival so I was wearing the sandals and short dress that I had worn to Date. I quickly became a full meal deal for the bugs. My feet are only just now beginning to recover (6 days later!) Just before we left (and quite a while after the fabulous potluck dinner) there was some special mutton that had been cooked in a pit in the ground. It was pretty cool to watch them dig it out and serve it up. It was quite tasty but a little overcooked for Ian and I. On Sunday we went back into Date because there was a flea market and we were hoping to find some bargains. It was quite amusing actually because the best bargains we found were from our friend Takeshi from Otaki! We managed to get a great fan for the house for only 400 yen, which is great because the weather has been really warm. This is supposed to be the rainy season but we're getting more muggy, humid weather than actual rain. There is the odd day of rain here and there but they are becoming very welcome because they help to cool things down a bit. Ian and Joisan and I went out for lunch at my favourite restaurant - Wasabi. Joisan had sashimi for the first time. Wasabi is great because everything is so fresh that you never want to eat sushi anywhere else because it will never compare. Joisan liked the whole set up with the rolling sushi and the personal tea dispenser and the electronic counters in the plates for totalling the bill. I think the coconut sherbet was her highlight though and in fact it's worth the plane ticket from Canada... come visit and we'll take you to Wasabi for coconut sherbet served in a coconut!
Monday night was a work party and BBQ for the friendship club. About 15 people came and we all pulled weeds around the guesthouse and then we had an awesome BBQ. It was lots of fun! Kimiko brought great food - we had Jengis Kan (marinated lamb)and she even brought some seafood for Joisan to BBQ. Yesterday was July first here so we tried our best to celebrate in style. I talked to each class I was in yesterday about Canada Day and how old Canada is compaired to Japan. I sang Oh Canada in each class and they all sang the Japanese national anthem to me. Thanks to my mum I had a good supply of Canadian flag stickers so I gave one to each student. They were all really excited to receive a present for Canada's birthday! Once it got dark last night we celebrated with some fireworks we bought at the 100 yen shop. There was one kind in particular that were really cool. I took a video of them...
We're planning to check out the regulations and see if it's okay to bring some back with us.