November Recap...

An update...Since Novemeber was spent here and not in some super chic vacation spot, here's is a little bit about what I did do this month.

On the 3rd I went to Saga for the International Balloon Festival. Despite the fact that I had a fever and probably the flu too, I decided to get out of the house and do something. Tangerines and a book of French fables have pretty much been my life so I took them to the festival too. I went alone but ended up with some other teachers from my area. Thanks to the wind they weren’t able to race the balloons and the few they were inflated we deflated soon thereafter. That night there was supposed to be a music/fire show involving the synchronized revving of the balloon burners but since it was windy they did the show with the fire only…no balloons….how lame. By then I had left with some other teachers from Saga to check out a street festival about an hour away that had already ended so we had some festival street stall food and I headed back home.

On the 5th, I went to the Sumo demonstration at the elementary school near my office. We din’t get to participate this year but it was cool that the wrestlers remembered me from last year. I guess that’s not to hard though. That night we went to the school's dinner party. On the 7th, I got a group together and we attended the big sumo dinner. I don’t know why I always get placed next to real drinkers. One of the wrestlers went around and poured everyone a drink. Tea for me thanx! While we were talking with him, something told me to turn around. When I did, there was a man seated on the floor behind me with his phone held up to where my butt was in an effort to take a picture. I wanted to throw him and his phone down the stairs. Men here are so disrespectful and when alcohol is added into the equation it magically becomes ok to be a pervert publically...great. So I looked at him in the eyes, put my finger in his face and said, “that’s absolutely unacceptable” in Japanese.

On the 25th, Maggie, her two guests, and I went to the final day of the Sumo Grand Tournament. We got box seats in an attempt to get the best view of the ring. The tickets go on said really early and get bought up really quickly so we ended up with a box in the B section which wasn’t too bad…small for 4 people…but not bad. The flags outside with each wrestler’s names on them were so colorful and some wrestlers were arriving when we walked in. The seats were pretty empty until closer to the end because that’s when the top guys fight. The guy who we ate with at the first dinner didn’t win, but it was still quite the experience. I think my ultimate favorite thing about sumo wrestlers is their hair...nice!!! Oh, and they smell good...hehehe