Bread Snatchers United

Wow, I've really been neglecting the blog--sorry!!

My classes have been fun, as usual, but after 8 hours of being mobbed up by excited kids, I basically just fall asleep after dinner.

To catch everyone up though, a few weeks ago, I had more sports meets, this time for the rest of my schools. With three schools, there was no leisurely photographing to be had, and I was busy biking all around south Misato to get to as many places and watch as many things as I could.



While sports meets are common throughout Japan and relays are standard, schools will also have different races.

One of my favorite races included bread-snatching, which I'm sure comes as no surprise to anyone. The kids would start from a few meters back before racing towards a pole with bread clipped to it. They would then proceed to try and pull the bread off the pole with their teeth. It also made me a bit envious of the kids who got to experience this every year.



Luckily enough, I got a chance to experience bread snatching first hand when I attended Misato City's International Sports Meet.

The event had a relatively small turn out, but it was definitely an international event and made me realize how large the foreigner's population here is. I found out that quite a few of my students have Chinese lineage after seeing them at the event, which I never would have guessed outside of class.

Many of the games were the typical undoukai games, which included tug of war, the ootama (大玉, big ball), and, of course, my favorite bread snatching contest. I snatched an anpan, a red bean bun, but if I was given a chance, I probably would've run away with the whole pole of bread, haha.



There was also an after party (family friendly!) with lots of good Japanese-style party food, which included yakisoba and many different fried foods.





Needless to say, it was all delicious!

Another highlight was E and her sister visiting Japan for the first time. Thanks to them, I also discovered the delicious wonders of the local kaitenzushi, conveyor belt sushi.



Since there hasn't been much else happening (besides being swamped with work), I'll leave you with that delicious photo until next time!

ハロー 日本!

Hi everyone!

This is my first post from Japan.

Many many things have happened since I arrived, but here I am, safe and sound!

It has been a whole week since I came to Japan on March 19th. Time really flies!

7 days ago, ☆子 was picking me up from the airport, and the poor girl even had to help me drag around my luggage in addition to making me delicious food. Believe me when I say I'm so glad I have her!

The flight itself was uneventful. Besides the regular cramped leg space and hours of mind-numbing movies that is typical of international flights, it was quiet, peaceful and I even managed to get some good photos up in the sky when I wasn't being blinded by the clouds.

Things have been moving at an incredibly fast pace this past week. I have been whisked away to ☆子 and K's house before speeding up to rural 花崎 up in 加須. It's been an adventure, but I really do feel bad for ☆子 and K for having to take me everywhere even in their spare time. I promise to make it up to them!!!

My time in 加須 Genki Plaza was pretty interesting. There were 8 girls (me included) in a tatami room that was complete with futon. While it did smell a bit similar to rabbits, it reminded me of how much I enjoyed sleeping on the floor.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is another big day. I'll be officially growing up as an adult when I move in to my new apartment in 三郷 tomorrow. It'll be my first time in a lofted anything, so I think I'll definitely enjoy it.

There hasn't been any earthquakes (yet) since I arrived, so hopefully it stays that way! The weather has also been very comfortable with some occasional rain and strong winds, but we had that in California, so it's not a big deal.

At any rate, just to spite you all (joking!), here's a lot of pictures of food!! ♪～(´ε｀ )