I forgot to mention earlier about what Amy and I did most of Sunday.
Saturday night Robin came by and told me about some kind of neighborhood sports festival that would be happening the next day. She was wondering if we were interested in attending. "Sure," I said and asked when and where and all that. She told me it was just around the corner (a five minute bike) so I told her we'd be there.
So the next morning after calling my brother, Amy and I mounted our bikes and rode on over. Robin had given me pretty good directions but in all reality had she known she could have just told me to follow the loud voice. From my balcony I could hear a voice over a loudspeaker, which actually isn't all that uncommon around here--what with the announcements of typhoons or lost old men, information about where to buy vegetables, and the trucks that go by blaring out this or that about the politicians they are endorsing.
So we got there without much trouble and looked around. There were lots of people and some tents set up on a dirt lot in front of the school. We walked around a bit looking for Robin but to no avail. Amy tried calling her cell phone but there was no answer. "Well," we thought, "let's just walk around a bit and watch the action." So I sat up on a wall while Amy walked towards the action and then away. There were chalk lines out on the dirt. They formed a large oval (maybe 250 to 300 meters around) and some straight lines in the middle of all this. A large group of people was gathered in front of me and it was obvious that whatever event was to take place next involved these people. There were perhaps fifty of them or so (maybe more).
Kids walked by staring at us and adults looked at us until we caught their eye. We were not going unnoticed, that was for sure. This happens alot but it was a bit different here. I began wondering if we had intruded on these people's private festival.
About this time, though, Amy noticed Robin in the large group in front of us. "Ok," I thought, "we are at the right place." But we couldn't get her attention as she was busy and then about ten seconds later, she and the group moved out to the middle of the oval. So we relaxed and watched the action.
It was a relay race. Each team was made up of about eight to ten people of all ages and all the individuals ran either a half lap or a full lap. The kids started and then handed off their baton to a slightly older person, who then handed it off to someone a little older. It seemed that by the time the fourth person was running the ages were around twenty to forty. Each team was made up of both girls and guys but I never figured out if there were rules about how many of each were allowed. So they ran and ran and eventually it was over.
Amy and I found Robin and by this time Gary had also shown up so the four of us went over to one of the tents where our people were. I say our people because these are the people that live nearest to us (us being Robin, Gary and I). One of the guys lives right down below my balcony in one of the houses down there and Amy and I recognized him as being the guy we nearly always greet when we are heading in or out on our bikes. He and his family seem like friendly chaps but the languages keeps us from really talking. Very nice guy, though, and he seemed happy to have us there.
So we were talking to each other (the four foreigners) when two ladies came over and handed us rice balls in seaweed and bowls of soup/stew. They indicated to us that we should sit down inside the tent (had to remove shoes for that) so we did and ate and smiled at the children and generally just took it all in. Robin speaks Japanese pretty well so she talked to a few of the kids and an adult or two. Eventually we finished our meals and then went and got snow cones and then returned to our tent.
Turns out that the festival is a once a year thing and is for the general neighborhood, the neighborhood being quite large. Each tent/team, though, consists of certain areas within that bigger neighborhood. So the folks in our tent are the ones that live closest to us. So it's kinda like my street versus yours, if you get my meaning. Our tent had people of all ages in it, the young cute girl with long eyelashes (perhaps 2 or 3 years old) up to the old guys who had been drinking since 9am (perhaps in their late sixties to early seventies). All were friendly and really welcomed us.
So after the food Amy, Gary and I got hit up to take part in some of the upcoming events. Amy ended up doing a kangaroo race where she had to hop from one line to another with a soccer ball sized rubber ball between her legs and Gary and I did the tire roll race. I just figured we were paying for our lunch. But it was fun and Amy's team ended up winning the whole thing (and looked damn funny doing it--especially Amy who had a different form from the rest of them, but that did seem to work for her and ended up getting a big reaction from the crowd), while Gary and I and the rest of us got second in our race. Robin did have to run one more time and the team ended up getting third. Not bad actually. I think they keep a cumulative tally of points for all the races and then one team or another wins the whole festival but I never did find out who won or how we did.
So we left around 3pm or so with our teammates inviting us to a party later that night which none of us went to (I had plans) and also inviting us to a small festival, just outside my door basically, next Sunday (I do plan on attending that). Not sure what that festival will be about but if there are food and drinks, hell, I'll be there.
So there you are. I have to give kudos and a thanks to Robin for inviting us to this thing, otherwise I would have never known about it. And next year I plan on running in the relay.