Today was the summer festival in the little housing community where we live at. All the kids who live here were invited to carry the rope through the community. They said to make sure your kids are wearing something they could get wet in. So, I had Branden wear his swim trunks and a t-shirt. All the little boys around him are in first grade and a few are in second grade. So they were between 6 and 8 years old. They asked how old Branden was, and he said, he was 4 years old,/yonsai.Then they all proceeded to tell us their ages. Ha ha ha. Kids! As if we all were wondering. We weren't at all. But it's nice they were all so friendly. : )
Here's one of my neighbors houses. A lot of the people who live here, have husband's who work in Tokyo, however they wanted to live in a quieter area so they chose to live here in the country-side of Chiba. Their husbands take the hour long commute to work by train in droves each day. Rumi's husband does this as well. Noboru however works at Narita airport so he works very close to where we live.
Here's Branden and two cute little girls checking out a very large dead bug! These bugs come out every year at the middle to end of summer, they make loud noise and then they just die. The name of them, escapes me right now. But they look like enormous cockroaches or something. They look gross! The little girl in the straw hat kept picking up the offensive looking dead bug and showing it to me. Blech! I personally hate all creepy crawlies. I just smiled and went..."oh wow" (in Japanese of course) and I told her how huge he was (the bug). I was actually thinking how I wanted to wipe her hands with a wet wipe! But I wouldn't ever say that! Branden didn't touch the thing! He does touch rollie polies and frogs though. Yikes! : )
The oldest kids got to carry the float. I also wanted to mention, the kids carrying the float, the girls actually. Well, as we made a few stops from walking. They happened to realize that a foreigner was among them. One of the preteen girls saw me first and I was holding on to the stroller at the time. She then, said something to the effect of me being a gaijin. Then, the other girls said, gaijin doko? And I was thinking "oh great not this crap again." My feeling is, I know I'm American. I'm sorry about this but I can't change this fact. I just want to be treated like normal. No better, no worse. Just normal. Having 5 girls all chatting about the foreigner attending *their* summer festival. Makes me feel super uncomfortable. Never mind the fact that I actually live in this community right along with them. I started wondering if someday my kids will be embarassed by having a foreign mom. My parents say, no way! However, the girls staring at me today, like I'm a freak show didn't help. People pointing at my son sitting in the stroller. You know, the look. A Japanese person looks at my son, takes this double take, you can see the sheer shock. Then the sheer and utter staring starts. My husband says the staring shouldn't bother me. But it sadly does sometimes.
People in the houses all came out and squirted all the kids with their hoses. This lady and the man in this picture know me already. They see me every day since I usually pass their house when I get Branden from the yochien bus. And, I do make a point about trying to get to know all my neighbors, well as much as I can. Every day when I am out front cleaning off my porch, I greet all my neghbors who pass by. Everyone on my block/street knows me. And about 30 other people know me, during my walks and whatnot I take. However today, the day of the festival, I did not see one single person I knew! It was so weird! So I was as shocked at not knowing any of them, as they were as shocked by having a foreigner in their midst! Ha ha ha! :)
This is the center of the community where we live. It's a grassy hill/park that's lighted really nice at night. And the tennis courts are on the other side and the kids playground is there as well as the community center. The center has hula lessons and karaoke for people during the day time and evenings. They also offer tennis lessons. This old lady keeps inviting me to attend the hula class. This is the path I walk twice a day with Noah while we drop off Branden at the bus stop.
This is the house with the lady who was squirting the hose in the other pic. See? As I cross the little path, the lady is usually tending to her garden each day. So we usually greet one another daily.
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