Culture + Water Activites

Hello readers! Sorry it took me so long to post, the week's been kinda busy. And I've been kinda lazy.
This week during English classes, we talked to the kids about the 4th of July. I've done crosswords puzzles, word searches, pinwheels and fans this week. Friday was special, though.
FRIDAY
Friday started out normal, with bible study and lunch with the ladies. After study, I was to go to Japanese class, and then, after some schedule rearranging, Laura and I were going to have a half hour or so of free time of which to get coffee at #1 coffee.
Well, I went to class, and we started reviewing some verbs, but then......Urrrrch! We hit the brakes on the language learning to make ornaments for this festival that I can't remember the name of :S. But it's a fesitval on July 7th. The festival is from a chinese story. The story goes a like a this (again, like....not the exact story, only what I remember from what Jerry told me :D):
The King of Heaven had a daughter who was a weaver. She weaved this magnificent garment, and came down to earth. A fisherman saw her fell in love with her, and stole her garment. He then pretended to show up and comfort the weaver because she could not return to heaven without the garment. The weaver fell in love with the fisherman, but eventually found out he had taken her garment.
She returned to heaven with the garment, but she still loved the fisherman and asked her father for permission to marry him. Her father didn't like this, but gave the fisherman three tests. With help from the weaver, the fisherman was able to complete the first 2 seemingly impossible tasks. His third task was to watch the King's melon patch, but not eat or drink anything while he was guarding.
After a few days of no food or drink, the melons started looking pretty good, so the fisherman picked one out, and as soon as he bit into it, a river gushed forth from the melon, separating the fisherman and the weaver. The weaver complained to her father that he had cheated, knowing the fisherman could not resist the melons because he was mortal. So the father agreed to let them see each other once a year if there were no clouds in the sky.
The weaver and the fisherman are two stars separated by the milky way, and every year around this time, they come together. But you can only see them together when the sky is clear. The end.

Anyway, we made ornaments that went on bamboo stalks to celebrate this festival. We also tied papers with our wishes and dreams written on them to the bamboo.
The streets actually have lines and lines of this wish paper hung up...when they blow in the wind they sound like rain...so almost all day Friday, we couldn't tell if it was raining or if it was just the wish paper.
After Japanese class, a lady in my class, Dong Jing Hao from China, asked me if I had some free time, so I took about 10 minutes after class to help her correct an English paper she wrote. I then invited her to our bbq on Saturday and she said she would like to come. So we treked over to ECS, I gave her my phone number and then we went over to #1 coffee, catching Laura just as she was leaving. I don't have to be at ECS for Friday classes, so I stayed and had cake and coffee with Dong and we talked a bit. She is really nice. I like her a lot.
After coffee, though, I did stay for Jerry's classes...which is not normal for me. I taught 4th of July stuff in his kids class, and then just sat in on the rest of his classes.

SATURDAY~JULY 4th

Today was pretty busy. After a quick lunch, I helped Laura cut hamburger buns and veggies and make potato salad for the bbq. It was a lot of work, but we did get a 20 minute break before we had to load everything into the van, stop by ECS, and head to the beach. I was very happy that Dong was able to come to the bbq. We hung out and tried to find shells in the ocean. One of the students from ECS, Kanon, was finding big shells and even live clams. Dong and I, both ocean novices, only found really tiny ones. haha.
After eating some very much missed burgers and hot dogs, the kids lit sparklers, here called hanabi.

SUNDAY
Today was church. After church service, we split off into respectable Sunday school classes. I joined the young adults class. They were learning the books of the bible...and I was trying to follow along since no one in the class spoke or thought they spoke very much English.
After class we went and bought bentos (lunchs). I got corndogs! And then we went to Aqua park with Keiko, Aki, and Robin from Sanjo. It was pretty fun. i haven't been swimming in forever, so I was pretty exhausted when we were done. We also went to a ramen restaraunt after swimming...I ate almost my whole bowl of ramen this time!