  Well I had a good weekend. On Saturday I got up, took a shower, killed a giant spider, then went into the town to see what the paredu (japanese word for parade) was all about. It was really neat. There were people going around the town in groups of 20 or so holding up small gold shrines. They woould either run around in circles or throw it up in the air while going down the streets. People would be spraying water at them with a hose (I guess because it was so hot). Everybody seems to be amazed I dont think its incredibly hot, but it honsetly feels like any summer day in Florida. At one point, one of the leaders of the groups (it was a youndg group) holding up a shrine had them stop and introduce themselves. Some seemed excited, some too shy. I spent a few hours out and about and then returned home to wrap my omiyage (gifts for the office). I spent the rest of the day at home cleaning and fixing up things. Later on, some friendly people stopped by -- the Katos.
It was Yu Kato and her sister Kokoro. They were both so nice. Apparently they always adopt the ALT in the town because they are not shy around foreigners and know a little bit of English. The were going to take me to get a cell phone but I still dont have my alien registration card. Sunday I woke up and watched the news in World News Hour. It is a program that shows 10-15 min news clips from about 10 different countries. So I was able to understand the U.S., UK and Italian news.
Cristina then was able to come to my town. The drive is really not that bad, only 30 minutes and it is very beautiful. I showed her around Uchinoura and we went to the grocery store to get some sushi and milk tea. I did not like the milk tea, but I loved the sushi. Then we drove to Higashi-kushira so I can see where she lived. The drive back was not that easy because of lack of signs for Cristinas town.
We took a couple of wrong turns and it took about 1 hour to get there. But we made it. I didnt like Cristinas town as much as mine (but I still havent seen its shore). However, I loved her house. It is small but modern yet traditional. Everything is new and very accomodating. She has beautiful horizontal wood paneling all over the entrance of her house. You first walk in and there is a hallway shaped like a short letter T. To the right is the toilet room, shower room and utility room (all which are tiled or have wood floors. To the left is the kitchen with like new appliances. Then opposite the kitchen you go into the 2 tatami rooms.
Each room is painted green with wood beams. She has a huge tv and VCR with movies. Her bedroom has a (drum roll please) a bed. The only down fall is the fact that her only view is of the rice fields she lives right next to and the mountains in the distance (my town). After spending some time there, she took me home. Once home, she dropped me off at the Katos house where I got to roll my own sushi.
They also had me try a meat and potatoes dish and a soy bean paste they call natto. I also had misu soup. After that it was off to the rocket matsuri (they are launching a rocket from my towns space center Monday night). Everyone was gathered at the town square with booths with food, snow cones (i had one), goldfish, masks, etc. Many women were dressed in kimonos. There was also a big stage with performances and karaoke.
I was introduced to several people (many of which already knew my name. At 9 p.m. we went to the port where I saw the most spectacular fire works display. I guess because they probably dont have many regulations on this stuff and they probably get it really cheap. It lasted about 40 minutes and the fireworks were bigger than Disneys. They had ones that exploded different colors and left streaks (like in the states), but they also had some that spinned out of control in mid air or kept on explodiing. TRULY AMAZING! Well I gotta go now. I will speak to you some more soon. Matte ne. 
