Friday! (Getting ready for the weekend)

Today went well. I only have four classes on Friday. I am torn between my easy going nature and my desire for the school to do well. I will just enjoy the easy day while I can and hope for more classes soon. My other days have been filling up nicely. Most teachers in my company expect about seven classes a day. Some private and some group classes.

I am looking forward to a great weekend. There will be a small festival in Tomioka on Sunday. There will be a few moving shrines and some food vendors. I love the food. Maybe I will get some squid on a stick! (Side Ramble 1: Food is always better on a stick.)

The moving shrines are kind of like float parades in The States, but people drag or sometimes even carry them on their shoulders by the dozens. (Side Ramble 2: Always look at how tall the other people are before volunteering to help carry a shrine. If you are the tallest the weight is all on your shoulders, and believe me it hurts.)

Some Moving Shrine examples from the net. Note how tired the volunteers look. It is not easy work. There are many other people on the team behind them, constantly ready to switch out as exhaustion claims the current shift.

Me and the other teachers at a parked shrine. As usual, I am currently eating something. The girls in the back are on drums. The shrines are carried around in a long line, and teams in or around them play drums or flutes, or even preform on the tops of some. This is the fancy kind. It has wheels and long ropes teams use to pull it from the front.