あああつかれたああ〜

Responses:

1cheezymonkey + jackleenrose >> OMFG YES I WENT TO THE ONE AT THE AVALON TOO!!!! Nooooo waaaaay~!!! That's just weird!! We were at the same concert!! 8DDD Where were you? I was dead front center, maybe four or five rows from stage

Amanda >> Yea, so much APH stuff here 8DD I can't help but laugh. The fire...I have no idea. It was just kinda there....because it's the fire festival XDD

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Alright, so I'm going to talk about the Hassaku festival, and skip over our river adventure for later.

The Hassaku Festival is a matsuri of Tsuru, the city in which I live, and there is a parade and the normal matsuri booths (various foods, goldfish catching, merchandise, etc). It was nice, because for once, we didn't have to take a train; it was right there. But we did so much walking. Since we were actually in the parade, we had to arrive early to get dressed and make-upped. It took a while, but we managed to entertain ourselves. Some of the tutors were there, including mine, so that was nice.

So everyone was dressed as samurai, except for Judy and Samantha, who were the escorts for the Hime-sama (Princess), and also Leif, Kei, Chiu, and Victor weren't samurai...I'm not exactly sure what they were, but they had big mustaches and orange make-up...I think they were "fools" or "idiots" or something

Here's a group shot! (minus Samantha, Judy, and Janelle; + two kids)


I'm so harmless...really..


(repost from LJ). The little twelve-year-old boys were sooooo cute!!! One of them directed me for this pose. ("If you let just a little bit of the sword show and hold it open with your thumb, that's really cool!")


Janelle wasn't part of the parade for religious reasons, but we still had fun calling her "ninjanelle" (haha ninja + janelle...get it?)


haha Leif imitating an old man, and Victor making a "what the hell are you doing??" face. They didn't march with us; Leif and Kei were in the very front, doing a complicated kind of walking and trading off holding this giant pole (like, 15-20 feet tall) with a big bushel on top. And then Victor and Chiu were somewhere behind us, holding giant poles with signs. And the princesses were in the very back.


Judy and Samantha! Don't they look nice?


Showing off the horses


"Don't worry, I'm here to protect you" >[

The actual marching wasn't too bad. It was fairly warm (which was ironic, because it was pouring the day before; it's like the weather knew that day was a matsuri and decided to clear up), and we had to walk a certain way that made my thighs hurt, because they weren't used to walking that way. It's kinda hard to explain, but it basically is just diagonal walking. You don't walk on a line perfectly straight ahead of you (like normal), but you don't walk like you're shuffling sideways. It's like...you take a diagonal step one way, and then a diagonal one in the opposite direction. And you had to be in-synch with the group. And those swords were heavy, by the way. And they tied two or three belts to hold the clothes together, so it was hard to breathe (haha sounds familiar....). It was so much fun, though.

After the first round of marching, we took a break, and then marched again. I think the total time we actually walked was about an hour and a half...? Didn't feel like it at all, though. I was so serious and I scowled the whole parade (I like getting in character haha but apparently, I'm not intimidating when I scowl...too bad).

Well, we finished up and were free to roam in our normal clothes. I got some food for dinner, and left early with Stephanie because I was dead tired. That day was so much fun. I wish I got more pictures.

So! On Saturday, we get a free piano concert (and free transportation to Tokyo!). I'm really excited for that. And right after the concert, we're going to a gay bar, and spending the night in a $30 capsule. I can't wait to sleep in a capsule! What a strange experience. Sunday is for shopping, and I'm hoping to go to Ikebukuro haha alright, it's late, gotta get going! バイバイ！