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Published: January 19th 2007
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yuge206
The losers...#49! Well, all feelings of a relaxing, stress-free life have now passed with the winter break. I’m now back to my daily routine of lesson preparation mayhem. It’s been a good couple of weeks being back at school though. Actually, I think all the free time I had during the winter break was starting to drive me crazy.
So, the big event of the season, the Yuge Ekiden, happened last weekend. An ekiden is a long-distance relay race. They are held all over Japan throughout the months of December, January, and February. A lot of the more famous ones (like from Tokyo) are broadcasted on TV all the time. The Yuge ekiden is actually quite a large event, since many teams from all over Ehime Prefecture come. And, believe it or not, I ran in it! I really didn’t want to, but my junior high school teachers convinced me to join their team. And, in addition to me, I convinced the other English teachers from the other three islands of Kamijima to join! So, we were basically the foreigner team (A.K.A. the loser team!).
I told everyone from the beginning that I’m a horrible runner. That didn’t get me out
yuge207
The winner of the boy's competition running through the finish line. of the race, but I did get assigned to the shortest distance. I had to run about one kilometer. Of course, this is less than a mile, but it still seemed like forever to me! Our team was running against a bunch of junior high school students, but we still did really badly! You wouldn’t believe how fast some of these kids can run! But, our team’s goal was just to finish the race, and at least we accomplished that! At the end of the race, I told Eri that I wouldn’t be doing anything like this again for at least another year. Then, Nick called me up last night and told me since I made him run in the Yuge ekiden, I have to join his team in the Ikina (neighbor island) ekiden…in two weeks! I agreed (!!).
Later on the same day as the ekiden, another event took place on Yuge island, the annual “tondo.” This is the ceremonial burning of all the previous year’s fortune/good luck decorations in order to make way for the new year’s fortune and luck. They made a huge pyramid-shaped frame on the beach and attached last year’s fortune/luck decorations from everyone’s
yuge208
One of the many bows made to the pyramid of last year's junk. house on the island. It basically looked like a pyramid of junk. Then, the Shinto priest recited some religious script and blessed the pyramid with sake. We all bowed to the pyramid several times before they finally lit the whole thing on fire. It was amazing how fast the whole thing went up in flames. I guess it makes sense considering most of the fortune/luck decorations are made out of straw.
After the pyramid started to burn down a bit, everyone gathered around with their tin cans to collect the embers. The tradition is to bring the embers from the tondo back to your house and sprinkle them around to bring good luck to your home. Also people put mochi (mashed rice balls) into the fire to bake. It was interesting, and a nice contrast to the fall harvest festivals, because I could just observe rather than breaking my back in order to participate in the torturous traditions of the fall festivals. While I was riding my bike back home, I saw everyone sprinkling the embers around their houses.
On Wednesday of this week, we had a birthday party at my English conversation class for both me and
yuge209
It's about to go up in flames... one of my members, Ogawa-san. Her birthday was on that day, but mine isn’t until next Tuesday. But, since I will be out of town then (at a teacher’s conference), we decided to celebrate them both together. So, we made daifuku, which are pounded rice balls with fruit (strawberries, mandarin oranges, etc.) and anko (sweet red bean paste) inside. They were really delicious and I think everyone enjoyed.
On a side note, I just discovered a lovely okonomiyaki (see previous blog about Hiroshima) diner (whole-in-the-wall type place) on Yuge! I’ve been there twice in the past week, and have realized that this might be the end to my savings in the bank! The owner, Hamada-san is the nicest guy though and showed me pictures of what Yuge looked like back when he was young. The other customers are always really friendly (not to mention drunk!) too, and great conversation almost always ensues due to the fact that we all have to sit together at one table. I will surely be going back their often.
Anyway that’s all for this week!
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E-san
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Tondo
Haha, check out the pics of how much smaller Uoshima's tondo was. Still good fun though=)