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Published: November 5th 2007
Friday was ‘Culture Day’ in the school and I spent the entire day watching performances on the stage. Some of the acts were fantastic - I particularly liked the drum performance! All of the classes performed a beautiful Japanese song, which they have been practicing frequently for the last few weeks. It was a really special day and I really love the way that when they do something; be it a sports day, culture day, sketching day etc. it really is an event to remember. There is a lot of time and effort put in to make it a huge showcase of their talents and it’s great to see that these students work so hard for their academic subjects and can also excel in sports, music and dance.
Then, in the evening, Mum and Dad arrived in Saga! It was quite a change from the streets of Tokyo but they soon settled into their hotel and enjoyed eating dinner in my cute little apartment!
On Saturday, we got up bright and early to visit the hot air balloon festival in Saga. There were loads of food stalls (though most were selling takoyaki - Octopus!) After a couple of hours
there, we had raamen for lunch and then took the train to Karatsu for the Karatasu Kunchi festival. People of all ages had to pull these huge floats down the high streets and they were shouting and singing - it was a great atmosphere! I filmed one of the floats coming down the street but, unfortunately, I turned my camera to portrait and didn’t realise that videos have to be filmed in landscape… so watch my video that I’ve posted and tilt your head to the side!
On Sunday, we went to Kono Koen Park and had a cup of green tea in the Japanese tea house. Lots of the locals were fascinated by the fact that there were 3 foreigners lurking around Saga and many came to talk to us… some grannies on the bus thought it was hilarious that I spoke so quickly and just looked at me and went ‘woah!’
We then walked to Saga shrine and watched a wedding party having their photos taken. We then went back to the balloon festival and had some food there but the balloon race was cancelled as it was too windy.
Today, Mum and Dad are off
to Fukuoka but they’ll be back in time to watch my hip hop class at 7pm so they can laugh at poor Dan! We’ll then all go to my favourite restaurant in Saga, where they serve the delicious raw beef cooked on a hot stone - can’t wait!
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elaine
non-member comment
Hi Heidi, The photos are fantastic-like you said the people and children really go out of their way to enjoy the occasion and make it memorable. You will certainly have lovely memories of your stay there. Have you tried the octopus! I think I would be surviving on beans on toast! I'm just not adventurous at all. Catch you again. Elaine