Day 56: Gion with the Kato's
It was rough getting up this morning, but I wanted to have a good first day with my last homestay family, the Kato's. They picked me up at school at 10:00am, and we went to their house. I was surprised to see that they live right on the Kamo River! Their home is beautiful and the view from their second floor is awesome. They also have a poodle named Rex, but I think he hates me. He is always barking at me and has bit me a few times. Anyway, the Kato's gave me a yukata to wear for the Gion Matsuri! I was planning on borrowing a yukata from Mr. Arai, but now I don't even need to.
Some friends of the family came over and we had a BBQ on their porch. The porch faces the river and you can hear the water flowing below. We ate beef, salad, sausages, chicken, rice balls, American cherries, and watermelon. We tried to share jokes with one another, but the language barrier took the "funny" out of them. We understood each other, but something gets lost in the translation. The Kato's friends have a dog named Teddy just like I do! We played with the dogs a while and then I took a much needed nap.
Tonight was the big night for the Gion Matsuri. We had dinner near the festival at a Chinese restaurant. The food was great, as was the atmosphere. It was a Chinese restaurant, but there was a Japanese garden and jazz music playing. It is an interesting combination of things. The Kato's kept making the waitress try and describe the food in English, which was entertaining. I felt bad for the girl really. After our meal we went out into the crowded streets of the festival. We took a look at the floats, Hoko and Yama, which were on display. The tapestries which will be hung from each float in the parade tomorrow were displayed in store windows, and they are magnificent. They have survived hundreds of years, and even some kimono have been preserved and are used each year for the festival. Ryota, the second grade boy I am staying with, and I played a game at one of the booths in which we had to throw darts at a spinning wheel. I was so bad that they awarded me with some toy eye glasses. We had a good time, and then we went home for the night.
Some friends of the family came over and we had a BBQ on their porch. The porch faces the river and you can hear the water flowing below. We ate beef, salad, sausages, chicken, rice balls, American cherries, and watermelon. We tried to share jokes with one another, but the language barrier took the "funny" out of them. We understood each other, but something gets lost in the translation. The Kato's friends have a dog named Teddy just like I do! We played with the dogs a while and then I took a much needed nap.
Tonight was the big night for the Gion Matsuri. We had dinner near the festival at a Chinese restaurant. The food was great, as was the atmosphere. It was a Chinese restaurant, but there was a Japanese garden and jazz music playing. It is an interesting combination of things. The Kato's kept making the waitress try and describe the food in English, which was entertaining. I felt bad for the girl really. After our meal we went out into the crowded streets of the festival. We took a look at the floats, Hoko and Yama, which were on display. The tapestries which will be hung from each float in the parade tomorrow were displayed in store windows, and they are magnificent. They have survived hundreds of years, and even some kimono have been preserved and are used each year for the festival. Ryota, the second grade boy I am staying with, and I played a game at one of the booths in which we had to throw darts at a spinning wheel. I was so bad that they awarded me with some toy eye glasses. We had a good time, and then we went home for the night.
posted by Ryan Harkins at 10:48 p.m.
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