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This town seems to be famous for a lot of things. Burning haystacks, peonies, fireworks, and now, cucumbers. I have them in my daily breakfast sandwich, and I've gotta say, them's good eating! The locals are right proud of their produce, and each year, they organize a summer street festival in honour of the cucumber god to wish for good health and a bountiful harvest.
The custom in these part is that you bring two cucumbers to the festival and present them to the shrine, where upon you make a wish and get one cucumber back in return. Makes you wonder what happens to all those cucumbers the shrine collects from everyone at the end of the day. Anyway, I was told that you're supposed to eat the cucumber you get back so that you stay healthy for the rest of the year. Hmm, this might just keep me from getting sick on my next few rotations at elementary schools, so I decided to go to the festival decked out in my yukata and armed with two cool curcurbits.
It seemed the whole town had turned up for the festivities, no doubt encouraged by the lack of rain which usually accompanies summer festivals in Sukagawa. The entire main street up until the dodgy part of town (where all the hostess bars are) was flanked by food and game stalls, and every other female I could see was dressed in yukata, including many of my students. In fact it took an inordinately long time to navigate my way to the shrine at the opposite end of the street because I kept getting stopped every few metres by shouts of "Aa! Eigo no sensei da!" This was despite the fact that I'd pulled a Superman and switched out my glasses for my contact lenses and was wearing something entirely out of character. It was actually a little embarrassing, since I couldn't remember who the students were without the handy name tag they have sewn to their school uniforms. ^^;
It seems like people here take the cucumber exchange seriously, because the queue extended a couple of blocks from the shrine itself. Sure, it wasn't the iPhone launch, but it was still impressive for what it was.
That's me ringing the bell and making a wish after getting my cucumber back. Actually, I might have wished for a nicer cucumber since the one I got back was slightly limp from all that manhandling by its previous owner. Well, At least I won't be short of sandwich fillings for the next day or two.
Speaking of food, no street festival would be complete without delectable treats from the many stalls set up for the occasion. In lieu of the tastes and aromas of the evening, here are a few pics of the more interesting offerings:
The Japanese take on the Mexican favourite with a pancake instead of a flour tortilla.
Mmmm, charcoal grilled seafood.
I do so love okonomiyaki, and this batch was fresh off the griddle.
These newcomers were pretty special. They're basically spiral cut potatoes threaded onto skewers and deep fried, then sprinkled with stuff like powdered cheese, salt and pepper, green tea powder and the curiously named "ebi shio", which apparently is prawn flavoured salt. I'm told it does taste a little like prawns. So Japan does have an answer to chicken salt after all. ^^ Judging by the queue at the stall, I reckon this item will make a comeback at the Obon and fireworks festivals later next month. I might give it a whirl (pun!) then too, if I don't get tempted by the grilled squid and fried noodles first.
It's not often that someone offers to give a free lesson on how to put on cotton summer kimono, so when I got wind of this I decided to drive up to the prefectural capital o take a look. I'd previously bought a book on how to put on kimono by yourself, but had so much trouble trying to read the Japanese text that I totally messed up, particularly on the fancy knot you're supposed to tie the sash into.
The drive up to the capital was long and uneventful, except for the odd speeding kei car or massive convoy of container trucks. My prefectural street directory came in really handy, but it still didn't stop me from taking a wrong turn before I even got to the right neighbourhood. It's times like this that I kinda wish I had a little GPS box in my car, but I can only dream.
The lesson went alright, even though it was a little awkward because I didn't have the full complement of items to put on a yukata with, not to mention that my yukata wasn't folded properly, my cotton ties were all bunched up and the sash I'd brought was the cheating variety that had been pre-tied by the manufacturer. Oops.
I must admit I can't remember what the individual parts of a kimono are, but the teacher showed us how to use certain seams to make sure it was centred against the body and tucked in properly. I also found out that I had been using the wrong knots to tie up the yukata, and that there were specific places the knots should lie to prevent the whole thing from coming loose. I half remember seeing the same kind of motions in my book, but it's a whole lot easier to visualize with a live demonstration.
The fun bit was doing up the sash. From the teacher's demo I finally saw how the material should lie, and how it should be turned so that the knots wouldn't come loose. The teacher showed us different ways of arranging the excess material to make differently shaped bows, from a simple butterfly bow to more intricate flower bows and a traditional favourite, the clamshell knot. Forget the pre-tied bow, this was way more fun to do. So much fun that I went out to the kimono shop on the main street the next day and bought a real sash of my very own.
Cool, so now I'm all ready to hit the streets for all the summer festivals that will happen in the following months. If you're gonna do something, do it in style! ^^
This involuntary long vacation is really getting to me. It would be fine if I could leave the apartment, but these hideous spots effectively kept me indoors and away from view for a whole week. The doctor asked me to go in for a follow up a week after my last visit so that he could check how the pox was going, and decided that I needed an extra few days to make sure the rash was all dried up and non-infectious. So in order to keep myself from going stir crazy at home, I decided to finish up a few projects that had been running around in my head for a bit. This is also to console myself over the fact that I won't be able to go to the hot spring until all my spots fade (and this might take a long time).
Making bread is always fun, and all that kneading and proofing means a good part of the day gets used up. Here's my masterpiece, honey and milk bread with added virussy goodness:
I forgot to add salt to the dough, and might have skimped a little too much on the yeast, but it was still edible for the most part.
Someone asked me to make them a crochet plush toy a while ago, so I decided to make something extra since it would be a waste if I just threw out the leftover yarn. I had meant to make some kind of placemat or something with only the leftovers, but one thing led to another and I ended up buying balls and balls of yarn from the 100 yen shop to make a smallish crocheted granny square afghan, among other things:
The green knitted scarf came about after discovering that the green yarn I'd originally bought wasn't the right texture for the afghan. the two stick-like things on the scarf are actually beaded hairsticks made from kits I'd bought a while ago, but never got round to putting together. The DS is there for scale. ^^
My favourite item is the little amigurumi peach on the scarf. Here's a closeup with a couple of real peaches, since they're in season right now:
I admit it, I like it because it looks like a little butt. ^^
And here's the pattern, for my own reference, worked in heavyweight yarn using a 6.0 mm crochet hook. In case anyone else would like to try it, feel free. Just credit me with the original pattern if you post it anywhere else. Stitch names and abbreviations follow the UK standard:
Double crochet - dc (single crochet in American terms)
Increase - 2 dc in one stitch
Decrease - pull one loop each through two consecutive stitches, draw yarn through all three loops on needle. Otherwise known as two dc together.
Note: Do not turn or join unless otherwise stated. Exact gauge is not essential, but a tight gauge prevents the stuffing from falling out. Rows are to be worked in continuous spiral rounds. I use a bit of contrasting yarn to mark where rows begin.
Peachy Keen Amigurumi (Fukushima Special)
Body (make 1):
6 sc amigurumi double ring (Youtube link here)
rows 1-4: 1 dc, 1 increase, repeat until end of row 4
rows 5-6: 1 dc in each stitch
row 7: 2 dc, 1 increase, repeat to end of row
row 8-11: 1 dc in each stitch
row 12: 2 dc, decrease, repeat to end of row
row 13: 1 dc in each stitch
row 14-17: 1 dc, 1 decrease, repeat to row 17
Stuff with polyester fibrefill, continue working 1 dc, 1 decrease until the shape is sealed, fasten off and leave ~30cm yarn at the end.
Now the tough bit: pull the end of the yarn up across the outside of the peach and into the shape (including the stuffing) at row 2 and out through the base, pull tight and shape like in the picture, double backstitch at the base to secure, weave in ends.
Leaf (make 3):
6 sc amigurumi double ring
row 1: 1 dc in each stitch
row 2-4: 1 increase, 2 sc, repeat until end of row 4
row 5-7: 1 dc in each stitch
row 8 until end: 1 decrease, 2 sc, until shape is sealed.
Flatten without stuffing, fasten off and leave ~15cm yarn at the end
Using the yarn ends, sew the leaves securely to the peach body. The third leaf is behind the peach in the picture. Fasten off and weave in ends.
Only 2 more days to go... *twiddle*
You'd think I'd have learnt my lesson after the bout of flu I caught off the kids last year, but no, I still go to school and willfully hang around the kids. Hey, it's not like it's flu season now, right?
Wrong. The first sign that something wasn't quite right was the feeling of lethargy, oversleeping on a day I was supposed to be at work at 9 instead of 8:15. I thought I was just fatigued, but the next day I screwed up a class because the tiredness was really getting the better of me. The folks in school were nice though, and they sent me home early with half a watermelon after taking my temperature. Anything over 37.5 degrees warranted a trip to the doctor, but he thought maybe it was some sort of generalized bacterial infection and sent me away with some antibiotics and painkillers.
A persistent fever nearing 39 degrees made me go back to the doctor two days later, and by that time spots were breaking out. I thought it was a sign of an allergy to the antibiotic, however, the doctor took a good look at the rash and diagnosed chickenpox. Which is crappy, since this means that some kid in one of the elementary schools I was at last month gave me the virus and has prolly given it to the rest of his mates in school.
Anyhow I was told to stay at home and wait until the rash healed. I wasn't allowed to scratch either, to avoid crater-like scars that chickenpox can leave. As I was an adult (at least physically... I can't vouch for the mental bit), I was given the prodrug Valtrex (way to go GlaxoSmithKline), which gets broken down into the antiviral acyclovir in the stomach and gut.
It was during the first night with the rash that I completely regretted not getting the chickenpox vaccine when I had a chance back in Australia. The itch kept me awake for hours. I never had it as a kid, and I'd always thought it was because I was somehow naturally immune, since I remember other kids had it. It turns out the mechanism of herd immunity is really powerful, and I was just lucky. Or not so lucky, because it was only now that it struck. I had completely forgotten that this was a common infection among schoolchildren, and that the odds of exposure to the varicella virus was so much higher since kids here have a tendency to touch the gaijin teacher out of curiosity. Any would-be JETs reading this: GET YOUR SHOTS! I cannot stress this enough. A week and a half off work sounds like a relaxing time, but it can seriously cut into your sick leave or worse, your annual leave, and impact any vacation plans, especially if your contracting organization wants to be exact with your leave entitlements.
I was fortunate in that I was able to get my neighbour to help me procure the groceries I needed to survive a week at home. The rest of my forced confinement was spent watching a lot of downloaded movies and documentaries, catching up on numerous episodes of Doctor Who and fretting about the spots that didn't seem to go away. Oddly enough, the tube of Clearasil I brought with me did more good towards dissipating the rash than the horrible (and corrosive) phenol liniment the doctor prescribed me. Immense boredom also meant exercising my creative side and picking up the hobbies I used to enjoy when I had the time ages ago. I'll post the fruits (in more ways than one) of my boredom in the next entry.
