Glorious Sunday!

What a fantastic day yesterday!! Sure, we stayed home and watched television but after Saturday it was the most wondrously lazy day and definitely a godsend. Ok, let's back it up a week and head first to the Bon dance and take it from there.

Every city, possibly every town, in Japan apparently holds a bon dance. O Bon is a period of time, similar to the Mexican day of the Dead, when ancestors and loved ones can return to this world for a short period. People travel all over Japan to return to their home town or the place of their parents. Each area celebrates differently but in general there is a lot of visiting graves and temples. At the end of O Bon (the O is a prefix that means revered or honoured) candles are lit and set to float out to sea guiding the souls back to 'heaven'. In the Japanese belief system 'heaven' is not above us but across the sea which is kinda cool. And then, as a final celebration, the Bon dance is held. This is a much more upbeat celebration with thousands of people dressing up in Yakatas and other outfits and dancing the regions specific Bon dance. We were lucky enough to be invited and stumbled our way through the basic steps all dressed up in our borrowed Yukatas. It was a delightful night and one we wont readily forget. We also got the chance to meet some great people through the international club as well!

The following weekend we had a really lovely couple from Germany stay with us. I was working both days but they were incredible guests and it was a complete delight to have them. They are from Karlsuhre in Germany. I'd never heard of it which was actually a little embarrassing because it turns out that both the father of the modern automobile, Karl Benz, and the inventor of the bicycle, Karl von Drais, were both from there.

Anyway, I came own with some weird fever or allergy thing on Saturday which made my day at work a living hell and then basically came home and curled up in a ball (drinking my beery medicine) until I fell asleep. I slept until 10 something in the morning and was 100% on Sunday. No idea what the disease or reaction was but Sunday was spent in cautionary recuperation mode and was thoroughly enjoyed. The guys headed off at the beginning of the day on their huge trip back down to the south and by the end of the day the world had returned to its rosy pink and we began planning for our grand Mexican even in a couple of weeks!

Cheers to all!!

robin