Kumano 8/17/13

This post is really late, but better late than never right ???

So, August 16, around 11:30 pm we left for Kumano, where every August 17th they have a famous fireworks show. Kumano is a very small town, and since the fireworks show is so famous, traffic, trains, and buses are always really busy, so that is why the strange traveling schedule. We arrived in Kumano around 2 am and slept in the car until morning.

Then we woke up, and walked to the beach to reserve our spot for watching fireworks... which was no easy task....

We finally found a small sliver of space on the edge of an isle near the front of the beach to lay down our own tarps, then we walked to the swimming beach (due to how busy it was we could not drive-not to lose our parking and just because the streets were all very crowded)

The beach was very beautiful! and we spent the whole day here waiting until the fireworks started, we brought many snacks to eat, and for lunch I tried my first eel!! It was really delicious

Around 5 we walked back to the other beach for the fireworks show, and found our small sliver to squeeze into. But then the people next to us were very nice and let us spread out onto their tarp some! So we ended up having a really nice space to watch fireworks!

The lady on our left is one of the really nice people who let us share their tarp, then on our right one of the many security guards

One of the places they shoot the fireworks off from

All the food stands lit up along the beach

Then it was time for fireworks starting at 7pm until 9! The very beginning of the show started with a boat going across the water parallel to the beach dropping fireworks in the water as it went... it was so cool!

The boat trailing fireworks

The fireworks were huge!! And shot off from different directions, so many times we were surrounded by fireworks! And because of the cliff on the side of the beach, we felt the vibrations and heard the booms twice!! It was really exciting!

One of the most exciting fireworks was one that a boat dropped in the water, then hurried away, then over the intercom the announcer had everyone count down from ten... when we hit one the firework exploded extremely large and right in front of the beach! It was so powerful the wind from it pushed us back!!! It was so amazing! There was also a segment in the fireworks where they had firework messages, so with each firework there was a message from someone who paid for it, and most of them were proposals! It was so cute!

Lastly, at the end everyone waved their cellphone lights in the air as a way to say thank you! It was really beautiful!

Here is my video of the fireworks! It is kind of long, a little over 13 minutes (short considering the show was 2 hours!) and doesn't really compare to the real thing, but you can kinda get the idea. And if you want to see the firework that blew us back, skip to 12:30! Its awesome! (Also sorry for the bad film job, I have yet to get a tripod, and I was too focused on the fireworks to pay attention to the camera lol)

                           

Then after the show, we walked back to our car, took a nap for a few hours and around 1 am headed out to return to Tsu.... which we arrived at around 6am due to all the traffic!! Despite the long traveling though, it was well worth it, one of the most amazing fireworks shows I have ever seen in my life!

My First Month on the Job

Well, I have been here for a month and things finally seem to be settling down.
Here is a brief overview of what happened these last weeks->

We started work, first just observing the different types of classes OBC offers. Then we taught half lessons and the old teachers taught the other half. Lastly, we taught full lessons with the old teachers observing. Then starting August 1st we taught alone! I was nervous at first, but now I have taught a week of lessons, and I am starting to get the hang of it. My students are all wonderful, a few trouble makers in my elementary classes, but still very good students. 

Probably the most strenuous event was moving into the apartment after the old teachers. First, we had to place everything we wanted to keep in the entry way of Freddy's apartment... and anything that didn't fit we had to label in the apartment, which made us feel like the IRS... then OBC went through and threw out all the excess objects and we were able to move in with only a few casualties of objects we forgot to put labels on. Right now we are still working on fixing up our apartment, so once all those are complete I hope to make a video tour for you guys to watch!

All our stuff in the entry way

Moving on to fun things, one weekend we went to Magotaro beach in Kiinagashima town, and it was absolutely gorgeous! We went with other foreigners that live in this area, and we were able to met many people from many different backgrounds brought together by living in Japan. Also, at the beach Courtney and Madison got to try out some spear fishing, but sadly caught nothing.

Magotaro Beach

Courtney with her Spear

 Then on July 27th was Tsu's fireworks festival, and let me tell you... Japanese fireworks are AMAZING! They were all huge and covered the whole sky, and the reflection on the ocean was just absolutely beautiful, nothing like anything I have ever seen in the states or Canada... and Tsu fireworks are considered small in Japan!

It was a hour long... and looked like this most of the time

Now, these last couple weekends have been filled with cleaning and settling into the apartment. We looked like silly foreigners biking to the home store, buying tons of pots and pans along with a huge rolled up mat for under our kotatsu table and piled it all into our backpacks and on our bikes.... we were definitely a site to see. Also, in this heat looking nice is impossible, so shorts and t-shirts with hair tied up and out of the way, with little to no makeup has been the trend.  Once the weather becomes nicer outside we will probably go exploring more and I will have more exciting things to blog about, in the meantime, here is another picture outside my front door...