FuN FuN FuN!!!

I am so so tired after my weekend, but I had such a fantastic time!

Friday I went to a friend's house. Harumi is a lady that's mum's age and she comes to my english conversation class. She has two children, Mayumi, who is 29 and Youhei, who is 27. Mayumi just had a baby boy a month ago, so I went to visit them. Baby Shinosuke is so tiny, but very cute. I stayed over for dinner at her house, the whole family was there. It felt so good to have a family dinner. We were laughing and chatting, it felt so nice to belong...the dad just kept on saying to me, come over and have dinner anytime. Then Harumi showed me Mayumi&Youhei's baby books. The books smelt old, but it contained all the firsts...First time they rolled over, firt time they sat up, first step they took. All parents are the same, they're proud of their children and they want the best for them...But, why is it that somewhere along the line this kind of love change? Some parents become distant and they stop talking to their kids, is it because of high expectaions? I don't know, anyways, I'm suppose to be talking about my weekend, sorry for the short diversion.
So, Friday was great!!! Will be going back to their house next week. Looking forward to the BBQ they're preparing :)

Saturday. I went rafting!!! It was AMAZING!!! It felt like going down the Snowy River Rampage at Australia's Wonderland, only 10000 times BETTER!
Our meeting time was at 10am. I made my way to Niki's house at 8:30 in the morning, then we went to pick up Dave. After we got Dave, we drove to meet my three girlfriends Minako, Keiko and Chikako who drove all the way from the city to come rafting with a bunch of foreigners. We met up with them then went to meet the rest of the smelly gaijins. We all got together pretty much around 10, and then drove to our rafting company.
When we got there we got suited up in wet suits, lifejackets, helmets and shoes. The weather was FABULOUS for our fun in the water, but we were melting in our wetsuit. After the 16 of us got ready, we took a paddle and made our way to the river.
We had three boats. Dave, Phil, Minako, Keiko, Chikako and I were in one boat, along with our cool rafting guide Inachi san. We went down the river in our boat and then everyone started pulling each other into the water...we swam for a while and then climbed back in and then paddled down the rapids.
Along the way "our team" developed a slogan, so whenever we did something cool, or attacked the other boats, we'd all put our paddles up high and say "un-niya"...um, yes, it's a Japanese word, I think the girls said it's suppose to mean "no", but it's a cute Jap girly thing, so u have to put your hand to one side and say "un-niya" and sort of extend the 'niya' bit. It was cute?! It was definitely funny when two big gaijin boys do it :p
So, along we went down the Kuma river, until our guides stopped the boats and said it was time for a dive. The rocks were 5m/7m high. I made my way up, but I couldn't jump. It was scary, so I pondered and pondered, but decided against it in the end. So, being the scaredy cat that I am, instead of jumping down (which would've been the easiest way) I opted to climb back down the way I came. Ha! But, I did swing off the swing when we stopped for our next big adventure v(^_^)v
Our lunch was also very delicious. We had a great BBQ, re-fill drinks and ice-cream. After lunch we made our way down the rapids again. At this point, we decided to mix up the teams and go mingle with others. So, that's exactly what we did.
Our new rafting guide was a hottie. At this point, the rapids were beginning to get a little bit faster, so Yuya (hot guide) told us if we get to scared just to grab onto the rope. Minako and I were the ones at the front, it was a scary experience because unexpectedly I fell into the river, it was so funny and scary at the same time. But I live to tell the tale.
Our trip ended at around 4pm in the afternoon, we got back to base camp and hopped into the onsen. It was gooood. Then went to dinner and the others had alot to drink. I was home by 10:00 because the following day was my elementray schools' sports festival.

Sunday. Bright and ealry (8:20) I went to Yuyama ES. The sports festival like all other festivals starts with all the formalities such as opening of the ceremony, speeches, raising of the flags, morning stretches, and then the closing of the opeing ceremony. During that time I was chatting with Ayami and Ezaki, so didn't really listen to any speeches, hehee..but we did do our morning stretches.
The races then started, and I was making the rounds chatting to different kids, mums and dads, it was a great social event. This year all the areas had uniforms. It was actually quite impressive. Was sitting down and chatting to some men that I knew and all of a sudden they were asking me what I was doing at night and that I should go to their drinking party to celebrate, I thought they were joking, so I said yeah ok, but I had made plans to go out to dinner with another girlfriend. So that was that and I thought they'd forget about it. Anyways, I ran in a race in Yuyama, and watched and chatted some more. Lunchtime came, so I went to have lunch with Hamakawa family (Ayami's family) they're like my second family (I have alot of second families, but I love my family the most :)) Lunch was great!! But, I had to make my way down to Iwano, my second school for the day.
Got to Iwano around 1pm. Saw my host mum and helped her area out in doing a performance in front of everyone, that was funny. Everyone saw me and they had a great laugh, so did I! This year I participated in alot of events with my own area. Which felt good, because it felt like I belonged, so that was really nice :) The area that I live in actually came first out of everyone this year, so that was fun :)
The day goes on, see what I mean about a busy weekend...Sports day went on until 3:30, after some more races and dancing. Helped packed up the tents and chairs and this and that. Went home to get ready for dinner with Yuiko at 5:30.
Met Yuiko at her house at 5:30 and went to dinner with her. During dinner I get a phone call from Ayami, she asked me to go to Kitame's celebration party. My goodness, so I said I'll be there around 7:30. Yuiko and I had a great time eating and chatting. Man, I'm 5 years older than her, so didn't feel like it.
Went to Kitame's party, they were SO happy to see me there. I was happy to be there too. Again, like all other parties, a second party was a must. Ended up at Sakura, a yakitori restaurant. They drank, ate and sang until late into the night. I couldn't handle it anymore, so I called it quits about 10:30. Long long weekend, now I have bags unders my eyes. Sleepy ah!

This coming weekend will be a long weekend, and it will be another LONG weekend....when am I going to get some sleep...Friend's wedding, dance festival, going to the city...ah la la. I need sleep.