Channelling Edward Weston...sort of

Really, I am just in love with these peppers. Although their color looks a bit off on this page...

Iwamuro Lanterns

This past weekend one of my schools (Iwamuro) had an event organized by the art teacher, the same one who is in charge of the art club with which I went painting in field (I feel like that sentence is probably way more complicated than it needs to be, but I am too tired to change it). Anyway, we made paper lanterns and wrote haikus on them, and then set them loose down a river in town. Colleen and I went together. We saw a lot of my students, and then best part was when they told Colleen in unison, "You are beautiful!"

Maki Natsu (summer) Matsuri (festival)

This past weekend was the summer festival in my town, Maki. I missed the first day, but the second day I walked around with a few of my friends wearing Yukatas (summer kimonos). We ate okonomiyaki (pancake things...) and watched fireworks. Later, we met a friend at his Izakaya (like a bar, restaurant, party place) and sat around drinking beer and eating small plates of food.
Sunday, the third day of the festival, I met my friend from the swim team and we went to her friend's house on main street. This last night was the Yakata (I don't know if that's really what it's called, but I think it is) which is when teams of young (and some old) men get together and carry this big float covered in lanterns, atop which sits at least two young women (and sometimes young men). They do this thing called 'basho' in which they run in a circle and shake the whole platform up and down. Everyone drinks a lot, and there's even a little black box cart where people who have gotten too drunk can sit. It was absurdly entertaining, and one old man even gave me his happi coat (the festival coat all the men wear). I hope the pictures do it some justice.

Mt. Kakuda

Finally climbed it last Monday. There were some amazing views. And it only took 1 hour!

Swim Meet Number 2

Last weekend, I went to another swim meet, this time just between 4 pools in the Niigata area. There were normal events (I swam the 50 fly, 100 free, and 25 back), but there were also fun events, such as trying to throw little plastic balls into a big net, and doing a relay wearing a yukata (summer kimono). I swimming most of the day, so these are the only pictures I took.

Art club field trip

I've been really bad about posting on here, I know. I've been quite busy the past few weeks - swimming 3 times a week, and trying to spend the rest of the day outside. The weather here has been so perfect, 70's and sunny.
I had the perfect opportunity to be outside on Tuesday of this week. There was a big Junior High sports tournament, in which all the sports teams of all the JHS's in Niigata City competed against each other for 2 days. There were no classes for those days, so on Tuesday I got to spend the day with the art club.
We met at the school and the art teacher lent me some paper and pastels (this is the same art teacher who introduced me to his friend who teachers ceramics). We drove to a nearby rice field which is famous for some reason or another, and then set out blankets and sat in the fields and sketched. All day. Until 3 pm.
Those little blue specks you see in the fields are my students. The painting was done by my art teacher, definitely not by me. And the can is full of orange slices, and I thought it was pretty cute that my students drew all over it. Finally, you can see my drawing after it was stolen by the wind and dropped into a flooded rice field. I managed to recover it by tying a rope to a large branch and throwing the branch at it.