Obon

Tonight marks the end of Obon, the Japanese Buddhist day spent honoring ancestors. While my description and understanding of Obon are lacking, my appreciation for the activities and celebrations are not.

I spent the evening with the my supervisor and the family of kocho-sensei, the principal of Higashi School. She had extended the offer to me several weeks ago, prior to Ben's departure even (Ben, being my predecessor on the JET Programme). So the weeks passed and Obon arrived. I didn't know what to expect: cleaning the graves of ancestors in their honor, ceremoniously bidding the visiting spirits farewell, large amounts of good food?

It turns out that our visit was a shorter one, stopping for a few hours to eat, meet, chat, and then depart. Kocho-sensei lives with her husband in Ogimi-son, a village bordering Higashi-son up here in the north of Okinawa. It's my understanding (this is what I rely on these days, as true understanding is hard to come by when language is a barrier) that her oldest son and daughter live in Okinawa, with her youngest daughter residing in Tokyo. They were all very kind and seemed pleased to have me as their guest. The daughters came to the rescue for some key translations, though I did rely mostly on my basic (yet expanding!) Japanese ability.

After the fine meal, Chinen-sensei drove me home. On the way, he told me of tonight's eisa, the evening-long dance that would be performed by Higashi-son's seinenkai, the youth group of which each village most likely has. Just moments ago they passed the danchi (my neighborhood) with drums in sync, lyrics drifting from the nearby kominkan, or community center. I don't know if I can say how these short moments make me feel so amazed! Perhaps it's the realization that I'm not on a tourist trip or a short stay with a friend - I'm here, living in the country in which I have so badly wanted to live for a number of years. And with school starting in a week, I think the feeling of being a part of it all will really get me. *cheer* I'm so excited!

So today ends a good weekend. Several ALTs from the south of Okinawa spent the weekend up here away from the crowds of the city. And we did some amazing stuff! Saturday we started with a visit to a local beach, the one minutes from my front door. Sunday we joined several other ALTs and Chikara-san, a local cool-guy who really is just living a carefree style, on a visit to the northern tip of Okinawa. Chikara-san showed us a secret overlook he says he takes very few people to; clearly this was an honor. Snorkeling followed shortly at a nice secluded beach. And today we hiked up to Hiji Otaki, the waterfall in northern Ogimi-son. The exercise was needed and the cold fresh water was highly invigorating. If only every week started like this. Waisu desu.