May chaos!

This week was spent adjusting to our new normal (basically camping in our house and trying to eat all of the food we have in the pantry without buying any new condiments 😂). So far, so good…It's always surprising how little we actually need to live!

Wile E is not happy about the rental furniture (again!)

Over the weekend the military base hosted its annual Air Show. It's a pretty big deal: tens of thousands of people come from all over Japan to see it. We watched some of the practice on Saturday, but unfortunately it rained Sunday…they still did most of the demonstrations, we just got pretty wet.

On Saturday night E and I were invited to a special reception dinner with the consulate, which was interesting…. The dress code was business formal, there was an open bar with one of Japan’s most famous sake companies, and ONE tiny plate of food for each person (containing one mini slider, one piece of fried cheese, and one spicy chicken wing). I'm not sure how they decided on that… but after listening to a traditional Japanese drumming (taikō) troupe, and a traditional country music band (where the members were Japanese), we went outside to see a drone / fireworks show.

I also heard that the Hagi pottery festival was going on this week, so I squeezed in a day trip with a friend on Monday.

Going to the Arita pottery festival last year was one of my favorite activities, and I thought about going this year too, but unfortunately it's quite a trek and my schedule is already pretty full (between teaching yoga classes, getting kids to their activities, and tying up loose ends before we leave). Apparently the Hagi festival happens around the same time, but it is closer (and features a different style of pottery, of course).