Week 44: Summer

It's so HOT and HUMID.

The plus side of rainy season is that the rain really DOES cut down on the heat.  I mean, sure, it's humid, but it's not as hot.  Now it's hot and humid. :P

Rainy season isn't quite over yet, we had a few rainy days this week.  Monday and Wednesday, I didn't go out to various things because it was raining. (I don't tend to leave after work if it's raining)  However, it is not AS rainy, and the bugs are starting to come out.

well, hello

But it's not bad yet.

Friday it wasn't raining, and I felt like getting out of the house, so I grabbed a friend and we went to see the lanterns on the Dotonburi river in Osaka.

pretty!

I was a little disappointed, I'll admit.  I kinda wanted to see some variety in the lanterns, but it was just these, lining the river.  Still, it was a Friday night, the humanity was filling the area, and it was fun to walk around and see stuff.  This night was apparently sponsored by a Samurai museum that has events, and they were advertising.

Samauri hat.

They had displays and stuff,

cardboard samurai, defense against zombies!

Dotonburi is really just a big social area, nightclubs, shops and restaurants.  So it was fun to look around at everything.

shopping area with lights,

a DJ

A...restaurant?

a...ninja cat..making takoyaki.  Ok.

There were things that were famous, we're not really sure WHY

This is the Glico running man. VERY famous for the area. No idea why.

Famous Takoyaki shop. apparently it's good, but not worth the hour wait.

And there were things we thought were cool,

the lanterns had writing on them. Not sure what they say.

Tanabata is coming! (I'll tell you when I go to a festival)

Hobbit door!

We enjoyed walking around and looking at stuff, but both agreed that we were glad not to live in such a crowded area.  It's fun to visit, but...yeah.

As we were heading home, I told her I was busy Saturday, at a church/culture thing. She sounded interested, so I invited her along.

Me- You're more than welcome to join me.
Her- They're not going to try and convert me are they?
Me- oh, always, but we don't believe in the hard sell. Mostly we just want to be friends.  Plus there's food.
Her- Yay food!

So Saturday we went to a Relief society thing.  I still don't know what it's officially called.   After the meeting, they had some demonstrations

like hula

and some lovely quilting

And then we split up for culture stuff.  We chose "put on a Yukata"

The difference between a Kimono and a Yukata is weather and material.  Yukatas are light cotton, for summer.  Kimonos are heavier, layered, often silk, and fancier.  They actually showed us the proper way to put it on and let us do it as they explained! (Lots of the time, they just explain as THEY do it up)

There are actually 3 belts involved.  One to hike up the bottom of the robe, one under the bust to keep the robe closed (important) and THEN there's a protective thing that's LIKE a belt to keep those from getting untied if your obi starts slipping.  Then the Obi, covering all that stuff up.

tying the obi (main belt)

this is the most involved part

If you're tying your own obi, you usually tie it in front and just slide it around back.

Most Obi are two sided now.

this is the butterfly bow.

this sister took advantage of her two colored obi

my friend and I

There's a petticoat to go under the Yukata, and I gotta say, I wanna get the WHOLE setup.  Very comfy.  And I love the sleeve pockets!

After, we wandered out and checked out what everyone else was doing.

art stuff

Decoupage!

I joined the Decoupage group too. This is soap.

I don't know how well Decopuaged soup will work out. We'll have to see.

And then we ate!

and the husbands and kids joined us!

When we got back, I had to do adult stuff (laundry and cleaning) and it was so HOT and HUMID, I just kinda stayed in the rest of the day.

Today (Sunday) was special because Lika got her baby blessed!

SO CUTE

And it was ANNOYING because my bike ATE one of my favorite SKIRTS

no saving that.

GAH. I mean, I was wearing my bike shorts, so I just tied it up around my waist to get home after, but the damage was done.  ::sigh:: I shall not see it's like again.

Well, that's the week!  Good, bad, boring.  Two weeks until my 3 day weekend.  It's all rather routine, but that's why I like festivals on the weekend.