Man,

Another weekend has come and gone already. We are now beginning the final week of Natsu Yasumi. School starts up again next Monday, which means I'll have at least a week of full days of nothingness (rather than half days) while they do all that random ceremonial stuff that they do in the beginning and end of every term. I feel a little sick to my stomach just thinking about starting the grind up again...

Anyway, yeah so this weekend we did manage to get out to Sado. We took the 16:10 ferry from Naoetsu to Ogi. There was a bit of stress getting everyone to the Port and on the ferry on time, but once on the ferry we started drinking and all was well.
This picture is Emily and I (the seasoned veterans, or weirdos, however you wanna look at it) with newbies Grace, Kristi and Aaron. All very cool people.

We arrived a Ogi at about 6:45, and we had a short walk to the concert site where the famous Sado Island Kodo drummers were set to play at 7pm. So we hauled ass to the ticket booth, had a bit of an uphill hike but we made it to the show just a few minutes after it started, which was great. We even managed to find a space in the back where we could fit with all of our stuff. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but here's one I managed to get before I got yelled at:

The picture, or course, does no justice to the event at all. We were at a top of a hill which led down to the stage. The stage kind of framed this beautiful tree behind it. Each side of the hill was lined with tents selling snacks, drinks and souvenirs. Probably a few thousand people covered this hill (Daigua people, think of the hill part of the Shell). The Kodo was amazing. The sheer strength and endurance the drummers have as well as the synchronization of all the drums is astounding. Now I get why this festival is a must-see(do?) in Japan.

After the concert we shuffled down the hill and found a bunch of food stalls and shops at the bottom where we stopped for some ramen and nama-biru before hailing a taxi to the beach we were meant to camp on.

When we arrived at the beach, we found a spot where our 4 tents could fit and we set up shop there and had a few beers and went to sleep. The highlight of this part of the night was this idiot girl in the tent next to us. Let me paint you a picture... Aaron, Emily and I were just standing around chatting when this idiot American girl (with a head lamp on her hat) and this Aussie guy come stumbling over. The girl asks if we are JETs and where we live. I told her we lived in Niigata and that I was a second year, and Aaron said he was a first year. Then the girl says to me "So, like, you just arrived in Japan and your broha is already visiting you?"
Me: "Uh, my what?"
Her: "Didn't you say he was your brother?"
Me: "Errr, no, and I'm a second year."
Then Aaron goes, "Hey, turn on your headlamp and look at us... do we look like siblings?"
Me: "Yeah, uh, he's a little bit Japanese... I'm a little bit Irish..." (this girl was not wasted at all, riiiight)
Then the girl turns to Emily and asks what her deal is. Emily tells her she's a "retired JET" meaning she did the full three years on JET and therefore, can't be a JET anymore. So the girl goes: "So, like, are you gonna take your contract home with you?"
At this point, I literally said "Ooook, I gotta go!" and I ran off towards the water. How Emily and Aaron finally escaped from this wacko are beyond me. But we did get a good chuckle out of it, and Aaron is officially my part-Asian broha. Any idea what the sister version might be??

So Saturday came quite early as it always does when camping. I woke up sweaty and gross and a bit hungover, thus reconfirming my hatred for camping. We decided to get the 10:20 ferry back to Naoestu. Half the group decided to go back to the ferry port and look at the festival stalls while Makiko, Will, Kayvohn and I decided to go swimming. We took to the water real fast cause it was like 500 degress and we all smelled gross. The water was great, but as it's jellyfish season on the Japan Sea right now, Kayvohn and I both got stung. Just small stings, but still annoying. After our swim we headed into Naoestu and had big bowls of ramen for breakfast (weird) and got back on the ferry to head home, where we could shower and re-enter the world of humane living.

Saturday night, Emily, Kouken, Aaron, Grace, Will, Makiko, Kate and I all met up for a dinner at Asian Kitchen in Niigata then a few hours of drinking and wandering in Niigata. It was really fun and super funny cause Kate was in rare form of hilarity with all these hand gestures and comments like "thank god she's in the hospital." It was a good night, but we ended it early to catch the last trains back to our respective inaka towns to catch up on the sleep we missed on Friday... phew!